Principle of accepting a spiritual master is essential

Expressions researched:
"principle of accepting a spiritual master"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the eighth verse, is essential. Even for one who takes to devotional service, it is most important.

BG 13.8-12, Translation and Purport:

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

This process of knowledge is sometimes misunderstood by less intelligent men as being the interaction of the field of activity. But actually this is the real process of knowledge. If one accepts this process, then the possibility of approaching the Absolute Truth exists. This is not the interaction of the twenty-four elements, as described before. This is actually the means to get out of the entanglement of those elements. The embodied soul is entrapped by the body, which is a casing made of the twenty-four elements, and the process of knowledge as described here is the means to get out of it. Of all the descriptions of the process of knowledge, the most important point is described in the first line of the eleventh verse. Mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī: the process of knowledge terminates in unalloyed devotional service to the Lord. So if one does not approach, or is not able to approach, the transcendental service of the Lord, then the other nineteen items are of no particular value. But if one takes to devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the other nineteen items automatically develop within him. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.18.12), yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. All the good qualities of knowledge develop in one who has attained the stage of devotional service. The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the eighth verse, is essential. Even for one who takes to devotional service, it is most important. Transcendental life begins when one accepts a bona fide spiritual master. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, clearly states here that this process of knowledge is the actual path. Anything speculated beyond this is nonsense.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

"The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the seventh verse, is essential."

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 2, 1973:

Pradyumna: "The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the seventh verse, is essential."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That knowledge has to be acquired. Ācāryopāsanam. Here it is said. You have to worship ācārya. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. One who has accepted... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has also said, āśraya loiyā bhaje kṛṣṇa tāre nāhi tyaje āra saba more akaraṇa. Āśraya. You have to take shelter. Evaṁ paramparā prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2).

And Arjuna also said, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). Śiṣyas te... Ācārya, ācāryopāsanam. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, two friends. There was no need of accepting Kṛṣṇa as Arjuna's spiritual master. Still, he is accepting officially. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: "I am accepting You as my spiritual master. Please teach me." So this is essential. Ācāryopāsanam.

Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This is Vedic instruction. If you at all interested in the understanding of spiritual subject matter, then you must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet. Abhigacchet means must. It is not that if you like, you can go; if you do not like, you do not. No, you must. Abhigacchet. Samit-pāṇi śrotrīyaṁ brahma-niṣṭam. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijṇāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). It is not a fashion to accept one guru. If you are actually interested, śreya uttamam, the highest perfection of life—tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta—then you have to accept a guru. This is called ācāryopāsanam.

Even Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted Sāndīpani Muni as teacher, master. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is also incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, but He accepted Īśvara Purī as His guru. They do not require guru, but just to keep pace with the official program, even God personally, He accepted spiritual master. So this is essential. Ācāryopāsanam.

To become humble, meek, ahiṁsā, non-violence, śānti, tolerance. In this way you have to make progress. The other items will be described by and by.