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One cannot come to the precincts of Krsna consciousness unless he touches the dust of the lotus feet of a person who has become a mahatma, a great devotee. This is the beginning of the surrendering process. Lord Krsna wants everyone to surrender unto Him, and this surrendering process begins when one touches the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master. By sincerely rendering service to a bona fide spiritual master, one begins his spiritual life in Krsna consciousness. Touching the lotus feet of a spiritual master means giving up one's false prestige and unnecessarily puffed-up position in the material world. Those who remain in the darkness of material existence due to their falsely prestigious positions-so-called scientists and philosophers-are actually atheists. They do not know the ultimate cause of everything. Although bewildered, they are not ready to surrender themselves to the lotus feet of a person who knows things in their proper perspective. In other words, one cannot arouse Krsna consciousness simply by his own mental speculation. One must surrender to a bona fide spiritual master. Only this process will help one. (More...)

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One cannot become a perfect devotee of the Lord without having touched the lotus feet of a great devotee. One who has nothing to do with this material world is called niskincana. The process of self-realization and the path home, back to Godhead, means surrendering to the bona fide spiritual master and taking the dust of his lotus feet on one's head. Thus one advances on the path of transcendental realization. Vidura had this relationship with Maitreya, and he attained the results. (More...)

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In Bhagavad-gita (7.1) the Lord recommends, mayy asakta-manaḥ partha yogam yunjan mad-asrayaḥ. This indicates that one must execute devotional service under the guidance of a devotee or directly under the guidance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not possible, however, to train oneself without guidance from the spiritual master. Therefore, according to the instructions of Srila Rūpa Gosvami, the first business of a devotee is to accept a bona fide spiritual master who can train him to engage his various senses in rendering transcendental service to the Lord. The Lord also says in Bhagavad-gita (7.1), asamsayam samagram mam yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu. In other words, if one wants to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead in completeness, one must follow the prescriptions given by Krsna by following in the footsteps of Maharaja Ambarisa. It is said, hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: bhakti means to engage the senses in the service of the master of the senses, Krsna, who is called Hrsikesa or Acyuta. These words are used in these verses. Acyuta-sat-kathodaye, hrsikesa-padabhivandane. The words Acyuta and Hrsikesa are also used in Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita is krsna-katha spoken directly by Krsna, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is also krsna-katha because everything described in the Bhagavatam is in relationship with Krsna. (More...)

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One may ask whether the guru is absolutely necessary. The Vedas inform us that he is: (More...)

The Vedas enjoin us to seek out a guru; actually, they say to seek out the guru, not just a guru. The guru is one because he comes in disciplic succession. What Vyasadeva and Krsna taught 5,000 years ago is also being taught now. There is no difference between the two instructions. Although hundreds and thousands of acaryas have come and gone, the message is one. The real guru cannot be two because the real guru does not speak differently from his predecessors. Some spiritual teachers say, "In my opinion you should do this," but this is not a guru. Such so-called gurus are simply rascals. The genuine guru has only one opinion, and that is the opinion expressed by Krsna, Vyasadeva, Narada, Arjuna, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the Gosvamis. Five thousand years ago Lord Sri Krsna spoke Bhagavad-gita, and Vyasadeva recorded it. Srila Vyasadeva did not say, "This is my opinion." Rather, he wrote, sri bhagavan uvaca, that is, "The Supreme Personality of Godhead says." Whatever Vyasadeva wrote was originally spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srila Vyasadeva did not give his own opinion. (More...)

Taking on a guru is not simply a fashion. One who is serious about understanding spiritual life requires a guru. A guru is a question of necessity, for one must be very serious to understand spiritual life, God, proper action and one's relationship with God. When we are very serious about understanding these subjects, we need a guru. We shouldn't go to a guru simply because a guru may be fashionable at the moment. Surrender must be there, for without surrender we cannot learn anything. If we go to a guru simply to challenge him, we will learn nothing. But we must accept the guru just as Arjuna accepted his guru, Sri Krsna Himself: (More...)

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But how is it to be understood that the Supreme Lord is satisfied by our service and labor? It is actually possible to perfect our service or occupational duty. Everyone has some service to perform according to his designations. He may be an Indian or American, Hindu, Muslim or Christian, man, woman, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sūdra or whatever-in any case he is meant to do some sort of work, and that work is his occupational duty. Perfection of duty can be tested by seeing whether the Supreme Lord is satisfied by its execution. The Supreme Lord's satisfaction can be tested by the Lord's representative, the spiritual master. Therefore it is important to seek out a real representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and work under him. If he is satisfied, then we should know that the Supreme Lord is also satisfied. That is explained by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura: (More...)

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So here, in the material world, as we are engaged, unalloyed happiness is not possible. But if you actually want unalloyed happiness, then you have to be advanced in spiritual consciousness, unalloyed. Atyantika-duḥkha-nivrtti. Atyantika means ultimate, and duḥkha means unhappiness. Atyantika-duḥkha-nivrtti. Nivrtti means finished. So people do not see what is that atyantika-duḥkha-nivrtti, what is that ultimate disappearance of unhappiness. That they do not know. So many things they do not know. Therefore it requires education. Education means knowledge, to get knowledge. And the Vedic direction is that if you want really knowledge, then tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [Munḍaka Upanisad ]: (More...)

So if we actually want to be happy, then we should not live like animals, without any restriction, without any... Even in your state, just to keep proper management of the state, there are so many laws. Even you... As soon as you go on the street, you see there is state law immediately: "Keep to the right." Discipline must be there. That is dharma, discipline, to abide by the state laws. There must be some discipline. Similarly, to make yourself advanced to spiritual life, you must have to observe the discipline. Without discipline, it is not possible. Adau gurvasrayam. Therefore Rūpa Gosvami says in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu that discipline means one who observes discipline, he is called disciple. Everyone knows it. Disciple means one who observes discipline. If one does not observe discipline, then he is not a disciple. And one who is not a disciple, his life is chaotic. He cannot be happy. Therefore Vedas says that "You must accept a bona fide guru and become disciplined under his instruction." Then you'll know the higher system of knowledge, the necessity of life, and thus you become happy. (More...)

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Reporter: Is the teacher always necessary? I mean, many meditation groups or yoga groups say that... (More...)

Prabhupada: Yes. Why you are asking? Anything you want to learn, you must go to a teacher. How you can learn independently? (More...)

Reporter: I mean just, say, by reading the Bhagavad-gita. (More...)

Prabhupada: Reading Bhagavad-gita is also taking lesson from the teacher. Teacher-Krsna is personally the teacher, and you read Bhagavad-gita means you take lessons from teacher, the supreme teacher. (More...)

In all cases, there is no question about the necessity of accepting a spiritual master. The only stipulation is that the spiritual master should be bona fide; i.e., the spiritual master must be in the proper chain of disciplic succession, called the param

Spotless devotees of the Lord have mentioned the source of such knowledge. How could one have knowledge of devotional service and detachment without the help of such devotees? (More...)

There are many inexperienced persons who advocate self-realization without the help of a spiritual master. They decry the necessity of the spiritual master and try themselves to take his place by propagating the theory that a spiritual master is not necessary. Srimad-Bhagavatam, however, does not approve this viewpoint. Even the great transcendental scholar Vyasadeva had need of a spiritual master, and under the instruction of his spiritual master, Narada, he prepared this sublime literature, Srimad-Bhagavatam. Even Lord Caitanya, although He is Krsna Himself, accepted a spiritual master; even Lord Krsna accepted a spiritual master, Sandipani Muni, in order to be enlightened; and all the acaryas and saints of the world had spiritual masters. In Bhagavad-gita Arjuna accepted Lord Krsna as his spiritual master, although there was no necessity of such a formal declaration. So, in all cases, there is no question about the necessity of accepting a spiritual master. The only stipulation is that the spiritual master should be bona fide; i.e., the spiritual master must be in the proper chain of disciplic succession called the parampara system. (More...)

in order to solve the perplexities of life and to understand the science of the solution, one must approach a spiritual master

By nature's own way the complete system of material activities is a source of perplexity for everyone. In every step there is perplexity, and therefore it behooves one to approach a bona fide spiritual master who can give one proper guidance for executing the purpose of life. All Vedic literatures advise us to approach a bona fide spiritual master to get free from the perplexities of life which happen without our desire. They are like a forest fire that somehow blazes without being set by anyone. Similarly, the world situation is such that perplexities of life automatically appear, without our wanting such confusion. No one wants fire, and yet it takes place, and we become perplexed. The Vedic wisdom therefore advises that in order to solve the perplexities of life and to understand the science of the solution, one must approach a spiritual master who is in the disciplic succession. A person with a bona fide spiritual master is supposed to know everything. One should not, therefore, remain in material perplexities but should approach a spiritual master. This is the purport of this verse. (More...)

As was pointed out earlier, atheistic men are always confused because they make their senses the standard, and the senses are like wild horses running in different directions. Krsna says, "The intelligence of the irresolute is many-branched." And Arjuna frankly admits, "Now I am confused about duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me." This is the point at which spiritual life begins. Without coming to the conclusion that I know nothing, I am in no position to receive spiritual knowledge. Unless I empty myself of all false opinions, I will not be very receptive to the absolute message. One cannot fill a cup that is already full. If the conditioned soul is still under the illusion that he knows something, or can somehow or other figure it out, he cannot make spiritual progress. The Bhagavad-gita actually begins when Arjuna says, "My dear Krsna, I am confused. I know nothing. Now I am Your disciple and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me." The first qualification, therefore, is surrender. But surrender to what? Actually everyone is surrendered; I see some of my friends surrendered to their wives, I see others surrendered to a sport, or to their senses, or to drugs. Some have even surrendered to a dog. Surrendered to what, or to whom? Arjuna gives us the perfect example-he surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. (More...)

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