Devanagari
अचक्षुरन्धस्य यथाग्रणी: कृत-
स्तथा जनस्याविदुषोऽबुधो गुरु: ।
त्वमर्कदृक् सर्वदृशां समीक्षणो
वृतो गुरुर्न: स्वगतिं बुभुत्सताम् ॥ ५० ॥
Verse text
acakṣur andhasya yathāgraṇīḥ kṛtas
tathā janasyāviduṣo ’budho guruḥ
tvam arka-dṛk sarva-dṛśāṁ samīkṣaṇo
vṛto gurur naḥ sva-gatiṁ bubhutsatām
Synonyms
acakṣuḥ
—
one who does not have his power of sight
;
andhasya
—
for such a blind person
;
yathā
—
as
;
agraṇīḥ
—
the leader, who goes first
;
kṛtaḥ
—
accepted
;
tathā
—
similarly
;
janasya
—
such a person
;
aviduṣaḥ
—
who has no knowledge of the goal of life
;
abudhaḥ
—
a foolish rascal
;
guruḥ
—
the spiritual master
;
tvam
—
Your Lordship
;
arka
—
dṛk — appear like the sun
;
sarva
—
dṛśām — of all sources of knowledge
;
samīkṣaṇaḥ
—
the complete seer
;
vṛtaḥ
—
accepted
;
guruḥ
—
the spiritual master
;
naḥ
—
our
;
sva
—
gatim — one who knows his real self-interest
;
bubhutsatām
—
such an enlightened person .
Translation
As a blind man, being unable to see, accepts another blind man as his leader, people who do not know the goal of life accept someone as a guru who is a rascal and a fool. But we are interested in self-realization. Therefore we accept You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as our spiritual master, for You are able to see in all directions and are omniscient like the sun.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just as a blind man accepts another blind man to lead him, ignorant people accept another ignorant man as their guru. We, desiring bhakti, accept you, who are like the sun, who reveal all senses and all knowledge, as our guru.
Since one cannot give up ignorance except by service to you, one should not serve gurus who do not teach service to you. The ignorant person accepts a person who does not know about bondage and liberation (abudhaḥ) as a guru. One who teaches bhakti for you is intelligent, as you have said:
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā |
mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te ||
My māyā made of the guṇas, fit for the jīva’s pleasure, is hard to surpass, but those who surrender to me alone can cross over this māyā. BG 7.14
This intelligent person is guru and not others who simply cause obstacles to progress. We who desire bhakti (sva-gatim) accept you, who appear like the sun (arka-dṛk) as guru. You are the revealer (samīkṣaṇaḥ) of all eyes, all senses and all types of knowledge. Sarva-dṛśām stands for these three items.
Purport
The conditioned soul, being wrapped in ignorance and therefore not knowing the goal of life, accepts a
guru
who can juggle words and make some display of magic that is wonderful to a fool. Sometimes a foolish person accepts someone as a
guru
because he can manufacture a small quantity of gold by mystic yogic power. Because such a disciple has a poor fund of knowledge, he cannot judge whether the manufacture of gold is the criterion for a
guru.
Why should one not accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, from whom unlimited numbers of gold mines come into being?
Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate.
All the gold mines are created by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, why should one accept a magician who can manufacture only a small portion of gold? Such
gurus
are accepted by those who are blind, not knowing the goal of life. Mahārāja Satyavrata, however, knew the goal of life. He knew the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he accepted the Lord as his
guru.
Either the Supreme Lord or His representative can become
guru.
The Lord says,
mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te:
“One can get relief from the clutches of
māyā
as soon as he surrenders unto Me.” Therefore it is the
guru’s
business to instruct his disciple to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead if he wants relief from the material clutches. This is the symptom of the
guru.
This same principle was instructed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa.
In other words, one is advised not to accept a
guru
who does not follow the path of instruction given by Lord Kṛṣṇa.