definition

Disciple means who voluntarily accepts the spiritual master to be..., regulate. Disciple means one who is regulated by higher authority. He is disciple. The higher authority is called the spiritual master, and the person who voluntarily submits to him for being regulated, he is called disciple. Everyone is very much puffed up. This is material condition. Even the most insignificant person, he thinks of himself as very important. Nobody wants to submit to anyone. This propensity is very prominent in this age, Kali-yuga. Therefore it is called Kali-yuga, means disagreement. "Why shall I accept your proposition? I am also independent. I can think independently." This is the general propensity. But to understand the transcendental subject matter, one has to become submissive. That is the first qualification, because the disease is that nobody is submissive. Nobody wants to be lower than anybody else. Although he is insignificant, he has no value, but still-this is called maya-he thinks himself to be very elevated, learned.    (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 Rupa 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...)