Spiritual Master / Guru

Published on December 2nd, 2023 | by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

10

First you must know what Guru is, otherwise you will be Cheated

One cannot deny the order of a spiritual master. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whose order, carrying, you ll not commit a mistake. You see? Now, suppose if you accept a wrong person as spiritual master, and if you, if he guides you wrongly, then your whole life is spoiled. So one has to accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make his life perfect.

Prabhupada:. . . Now, to take such guidance means the spiritual master should also be a very perfect man. Otherwise, how can he guide? Now, here Arjuna knows that Sri Krsna is the perfect person. So therefore he is accepting Him as sisyas te ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam: I am just surrendering unto You, You self, Yourself, and You accept me as Your disciple because friendly talks cannot make a solution of the perplexity.” Friendly talks may be going on for years together, but there is no solution. Here, accepting Krsna as the spiritual master means whatever Krsna will decide, he has to accept. One cannot deny the order of a spiritual master. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whose order, carrying, you ll not commit a mistake. You see? Now, suppose if you accept a wrong person as spiritual master, and if you, if he guides you wrongly, then your whole life is spoiled. So one has to accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make his life perfect. That is the relation between spiritual master and disciple. It is not a formality. It is a great responsibility both for the disciple and for the spiritual master. And… Yes?

Young man (2): But if the disciple is in ignorance before…

Prabhupada: Yes.

Young man (2): …how does he know which master to choose? I mean, because he doesn t have the knowledge…

Prabhupada: Yes.

Young man (2): …to make a wise selection.

Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. So the first thing is that one should be searching after a disciple, er, or searching after a spiritual master. Now, just like you search after some school. You search after some school. So when you are searching after some school, you must have at least some preliminary knowledge what a school means. You cannot search after a school and go to a cloth shop. If you are so ignorant that you do not know what is a school and what is a cloth shop, then it is very difficult for you. You must know, at least, what is a school. So that knowledge is like this: tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet, samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nistham [MU 1.2.12]. The spiritual master is required for a person who is inquisitive to have transcendental knowledge. He requires a spiritual master. You see? So there is another verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam: tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta: “One should search after a spiritual master who is inquisitive about transcendental subject matter.” So unless one is at least conversant with the preliminary knowledge of transcendental matters… That transcendental matter here you can see. Arjuna is perplexed, and now he wants a definite answer. This is the inquiry about transcendental subject matter. So every human being has to inquire. The inquiry must be there. What is that inquiry? That inquiry is that, preliminary, that every human being is suffering. A ignorant man… Just like a cat and dog or an animal. They are suffering, but they do not understand. Suffering they do not understand. Just like we have seen… Of course, here animals are slaughtered in slaughterhouse. In, according to Hindu system, of course, cow killing is not allowed. But there are meat-eaters. So according to Hindu system, if anyone wants to eat meat, he should take a goat. According to Hindu system, only goats and lambs can be killed for meat-eating, no other animals, no other animals. Cow is not… forbidden. Just like, in, in, the Hindus, they do not eat cow s flesh. And the Muslims, they do not eat, I mean to say, hogs. Hog s flesh they do not eat. They have got some sentiment. But meat-eating is also there in the Hindu society, but that is only by goat s meat or lamb s meat, generally goat. Generally goat. Now, these goats are sacrificed before a goddess Kali, Goddess Kali. So I have seen it, that one animal is being killed, slaughtered, and the, another animal, which will be slaughtered next, he s… It has been given some grass, and it is standing there. You see? It has no knowledge that My next turn is mine,” so it is not going away. So this is animal. This is animal. A human, human being, is not so fool. If there is sign that Next time my killing is to be taken up, then he… At least he will protest or try to go away, something like that. But there is no such thing. So the distinction between animal and man is that that animal is not aware of the sufferings he is undergoing. There are sufferings both for the animals and for the man, but man is conscious. If a man is not awakened to his suffering, then he is in animal consciousness. We should not forget that we are always under suffering. There are three kinds of sufferings. I don t say about this economic problem or… That is also another suffering. But according to Vedic knowledge”or it is a fact”there are three kinds of suffering. One kind of suffering belonging to the body and the mind… Now, suppose I am getting some headache. Now I am feeling very warm, I am feeling very cold, and so many bodily sufferings there are. Similarly, we have got sufferings of the mind. My mind is not well today. I have been… Somebody has called me something. So I am suffering. Or I have lost something or some friend, so many things. So sufferings of the body and mind, and then sufferings by the nature, nature. This is called adhidaivika, which we have to control. In every suffering we have no control, especially… Suppose there is heavy snowfall. The whole New York City is flooded with the snow, and we are all put into inconvenience. That s a sort of suffering. But you have no control. You cannot stop snow falling. You see? If some, some, there is wind, cold wind, you cannot stop it. This is called adhidaivika suffering. And the suffering of the mind and suffering of the body is called adhyatmika. And there is other sufferings, adhibhautika, attack by other living beings, my enemy, some animal or some worm, so many. So these three kinds of sufferings are there always. Always. And… But we do not want all these sufferings. When this question comes… Now here Arjuna is conscious that There is a fight, and it is my duty to fight with the enemy, but there is suffering because they are my kinsmen. So he s feeling that. So unless a human being is conscious and awakened to the fact that we are always in suffering but we do not want all these sufferings… This question… Such a person is required to approach a spiritual master, when he is conscious. You see? So long he is animal-like, that he does not know that he s always in suffering… He does not know, he does not care, or he does not want to make a solution. And here Arjuna is suffering, and he wants to make a solution, and therefore he accepts a spiritual master. So when we are conscious of our sufferings, we are awakened to the suffering situation… Suffering is there. Forgetfulness or ignorance of suffering is no meaning. Suffering is there. But when one is very serious to make a solution of his suffering, then a spiritual master required. Just Arjuna requires now a spiritual master. Is it clear? Yes. So that suffering is there. It does not require any education, simply thinking that, a slight thinking, that I do not want all these sufferings, but I am suffering. “Why? Is there any solution? Is there…?” But there is solution. All these scriptures, all these Vedic knowledge, everything… And not only Vedic knowledge… Now… Oh, why you are going to school? Why you are going to college? Why you are taking scientific education? Why you are taking law education?

Everything is meant for ending our sufferings. If there was no suffering, then nobody would have taken education. You see? But he thinks that If I educated, if I become a doctor or if I become a lawyer or if I become an engineer, I will be happy.” Happy. That is the ultimate aim. I will get a good job, government job. I ll be happy.” So happiness is the end of every, I mean to say, pursuance. So… But these mitigation of sufferings, they are temporary. Real suffering, real suffering is due to our, this material existence, these three kinds of suffering. So when one is conscious about his suffering and he wants to make a solution of this suffering, then there is necessary of a spiritual master. Now, if you want to make a solution of your sufferings, and you want to consult a person, now what sort of person you must meet who can end your all sufferings? That selection must be there. If you want to purchase a jewel, diamond, and very valuable thing, and if you go to a grocer s shop… Such kind of ignorance you must be cheated. You must be cheated. At least you must approach to a jewelry shop. Jewelry shop, you see? So much knowledge you must have. So is that question solved?

Young man (2): Yes, yes.

Prabhupada: Yes. The, the necessity of a spiritual master is for him who is conscious of his material suffering. If one is not conscious of his material suffering, then he is not even on the human being status. He s still in the animal status. Animal status, you see? Now, the modern civilization… The modern civilization is practically… They are evading, evading the real sufferings. They are engaged in temporary sufferings. But the Vedic system is Vedic knowledge. They are meant for ending the sufferings of.., for good, sufferings for good. You see? The human life is meant for that, ending all suffering. Of course, we are trying to end all kinds of suffering. Our business, our occupation, our education, our advancement of knowledge”everything is meant for ending suffering. But that suffering is temporary, temporary. But we have to end the sufferings for good. Suffering… That sort of knowledge is called transcendental knowledge, and if anyone is seeking after that transcendental… This Bhagavad-gita is not an ordinary thing. It is transcendental knowledge. And now here the ground is prepared. Ground is prepared. Arjuna is conscious of his suffering, perplexity. Now he is seeking a spiritual master. So the, the… We should take the position of Arjuna, disciple. When a disciple is serious about making, about making a solution of the suffering, then he requires a spiritual master. And what sort of spiritual master? Krsna, the most perfect man, the most perfect man. So a spiritual master is representative of Krsna. Of course, Krsna is not present before us. But at least we must have a person as our spiritual master who represents Krsna. And who can represent Krsna? One who is devotee of Krsna, in the line, disciplic succession. You see? So see here. Arjuna accepts Krsna as the spiritual master. Now, question may be that Why Arjuna…? There was many learned men, not only Krsna, but there were Vyasadeva and other great sages and brahmanas. Why…? Krsna was also ksatriya. Krsna was not a brahmana. Of course, He took His, mean… He appeared in the family of a ksatriya. And they were cousin-brothers. Krsna and Arjuna, they were cousin-brothers. Krsna was the son of the brother, and Arjuna was the son of the sister. Arjuna s mother and Krsna s father, they were brother and sister. So they are in the family relation. They were intimately related, and at the same time, they were of the same age and friends. Now, the question may be: “Why Krsna is accepted as the spiritual master?” That is the selection of the disciple, that Arjuna says, na hi prapasyami mamapanudyad yac chokam ucchosanam indriyanam avapya bhumav asapatnam rddham rajyam suranam api cadhipatyam Now, he says that I am so perplexed that my lamentation cannot be satisfied even if I get the kingdom of the universe. I am going to fight for the kingdom only of this earth, or the India.” Of course, formerly, India means Bharata. Now India is a name given by the foreigners. The real name of this planet is Bharatavarsa, this planet. Now, gradually, it has been cut up. It has been cut up, just like we have got immediate experience that some portion of India is now cut up, and that is named Pakistan. You know, all. Similarly, this whole planet, five thousand years before, this whole planet was known as Bharatavarsa. Bharatavarsa. And before that, thousands and millions of years before, this planet was known as Ilavrtavarsa. Ilavrtavarsa. And now, since the time of Emperor Bharata… There was an emperor whose name was Bharata. So from the name of Bharata, this planet s name became Bharatavarsa. So up to five thousand years before… Why five thousand years before? Say, up to four thousand years before, although the modern history cannot give account, chronological account, more than 2,500 years, but we are speaking… About four thousand years before, this planet was called Bharatavarsa. Now, Arjuna says that We are going to fight for the matter of this Bharatavarsa planet. This is one of the planet in the universe. But if I get the whole planets of this, the complete planets of this universe, and without any competitor, still, the perplexity which has arisen in my mind, that cannot be mitigated. So… Now, see what sort, what sort of responsibility is given to the Krsna. Sanjaya uvaca. Now, Sanjaya said, evam uktva hrsikesam gudakesah parantapah na yotsya iti govindam uktva tusnim babhuva ha Just saying this, Arjuna became silent: “Oh, I cannot fight. ” tam uvaca hrsikesah prahasann iva bharata senayor ubhayor madhye visidantam idam vacah Now here Krsna is addressed as Hrsikesa. Hrsikesa… We should always remember that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.He is present as incarnation. Now, God is all-powerful. God is all-powerful. So if He comes before you, you cannot deny, that How is that, God has come?” You cannot say that. If God is all-powerful, then it is His choice. It is His free will. He can come before you, come before you, provided you are such qualified devotee. So there cannot be any solid argument that God cannot come or God… Of course, so far Vedic literatures are concerned, they accept the incarnation of God. So Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and so He is addressed as Hrsikesa. Hrsika… Hrsikesa, it has got a significant, significant meaning. Hrsika. Hrsika means the senses, hrsika. And isa. Isa means Lord. Isa means Lord. So He is the Lord of the senses. He is the Lord of the senses. Similarly, Govinda, Govinda… Here also, Govinda name is also there. Yes. Na yotsya… Na yotsya iti govindam uktva tusnim babhuva ha. Govindam. Govinda. Go means also senses. Go means cow, go means land, and go means sense. And inda. Inda (?) means pleasure. One who gives pleasure to the cow, one who gives pleasure to the land, one who gives pleasure to the senses”so His name is Govinda. Now, two things, two names, are used here.

So we should try to understand what is the meaning of Hrsikesa. Hrsika means indriya, and isa means Lord. So whatever senses we have got, the actually the proprietor of the senses not myself. The proprietor of the senses is God. Just like we are sitting in this room. This room is allotted for our sitting under some consideration of rent or whatever it may be, but this room is not ours. That s a fact. We should not consider that “This is… I am the proprietor of the room.” Although I am using it to my heart s desire, as I like, that is a different thing. But as soon as there is some misunderstanding or the landlord says, Now you cannot room in this room. Vacate,” I have to vacate. You see? Similarly, this is also just like room, this, our body. This body is given to us by God under certain condition, and as soon as God likes that You should vacate from this body, I have to vacate. Nobody can allow us to stay here. And besides that… Just like my hand, my hand, this hand… Now, suppose if this hand is paralyzed… the power of this hand is so long, so long there is power from the Supreme. Otherwise, if my hand is paralyzed, there is no remedy. There is no remedy. You see? So we are not the owner of this body, not the owner of the senses. The senses are just like hired, hired from the Supreme Lord. This is a very subtle understanding. One should know. So therefore actually the proprietor of the senses is God. Now, if I am the proprietor of this tape recorder, then it should be utilized for my purpose. Anything which I own, that should be utilized for my purpose. Your things should be utilized for your purpose. So if God is the proprietor of our senses, then these senses must be used for God s purpose. That is the constitutional position. That is the constitutional position. Now, when these senses are used for other than God s purpose, that is bondage, conditioned life.

When the senses are purified and it is used for God s purpose, that is natural life. That is natural life. So whole trouble is that although our senses and everything, whatever we have got… There is Isopanisad, a part of Vedas. It is stated there that isavasyam idam sarvam: Everything, whatever you see, that belongs to God.” That belongs to God. Now, it is our misunderstanding that we are claiming… All the people of the world, they are claiming as proprietor. Now, just like this American land. American land, now you are claiming as the proprietor. But is it a fact? Actually are you proprietor? Eh? Now, say, some hundreds and hundreds years, when Columbus came, so there were no Americans here, and so you were not proprietor. The land was there. Now, when you shall go away, the land will also be there. So the land belongs to God, and everything… Now, we say that we have manufactured this typewriter. Now, this typewriter, the now ingredient, the iron, have we manufactured iron? No. Iron is received from the mines. It is given by God. Nobody can manufacture iron. Nobody can manufacture anything. They can transform from one thing to another. They can bring out the iron from the mine. They can melt, and they can transform the shape of the metal in a different way. So that they can do, but they cannot produce iron. They cannot produce anything”wood, iron, earth, anything, whatever. So real proprietor is God. Real proprietor is God, everything. Isavasyam idam sarvam. This is God consciousness. This is God consciousness. One who is in God consciousness, he is a perfect man. He is a perfect man. So here, the significant word, tam uvaca hrsikesah prahasann iva bharata senayor ubhayor madhye visidantam idam vacah Now, Krsna is smiling. Krsna is smiling because that Just see. Arjuna is such a hero. He is My friend, and now he is so much perplexed.” Now, when he sat down and he, Arjuna, accepted Krsna as the spiritual master, now Krsna begins to speak. Sri-bhagavan uvaca. Sri-bhagavan uvaca. Here the book does not say, krsnah uvaca. Sri-bhagavan uvaca. Now, we should understand what is the meaning of bhagavan. Bhaga… Bhaga means opulence. Opulence. There are six kinds of opulence. And what are…? Yes.

Young man (2): It means what?

Prabhupada: Opulence.

Young man (2): Opulence.

Prabhupada: Do you follow, opulence?

Young man (2): Yes, I do.

Prabhupada: Yes. So what are these opulences? Wealth is opulence. Then strength is opulence. Then… Aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya. Strength and fame. Fame is also opulence. Just like Lord Jesus Christ. The whole Christian world knows. Lord Krsna everyone knows. Or the, apart from them, President Johnson. Now the whole America and the whole world knows who is President Johnson. Mahatma Gandhi. The famous. So fame is also opulence. And nobody knows me, but he is also a person. He is known throughout the whole world. So this is an opulence. Just like your Rockefellers. They are very rich. So everyone knows in the world. So they are opulent, opulent by wealth. Similarly, somebody is opulent by fame, and somebody is opulent by strength. And so strength is opulence, wealth is opulence, and fame is opulence. And then beauty; beauty is also opulence. If one, one man or woman, is very beautiful, he attracts persons. He attracts. So anything that attracts, that is called opulence. A wealthy man attracts. A strong man attracts. A famous man attracts. If somebody, famous man, comes here, oh, so many people will gather to receive him. So these are opulences: wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation”six things. Anyone who possess all these six opulences in full, He is God. That is the definition of God. So when Krsna was present on this earth, He showed His opulence, opulences, in full. Opulences in full. Of course, we have got all these historical records about Him. Now, so far His wealth is concerned, He had 16,108 wives. And for each of them, for each of them, He built a palace. And all those palaces were so nicely built that there was no need of electricity. It was bedecked with jewels. So day and night, they were blazing. You see? So these description are there. But if we forget that, that He is God, then this will be something like story, that How a man can marry sixteen thousand wives? How He…?” But we should always remember that He is God. He is all-powerful. And for no other person such historical records are there, only for Krsna. So in strength also nobody could conquer Him. And beauty… So far beauty is concerned, when He was on the battlefield… Have you seen any picture of Krsna? Have you seen? Oh, no. Any one of you have seen Krsna? Krsna, when He was present in the battle, Battlefield of Kuruksetra, at that time He was about ninety years old. Ninety years old. He had His great-grandchildren. He married sixteen thousand wives, and each wife had ten children. And those ten children, they also got, each, ten, twelve children. And they had children also. Because He was at that time ninety years old, He got at that time great-grandchildren also. So His family was very great. Now, if you see the picture of Krsna, you ll see Him just like a boy of twenty-two, twenty-five years old. He was so beautiful. He was so beautiful. Then… That is the sign of God. It is stated in Brahma-samhita, advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam adyam purana-purusam nava-yauvanam ca [Bs. 5.33]. He is the original person. Because from God everyone has born, therefore He is the original person, adyam. Purana-purusam. Purana means the oldest person. Still, nava-yauvanam ca. Whenever you will see God… That is the… This is the sign of God. You ll find Him just like a youth, a new youth. Youthfulness means, say, sixteen to twenty-four years. So nava-yauvanam ca. That is the sign of God. So He was so beautiful that when He was a boy of fifteen years old His, the whole, I mean, of His, of the same age girls, girls of His age, they were after Him. He was so beautiful. So in beauty He was superexcellent. In wealth He was superexcellent. In strength He was superexcellent. And in knowledge… Now, here is a book, Bhagavad-gita. Now, apart from other books, other knowledge which He imparted to other…, now, here is a book which was imparted to Arjuna. Now, it is so, the depth of knowledge…, that people are still considering, great, great scholars. We are not reading, but Dr. Radhakrishnan, one of the greatest scholars of the world”now he is the president of India”he is discussing. Professor Einstein, he was living here in America. He was a German Jew, and I think he was living in America. He was a great student of this Bhagavad-gita. Hitler. Hitler was a great student of Bhagavad-gita. And there were many scholars still reading Bhagavad-gita, trying to understand. Just see what best of knowledge He has given. It is made by Krsna. So in knowledge, in wealth, in strength, in beauty, and in everything He was opulent. Therefore He is Bhagavan. You cannot accept any ordinary man as Bhagavan. So therefore Bhagavan. Now, bhagavan uvaca. And because He has been accepted as the spiritual master… Just like a teacher has the right to sometimes rebuke the student, so in the first instance He is rebuking Arjuna in the following words that asocyan anvasocas tvam prajna-vadams ca bhasase gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah [Bg. 2.11] that Arjuna, you are speaking just like a very great, learned man, but you are… You are… In other words, you are a fool. You do not know how things are going on because panditah, those who are learned men, they would not have lamented just like you are doing. That means indirectly He says… Panditah means learned. Learned man does not lament over a dead body or a living body. Gatasun agatasums ca. Asun means life. One has lost his life. And one has got his life, a body, living body and a dead body, living body and a dead body. Just mark the point, that A learned man… As you are lamenting over the subject of killing your friends and relatives, but a learned man would not have lamented like this. That means you are a fool.” When He says… Just like if I say, Mr. Green, what you have done, any intelligent man should not have done this. So this is indirectly saying that You are not intelligent. It is in a gentleman s way, speaking that Mr. Green, what you are doing, no intelligent man can do this. That means You are not intelligent. So here He say that You are lamenting over the bodies of your relatives because in the fight you are considering that “My friends and my relatives will be killed, so that means they are living bodies, and you are lamenting over the, over their killing. So this sort of lamentation is never done by a learned man. A learned man never does it. Gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah. Those who are learned, one who is learned, he does not lament over the body, either a living body or dead body. There is no question of…” Now, because one who knows the distinction between the body and the soul, firmly con… Just like you have heard the name of Socrates. Soc…, a great philosopher, Greek philosopher. He believed in the immortality of soul. So he was punished in the court. Hemlock. Hemlock was offered to him, that All right, if you believe the immortality of soul, then you drink this hemlock poison. So he drunk because he was firmly convinced that Even if I drink this poison… “My body will be destroyed, but by destruction of my body, I am not going to be destroyed.” He was convinced. So he did not lament. So a pandita, learned man, must know that this body and soul, the distinction, the difference between body and soul… The body is not soul, and the soul is not body, and one who knows, he is learned man. This instruction is given first. So for spiritual advancement this first knowledge, that the body and the soul is different… This body cannot be identified with the soul. You see? The soul is there, but body is not soul. Body is not soul. So every learned man knows it, and we should be… I think we can stop here. (end)

Tags: guru bogus, guru cheater, guru qualifications, guru rascal

About the Author

HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founded the Hare Krishna Movement in 1966 in New York. In only 11 years he spread the movement all over the world. He wrote more than 80 books including Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Isopanisad. Prabhupada's books constitute a complete library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.

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