the necessity of a spiritual master is for him who is conscious of his material sufferings. If one is not conscious of his material sufferings, then he is not even on the human being status: he's still in the animal status. Animal status, you see? Now, the modern civilization . . . the modern civilization is practically . . . they are evading, evading the real sufferings. They are engaged in temporary sufferings. But the Vedic system is Vedic knowledge. They are meant for ending the sufferings of . . . for good, sufferings for good. You see? The human life is meant for that, ending all sufferings. Of course, we are trying to end all kinds of sufferings. Our business, our occupation, our education, our advancement of knowledge—everything is meant for ending suffering. But that suffering is temporary. Temporary. But we have to end the sufferings for good. Suffering . . .
That sort of knowledge is called transcendental knowledge, and if anyone is seeking after that transcendental know . . . this Bhagavad-gītā is not an ordinary thing. It is transcendental knowledge. And now here the ground is prepared. Ground is prepared. Arjuna is conscious of his suffering, perplexity. Now he is seeking a spiritual master.
So the, the . . . we should take the position of Arjuna: disciple. When a disciple is serious about making . . . about making a solution of the suffering, then he requires a spiritual master. And what sort of spiritual master? Kṛṣṇa, the most perfect man. The most perfect man. So a spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Of course, Kṛṣṇa is not present before us. But at least we must have a person as our spiritual master who represents Kṛṣṇa. And who can represent Kṛṣṇa? One who is devotee of Kṛṣṇa, in the line, disciplic succession. You see? So see here. Arjuna accepts Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master.
Now, question may be that "Why Arjuna . . .? There was many learned men, not only Kṛṣṇa, but there were Vyāsadeva and other great sages and brahmins. Why . . .?" Kṛṣṇa was also kṣatriya. Kṛṣṇa was not a brahmin. Of course, He took His, mean . . . He appeared in the family of a kṣatriya. And they were cousin-brothers. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, they were cousin-brothers. Kṛṣṇa was the son of the brother, and Arjuna was the son of the sister. Arjuna's mother and Kṛṣṇa's father, they were brother and sister. So they are in the family relation. They were intimately related, and at the same time, they were of the same age and friends.