Finding A Spiritual Master

Syamasundara [Srila Prabhupada's secretary]: How do we know when we are pleasing God?

Srila Prabhupada: When we see Him. Then you will understand. Just as, when you eat, you do not require to ask anyone whether you are feeling strength or your hunger is satisfied, if you eat, you understand that you are feeling energy. You don't need to inquire from anyone. Similarly, if you actually serve God, then you will understand, "God is dictating to me. God is there. I am seeing God." A devotee: Or God's representative.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

Devotee: It comes easier.

Srila Prabhupada: You have to go through God's representative.

"By the mercy of the spiritual master one is benedicted by the mercy of Krsna." [Sri Gurv-astakam] If you please God's representative, then automatically God becomes pleased, and thus you can directly see Him. An Indian gentleman: How to please God's representative?

Srila Prabhupada: You have to carry out his orders, that's all. God's representative is the guru. He asks you to do this, to do that-if you do that, that is pleasing.

"Without the grace of the spiritual master one cannot make any advancement." if you displease him, then you are nowhere. Therefore we worship the guru.

[The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord because of his being the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged by all revealed scriptures and is followed by all authorities. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who is a bona fide representative of Lord Krsna." (Sri Gurv-astakam)] The guru should be accepted as God. That is the injunction of all sastra.

Bob: The guru should be accepted as a representative of God?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, the guru is God's representative. The guru is the external manifestation of Krsna.

Bob: But different from the incarnations of Krsna that come?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

Bob: In what way is the external manifestation of the guru different from the external manifestation of, let us say, Krsna or Caitanya when They come to earth?

Srila Prabhupada: The guru is the representative of Krsna. So there are symptoms of who is a guru. The general symptoms are described in the Vedas.

A guru must come in a disciplic succession, and he must have heard thoroughly about the Vedas from his spiritual master. Generally a guru's symptom is that he is a perfect devotee, that's all. And he serves Krsna by preaching His message.

Bob: Lord Caitanya-He was a different type of guru than you are?

Srila Prabhupada: No, no. Gurus cannot be of different types. All gurus are of one type.

Bob: But He was-was He also an incarnation at the same time?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, He is Krsna Himself, but He is representing the guru.

Bob: I. . . I see.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

Bob: And then. . .

Srila Prabhupada: Because Krsna was God, He demanded:

"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me." [Bg 18.66] But people misunderstood Him. Therefore Krsna again came as a guru and taught people how to surrender to Krsna.

Syamasundara: Doesn't He say in Bhagavad-gita, "I am the spiritual master"?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, He is the original spiritual master because He was accepted as spiritual master by Arjuna. So what is the difficulty? Sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvamh prapannam. Arjuna told the Lord, "I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me." [Bg 2.7] So unless He is a spiritual master, how does Arjuna become His disciple? He is the original guru. Tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye: "It is He only who first imparted Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahma, the first created being." [Bhag. 1.1.1] Therefore He is the original guru.

Bob: Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. He is the original guru. Then His disciple Brahma is a guru, then his disciple Narada is a guru, then his disciple Vyasa is a guru- in this way there is a guru-parampara [disciplic succession of gurus}. Evam parampara-praptam. [Bg 4.2] The transcendental knowledge is received through the disciplic succession.