Elementary and Advanced Learning

Teaching and Teachers

Srila Prabhupada, teaching

by Michael Dolan/B.V. Mahayogi

In the early stages of an art we may get help from a number of teachers at the elementary level. For example, in the early days of the Rock band “The Grateful Dead,” Jerry Garcia wanted Phil Lesh, a trumpet player, to join the band. But they didn’t want a trumpet player. They needed a Bass guitarist. Lesh had never played the guitar so he agreed to join on the condition that Garcia would give him some lessons.

In his book, Searching for the Sound, Lesh reports that when he arrived at Jerry Garcia’s house for the lesson, Garcia instructed him as follows. : “See this guitar, man? The bottom four strings on the guitar are tuned the same as the four strings of the bass, so borrow a guitar from somebody and practice scales on it until you can get down here and we’ll start rehearsing.”

Phil Lesh

Lesh comments, “It was almost as if he didn’t want to influence the way that I approached the instrument so that I could come to it with only my own preconceptions as baggage.”

On the basis of that first lesson, Phil Lesh went on to become one of the greatest bass guitarists in the history of Rock.

The point is that we don’t need a virtuosos for entry level instruction. Elementary lessons may be given by anyone more advanced than we are. In fact, at the entry level of any subject, we often lack the capacity to ask the deeper questions that only a true master is capable of. The instruction will be based on our level as well as on our need and urgency. A soldier about to be sent into battle cares more about survival skills than about how to wear his uniform. A captain will be concerned with tactics, a general with strategy and policies.

As we grow and advance we want more specific answers on questions both theoretical and practical. As we become more expert in a subject, we want help from an expert master. In the advanced stages of any art we want an advanced teacher. Even a virtuosos wants a master class, where he may solve technical problems, understand the depth of his art and draw on the expertise and knowledge of a more realized master.

Close touch with a realized master in a master class may not be possible over a prolonged period of time. It may only be a short exposure. But even a limited exposure with a great soul may be enough to release miracles.

Krishna inspiring Brahma

Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, and the founder of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya transmits the gayatri mantra after hearing the flute-song of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He does not spend years studying in an ashram.

Brahma inspiring Narada

His protegeé, Narada hears the chatu-shloka Bhagavatam from Brahma in a single conversation. Nārada transmits divine inspiration to Vyāsa, when that great composer of the Mahābharata is lost in meditation. In a few words, Nārada tells Vyāsa that his lack of clarity about the glories of Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the reason for his despondency. In the end he advises that great sage as follows:

तद्-वाग्-विसर्गो जनताघ-विप्लवो यस्मिन् प्रति-श्लोकम् अबद्धवत्य् अपि

नामान्य् अनन्तस्य यशो ऽङ्कितानि यत् शृण्वन्ति गायन्ति गृणन्ति साधवः

tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api nāmāny anantasya yaśo 'ṅkitāni yat śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ

“On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world's misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.”

Narada inspiring Vyasa

Nārada explains to Vyāsa that he need not be a perfectionist. Even if his realization is incomplete, his sincerity will shine through. Even if his syntax and grammar are imperfect, his attempt is laudatory.

Vyāsa’s effort is the great treatise of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam which glorifies Krishna in every verse. While he did not sit at the feet of Nārada and study his teachings with the intimate personal association of his gurudeva, he accepted the inner principle of his message and was guided by that substance. For this reason, Vyāsa is considered as the next link in the chain, the appropriate successor in the Bhagavat-parampara, the crooked line of teachers and preceptors that brings that message to us today.

The proper follower of Vyāsa was considered by Chaitanya Mahāprabhu to be Madhva, who defended the personalist conception of Vyāsa’s Bhagavad-Gita. It is for this reason, among others, that He chose to take sannyāsa from Ishvara Puri, since he was a follower of Madhavendra Puri, a great Vaishnava saint in the line of Madhva.

Madhva himself did not study in the ashram of Vyāsa. He is said to have been inspired by a vision of Vyāsa, in much the same way that Vyāsa was inspired by a vision of Nārada, Nārada by a conversation with Brahma and Brahma by hearing the flute-song of Krishna himself. The Bhagavat-parampara is the line of inspiration. Without inspiration, then, there can be no line, however well-conceived the succession appears to be.

Vyasa inspiring Madhva

Finding a real master, one who is defined by his inspiration and dedication, is no small task. And if one is fortunate enough to have such association, one must do his utmost to honor it.

As the poet Coleridge said,

“Weave a circle round him thrice

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey-dew hath fed

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Śrīla Prabhupāda did not spend years in an ashram studying with Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati. He met him on a few occasions and took his teachings seriously. He went on to found an international movement for Krishna consciousness.

Chastity to the guru does not imply clinging to his dhoti and following him everywhere. The idea of chastity means being faithful to the principles he has taught and the message he has lived.

More advanced students understand this principle deeply. We must accept and honor the guru principle whenever and wherever it appears. We must draw inspiration wherever we may find it. Even a virtuoso is humbled and inspired by listening to the morning concert of the songbirds. Even the accomplished dance-master draws inspiration from the sprinting of a gazelle. Chastity to the guru’s message, then, does not mean slavish fanaticism or blind faith in a repeated formula. It implies an even deeper faith and wisdom; the ability to see the teachings of my guru embodied in the words and deeds of others--to see my guru everywhere. Curiously, just as we may accept help from many teachers at the elementary level, we may also profit by studying with many teachers at the advanced level.

This is described in the Eleventh Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhagavatam, chapter seven beginning with 11.7.32. An avadhuta explains as follows.

श्री-ब्राह्मण उवाच

सन्ति मे गुरवो राजन् बहवो बुद्ध्य्-उपश्रिताः यतो बुद्धिम् उपादाय मुक्तो ऽटामीह तान् शृणु

śrī-brāhmaṇa uvāca
santi me guravo rājan bahavo buddhy-upaśritāḥ
yato buddhim upādāya mukto 'ṭāmīha tān śṛṇu

“The avadhuta brāhmaṇa said: My dear King, with my intelligence I have taken shelter of many gurus, many spiritual masters. I have learned something from each of them and so have achieved mukti. Thus I walk the earth. I will tell you now, my king, of all these different gurus.

I have learned from the earth and from the air.

The sky I have taken as my guru.

Water is my guru, as is fire.

I have learned many things from the moon and the sun and the sea.

I have studied with the pigeon and the python.

The moth, the honeybee, the elephant and the honey thief have taught me about temptation and karma, lust, seduction and fate.

I have learned lessons from the deer who is seduced by the flute and the fish drawn to his bait. The prostitute Piṅgalā has taught me the value of patience and hopelessness. I have studied and learned from the birds and children.

In my studies as I wander the earth I have learned lessons from virgins, from arrowsmiths, from snakes and spiders and wasps. By accepting all these as my gurus, I have learned the science of the self.”

In this way, we can understand that wisdom and maturity in accepting the guru’s teachings implies the ability to see his teachings embodied in the words and deeds of others, including even the earth and sky but also especially wise teachers and devotees.