Why do I need to accept a spiritual master? Why can’t Prabhupāda be my guru?
This may look like a perfectly honest proposition at first, but there are a few faults in this reasoning. It can be explained in the following way...
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Why do we need to accept a spiritual master? What is the problem in just considering ourselves disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, since we are anyway getting knowledge from his books? What is the difference between accepting a disciple or grand disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda as my spiritual master and learning the philosophy from him, or just considering Prabhupāda as my guru and learning from him through his books?
This may look like a perfectly honest proposition at first, but there are a few faults in this reasoning. It can be explained in the following way:
Śrīla Madhvācārya is considered a direct disciple of Vyāsadeva, although he was born in the 13th century. However, in his case, he was able to get the direct darśana of Vyāsadeva in the Himalayas and get instructions from him. Similarly, Vyāsadeva is a disciple of Nārada Muni because he was able to directly associate with him, being instructed and corrected by him.
I’m also learning a lot from Nārada Muni through the pages of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, but what would be your reaction if I were to start claiming to be a disciple of Nārada Muni? Unless I could produce some proof that I’m somehow able to meet him, you would probably reject me as a fraud. Any intelligent person would question whether I’m really meeting and receiving instructions from him. Similarly, you would probably not accept me as a disciple of Rūpa Goswami or Vyāsadeva, or Krsna Himself, even though I’m reading their books.
Being a disciple of someone implies having a relationship with him, just like being the son, wife, or husband of someone. One may sentimentally claim to be a disciple of Nārada Muni or Rūpa Goswami, and someone else may sentimentally accept it, but this doesn’t make it true.
Although we may get instructions from all previous ācāryas, the spiritual master has an important responsibility: to ensure we properly understand what we are studying and correct us when necessary. The spiritual master also has the responsibility of showing the proper application of the philosophy by his personal example.
More than that, the spiritual master also protects us from the past results of our karma. We frequently think that freedom from karma happens magically during initiation, but it’s actually a result of following Krsna’s instructions, delivered through the medium of the spiritual master. The spiritual master acts thus, by the grace of Krsna, as an umbrella that protects the disciples from the influence of their past karma. The problem with our past karma is not just the reactions, but especially the fact that our past karma influences the way we think and act.
As the Yamadūtas explain in the pastime of Ajāmila:
“The living entities are thus known as peaceful, restless, and foolish; as happy, unhappy, or in-between; or as religious, irreligious, and semireligious. We can deduce that in the next life these three kinds of material nature will similarly act. Just as springtime in the present indicates the nature of springtimes in the past and future, so this life of happiness, distress, or a mixture of both gives evidence concerning the religious and irreligious activities of one’s past and future lives.”
In other words, our past karma restricts our freedom and poses a formidable obstacle in our spiritual practice. One who was sinful in his past life will tend to continue being sinful in this life, and this will, of course, quickly become an obstacle in his spiritual practice. When one accepts a spiritual master and humbly starts to follow his instructions, he gains relief from this influence, and thus he becomes free to take a different path. We can see how many disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda and other spiritual masters after him were able to dramatically change their lives. Without a true relationship with the spiritual master, it’s very hard for anyone to break with his previous tendencies and quickly advance in spiritual life.
The spiritual master acts thus like an umbrella that protects his disciples, acting as a conduit for Krsna’s mercy. Without the protection of the spiritual master, it’s much harder to advance. Some advancement will be there, but it will probably happen very slowly, over the course of several lives.
There is also another problem. On Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.6.9), we hear the story of King Arhat, the creator of Jainism. Although he studied the teachings of Ṛṣabhadeva, he ended up misunderstanding them and creating a philosophy that is actually contrary to Vedic principles. When we just study the teachings of the previous ācāryas through their books, there is always a great possibility that we may misunderstand and end up practicing or teaching a philosophy that may be contrary to the real teachings, despite looking similar on the surface. That’s how all kinds of mundane religions and philosophies are created. Christ was not a Christian, Mohamed was not a Muslim, Buddha was not a Buddhist, and Śankarācārya was not a Māyavadi. All these philosophies were created after the passing away of the teachers they were inspired by.
The Vedas counter this tendency with the system of paramparā, which is based on direct personal association with the disciples or grand-disciples of the previous ācārya, who studied under him, or learned from someone who did and can thus teach us the correct conclusions and correct us when we show signs of getting off course. When we reject this system, we become propense to make mistakes and go astray. One who insists that he wants to learn directly from Prabhupāda may thus end up actually quite distant from him. The job of the spiritual master is not to replace one’s connection with Śrīla Prabhupāda, but rather to reinforce it.
The problem is, of course, when we make the spiritual master an institutionalized figure with whom we just have some kind of official relationship. When we think about an institutional guru in whom we don’t have much faith, the idea of just accepting Prabhupāda as guru may seem attractive, but that’s just because this idea is also not very correct. A real guru is something different.
Once, someone complained to Prabhupāda about how difficult it is to find a bona fide guru in Kali-yuga. Prabhupāda answered that there are many devotees qualified to act as gurus, even in Kali-yuga, but where are the disciples? When we are ready to accept a spiritual master, it is not difficult for Krsna to put us in contact with a bona fide representative of Him. The difficult part is exactly how to reach this point. It’s not easy to submit ourselves to being taught and corrected by someone; we prefer to think that we already know everything.
Another point is that to be part of a family, we need to become the son of someone who is part of this family. I could change my name to “Rockefeller”, but this would not make me part of the family. To be accepted, I would need to take birth there or be adopted by someone who is part of the family. Similarly, Krsna has His family, the Acyuta Gotra. To be accepted, we need to find an authorized member who will accept us as his son or daughter.
One can make a lot of progress in spiritual life by just studying the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, chanting, and casually associating with devotees. However, it’s very difficult to reach a higher spiritual level without a true relationship with the spiritual master.
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