“With great alacrity the hunter began to run toward his spiritual master, but he could not fall down and offer obeisances because ants were running hither and thither around his feet.” (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 24.270)

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आस्ते-व्यस्ते धाञा आसे। पथ नाहि पाय
पथेर पिपीलिका इति-ुति धरे पाय

āste-vyaste dhāñā āse, patha nāhi pāya
pathera pipīlikā iti-uti dhare pāya

“You know me. I am all about fairness. It is the easiest logical tool to use in an argument. For instance, if the scientific community insists upon injecting a newborn with a poisonous substance, in the name of health, I ask how that substance was tested. We come to learn that it was tested against forty-seven newborns, monitored over five days, without a placebo group. If the newborns looked okay at that point, the supposed medication was then licensed for use. Keep in mind that if parents decline this poison injection they might be paid a visit from social services, viewed as suspects for abusing their child.

“Well, in the interest of fairness, I should be allowed to conduct a similar test, only on the reverse side. I take forty-seven newborns and do not give them the poison injection. I monitor those newborns for five days. If everything turns out okay, it means that the absence of the injection is completely safe and effective. I am using the exact same scientific method that the other side is using. My conclusion carries just as much legitimacy as theirs, except that I also have thousands of years of anecdotal evidence on my side. Remember, they are the ones introducing something new. The burden of evidence is on them, to prove the necessity of an intervention that did not previously exist.

“Anyway, what I am trying to say is that if someone gives you visible evidence of a positive transformation, based on a specific input, then it should be fair game to mention any negative transformation. This is where I have trouble with gurus in the line of sanatana-dharma showing off what their disciples can do. I am sure you have seen it. The disciple wakes up early. They are clean, both inside and out. They follow austerity and penance. They can recite verses from memory, of sacred texts such as Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam.

“The guru is basically saying that if you follow me, then you can have a similar transformation. You can reach a higher standard. The change in the disciple is like the empirical evidence to a scientific hypothesis. Okay, but what about the other side? What about the cases where the disciple does horrible things? You know what I am talking about. Abuse of children. Lying. Cheating. Selling a temple and pocketing millions of dollars. Association with women, including the wives of others. Should not the guru be blamed in those cases? Does that not bring down the esteem of the intervention? In other words, why does bhakti-yoga itself not take a hit when a disciple does something bad?”

Of course, the proper way to assess is through numbers. How many disciples see a positive result compared against those who slip into harmful tendencies. Moreover, there is a placebo group to consider. Is the prevalence of sinful behavior higher in the group that receives the intervention? Or does the placebo group feature just as much debauchery and deception?

Such an experiment is difficult to conduct, but just consider that practically every person is suffering. We know this from the very fact that they are looking for an intervention. They want to taste something better. They want to be done with the temporary. They want to know why they are unhappy and depressed even after succeeding in their endeavors. They want to know why some people suffer and some people prosper. They want to know why there is birth in the first place, followed by misery after misery.

Absent a valid intervention, the suffering continues. The easy explanation for the above is that the disciple merely slipped back to their old ways. They were on the side of ignorance when they entered. The intervention did not help them to the extent that it helps others, but that is not the fault of the intervention. We know this because absent the intervention the same behaviors occur. Those behaviors have continued since time immemorial. The potential to slip into those behaviors is one of the reasons for the existence of the material world in the first place.

भूत-ग्रामः स एवायं
भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते
रात्र्य्-आगमे ऽवशः पार्थ
प्रभवत्य् अहर्-आगमे

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ‘vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame

“Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.19)

As far as the guru extracting social mileage from the disciple, the purpose is usually to highlight to others the power of the holy name in effecting change. The genuine guru does not care if you thank them or not. If you give them proper dakshina, which is a gift, or you go on your merry way and forget who helped you out. The guru does not mind, for their sole objective is to lift others up, such that they will carry the proper consciousness and no longer suffer through birth and death.

अन्त-काले च माम् एव
स्मरन् मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्
यः प्रयाति स मद्-भावं
याति नास्त्य् अत्र संशयः

anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ

“And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.5)

We have the story of Narada Muni meeting a hunter. The meeting took place in isolation. It was in an area with animals. The hunter was cruel at the time, evidenced by his half-killing of animals. Narada Muni used this as an entryway to a discussion. He wanted to know why the hunter did not kill the animals outright, to relieve their suffering. The law of nature is that whatever you put in, you will get back. The hunter would have to suffer in the future, as the living beings that were the animals would have license to carry out the same violence on the hunter. Was the hunter aware of this rebound effect?

The words made an impact. The hunter was ready for change. He asked what to do. Narada Muni provided direction. The hunter followed. Later on, Narada Muni brought along his friend to visit the former hunter. Parvata Muni was there to see the evidence for himself. The hunter was now a saintly person, chanting the holy names in front of a sacred tulasi plant. The hunter was so kind that he did not want to step on an ant, even accidentally. He did not want to hoard donations that people of the local area offered. The hunter was now a completely different person. The potency was in the holy name. The trigger was the guru. The same potential transformation is available for one and all.

In Closing:

Available for one and all,
With holy names to call.

From the guru receiving,
Of mercy not believing.

Perhaps later on to show,
Such that others will know.

But not for mileage to extract,
Or blind followers to attract.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, guru, hare krishna, narada, poem, poems, poetry