SB 11.03.21 tasmad gurum prapadyeta... cited

Expressions researched:
"brahmany upasamasrayam" |"jijnasuh sreya uttamam" |"must seek a bona fide spiritual master" |"sabde pare ca nisnatam" |"tasmad gurum prapadyeta"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "11.3.21" or "brahmany upasamasrayam" or "jijnasuh sreya uttamam" or "must seek a bona fide spiritual master" or "sabde pare ca nisnatam" or "tasmad gurum prapadyeta"

SB Canto 4

SB 4.29.55, Purport:

People are generally enamored of the fruitive results of worldly activity and mental speculation. They generally desire to be promoted to heavenly planets, merge into the existence of Brahman, or keep themselves in the midst of family life, enchanted by the pleasures of the tongue and genitals. The great sage Nārada clearly instructs King Barhiṣmān not to remain his entire life in the gṛhastha-āśrama. Being in the gṛhastha-āśrama means being under the control of one's wife. One has to give up all this and put himself into the āśrama of the paramahaṁsa, that is, put himself under the control of the spiritual master. The paramahaṁsa-āśrama is the āśrama of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whom the spiritual master has taken shelter. The symptoms of the bona fide spiritual master are stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.21):

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta

jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam

śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ

brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

"Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken complete shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters."