Syamarani dasi: Returning to the guru-parampara song, when we sing the song, what should our mood be towards Jnanasindhu and other spiritual masters like him?
Srila Gurudeva: You can think of it in this way: A tree manifests first as a seed, then as a sprout, then as the root, then two branches appear; and then hundreds of branches full with leaves. From the seed, sprouts, and branches, we cannot have a drop of rasa; in millions of years they will not be able to give any rasa.
Later, when the tree matures, some manjaris manifest, and then comes a very little green thing – the beginning of a fruit. Before the fruit becomes mature, its taste is sour, and when it further grows and ripens, its good taste and aroma manifest. Bees and cuckoos become maddened, and men also become maddened, when they smell and taste that sweet fruit. Moreover, if a cuckoo or parrot touches that fruit with its beak, the fruit becomes even more sweet. This is the nature of a fruit. One can fulfill his hunger by the fruit, not from trees or branches; but if there is no tree, there is no fruit at all.
The guru-parampara is like a tree. If one denies this tree, his fruit will not manifest. We should also honor this tree, giving water to the root of the tree, not to the fruits, so that the tree may give fruit. We should thus honor the spiritual masters of the guru-parampara such as Jnanasindhu, Madhvacarya, and all others.
Syamarani dasi: Is it important for us to know anything about these personalities?
Srila Gurudeva: Of the guru-parampara?
Syamarani dasi: Yes, the ones before Madhavendra Puri.
Srila Gurudeva: Yes, yes, yes; because tattva-jnana is easily attained in this way.
Syamarani dasi: It's important to know about their lives and contributions?
Srila Gurudeva: Brahma told Narada, Narada told Vyasa, and Vyasa told Sukadeva Gosvami. The knowledge is coming in parampara. By this we can know the real explanation of Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Upanisads, and that bhakti is the fruit of all the Upanisads, Vedanta, and so on. The guru-parampara has manifested this in this world, so we should know it. If we don't know all these things, then vraja-rasa-bhakti will not come to you.
Vrndavana: November, 1994