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Both the disciple and the spiritual master must see whether each other is eligible to become either a bona fide spiritual master or a bona fide student.
In the Visnu Purana, as well as in the Mahabharata, both Krsna and Baladeva are mentioned as having beautiful black hair, even in Their advanced age. The Lord is called anupalaksya-margaḥ or, in still more technical Vedic terms, avah-manasa gocara: one who is never to be seen or realized by the limited sense perception of the people in general. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said by the Lord, naham prakasaḥ sarvasya yogamaya samavrtaḥ (Bg. 7.25). In other words, He reserves the right of not being exposed to anyone and everyone. Only the bona fide devotees can know Him by His specific symptoms, and out of such many, many symptoms, one symptom is mentioned here in this verse, that the Lord is sita-krsna-kesaḥ, or one who is observed always with beautiful black hair. Both Lord Krsna and Lord Baladeva have such hair on Their heads, and thus even in advanced age They appeared like young boys sixteen years old. That is the particular symptom of the Personality of Godhead. In the Brahma-samhita it is stated that although He is the oldest personality among all the living entities, still He always looks like a new, youthful boy. That is the characteristic of a spiritual body. The material body is symptomized by birth, death, old age and diseases, but the spiritual body is conspicuous by the absence of those symptoms. Living entities who reside in the Vaikunthalokas in eternal life and bliss have the same type of spiritual body, without being affected by any signs of old age. It is described in the Bhagavatam (Canto Six) that the party of Visnudūtas who came to deliver Ajamila from the clutches of the party of Yamaraja appeared like youthful boys, corroborating the description in this verse. It is ascertained thus that the spiritual bodies in the Vaikunthalokas, either of the Lord or of the other inhabitants, are completely distinct from the material bodies of this world. Therefore, when the Lord descends from that world to this world, He descends in His spiritual body of Atma-maya or internal potency, without any touch of the bahirahga-maya or external material energy. The allegation that the impersonal Brahman appears in this material world by accepting a material body is quite absurd. Therefore the Lord, when He comes here, has not a material body, but a spiritual body. The impersonal brahmajyoti is only the glaring effulgence of the body of the Lord, and there is no difference in quality between the body of the Lord and the impersonal ray of the Lord, called brahmajyoti.    (More...)
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The fourth symptom is that a guru, the spiritual master, encourages prasada distribution, remnants of foodstuff distributed to the public. Ours is not dry philosophy, simply we talk and go home. No. We distribute prasadam, very sumptuous prasadam. In every temple, anyone who comes, we can offer prasadam. In each and every temple we have got already from fifty to two hundred devotees. And outsiders also, they come and they take prasadam. This is an... This introduction is also another symptom of guru, prasada distribution. Catur-vidha. Not ordinary. Catur-vidha means four kinds of eatable: carvya, cūsya, lehya, peya. Something is chewed, something is swallowed up, something is licked up. In this way, there are different kinds of palatable dishes.    (More...)
Everyone has a blazing fire within his heart-a blazing fire of anxiety. That is the nature of material existence. Always, everyone has anxiety; no one is free from it. Even a small bird has anxiety. If you give the small bird some grains to eat, he'll eat them, but he won't eat very peacefully. He'll look this way and that way-"Is somebody coming to kill me?" This is material existence. Everyone, even a president like Mr. Nixon, is full of anxieties. What to speak of others. Even Gandhi, in our country-he was full of anxiety. All politicians are full of anxiety. They may hold a very exalted post, but still the material disease-anxiety-is there. So if you want to be anxiety-less, then you must take shelter of the guru, the spiritual master. And the test of the guru is that by following his instructions you'll be free from anxiety. This is the test. Don't try to find a cheap guru or a fashionable guru. Just as you sometimes keep a dog as a fashion, if you want to keep a guru as a fashion-"I have a guru"-that will not help. You must accept a guru who can extinguish the blazing fire of anxiety within your heart. That is the first test of the guru.    (More...)
The second test is, mahaprabhoḥ kirtana-nrtya-gita-vaditra-madyan-manaso rasena. The second symptom of the guru is that he is always engaged in chanting, glorifying Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu-that is his business. Mahaprabhoḥ kirtana-nrtya-gita. The spiritual master is dancing and chanting the holy name of the Lord, because that is the remedy for all calamities within this material world.    (More...)
Therefore, the guru is always engaged in chanting. Mahaprabhoḥ kirtana-nrtya-gita-chanting and dancing. Unless he performs it himself, how can he teach his disciples? So his first symptom is that he will give you such instructions that immediately you will feel relief from all anxiety, and his second symptom: he is always personally engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord and dancing. Mahaprabhoḥ kirtana-nrtya-gita-vaditra-madyan-manaso rasena: the spiritual master enjoys transcendental bliss within his mind by chanting and dancing. Unless you become blissful, you cannot dance. You cannot dance artificially. When devotees dance, it is not artificial. They feel some transcendental bliss, and therefore they dance. It is not that they are dancing dogs. No. Their dancing is performed from the spiritual platform. Romahca-kampasru-tarahga bhajaḥ. There are sometimes transformations of the body with spiritual symptoms-sometimes crying, sometimes the hairs standing on end. There are so many symptoms. These are natural. These symptoms are not imitated, but when one is spiritually advanced, they are visible.    (More...)
The spiritual master's duty is to engage the disciples in worshiping the Deity, sri-vigraha. In all of our one hundred centers, we engage in Deity worship. Here in Stockholm this worship has not yet been fully established, but we worship the pictures of Lord Caitanya and the guru. In other centers, such as the ones in England and America, there is Deity worship.    (More...)
The spiritual master is always thinking of the pastimes of Krsna with His consort Srimati Radharani and the gopis. Sometimes he is thinking about Krsna's pastimes with the cowherd boys. This means that he is always thinking of Krsna engaged in some kind of pastime. Prati-ksanasvadana-lolupasya. Prati-ksana means he is thinking that way twenty-four hours a day. That is Krsna consciousness. One must be engaged twenty-four hours a day in thinking of Krsna. You have to make yourself a program like this. We, at least, have made such a program-all the boys and girls in the Krsna consciousness movement are engaged twenty-four hours daily-not just officially, not that once a week they meditate or go to some temple. No, they engage twenty-four hours a day. The next symptom is:    (More...)
The spiritual master's ultimate goal is that he wants to be transferred to the planet of Krsna, where he can associate with the gopis to help them serve Krsna. Some spiritual masters are thinking of becoming assistants to the gopis, some are thinking of becoming assistants to the cowherd boys, some are thinking of becoming assistants to Nanda and Mother Yasoda, and some are thinking of becoming God's servants. Some are thinking of becoming flower trees, fruit trees, calves, or cows in Vrndavana. There are five kinds of mellows: santa [veneration], dasya [servitorship], sakhya [friendship], vatsalya [parenthood], and madhurya [conjugal love]. Everything is there in the spiritual world. Cintamani-prakara-sadmasu: in the spiritual sky, even the land is spiritual. The trees are spiritual, the fruit is spiritual, the flowers are spiritual, the water is spiritual, the servants are spiritual, the friends are spiritual, the mothers are spiritual, the fathers are spiritual, the Lord is spiritual, and His associates are spiritual. It is all absolute, although there are varieties.    (More...)
The test for bona fide spiritual masters is that there should be no difference between the instruction of the Lord originally imparted to His devotee and that which is imparted by the authority in the line of disciplic succession.
Devarsi Narada was directly instructed by Brahmaji, who was also directly instructed by the Supreme Lord; therefore the instructions imparted by Narada to his various disciples are as good as those of the Supreme Lord. That is the way of understanding Vedic knowledge. It comes down from the Lord by disciplic succession, and this transcendental knowledge is distributed to the world by this descending process. There is no chance, however, to receive the Vedic knowledge from mental speculators. Therefore, wherever Narada Muni goes, he represents himself as authorized by the Lord, and his appearance is as good as that of the Supreme Lord. Similarly, the disciplic succession which strictly follows the transcendental instruction is the bona fide chain of disciplic succession, and the test for such bona fide spiritual masters is that there should be no difference between the instruction of the Lord originally imparted to His devotee and that which is imparted by the authority in the line of disciplic succession. How Narada Muni distributed the transcendental knowledge of the Lord will be explained in later cantos.    (More...)

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