Prayer to the spiritual master
In the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains that spiritual knowledge has to be received from the person who can effectively see it, not just as theory, but as a spiritual reality he directly perceives.
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Some think that everything can be understood by studying the scriptures; they quote different verses and fight over their meaning. However, they often remain erratic and inconsistent in their actions. In the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains why. Spiritual knowledge has to be received from the person who can effectively see it, not just as theory, but as a practical system he personally performs, as a spiritual reality he directly perceives. Without this direct realization, even the words of the śāstras are inconclusive, for one will interpret them in incorrect ways.
As Prabhupāda explains in his purport to Bg 9.28:
“Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help lead one to the right path. Nor by independent study of books of knowledge can one progress in spiritual life. One has to approach a bona fide spiritual master to receive the knowledge. Such a spiritual master should be accepted in full surrender, and one should serve the spiritual master like a menial servant, without false prestige. Satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of advancement in spiritual life. Inquiries and submission constitute the proper combination for spiritual understanding. Unless there is submission and service, inquiries from the learned spiritual master will not be effective.”
The true spiritual master lives in this transcendental reality. He is not someone who speaks about it from a book, or even someone with one foot in the spiritual world and another here. He lives in this spiritual reality; he carries it with him and wants to drag us to it, freeing us from our ego and material conditioning.
Śrīla Prabhupāda brought us the path, and his disciples and followers, who follow him to the letter, keep the same path open by following the same path chalked by him. Now, by their example, care, and instructions, they guide us to the same transcendental destination. We kick and scream, like children who don’t want to take the bitter medicine. We have tantrums, we make scandals, we don’t want to leave the familiar, the comfortable, not noticing that the comfortable has been the source of our misery, life after life. Not happy to see us in this situation, the spiritual master does everything to free us from this conditioning, cutting the chains that bind us to this dark material world.
When Queen Vaidarbhī lost her husband, she did not know what to do. She could not find a solution for her grief. The Lord then appeared in the form of a Brāhmana to give her the instructions that would finally liberate her from the material world. She had been Purañjana, and before that, she had transmigrated through many forms of human and animal life. Now, finally, she was having the chance of getting out of this cycle.
Similarly, when we are perplexed, when we don’t know what to do, and what can be beneficial or not, Kṛṣṇa speaks to us through the spiritual master, the transparent via-medium, the perfect representative. By the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, we come in contact with the spiritual master, and by the mercy of the spiritual master, we obtain Kṛṣṇa. Because the spiritual master is directly connected with Kṛṣṇa, he can speak in the name of Kṛṣṇa.
In his purport to SB 3.21.17, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that life in this material world is compared to a forest fire that can be extinguished only by a strong and continuous rain. This cloud that extinguishes the fire of conditioned life is the spiritual master, who carries with him the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and distributes it to those who are willing to follow his guidance. Sākṣād-hari: the spiritual master is directly empowered by Kṛṣṇa due to their intimate connection. The spiritual master is always fixed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa, and thus he is directly with Kṛṣṇa.
A true spiritual master is always with his spiritual master, who is with his spiritual master, who is with his spiritual master, in an unbroken chain that goes all the way to Kṛṣṇa himself. In this way, the spiritual master brings the whole parampara, and by his instructions, he connects us with this unbroken chain.
However, just as the cloud distributes rain equally, but not everyone is able to benefit from it, the spiritual master is willing to teach any sincere disciple, but our capacity to receive this mercy varies according to our capacity to receive it.
Kṛṣṇa speaks similarly in the Bhagavad-gītā, when he says that “I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” Kṛṣṇa is willing to accept anyone, but the reciprocation is limited by our capacity to approach Kṛṣṇa with a sincere heart. In the same way, the perfect spiritual master offers us everything and is ready to accept anyone who shows sincerity, but we are crippled in our capacity to reciprocate.
I pray that I may be able to always serve such a spiritual master in some capacity, and that by this service I may one day become qualified to receive his mercy.
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