Richard (now Radhanath Swami) meditated on Srila Prabhupada’s sacrifice, his enduring consecutive heart attacks at the age of seventy while travelling to America. Richard meditated on a prayer written by Srila Prabhupada when he was stranded on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean on his voyage to America. In Srila Prabhupada’s prayer Richard found humility springing from the heart of a man who had forsaken everything for the spiritual welfare of others. As he associated with Srila Prabhupada more, Radhanath Swami says he felt that all of the events in his life so far had been conspiring to bring him to this point. From the very core of his hart, a spirit of acceptance of Srila Prabhupada as his guru awoke. In this state, he felt joy and gratitude flooding his heart.
As Srila Prabhupada was leaving Vrindavan, Richard (now Radhanath Swami) approached him with emotion choked in gratitude, and spoke, “Srila Prabhupada, I wish to offer my life to you.” Srila Prabhupada, his eyes also moistened by affection, said, “Yes, you are home.”
Radhanath Swami recalls his feelings on that day in Vrindavan:
“An outpouring of gratitude sprung from my heart. For this blessing, I had endured dangers and hardships. For this treasure, my whole journey had been taken. For this precious moment, my soul had ached and yearned. God had revealed my path. The fog of doubt and apprehension had cleared and I now found myself before a fully enlightened spiritual master to whom I could dedicate my life. That for which I had offered thousands of prayers and shed countless tears to attain was now revealed. And how sweetly it was done. My joy knew no bounds. In his divine person, Srila Prabhupada embodied the teachings I’d discovered at the heart of every tradition I’d scrutinized. I experienced the timeless love and the wisdom of galaxies of saints flooding from his lips and drowning my every doubt as he spoke. He delivered a message that had been preserved through the ages by an unbroken line of masters who teach us how to realize our intimate relation with the all-attractive Beloved. In my heart had awakened a faith that this humble saint, so small of frame, was actually fully in love with Krishna, and that Krishna, the Supreme Lord, was fully in love with him.”
My realization on reading this section was that the principles and practices of spirituality are most profound and subtle, far more than those of any other field. To pursue any field seriously, we get immense benefit by learning from a person who is experienced and learned in that field. Then how much more this could be true for spirituality. Seeing Radhanath Swami’s meeting so many gurus and his final decision to connect to one of them, was a significant affirmation for me that we need a systematic training, shelter and guidance from one teacher. I began to feel that if we insist on practicing spirituality without a spiritual guide, we will most likely get lost in the plethora of philosophies and practices and not make any substantial spiritual advancement.
Sometimes we have a doubt on whom to choose as a guru. Radhanath Swami gives us handy tips. He says regarding choosing a guru we can adopt the same standard and caution that we adopt in choosing a doctor when we are sick. Certainly choosing a good doctor may not always be easy, but without the doctor, we will remain sick, bereaved of the health and energy, natural to us. Similarly choosing a guru may not be easy, but without a guru, we will remain spiritually sick, bereaved of the love and happiness natural to us as eternal spiritual beings.
A doctor capable of curing our ills must himself be free from those ills. Similarly, a guru capable of curing our ills of ignorance and illusion should himself be free from illusion and ignorance and the worldly attachments they produce. I felt a helpful question to ask ourselves while deciding upon a guru is, “If I follow these teachings, at best I will become like this teacher. Do I want to become like him?”
When we want to choose a doctor, we implicitly understand that there can rarely be a self-appointed doctor; a competent doctor will be one who has been trained and certified by a pre-existing panel of competent doctors. Similarly, there can rarely be a self-appointed guru; that’s why the first qualification of a genuine guru is that he or she has received knowledge through a succession of qualified teachers in a recognized school dating back to remote times.
Radhanath Swami and Srila Prabhupada follow a recognized school called parampara, a disciplic succession of gurus. This parampara affiliation has been standard for traditional spiritual movements. Radhanath Swami also gratefully shares, “To get a genuine teacher is God’s rare and special blessing on us.”
Table of Contents
Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
Radhanath Swami Maharaj is revealing the importance of the Guru & how to choose a Guru.
View CommentThank you so much for inspiring us how to approach our spiritual master with intense desire to surrender.
View CommentVery instructive article on importance of Guru & how to select a Guru…..the analogy of doctor is very appropriate…..thanks
View CommentWithout a spiritual master, it is not possible to progress spiritually.
View Commentyes, the god has bestowed us that rare blessing by giving us guru like radhanath swami
View Comment“To get a genuine teacher is God’s rare and special blessing on us.” This statement by Radhanath Swami shows the importance of Guru in one’s life.
View CommentRadhanath Swami’s life is an irresistible call for all of us to find our Guru.
View CommentHow fortunate to get to enjoy such nectarine words of wisdom from Radhanath Swami.
View CommentAnd Radhanath Swami is the rare and precious blessing of God in my life…..
View CommentThis book “The Journey Home” unwinds so beautifully to its destination ,on the way it grips and enthralls you.Radhanath Swami dared to hear his inner voice calling and to follow it, in that lies the true purpose of life.Now he guides so many to hear that inner call – Do we want to traverse this Journey is the ?
View CommentRadhanath swami did a bench mark testing spirituality. any one can implement it in their life.
View Commentbeautiful.!!
View CommentThank you very much for sharing!
View CommentWonderful instruction on how to choose a Spiritual Master
View CommentVery inspiring.Thank you very much for sharing.
View CommentRadhanath Swami has offered his life to his guru. I wish I can develop the same sentiments.
View Comment“without a guru, we will remain spiritually sick, bereaved of the love and happiness natural to us as eternal spiritual beings” – we should strive hard to be cured.
View CommentIf one is a sincere seeker like Radhanath Swami Krishna(God) will automatically guide him to meet with a Bonafide Guru like Srila Prabhupada.
View Commentvery good to know how should one be free. from this woeld . thanks
View CommentThank you Maharaj for telling us the importance of acceptance of bonafide guru for spiritual progress. In today’s world we will find many fake gurus, but the for our benefit Radhanath Maharaj is telling us the right way to accept a Guru.
View Commentthe analogy of choosing the right spiritual master and finding a good doctor by Radhanath Swami Maharaj is very nice.
View CommentHeart melting excerpt of Radhanath Swami surrendering to his Guru followed by a perfect analysis of need of Guru in Spirituality and also guidelines for what to look out when finding one.
View CommentSo many striking points here! Out of which i led this one the most “Seeing Radhanath Swami’s meeting so many gurus and his final decision to connect to one of them, was a significant affirmation for me that we need a systematic training, shelter and guidance from one teacher”. Yes, we need the guidance and shelter of one teacher who is himself guided for making any spiritual advancement.
View CommentAmazing article.
View CommentRadhanath Swami has this wonderful realisation about choosing a guru – that it is god’s blessings – wonder when I will even faintly start to think like this.
View CommentRightly said by Radhanath Swami. Unless we take shelter at the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, who is a representative of the Lord, we can get the highest goal of life.
View CommentMeeting of Radhanath swami with Srila Prabhupada is historical.
View CommentThere are volumes to be learned from the life of Radhanath swami. One such volume is the nature and characteristics of how great souls approach a bona fide spiritual master for initiation into Guru parampara.
View CommentSimply wonderful realizations on the aspect of Guru and Disciple. Thank you for sharing these with us all!
View CommentThe big question is “If I follow these teachings, at best I will become like this teacher. Do I want to become like him?”
View CommentEverytime I ask this question, the answer is always ‘Yes’. If I could be just 10% like you, Maharaj, my human life will be very successful.
“To get a genuine teacher is God’s rare and special blessing on us.” Thank you Radhanath Swami Maharaj for the benedicting this blessing to all of us.
View CommentRadhanath Swami’s approach for deciding the guru to surrender to is a good example in front of all of us. Thank you Radhanth Swami.
View CommentIn hindsight, it becomes very clear that all through his journey, GOD was unfolding an elaborate plan to bring Radhanath Swami to the shelter and care of his spiritual master.
View Commentnice thoghtful article about Radhanath Swami and his teachings, thanks for sharing
View CommentRadhanath Swami’s surrender to his spiritual master is most exemplary.
View CommentWith the mercy of the Lord, we get a guru, and with the guidance of a bonafide guru we get the Lord. So, if we are sincere, the Lord will surely direct us to the right person.
View CommentAmazing article.
View CommentHHRNSM re-collects a very powerful statement saying ” to get a genuine teacher is the Lord’s rare blessing and special mercy upon us”, thank you Guru Maharaj, haribol, rajesh karia
View Commentvery beautiful article and a must read for all, haribol, bhakti
View CommentThank you for sharing this incident from Radhanath Swami’s life.
View CommentWonderful meditation on one of the episode of Radhanath Swami’s book Journey Home.
View CommentA true Spiritual Master and disciple relationship….
View CommentThis is the Vaishnava parampara tradition. Srila Prabhupada took all the hardships because he had genuine appreciation for his Spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddantha Saraswathi Maharaj. Similarly Radhanath Swami Maharaj had such genuine appreciaiton for Srila Prabhupada and hence dedicated his life to carry out His words.
View CommentMaharajah went through so many troubles and dangers to seek his Guru and he did not commit until he was sure in his heart that Srila Prabhupad is the only Guru who he could fully surrender his life. I wonder how i have taken this process so casually.Please bless us Maharajah so we could take this process and our service to you sincerely.
View CommentAll Glories To H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Whether we were to know or not know how to choose a Guru, we know for sure that with the Radha Gopinath Temple and Maharaj at the helm of its affairs that we are in th right hands.
Hare Krishna
View CommentMaharajji always guide us in the right direction. His advice on finding guru will be very helpful for anybody who is searching for for his spiritual master.
View CommentThanks H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj, you are expert in explaining all this serious topics.
View CommentIt is so important to have a proper guru in your life. Radhanath Swami found his guru after years of intense search. We are so lucky to have you Radhanath Swami without any special endeavour. Thank you for being there.
View CommentRadhanath Swami got realization at every step he walked in his life. Hence he got thorough elevation by the mercy of Krishna. He achieved what he wanted. He followed a genuine parampara. All glories to Radhanath Swami.
View CommentGetting the connection with guru is the Special mercy of Krishna.
View Comment