Jagat

One of the most significant teachings of the Bhagavatam is found in three chapters of the Eleventh Book. There we hear about the avadhut, also sometimes called the Avanti Brahmin, who claims to have taken lessons from a wide variety of teachers, simply by observing and studying their behavior. I would like to share the lessons from this chapter with you. When it comes to understanding the nature of Guru-tattva, it must be remembered that the Guru appears in two forms, as the teacher or śikṣā-guru and as the initiator or dīkṣā-guru . Though the roles of these two kinds of teacher may be a little different, in either case, both are considered to be manifestations of Krishna. It is precisely when we recognize the presence of God in the external world, either in human or in some other form -- when we have a "epiphany" -- that we are experiencing the tattva called Guru. This was also stated by the 16th century acharya Krishna Das Kaviraj— guru kṛṣṇa-rūpa hana śāstrera pr...