Finding the right Spiritual Master [Śrīla Prabhupāda]

Finding the right spiritual master (Śrīla Prabhupāda)
Jitendriya das

I’ve ran across more info on some of Srila Prabhupada’s early tapes about choosing a spiritual master.

Tape 66-004 New York – About 3/4 into Side A

“If you chose the wrong spiritual master, your whole life is spoiled.”

“In every stage of his life the spiritual master guides”… “To take such guidance means, the spiritual master should also be a very perfect man, otherwise how can he guide.”

Now here Arjuna knows that Sri Krsna is the perfect person, so therefore he has accepted him as: Sisyas te’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. I am just surrendering unto you, he said, yourself, and you accept me as your disciple because friendly talks cannot make a solution of the perplexity. When the talks may be going on for years together, and there is no solution.

Here, accepting Krsna as the spiritual master means, whatever Krsna has decided, he has to accept. One cannot deny the order of the spiritual master.

So, one has to select a spiritual master whose order carrying, he will not commit any mistake. Suppose if you accept the wrong person as spiritual master, and he guides you wrongly, then your whole life is spoiled.

So one has to accept a spiritual master who guidance will make his life perfect. That is the relation between the spiritual master and disciple. It is not a formality. It is a great responsibility — both for the disciple and for the spiritual master.”

[A guest asks how to find a spiritual master if you’ve never looked for one before. Srila Prabhupada explains how to search and qualify a spiritual master by using the example of a student searching for the right college to attend.]

Srila Prabhupada: First, you have to know what a school is. You cannot go to a club and accept this as a school. The spiritual master is required for a person who is inquisitive of transcendental knowledge. Therefore, one must be conversant with the preliminary knowledge about transcendental matters.

your servant,
Jitendriya das

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First you must know what Guru is, otherwise you will be Cheated

One cannot deny the order of a spiritual master. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whose order, carrying, you ll not commit a mistake. You see? Now, suppose if you accept a wrong person as spiritual master, and if you, if he guides you wrongly, then your whole life is spoiled. So one has to accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make his life perfect.

Prabhupada:. . . Now, to take such guidance means the spiritual master should also be a very perfect man. Otherwise, how can he guide? Now, here Arjuna knows that Sri Krsna is the perfect person. So therefore he is accepting Him as sisyas te ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam: I am just surrendering unto You, You self, Yourself, and You accept me as Your disciple because friendly talks cannot make a solution of the perplexity.” Friendly talks may be going on for years together, but there is no solution. Here, accepting Krsna as the spiritual master means whatever Krsna will decide, he has to accept. One cannot deny the order of a spiritual master. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whose order, carrying, you ll not commit a mistake. You see? Now, suppose if you accept a wrong person as spiritual master, and if you, if he guides you wrongly, then your whole life is spoiled. So one has to accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make his life perfect. That is the relation between spiritual master and disciple. It is not a formality. It is a great responsibility both for the disciple and for the spiritual master. And… Yes?

Young man (2): But if the disciple is in ignorance before… how does he know which master to choose? I mean, because he doesn t have the knowledge… to make a wise selection.

Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. So the first thing is that one should be searching after a disciple, er, or searching after a spiritual master. Now, just like you search after some school. You search after some school. So when you are searching after some school, you must have at least some preliminary knowledge what a school means. You cannot search after a school and go to a cloth shop. If you are so ignorant that you do not know what is a school and what is a cloth shop, then it is very difficult for you. You must know, at least, what is a school. So that knowledge is like this: tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet, samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nistham [MU 1.2.12]. The spiritual master is required for a person who is inquisitive to have transcendental knowledge. He requires a spiritual master. You see? So there is another verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam: tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta: “One should search after a spiritual master who is inquisitive about transcendental subject matter.” So unless one is at least conversant with the preliminary knowledge of transcendental matters… That transcendental matter here you can see. Arjuna is perplexed, and now he wants a definite answer. This is the inquiry about transcendental subject matter.

One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari. A neophyte Vaishnava or a Vaishnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that THEY CANNOT ADVANCE VERY WELL TOWARD THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF LIFE UNDER HIS INSUFFICIENT GUIDANCE. Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master. – The Nectar of Instruction, Text 5, Purport

The guru must be situated on the topmost platform of devotional service. There are three classes of devotees, and the guru must be accepted from the topmost class. …….When one has attained the topmost position of maha-bhagavata, he is to be accepted as a guru and worshiped exactly like Hari, the Personality of Godhead. Only such a person is eligible to occupy the post of a guru.- Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya Lila 24.330, Purport

However, one should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or maha-bhagavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation ONE WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME DEGRADED….. The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. – Nectar of Instruction, Text 5, purport

When actually you want Krishna seriously–you do not know who is guru–then Krishna will give you a guru. Just like Dhruva Maharaja. He was advised by his mother that “If you go to the forest you can see God.” So he went there. But when he was very serious, then Krishna sent him Narada Muni. So if you are actually serious about Krishna, then Krishna will send you some of His representative and he will take charge of you. That is the process. If you do not find a guru, that means Krishna is not yet pleased, ….. you are not serious. – Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan (at their home)–September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, Of course, to search out a guru is very nice. But if you want a cheap guru, or if you want to be cheated, THEN YOU WILL FIND MANY CHEATING GURUS. But if you are sincere, you will find a sincere guru. Because people want everything very cheaply, they are cheated. – Science of Self Realization, Ch. 2, “Choosing a Spiritual Master-Saints & Swindlers”

Reporter: Don’t you feel that people are suspicious because of their experience with fake gurus? If you went to a quack dentist and he broke your tooth, you might be suspicious about going to another dentist.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, naturally, if you are cheated, you become suspicious. But this does not mean that if you are cheated once, you will always be cheated. You should find someone genuine. But to come to Krishna consciousness, you must be either very fortunate or well aware of this science. From the Bhagavad-gita we understand that the genuine seekers are very few: manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye. Out of many millions of people, there may be only one who is interested in spiritual life. Generally, people are interested in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. So how can we expect to find many followers? It is not difficult to notice that people have lost their spiritual interest. And almost all those who are actually interested are being cheated by so-called spiritualists. You cannot judge a movement simply by the number of its followers. If one man is genuine, then the movement is successful. It is not a question of quantity, but quality.

Reporter: I wondered how many people you think might have been taken in by fake gurus.
Srila Prabhupada: Practically everyone. [Laughter.] There is no question of counting. Everyone.
Reporter: This would mean thousands of people, wouldn’t it?

Srila Prabhupada: Millions. Millions have been cheated, because they want to be cheated. God is omniscient. He can understand your desires. He is within your heart, and if you want to be cheated, God sends you a cheater.

Reporter: ls it possible for everyone to attain the perfectional stage you spoke of previously?

Srila Prabhupada: Within a second. Anyone can attain perfection within a second-providing he is willing. The difficulty is that no one is willing. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) Krishna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: ” Simply surrender unto Me.” But who is going to surrender to God? Everyone says, ” Oh, why should I surrender to God? I will be independent.” If you simply surrender, it is a second’s business. That’s all. But no one is willing, and that is the difficulty.

Reporter: When you say that lots of people want to be cheated, do you mean that lots of people want to carry on with their worldly pleasures and at the same time, by chanting a mantra or by holding a flower, achieve spiritual life as well? Is this what you mean by wanting to be cheated?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, this is like a patient thinking, ” I shall continue with my disease, and at the same time I shall become healthy. ” It is contradictory. The first requirement is that one become educated in spiritual life. Spiritual life is not something one can understand by a few minutes’ talk. There are many philosophy and theology books, but people are not interested in them. That is the difficulty. For instance, the Srimad-Bhagavatam is a very long work, and if you try to read this book, it may take many days just to understand one line of it. The Bhagavatam describes God, the Absolute Truth, but people are not interested. And if, by chance, someone becomes a little interested in spiritual life, he wants something immediate and cheap. Therefore, he is cheated. – Science of Self Realization, Ch. 2, “Choosing a Spiritual Master-Saints & Swindlers”

The Hari-bhakti-vilasa (2.6) quotes the following injunction from the Vishnu-yamala:

adīkṣitasya vāmoru
kṛtaṁ sarvaṁ nirarthakam
paśu-yonim avāpnoti 
dīkṣā-virahito janaḥ

“Unless one is initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, all his devotional activities are useless. A person who is not properly initiated can descend again into the animal species.” – Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya Lila 15.108, Purport

One cannot deny the order of a spiritual master. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whose order, carrying, you’ll not commit a mistake. You see? Now, suppose if you accept a wrong person as spiritual master, and if you, if he guides you wrongly, then YOUR WHOLE LIFE IS SPOILED. So one has to accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make his life perfect. That is the relation between spiritual master and disciple. It is not a formality. It is a great responsibility both for the disciple and for the spiritual master. – (Bhagavad-Gita Lecture 2.7-11–New York, March 2, 1966)