Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.17.28

sāyaḿ prātar upānīya

bhaikṣyaḿ tasmai nivedayet

yac cānyad apy anujñātam

upayuñjīta saḿyataḥ

SYNONYMS

sāyam — in the evening; prātaḥ — in the morning; upānīya — bringing; bhaikṣyam — food that is collected by begging; tasmai — unto him (the ācārya); nivedayet — one should deliver; yat — that which; ca — also; anyat — other things; api — indeed; anujñātam — that which is permitted; upayuñjīta — one should accept; saḿyataḥ — being fully controlled.

TRANSLATION

In the morning and evening one should collect foodstuffs and other articles and deliver them to the spiritual master. Then, being self-controlled, one should accept for oneself that which is allotted by the ācārya.

PURPORT

One who desires to receive the mercy of a bona fide spiritual master should not be eager to accumulate the paraphernalia of sense gratification; rather, whatever one is able to collect one should offer at the lotus feet of the ācārya. Being self-controlled, one should humbly accept that which is allotted by the bona fide spiritual master. Every living entity must ultimately be trained to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but until one has become expert in the techniques of spiritual service one should offer everything to the spiritual master, who is completely realized in the process of worshiping the Lord. When the spiritual master sees that the disciple is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he then engages the disciple in directly worshiping the Personality of Godhead. A bona fide spiritual master does not use anything for his personal sense gratification and entrusts to his disciple only as much material opulence as the disciple can properly offer to the lotus feet of the Lord. The example may be given that when an ordinary father tries to train his son in business and other material activities, he entrusts to the son only as much wealth as the son can intelligently engage in profitable enterprises without foolishly wasting the father's hard-earned money.

Similarly, the bona fide spiritual master teaches his disciple to worship the Lord, and an immature disciple must simply deliver everything to the lotus feet of the guru, just as an immature child does not keep a personal bank account but rather receives his maintenance from the father, who trains the son to be responsible. If one cheats oneself by defying the order of a bona fide spiritual master or Kṛṣṇa, one certainly becomes a nondevotee, or sense enjoyer, and falls from the spiritual path. Therefore, one should be trained to serve a bona fide spiritual master and thus become mature in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

<<< >>>

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari