Surrender to Guru or Krishna – Which is great? Why?
Sivadasa asked like this:
“namaste! sir my question is 1. What is essence of surrender than bhakti yoga? 2. how we safer at the feet of acharya’s than the feet of krishna?”
REPLY:
Surrender to Guru or Krishna – Among the two, Surrender to Guru is great because the guru gives us Krishna Himself.
Reply is finished if you expect a single line reply. But, I can’t stop here as our devotees always expect detailed explanation from me.
(1) Surrendering to Krishna is the topmost and final advice given by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (18-66)! However, to surrender to Krishna, we should surrender to a guru. This is also said by Krishna. Read this entire reply to understand this.
Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (18.66):
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.”
Why Krishna discouraged all varieties of religion?
To prevent or stop the people from getting confused with so many concepts and devotional practices.
(Why in India, there are many types of concepts about God, religion, rituals, etc. READ HERE.)
If we go deeper in to them, we will get totally confused.
(THIS POST explains why there are conflicts between the followers of different paths.)
See these examples:
“God has a form. No. He does not have form.
Father is god, Mother is god.
You yourself are god.
If you eat non veg, you can not get the mercy of God.
No No. If we do not eat non veg, the population of animals will increase. So, meat is allowed.
Only this religion is the best.
No, all religions are the same.
Only This god is the supreme.
No No, all gods are the same.
No guru is needed in the middle between man and god.
No No…Only a guru can clear our ignorance and drive us towards the God.”
Thus, so many concepts. I have given only about 5% of them.
The people in India are really confused with so many concepts about god and the way of life.
Krishna knows this!
He too spoke Karma yoga, Gnana Yoga, Dhyana Yoga and Bhakti yoga.
Even among them, the question was raised by the people: Which yoga is the best?
Krishna knows this too.
I have read a version of Bhagavad Gita by a popular Mutt that said that we can go back to Krishna just by doing our duties.
In ISKCON, the Bhakti Yoga is followed to go back to Krishna.
Sri Sampradhaya too emphasizes Bhakti Yoga.
(Which Yoga is the best? READ HERE!)
(To know the differences between three yogas, READ HERE!)
Thus, even among the 700+ verses spoken by Krishna, there are different understandings & representations!
That is why, Krishna declared as His last and Ultimate ORDER:
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.”
Forget everything. Let many people say many concepts. Just neglect them.
Come and surrender to me. I will Protect you.
This is the Instruction given by Krishna as His last advice of Bhagavad Gita.
So, it should be His ultimate view.
Surrender means?
Surrender of ego and belongings to Krishna and considering ourselves as the servant of Krishna and Vaishnavas and as an instrument in the hands of Krishna. Strongly believing that only Krishna is our refuge. A surrendered devotee never says that He did something. He always say that Krishna did it and he is just an instrument.
What is the connection between Bhakti and Surrender?
If you do not surrender to Krishna, there is no meaning in the Bhakti Yoga you are following. They will be just rituals.
So, Surrender is the Primary requirement of Bhakti Yoga.
If you are matured to understand and follow Surrender, first surrender to Krishna and then follow the rituals.
If you are not that much matured yet, first follow the rituals and gradually develop the BHAWA (Mindset) of Surrender to Krishna. Don’t stop just with rituals for ever.
Surrendered mindset is very important in bhakti.
(2) Guru and Krishna:
There are different types of devotees:
(i) One says that he will worship God directly.
(ii) Another says that he will worship God through his guru.
(iii) Another says that he will worship both god and his guru.
(iv) The last one says that guru alone is enough for him and his guru will take care of other things!
Do you know which person is in the advanced stage?
The fourth one who has surrendered to his guru and believes that he will take care of other things.
This is said by the Sankaracharya Sri Chandrasekarendra Swami of Kanchi Kamakoti mutt, near Chennai, who was a pure sanyasi who was/is worshiped by the crores of people including the great leaders (Gandhiji also) of the country.
This is the importance of Guru in our culture!
Everyone of you have a guru. He may be either diksha guru or siksha guru. Both are given prominence in our scriptures.
Though many may not have a diksha guru, they will definitely have siksha gurus who taught about the Spirituality & Krishna to them.
So, those who teach about Krishna is also important for us. Similarly and equally, those who takes the responsibility of taking us to Krishna as diksha guru is also very important for us.
(DOES A DIKSHA GURU OR SIKSHA GURU ACCEPT THE KARMA OF DISCIPLES? HOW? READ HERE! )
Why Guru is given more prominence than God in our scriptures?
This is not bypassing the God.
It is TOWARDS THE GOD.
A GURU HELPS YOU TO GO BACK TO KRISHNA.
In other words, a guru gives Krishna to you.
Yes, Krishna is the greatest. No doubt.
If a guru gives the greatest Krishna to you, how great that guru should be?
Krishna has given all the facilities to us. Our scriptures advice not to surrender to those facilities, but, to surrender to the person (God) who gave those facilities.
Similarly, they advice to surrender to the Person (Guru) who gave Krishna Himself to us.
In fact, Krishna Himself teaches two types of surrender in Bhagavad Gita:
(i) In the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita (2-7), Arjuna says to Krishna:
“Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.”
This is the way of approaching a guru in a surrendered state.
(Can one get Krishna’s Mercy if he is unable to Go to temple and Get Guru?READ HERE!)
(ii) Krishna also says in Bhagavad Gita (4-34):
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.”
(iii) In Srimad Bhagavatham (11-10-5), it is said:
“One who has accepted Me as the supreme goal of life should strictly observe the scriptural injunctions forbidding sinful activities and, as far as possible, should execute the injunctions prescribing minor regulative duties such as cleanliness. Ultimately, however, one should approach a bona fide spiritual master who is full in knowledge of Me as I am, who is peaceful, and who by spiritual elevation is not different from Me.”
(iv) Krishna also says in the last chapter of Bhagavad Gita (18.66):
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.”
Thus, He has spoken about two surrenders:
Surrender to Himself and surrender to a guru.
So, we have to understand that we should surrender to a guru to get Krishna.
Why?
There are many great and enlightened personalities who accepted gurus:
A few examples:
Even the great transcendental scholar Vyasadeva had NARADHA as a spiritual master;
Lord Caitanya, although He is Krishna Himself, accepted a spiritual master;
(Can one get Krishna’s Mercy if he is unable to Go to temple and Get Guru? READ HERE!)
Lord Krishna Himself accepted a Spiritual master, Sandipani Muni, in order to be enlightened;
All the acharyas (including Srila Prabhupada) and saints of the world had spiritual masters.
The only condition is that the spiritual master should be qualified and bona fide; i.e., the spiritual master must be in the proper chain of disciplic succession, called the parampara system.
So, if we surrender to guru, that means, we have already surrendered to Krishna.
Surrendering to a qualified and bonafide guru alone is enough. Why? Because, now, it is his responsibility to make us eligible to go back to Krishna and then fulfill it.
Srila Prabhupada said in a letter that a guru may even have to take births again and again on earth till all his disciples go back to Krishna.
Guru is that much important for a devotee.
That devotee does not worry about Going back to Krishna because it is the responsibility of his spiritual master. He has to just follow what his guru instructed.
(If you like to accept a guru in ISKCON, READ THIS POST!)