Hare Krsna,
The Supreme Lord speaks through His pure devotees. The living entities hear the instructions of the Lord through His pure devotees.
The Lord’s pure devotees are the transparent via medium between the Lord and the conditioned souls like us whose senses are still not purified enough to hear or see the Lord.
Those who engage in Deity worship chant a beautiful prayer for purification, blessing and invocation. om tad visno paramam padam sada pasyanti suraya diviva caksuratatam:
“Just as the sun’s rays in the sky are extended to the mundane vision, so in the same way the wise and learned devotees always see the supreme abode of Lord Vishnu. Because those highly praiseworthy and spiritually awake brahmanas are able to see the spiritual world, they are also able to reveal that supreme abode of Lord Vishnu.” (Rig Veda 1.22.20)
If we extend this principle, the pure devotees not only reveal the supreme abode of the Lord to us but also reveal the Lord’s instructions to us. In this chapter (SB 10.1), we see how the Supreme Lord reveals His orders to Brahma. Two beautiful things stand out in the conduct of the Lord. First, He is already aware of the distress on earth. Secondly, He already has a plan how to rectify the disturbing situation on earth. Thirdly, even though He is supremely independent, He still orders the demigods, through Brahma, to appear through His plenary portions as sons and grandsons in the family of the Yadus so that they could act as instruments and associates in His mission on earth. How merciful the Lord is! Even in Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krsna asked Arjuna to be an instrument in the fight.
“Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasācī, can be but an instrument in the fight.” (BG 11.33)
Not only that, Krsna also clearly tells Arjuna that He is making him the first receiver of a new paramparā (disciplic succession) because the old succession was broken. It was the Lord’s wish, therefore, to establish another paramparā in the same line of thought that was coming down from the sun-god to others, and it was His wish that His teaching be distributed anew by Arjuna. Lord informs Arjuna that this system of yoga, the Bhagavad-gītā, was first spoken to the sun-god, and the sun-god explained it to Manu, and Manu explained it to Ikṣvāku, and in that way, by disciplic succession, one speaker after another, this yoga system has been coming down. But in the course of time it has become lost. Consequently the Lord has to speak it again, this time to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. (BG 4.1-3)
The sweet Lord wants all of us to return home, back to Godhead through the process of devotional service – the chief limb of which is to chant the Holy Name of the Lord. The Lord revealed this through His pure devotees such as the Six Goswamis, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur and our very dear Srila Prabhupada. These bonafide acaryas know the desire of the Supreme Lord and therefore are empowered to guide us correctly.
Therefore, it is important that we strictly follow the disciplic succession we belong to. Just as we need GPS to drive somewhere unfamiliar, similarly we need GPS to go back to Krsna. Here GPS means Guru Parampara System. Gurus’ instructions for us are non-different than Krsna’s because they do not concoct anything. Like sincere and honest postmen, they deliver the Lord’s message and blessings to us ‘AS IT IS’.
It must also be noted that hearing the Lord’s instructions is more important than seeing Him directly. In material realm, we give a great importance to seeing. As they say, seeing is believing. But in transcendental realm, hearing IS seeing. Brahma did not personally see Lord Visnu but could hear His orders. Srila Prabhupada gives a relevant example of this age: telephones. Modern science gives us telephones and cellphones by which one can hear sound vibrations from a distant place. In fact, we derive great joy from speaking to a loved one over phone even though we are physically a great distance apart. Imagine how much joy and bliss we will derive when we hear the Lord’s words through his telephones – His bonafide representatives.
It is my personal realization that whenever I submitted very pressing questions or decision choices to the Lord, I got His confirmation or answers through His devotees. I would pray to the Lord with some doubts or queries. Out of nowhere some devotee would bring up that topic (either in a group setting or directly to me) and answer my question. It even happened when I wanted confirmation about choosing a spiritual master. The Lord revealed through one of His devotees. There were so many such instances. Of course, there were moments when I received chastisement (or punishment) for some mistakes through the devotees. I see all this as the Lord’s desire to correct me like a loving father does to his child.
This is why faith is very important. Faith that the Lord hears our distress and desires our well-being; faith in the Lord’s plan for us; Faith in His devotee. Hence the first stage of devotional service is sraddha – faith. Adau sraddha. It all starts with faith.
All we have to do is surrender to the sweet Lord and His devotees with the faith that they will decide or instruct the best for us.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 