A devotee’s question: What is the literal meaning of attaching of our mind and intellect to the mind and intellect of the Guru?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: Mind and intellect means man (मन) and buddhi (बुद्धि). Man is your emotional mind, buddhi is your intellectual mind. Both should be attached to the Guru. Both should be attached to God. What does it mean? Man, your emotional mind, is the one that loves and feels affinity, and the intellectual mind is the one that analyzes.
So attaching the intellectual mind to the Guru means just like when you go to the doctor and the doctor says, “According to your symptoms, I diagnose you with this illness and I prescribe this treatment.”
So you're saying, “Yes, doctor. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. I'll do just that.” In other words, you've joined your intellect with the doctor's intellect.
You didn't say, “Oh, doctor, I think this diagnosis is incorrect. See, when I studied medicine… Oh, wait. I didn't study medicine. So I'm unqualified to diagnose this. Okay, let me keep quiet and just accept what the doctor's saying.” That means you surrendered your intellect to the doctor.
We do the same thing with the Guru. The Guru is one with God and is telling us how to reach God. Do that. Follow the prescribed path that the Guru has given to you, explained to you. So you've surrendered your intellect to the Guru. You've attached your intellect, joined your intellect to the Guru's intellect.
Joining the man is also important. We were just singing the kirtan that was telling us that Krishna is our true father. It's Father's Day today, so we're celebrating fathers, but there's only one Father of our soul. That's Shri Krishna. That feeling of affinity for Krishna and the Guru, that means we've joined our man with Them. We worry about so many things. Right? But if we truly felt that Krishna is my father, my real father, what would we worry for? Why do we allow our mind to worry? Because we forget Krishna is mine. Krishna is my best friend. If I really felt and accepted that in my man, what would I ever worry for? When would I ever allow negativity to creep into my mind? No stress. No worry. Krishna is my best friend. Krishna is my father. Radha is my mother. That feeling of apnapan, mamta, we call that affinity in English. That means your man is joined with Krishna. That means your man is joined with Guru's man, “Oh, Guru Ji is my Divine father. He's protecting me. He's gracing me. That means your man is joined with the Guru, and following the Guru's instructions means your buddhi is also joined with the Guru.
