Service to Guru

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswat Goswami Prabhupada

In all the scriptures as the Sruti, Smrti ,Puranas the glories of serving the  elevated  spiritual master is described. Without service to a bona fide guru there is no way  that the conditioned soul can give up his  material contamination or bondage to matter or for that matter  able to serve the Supreme Lord. The scriptures describe the spiritual master as the form of the  Supreme Lord  but accepting the mood of servitude. The spiritual master is non different from the Lord. He has come in the form of the servitor to teach the bonded souls about one's  eternal service to the Lord. By taking shelter of a spiritual master ,the living entity can receive the mercy of the Lord. By continued service of the spiritual master ,the ignorance in  the heart of the living entity becomes destroyed ,his mind attains purity and at that stage by  the mercy of the guru, he becomes enlightened with real knowledge.  parikshya lokan karmachittan  brahmano nirvedamayann  nastya krtah krtena !Tadvijnartham sa gurum avabhigacchayet--------Mundako Upanishad 

The duties and work of the Brahmana class enables one  to traverse to the highest heavenly planets but does not make him eligible to enter the eternal blissful spiritual world. Therefore one should gradually free oneself of binding  fruitive work.  A sincere aspirant  giving up desires of enjoyment should approach  an established guru engaged in the service of the Lord and very humbly take complete shelter of Him. He who has developed causeless devotion to the Supreme Lord at the same time  have developed unalloyed servitude to the guru then  at that  point all knowledge becomes revealed to him   

  Yasya deva para bhakti yath deve tatha gurau  -Svetarsveta Sruti  

.Srila Krishna Kaviraj Prabhu has confirmed this in the M 22/Chaitanya Charitra     with this verse below:       tate Krishna bhaje kare guru sevan  maya jal chute pay krsnera charan    ;meaning to overcome the formidable material energy   consisting of the three modes of material nature  and to get the eternal  service of the Supreme Lord  ,one has to surrender in the footsteps of Sri Guru in order to perform devotional service to the Lord with no other way possible. It is guru that destroys all types of liberation and enjoyment tendencies in the living entity  further bestowing him causeless service to the Supreme Lord ,  The time the guru thinks his disciple is for his enjoyment or if the disciple approaches the guru with selfish desires of enjoyment ,  at that time there is no question of service to guru. The sat guru is always  established in the service of the Lord and in turn he too engages the disciple similarly in such service.  The sat guru is cent percent engaged in the service of the Lord without any other work and so by serving him one one is instantly engaged both  in the service of guru as well as service of the Lord.    Sri Ramanucharya was a famous personality who cleared the darkness of impersonalism prevalent in society at one time  and  crushed the  devious smarta conclusions of the higher caste fruitive workers with enhancing the preaching of  service to the devotees and the  Supreme Lord .One day he was walking surrounded by his group of devotees to the town of SriSaila all engaged in loud chanting of the holy name. After two to three days, they finally  reached a village where  two of Sri Ramanuchrya 's disciples were staying. One person was a rich man named Yaghnesa  and  the other was  a very poor person called Varadacharya,  Ramanucaharya sent two of his disciples as messengers to inform the disciples of His upcoming. arrival  Yaghnesa on hearing of his guru's coming became overcome with joy and retuning   inside his house with planning how he could serve his guru in the best manner, forgetting to serve the guests siting outside his house in a disillusioned manner .They returned back to their guru reporting the uncouth way they were treated  by that rich disciple. Therefore, the next day Ramanucharya simply went to the house of the very poor disciple being very disappointed with his rich disciple. Vadacharya 's daily routine was that he would go to beg for food in the morning and then usually returned late  and only after offering the same food  to the Lord and his guru would he partake of the remnants. He had a very beautiful wife named named Laksmi who was very chaste and obedient who assisted in all her husbands' religious duties.  As soon as Ramanucharya   reached the house ,at that time Vadacharya had gone for begging while Laksmi had just finished her bath and was drying the best part of her cloth in the sin  while dressed in some scanty cloth torn in many places.   Hearing Ramanucharya outside ,she was aghast how could she receive her guru in that scantily dressed fashion ,so she just banged on the  metal cymbals as a warning  signal.   Taking the hint, Ramanucharya threw his upper cloth into the house  .Covering her body with that cloth of her guru ,she came out and repeatedly giving obeisance to her guru  and the Vaishnavas requesting them all to sit down while she  got ready with preparing food for them. Then she realized that she had not a even a morsel of rice grain to cook  and offer them, Then remembering Lord Narayana as Her saviour ,an idea came to her  .Nearby was a wealthy landowner who had always proposed to her with lusty intentions promising her that he could make her and her husband very rich if she  could came and sleep with him but Laksmi Devi did not at all heed his words then being  individually of a very  good and chaste nature. Then she pondered whether now could be a opportune time that her temporary body could be used in the service of guru and the Vaishnavas  in direct contrast to mundane morality and society etiquette. Until that time she never would think in that fashion but at that moment she decided  her temporary body   could now be used in this fashion for the service of guru and the Vaishnavas without even consideration of going to hell as a consequence.  To serve one's senses is lust but to serve the senses of the Lord is called devotion. Some examples are  as  Kalighna, one  great devotee used to steal for the service of the Lord .Tirumanga Alwar built the famous Ranganath Temple by looting as they say. In this way ,Lakshmi bent on serving guru approached the rich man promising to stay the night with him in return for all the necessary provisions  in exchange. This rich man had been tempting Laksmi for so long but became amazed that now she herself came to his house  with this proposal and overjoyed immediately sent ample provisions to her house whereby she could properly serve her guests. Ample ghee,milk ,yoghurt,fruits ,grains vegetables were sent by him to her dilapidated hut.  Laksmi cooked all these with great expertise and offering the same to the Lord ,served the food remnants to her guru and the Vaishnavas. All the devotees ate to their hearts content becoming amazed that how such a feast could have been made available in such a poverty stricken place.   At that time ,Vadacharya arrived back from his routine begging and was very happy to see the Vaishnavas at his dwelling place .On understanding that guru and his god brothers had taken food to their full satisfaction made him completely very happy but at the same time it sounded incredulous knowing his  lowly situation. Immediately, he beckoned his wife and questioned her privately on that matter.  Laksmi devi humbly told her husband that she had no other recourse but to go and beg from that lusty neighbour and to comply with his demands. Vadacharya danced with delight at her answer complimenting her that only now she had  realized who  is her real husband. That to serve Narayana ,the supreme husband of all the souls, was the purpose of life and not some destructible bodily structure of a so called embodied  being known as husband.  Later, Ramunacharya and the devotees came to know of this  matter .Immediately, Ramanucharya summoned the couple and told them to take some of the remnants of the  offered food and give it to the Landowner. They complied while Vadacharya waited outside  the house ,Laksmi Devi went in to deliver the said food to the rich man.  By the request of Laksmi dewi the Landowner complied and ate the remnants of Sri Ramanucharya .But this fact reveals the glory of the remnants of foodstuffs partaken by the  pure Vaishnava. The rich man now his mind completely changed  started sobbing in regret saying ,'what a despicable intention of mine to try to enjoy the Lord's very own. O mother! please save and forgive me for my hellish intentions ! The vaishnavas are generally very merciful ,will now  your guru forgive me and bless me instead ! 'The chaste woman went back and related all of the landowners' changed mentality to her guru.  Ramanucharya seeing his  mood of expiation and regret for his past actions  then gave him  spiritual initiation  .This wealthy man then prayed to guru and  went on to say that this couple  will never be poor for now he will do the best to support them . Similarly, Vadacharya  hearing this  from the rich man, now begged from his guru  the wish that he may at all times use whatever wealth  he has all  in the service of his guru also  that prestige may never have influence  on him at any time.    At that time, the other disciple of Ramnucharya ,Yajnesa being very disappointed that his guru had not come to his house consequently  went instead now to the home of   Vadacharya to meet his guru and with great sorrow questioned his guru on that score. In reply, Ramunacharya  said he was a offender to the Vaishnavas as when his servants had come they had not been well treated so  therefore he had not come to his house. Protesting, Yajnesa said, 'guruji!, I was so overcome by excitement and joy that I lost myself contemplating of how to serve you ?'   ,Ramanucharya  replied,'Where there is even a tiny fraction of  mood of self enjoyment  or  selfish joy that is not considered genuine service. Service is there only when there is  desire for specifically  pleasing the senses of the Lord. Further, there cannot be service of the guru if the Vaishnavas are disregarded  blatantly. The Vaishnavas and the servitors of guru  are all part of the limbs of the  spiritual master .You have disregarded that aspect   by neglecting my servitors.That is why I never went to your house.' At that juncture ,Yaghnesa understood his mistake and tearfully begged forgiveness for his offences ,  at which point Ramanucharya agreed to go to his house. The bonafide guru behaves in this fashion as he does not look at the wealth and the scholarship of his disciple  but rather his mood of unalloyed surrendered service. The service to guru is  completely different from gross sense enjoyment or  desire for liberation   .The genuine guru does not keep his disciple fallen as his name is patita pavana  or saviour of the fallen   .The bonafide guru is without  material desires   and  equal minded to all so he never advocates or encourages  any other type of  behaviour in his actual disciples.