—Jayadvaitadas

Om Ajana Timiran Dasya Jnanan Jnana Salakaya Chaksurum Militam Yena Tasmai Sri Gurave Namah. I offer my most respectful obeisances unto my Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who has opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge when I was standing in the darkness of ignorance. This ignorance is forgetfulness of Krishna, and by the grace of the bona fide Spiritual Master is this ignorance dispelled.

Srila Prabhupada is the Personified Mercy of the Supreme Lord and our only hope for achieving the loving devotional service of Krishna. Following in the Footsteps of Lord Chaitanya, He has benedicted us with the Holy Name of Lord Krishna; and following in the Footsteps of Srila Vyasadev, He is presenting us with the essence of the Vedic literature in the form of His treasured books.

In The Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srila Vyasadev's basic presentation of the science of spiritual life and the first of Srila Prabhupada's books to be published in this country, the importance of the Spiritual Master is stressed throughout. Arjuna was in a distressful condition of confusion and perplexity, and so he submitted to Lord Krishna, the Original Spiritual Master, for instruction. "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." (Bhagavad-gita, II/7) Arjuna surrendered to the Spiritual Master. This is the beginning of The Bhagavad-gita and the beginning of spiritual life. It is understood that it is not possible to attain spiritual perfection by one's own endeavor. Acceptance of the bona fide Spiritual Master is required. When a person desiring to cultivate Krishna Consciousness accepts initiation from a bona fide Spiritual Master, then the connection between the devotee and Krishna is established. Without such initiation, the actual connection with Krishna Consciousness is never achieved.

Therefore, in order to fulfill the mission of the human form of life, one must approach the Spiritual Master, who alone can give transcendental knowledge. The Bhagavad-gita recommends: "Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth." (Gita, IV/34)

Spiritual Truth can only be understood from the disciplic succession. "Evam parampara praptum imam rajarsayo viduh." "This supreme science was received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way." (Gita, IV/2) The Spiritual Master must be coming in an unbroken line of disciplic succession, and he must be a devotee of Krishna. Krishna says to Arjuna, "That very ancient science of the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore, you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science." (Gita, IV/3) The nondevotees may speculate on the meaning of The Bhagavad-gita, but they cannot understand it. They are licking on the bottle of honey. However, if one accepts initiation from the bona fide Spiritual Master, serving him humbly and inquiring from him submissively, he can actually taste the nectar of Krishna Consciousness.

Arjuna heard The Bhagavad-gita directly from Lord Krishna and his ignorance and illusion were completely dispelled. "Arjuna said: My dear Krishna, O Infallible One, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and now I am fixed without any doubt, prepared to act according to Your instructions." (Gita, XVIII/72) A few verses later, Samjaya says, "By the mercy of Vyasa, I have heard these most confidential talks directly from the Master of all mysticism, Krishna, speaking Personally to Arjuna." (Gita, XVIII/75) As Arjuna was able to see and hear Krishna, similarly Samjaya was able to see and hear Krishna directly with his purified senses, even though he was not personally present on the battlefield, and was thus able to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Samjaya admitted that this was only possible by the mercy of Vyasadev, his Spiritual Master. Narada Muni is a disciple of Lord Brahma-a direct disciple of Krishna, and is the Spiritual Master of Vyasa. In this way, Vyasa is as good as Arjuna. If one, therefore, hears Bhagavad-gita from Srila Vyasadev or his bonafide representative, it is as good as hearing Krishna directly. Thus the bona fide Spiritual Master coming in disciplic succession from Vyasadev is as good as Lord Krishna Himself, and one who takes shelter of such Spiritual Master can achieve the same wonderful result achieved by Arjuna and by Samjaya.

His Divine Grace our Spiritual Master is the bona fide representative of Srila Vyasadev coming in unbroken disciplic succession. From his glorious activities on behalf of Lord Krishna, it is apparent that he has fully realized the purport of all Vedic literature, and thus is always personally situated in an intimate loving relationship with Lord Krishna, eternally serving His Lotus Feet. Srila Prabhupada is making the authorized transcendental science of The Bhagavad-gita available to everyone as it is, conveying its pure message without any adulteration, and is always engaged in propagating Lord Chaitanya's Samkirtan Movement, the life of all transcendental knowledge, as the practical method for reviving our Krishna Consciousness. He is our only hope for becoming freed from the multiple miseries of material existence. By His Mercy alone, our ignorance and illusion can be dispelled and we can regain our memory as eternal part and parcel loving servitors of the Supreme Person. I offer my most humble obeisances unto my Spiritual Master, who is very kind and merciful, freely distributing love of Krishna to ourselves, the most fallen souls.

-Jayadvaitadas
(ISKCON-New York)