Acceptance of spiritual master means to accept anything, whatever he says. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whom he can completely surrender. That is the technique. Veda-vakya

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"acceptance of spiritual master means to accept anything whatever he says. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whom he can completely surrender. That is the technique. Veda-vākya"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Arjuna and same Kṛṣṇa, they'll talk, but what is the necessity of accepting as spiritual master? That means after accepting spiritual master he'll not argue. He'll simply accept whatever He says. That is the technique. Friendly talks, equal level, He, Kṛṣṇa was talking something and he was replying. So that argument has no end. But when he accepts Him as spiritual master, there is no more argument. One has to accept whatever He says. Therefore he's accepting as spiritual master. After this, Arjuna will never say, "This is wrong, this is, no," or "I don't agree." No. He'll accept. So acceptance of spiritual master means to accept anything, whatever he says. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whom he can completely surrender. That is the technique. Veda-vākya.

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ". . . or miserly persons, waste their time in being overly affectionate for family, society, country, etc., in the material conception of life. One is often attached to family life, to wife and children and other members on the basis of 'skin disease.' The kṛpaṇas think that they are able to protect their family members from death, or the kṛpaṇa thinks that his family or society can save him from death. Such family attachment can be found even in the lower animals, who also take care of children.

"Being intelligent, Arjuna could understand that his affection for family members and his wish to protect them from death were the causes of his perplexities. Although he could understand that his duty to fight was awaiting him, still, on account of miserly weakness, he could not discharge the duty.

"He is therefore asking Lord Kṛṣṇa, the supreme spiritual master, to make a definite solution. He offers himself to Kṛṣṇa as a disciple. He wants to stop friendly talks. Talks between a master and disciple are serious, and now Arjuna wants to talk very seriously before the recognized spiritual master. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the original . . ."

Prabhupāda: Here is a technique. The same Kṛṣṇa and same Arjuna, they are talking as friends. Then what was the necessity of Arjuna accepting Kṛṣṇa as spiritual master? The same Arjuna and same Kṛṣṇa, they'll talk, but what is the necessity of accepting as spiritual master? That means after accepting spiritual master he'll not argue. He'll simply accept whatever He says. That is the technique.

Friendly talks, equal level, He . . . Kṛṣṇa was talking something and he was replying. So that argument has no end. But when he accepts Him as spiritual master, there is no more argument. One has to accept whatever He says. Therefore he's accepting as spiritual master. After this, Arjuna will never say, "This is wrong, this is, no," or "I don't agree." No. He'll accept.

So acceptance of spiritual master means to accept anything whatever he says. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whom he can completely surrender. That is the technique. Veda-vākya. Just like in the Vedic injunction, nobody can deny. Similarly, spiritual master is also representative of Veda. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.14.2).

So similarly, it is just like Vedic injunction.

So spiritual master has also got the great duty. He has to instruct the disciple in such a way that he may not be misled, and that is not possible, because a spiritual master is he who will simply speak from authoritative sources. He'll speak from Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata, or what was spoken by Nārada, Vyāsa. That is his authority. He does not say: "In my opinion it is . . ." No.

Therefore it is perfect, it is coming from the disciplic succession, and if one agrees to such instruction, then he's also perfectly advancing. It is not difficult to understand. So he's accepting. "Now I accept You as my spiritual master. You teach me." Is that the statement?

Yes. What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "He offers himself to Kṛṣṇa as a disciple. He wants to stop friendly talks. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the original spiritual master in the science of the Bhagavad-gītā, and Arjuna is the original disciple in understanding the Gītā."

"How Arjuna understands the Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Gītā itself, and yet foolish mundane scholars explain that one need not submit to Kṛṣṇa as a person but to the unborn within Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's within and without, and one who has no sense of this understanding is the greatest fool, the greatest pretender."

"I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not even be able to destroy it if I win an unrivalled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven." (BG 2.8)

"Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, 'Govinda, I shall not fight,' and fell silent." (BG 2.9)

"O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna." (BG 2.10)

Prabhupāda: So Arjuna was so serious, and Kṛṣṇa was smiling. (laughs) "Just see the fool, what he is doing." Therefore there was necessity of instructing Bhagavad-gītā. The fool has to be instructed. Yes. This is the . . . He was smiling.

This is childish. He was very serious, "Oh." Just like sometimes a child is very serious, and the father is smiling. Yes. So now Bhagavad-gītā will be spoken. He has accepted Kṛṣṇa as spiritual master. Now He'll teach. So what does He teach?

Next?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead." (BG 2.11)

Prabhupāda: This is the first version of Kṛṣṇa as teacher.

What is that? Read it again.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11) that, "You are lamenting for a thing which no learned man does. That means you are not learned, but you are talking just like a learned man."

What is that? "You are talking"?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "While speaking learned words you are . . ."

Prabhupāda: Yes. "You are speaking learned words, but your behavior shows that you are not learned, because you are lamenting on a subject which no learned man laments." And politely He says that "You are not learned, but you are talking just like a learned man." That you will find. Dr. Frog, (laughs) speaking like a very great philosopher.

Just like here, that Dr. Radhakrishnan, that says: "It is not to Kṛṣṇa but within Kṛṣṇa." That fool does not know that there is no within or without of Kṛṣṇa. Rather, Kṛṣṇa is within and without. That he does not know. And he's accepted as a very great, learned man, Dr. Frog, or Dr. Radhakrishnan. You see?

This is going on in the world. They are posing themself as very learned, but . . . this can be detected by devotees: who is learned and who is not learned. Others cannot detect. Others will be misled. The devotees, they have got such eyes to see that they can immediately, I mean, discriminate who is a fool, who is learned.

There is a story that one man was searching after the truth. So he met some person, saintly person. So he gave him one feather, that "You try to see within the feather who is a human being and who is not." So when he began to see within the feather, he saw, "There is no human being." Similarly:

ajñāna-timirāndhasya

jñānāñjana-śalākayā

cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena

tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ