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| Choosing a Spiritual Master
By His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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What is a Guru ?
On hearing the word guru, we tend to envision a caricature like image:
a bizarre-looking old fellow with a long, stringy beard and flowing
robes, meditating on distant, esoteric truths. Or we think of a cosmic
con man cashing in on young seekers' spiritual gullibility. But what
really is a guru ? What does he know that we don't ? How does he
enlighten us ? In a talk given in England in 1973, Srila Prabhupada
provides some enlightening answers.
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om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah
"I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my guru, my spiritual master,
opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful
obeisances unto him."
The word ajnana means "ignorance" or "darkness." If all the lights in
this room immediately went out, we would not be able to tell where we
or others are sitting. Everything would become confused. Similarly, we
are all in darkness in this material world, which is a world of tamas.
Tamas or timira means "darkness." This material world is dark, and
therefore it needs sunlight or moonlight for illumination. However,
there is another world, a spiritual world, that is beyond this
darkness. That world is described by Sri Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita
[15.6]:
na tad bhasayate suryo
na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
"That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by
electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world."
The guru's business is to bring his disciples from darkness to light.
At present everyone is suffering due to ignorance, just as one
contracts a disease out of ignorance. If one does not know hygienic
principles, he will not know what will contaminate him. Therefore due
to ignorance there is infection and we suffer from disease. A criminal
may say, "I did not know the law," but he will not be excused if he
commits a crime. Ignorance is no excuse. Similarly, a child, not
knowing that fire will burn, will tough the fire. The fire does not
think, "This is a child, and he does not know I will burn." No, there
is no excuse. Just as there are state laws, there are also stringent
laws of nature, and these laws will act despite our ignorance of them.
If we do something wrong out of ignorance, we must suffer. This is the
law. Whether the law is a state law or a law of nature, we risk
suffering if we break it.
The guru's business is to see that no human being suffers in this
material world. No one can claim that he is not suffering. That is not
possible. In this material world, there are three kinds of suffering:
adyatmika, adhibhautika, and adhidaivika. These are miseries arising
from the material body and mind, from other living entities, and from
the forces of nature. We may suffer mental anguish, or we may suffer
from other living entities-from ants or mosquitoes or flies - or we may
suffer due to some superior power. There may be no rain, or there may
be flood. There may be excessive heat or excessive cold. So many types
of suffering are imposed by nature. Thus there are three types of
miseries within the material world, and everyone is suffering from one,
two, or three of them. No one can say that he is completely free from
suffering.
We may then ask why the living entity is suffering. The answer is: out
of ignorance. He does not think, "I am committing mistakes and am
leading a sinful life; that is why I am suffering." Therefore the
guru's first business is to rescue his disciple from this ignorance. We
send our children to school to save them from suffering. If our
children do not receive an education, we fear that they will suffer in
the future. The guru sees that suffering is due to ignorance, which is
compared to darkness. How can one in darkness be saved ? By light. The
guru takes the torchlight of knowledge and presents it before the
living entity enveloped in darkness. That knowledge relieves him from
the sufferings of the darkness of ignorance.
One may ask whether the guru is absolutely necessary. The Vedas inform
us that he is:
tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet
samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nistham
[Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12]
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 five thousand
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, for 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 the 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.
Consequently, Srila Vyasadeva is a guru. He does not misintrepret the
words of Krsna, but transmits them exactly as they were spoken. If we
send a telegram, the person who delivers the telegram does not have to
correct it, edit it, or add to it. He simply presents it. That is the
guru's business. The guru may be this person or that, but the message
is the same; therefore it is said that guru is one.
In the disciplic succession we simply find repetition of the same
subject. In the Bhagavad-gita [9.34] Sri Krsna says:
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat-parayanah
"Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer
obeisances, and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you
will come to Me." These very instructions were reiterated by all the
acaryas, such as Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The six Gosvamis also transmitted the same message, and we are simply
following in their footsteps. There is no difference. We do not
interpret the words of Krsna by saying , "In my opinion, the
Battlefield of Kuruksetra represents the human body." Such
interpretations are set forth by rascals. In the world there are many
rascal gurus who give their own opinion, but we can challenge any
rascal. A rascal guru may say, "I am God," or, "We are all God." That
is all right, but we should find out from the dictionary what the
meaning of God is. Generally, a dictionary will tell us that the word
God indicates the Supreme Being. Thus we may ask such a guru, "Are you
the Supreme Being ?" If he cannot understand this, then we should give
the meaning of supreme. Any dictionary will inform us that supreme
means "the greatest authority." We may then ask, "Are you the greatest
authority?" Such a rascal guru, even though proclaiming himself to be
God, cannot answer such a question. God is the Supreme Being and the
highest authority. No one is equal to Him or greater than Him. Yet
there are many guru-gods, many rascals who claim to be the Supreme.
Such rascals cannot help us escape the darkness of material existence.
They cannot illumine our darkness with the torchlight of spiritual
knowledge.
The bona fide guru will simply present what the supreme guru, God, says
in bona fide scripture. A guru cannot change the message of the
disciplic succession.
We must understand that we cannot carry out research to find the
Absolute Truth. Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself said, "My Guru Maharaja, My
spiritual master, considered Me a great fool." He who remains a great
fool before his guru is a guru himself. However, if one says, "I am so
advanced that I can speak better than my guru," he is simply a rascal.
In the Bhagavad-gita [4.2] Sri Krsna says:
evam parampara-praptam
imam rajarsayo viduh
sa kaleneha mahata
yogo nastah parantapa
"This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic
succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in
course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as
it is appears to be lost."
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. We must accept the guru just as Arjuna accepted his guru, Sri
Krsna Himself:
karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam
"Now I am confused about my 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 2.7]
This is the process for accepting a guru. The guru is Krsna's
representative, the former acaryas representative. Krsna says that all
acaryas are His representatives; therefore the guru should be offered
the same respect one would offer to God. As Visvanatha Cakravarthi
Thakura says in his prayers to the spiritual master, yasya prasadad
bhagavat-prasadah: "By the mercy of the spiritual master, one receives
the benediction of Krsna." Thus, if we surrender to the bona fide guru,
we surrender to God. God accepts our surrender to the guru.
In the Bhagavad-gita [18.66] Krsna instructs:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall
deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." Someone may argue,
"Where is Krsna " I shall surrender to Him." But no, the process is
that we first surrender to Krsna's representative; then we surrender to
Krsna. There it is said, saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih: the guru
is as good as God. When we offer respects to the guru we are offering
respects to God. Because we are trying to be God conscious, it is
required that we learn how to offer respects to God through God's
representative. In all the sastras the guru is described to be as good
as God, but the guru never says, "I am God." The disciple's duty is to
offer respect to the guru just as he offers respect to God, but the
guru never thinks, "My disciples are offering me the same respect they
offer to God; therefore I have become God." As soon as he thinks like
this, he becomes a dog instead of God. Therefore Visvanatha Cakravarti
says, kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya. Because he is the most
confidential servitor of God, the guru is offered the same respect that
we offer God. God is always God, guru is always guru. As a matter of
etiquette, God is the worshipable God, and guru is the worshiper God
(sevaka-bhagavan). Therefore the guru is addressed as prabhupada. The
word prabhu means "lord," and pada means "position." Thus prabhupada
means "he who has taken the position of the Lord." This is the same as
saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih.
Only if we are very serious about understanding the science of God is a
guru required. We should not try to keep a guru as a matter of fashion.
One who has accepted a guru speaks intelligently. He never speaks
nonsense. That is the sign of having accepted a bona fide guru. We
should certainly offer all respect to the spiritual master, but we
should also remember how to carry out his orders. In the Bhagavad-gita
[4.34] Sri Krsna Himself tells us the method of seeking out and
approaching the guru:
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah
"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." The
first process is that of surrender. We have to find an exalted person
and willingly surrender before him. The sastras enjoin that before we
take a guru we study him carefully to find out whether we can surrender
to him. We should not accept a guru suddenly, out of fanaticism. That
is very dangerous. The guru should also study the person who wants to
become a disciple to see if he is fit. That is the way a relationship
is established between the guru and disciple. Everything is provided,
but we must take up the process seriously. Then we can be trained to
become a bona fide disciple. First we must find a bona fide guru,
establish our relationship with him, and act accordingly. Then our life
will be successful, for the guru can enlighten the sincere disciple who
is in darkness.
Everyone is born a rascal and a fool. If we are born learned, why do we
need to go to school ? If we do not cultivate knowledge, we are not
better than animals. An animal may say that there is no need of books
and that he has become a guru, but how can anyone obtain knowledge
without the study of authoritative books on science and philosophy ?
Rascal gurus try to avoid these things. We must understand that we are
all born rascals and fools and that we have to be enlightened. We have
to receive knowledge to make our lives perfect. If we do not perfect
our lives, we are defeated. What is this defeat ? The struggle for
existence. We are trying to obtain a better life, to attain a superior
position, and for this we are struggling very hard. But we do not know
what a superior position actually is.
Whatever position we have in this material world must be given up. We
may have a good position or a bad position; in any case, we cannot
remain here. We may earn millions of dollars and think, "Now I am in a
good position, " but a little dysentery or cholera will finish our
position. If the bank fails, our position is gone. So actually there is
no good position in this material world. It is a farce. those who try
to attain a better position in the material world are ultimately
defeated, because there is no better position. The Bhagavad-gita
[14.26] says what the better position is:
mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
"One who engages in the spiritual activities of unalloyed devotional
service at once transcends the modes of mateiral nature and is elevated
to the spiritual platform."
Is there any science that gives us the knowledge by which we may become
immortal ? Yes, we may become immortal, but not in the material sense.
We cannot receive this knowledge in so-called universities. However,
there is knowledge contained in the Vedic scriptures by which we may
become immortal. That immortality is our better position. No more
birth, no more death, no more old age, no more disease. Thus the guru
takes on a very great responsibility. He must guide his disciple and
enable him to become an eligible candidate for the perfect position -
immortality. The guru must be competent to lead his disciple back home,
back to Godhead.
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SRE
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