sa bhavÄn acarad ghoraá¹
yat tapaḥ susamÄhitaḥ
tena khedayase nas tvaá¹
parÄ-Å›aá¹…kÄá¹ ca yacchasi
saḥ - he; bhavÄn - your good self; acarat - undertook; ghoram - severe; yat tapaḥ - meditation; su-samÄhitaḥ - in perfect discipline; tena - for that reason; khedayase - gives pain; naḥ - ourselves; tvam - your good self; parÄ - the ultimate truth; Å›aá¹…kÄm - doubts; ca - and; yacchasi - giving us a chance.
Following in the footsteps of ÅšrÄ« NÄrada Muni, one should not blindly accept his spiritual master as God Himself. A spiritual master is duly respected on a par with God, but a spiritual master claiming to be God Himself should at once be rejected. NÄrada Muni accepted BrahmÄ as the Supreme due to Lord BrahmÄ’s wonderful acts in creation, but doubts arose in him when he saw that Lord BrahmÄ also worshiped some superior authority. The Supreme is supreme, and He has no worshipable superior. The ahaá¹…grahopÄsitÄ, or the one who worships himself with the idea of becoming God Himself, is misleading, but the intelligent disciple can at once detect that the Supreme God does not need to worship anyone, including Himself, in order to become God. Ahaá¹…grahopÄsanÄ may be one of the processes for transcendental realization, but the ahaá¹…grahopÄsitÄ can never be God Himself. No one becomes God by undergoing a process of transcendental realization. NÄrada Muni thought of BrahmÄjÄ« as the Supreme Person, but when he saw BrahmÄjÄ« engaged in the process of transcendental realization, doubts arose in him. So he wanted to be clearly informed.