Guru—Who is it?

The necessity of authority

In times where the word "guru" has even been incorporated into the vocabulary of mainstream society entertainers, it is even more important to understand who a guru is and what our relationship with such a spiritual master may be.

It is truly amazing how, in every aspect of our material life, we sooner or later address some authority. A man can be found standing respectfully and helplessly in the garage of a car mechanic, due to his absolute ignorance about the workings of a car, blindly accepting the mechanic’s advice. The faith people place in a doctor while lying on an operating table, ready to be operated on, is astonishing. In some countries, doctors work on the level of almost blind faith from the side of the patient, as the poor fellow never even verifies their credentials or the origin of the medicine they administer. Some medicines—better to say vaccinations—have already proven to be deadly, yet so many are ready to place their lives in the hands of somebody they don't know, being injected with substances they have no knowledge of.

Ironically, when it comes to spiritual life, the most subtle of all sciences, suddenly everybody seems to know their own path, and everyone is ready to listen to their mind and the "voice within." Srila Prabhupada vehemently opposed such foolishness while establishing the absolute need for bona fide spiritual guidance for any sincere spiritual seeker.

There are more than a thousand quotes from his books and conversations where the acceptance of a bona fide spiritual master is stressed again and again, starting with Krishna Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who clearly states in His Bhagavad Gita:

"Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Enquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realised soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth."
(B.G. 4.34)

It is interesting to note that here Krishna doesn’t speak about "faith" but about "knowledge." As we know, there are two kinds of knowledge described in the scriptures: theoretical and realised. It is here that the difference between a bona fide guru and disciple and a phoney guru and phoney disciple can already be seen.

Guru in name, guru in truth – not the same.

A guru who speaks nicely but is corrupt in action does not have the ability to raise his disciple to the level of realised knowledge. A real guru endows his disciple with the power to overcome material desires and conditioning. This is a gradual process and not an exhibition of some instant magic. The screams of fanatical hordes of materially motivated "disciples" and the ways a corrupt guru accumulates such cheap worshippers only highlight the necessity of a real spiritual guide. Such a guru will not hesitate, even at the cost of being ostracised by kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs and demons infiltrating the ranks of devotees, to oppose hypocrisy and expose both the cheaters and the cheated. Sometimes such a "lover of truth" is rejected even by his own disciples, who prefer to be deceived rather than corrected.

Even the final reconfirmation of an already existing relationship between a real guru and a real disciple—initiation—is more or less a formal act. To be initiated into a Vaiṣṇava sampradāya is the most serious decision one makes in life.

At least, this was the case when I joined in 1972, at a time when there was no money to steal, no official institutional position to gain, and fame could only be earned by becoming a day-and-night preaching and book-distributing devotee. Everyone shared equally, and even though Srila Prabhupada’s position was uniquely beyond doubt, everyone had to be motivated in the same preaching manner as he was.

Things have changed since then. Most gurus today live entirely anonymous lives. Some of them are immensely rich, enjoying luxury and service—even from the opposite sex—which Srila Prabhupada never accepted during his presence on this planet. There is no hope that most of these "guru-enjoyers" will change; they have spent too many years "naturally" accepting the money and worship of the ignorant. Those who are sincere would do better to focus on the illustrious examples of those who still preach at the "ground level" rather than those who enjoy "on the higher level."

After all, there are still gurus who understand that what is given to them is the property of their guru, and they reinvest their guru-dakṣiṇā money into the yātrās they preach in. Such servants of the servant take only what is needed for the maintenance of their bodies, no more.

In the presence of Srila Prabhupada

Srila Prabhupada showed us how, despite all the managerial challenges, we should never leave the preaching platform. He never lost his personal contact with those who did even the smallest service for him. One may argue that devotees like myself never even once spoke to Srila Prabhupada personally, so what could our personal relationship with him mean? Amazingly, while being engaged in his service, I never felt neglected or ignored. Srila Prabhupada and the service to him were so identical to me that as soon as I was engaged in an authorised way, I felt connected. When standing on the street with his books in my hand, trying to reach potential customers, again and again, Srila Prabhupada appeared in my mind and heart—encouraging, correcting, and challenging me to higher performance.

The same cannot be said about many disciples today whom I meet on the road, whose connection to their guru more or less ended on the day of their initiation. If sincere, they seek inspiration elsewhere in the form of śikṣā; if not, they sooner or later return to their old ways of living.

In Srila Prabhupada’s presence, within a rapidly growing Hare Krishna movement, we all knew whom to approach in times of need. There was no need for official śikṣā-gurus as they were standing and serving right before our eyes. With the increasing privatisation of the lives of the leaders, the followers also became more and more private in their lives. Seeing no living examples of selfless investment of one’s energy into the preaching mission Srila Prabhupada entrusted to us, this estrangement between leaders and followers often turned initiation into a mere obligatory ceremony—something "one simply does."

The Guru-Disciple depersonalisation

The depersonalisation of the leaders led to the depersonalisation of the disciples as well. After all, even the sight of two truly cooperating gurus is rare. Besides the occasional officially taken photographs of "embracing saints," everyone takes care of their own band of fundraising followers. By the time disciple number 3,025 gets initiated, there is little hope that the poor fellow will ever receive personal attention from his guru.

There are very few examples of gurus who insist on keeping things personal, and even when the disciple prefers occasional anonymity, they "invade" his life by guiding and warning him about the possible pitfalls Maya is ready to test him with. When both the disciple and the guru lose their demand for privacy, the relationship can become very potent. Sharing the mercy of the guru-paramparā, they mutually enthuse one another. As we see in the examples of the questions and answers addressed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the relationship between the speaker and the listener became ecstatic as they met on a spiritual platform. There was no privacy among the sages in Naimiṣāraṇya, and there was no privacy on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra.

Today's often-seen "don't ask, don't answer, better give just some donation" relationship leads in some areas to total paralysis of any preaching spirit, as the piety of one's daily life at best is preferred to a potentially unpleasant exchange of questions and answers dealing with the issues at hand. In this way, a whole movement can turn into a dreamlike fantasy world, where instead of addressing the need to control the senses and follow the basic principles of human life, talks about the intimate pastimes of the Lord are preferred. Or… better, no lecture is given; one simply chants and chants, hoping for a miracle to arrive.

As the śāstra warns us that, especially in this Kali Yuga age, the acceptance of sannyāsa and too many disciples is dangerous, ISKCON has its own sad record in this regard. The issue of accepting a spiritual master is very sensitive. Srila Prabhupada stressed that prior to initiation, the disciple MUST test the guru, and the guru MUST test the disciple. Only after their mutual faith grows in each other is there hope that post-initiation challenges can be handled in a personal way.

A guru who cannot be approached, especially when present in his vapu form and is not personally available for questions from the disciple's side, is worthless, regardless of his personal status. That he is pure in his way of acting may be good for him, but his babaji lifestyle is of little use for a disciple in dire need of advice.

After all, the basic instructions we can get directly from Srila Prabhupada’s books and the daily inspiration we can get from those of our friends we trust. The relationship with a guru is unique and should provide that which we cannot get anywhere else. It is the last line of defence against Maya, as every disciple has his or her particular karmic load to carry and finds himself in various personal and socially complex situations that may require personal advice. His only hope is to have a guardian who understands his particular problem and can assist him at the closest range.

Of course, in the absence of such a truly assisting guru, Krsna steps in and guides the sincere ones nevertheless… maybe to another guru who is of a more personal nature.
A situation may also arise where the dīkṣā-giving guru finds himself limited in instructing the disciple in a particular manner and so directs him to a śikṣā guru who is far more knowledgeable in this field. Srila Prabhupada demonstrated this when, in terms of pūjā and temple worship, he directed his disciples to his godbrothers with a simple recommendation: “I never lived in a temple, and so when it comes to all the procedures and rituals, you may ask my godbrothers. They never really preached; they just lived in the temples, so they may know better.”
Unfortunately, his disciples asked about more than just temple worship, and so the first crisis arose in ISKCON. But that’s another story.

Hypocrisy Thrives, Sincerity Survives

So, regardless of how many cheap initiations and cheap gurus are available, the absolute sincerity of the act of initiation remains a fact for those who are truly sincere.
We all know that the day may come when we have to serve our guru in vāṇī, simply remembering and striving to follow his instructions. But especially when personal association is available, both the guru and the disciple are obliged to use it. Srila Prabhupada offered one of his troubled disciples the final solution to all his problems: “Just come and live with me.”

This is the essence of our success in Krsna consciousness. As we see from the examples of those who designate themselves to be on a particular level of Krsna consciousness, their lives are naturally taken over by material energy. A society of designated gurus and designated disciples, both acting in name only, becomes a society flourishing temporarily on hypocrisy, soon to be eliminated by the onslaught of material energy. Such "personal cults" of blindfolded disciples and name-and-fame-enjoying gurus are plenty in this age of Kali, the age, quoting Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja, of "Cheaters and Cheated." Real gurus are few, and those who seek the Truth are also few. This may never change, and despite the increasing number of disciples, Srila Prabhupada vigorously stressed the need for quality, not quantity. As he said, "If I would not demand the acceptance of four regulative principles, I could have millions of disciples."

Additionally, here are some quotes from Srila Prabhupada regarding the points mentioned in the text above:
Not Following the Voice from Within:

"Brahma was initiated by the Lord from within. The Lord is within every living entity as the Supersoul, and He initiated Brahma because Brahma was willing to receive the initiation. The Lord can similarly initiate everyone who is inclined to have it…. One should not, however, think himself on the level of Brahmā to be initiated directly by the Lord from inside because in the present age no one can be accepted to be as pure as Brahmā. The post of Brahmā to officiate in the creation of the universe is offered to the most pure living being, and unless one is so qualified one cannot expect to be treated like Brahmājī directly. But one can have the same facility through unalloyed devotees of the Lord, through scriptural instructions (as revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam especially), and also through the bona fide spiritual master available to the sincere soul."

— Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.9.7

Guru is Not Just a Fashion:

"Approaching a spiritual master is not just a fashion but is a necessity for one who is seriously conscious of material miseries and who wants to be free of them. It is the duty of such a person to approach a spiritual master. In this regard, we should note similar circumstances in Bhagavad-gītā. When Arjuna was perplexed by so many problems involving whether to fight or not, he accepted Lord Krsna as his spiritual master."

— Teachings of Lord Caitanya

In Regards to Unqualified “Spiritual Masters”:

"One should not accept as a spiritual master someone who is Fool Number One, who has no direction according to scriptural injunctions, whose character is doubtful, who does not follow the principles of devotional service, or who has not conquered the influence of the six gratifying agents. The six agents of sense gratification are the tongue, the belly, anger, the mind, and words. Anyone who has practiced controlling these six is permitted to make disciples all over the world."

— The Nectar of Devotion

In Regards to Unqualified Disciples:

"We have actually seen that one of the disciples of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura wanted to enjoy the property of his spiritual master, and the spiritual master, being merciful toward him, gave him the temporary property, but not the power to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. That special mercy of the power to preach is given to a devotee who does not want anything material from his spiritual master but wants only to serve him."

— Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.18.22

When a Bona Fide Spiritual Master is Leaving:

"Whenever an ācārya comes, following the superior orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His representative, he establishes the principles of religion…. Unfortunately, when the ācārya disappears, rogues and non-devotees take advantage and immediately begin to introduce unauthorised principles in the name of so-called svāmīs, yogis, philanthropists, welfare workers, and so on….
The ācārya, the authorised representative of the Supreme Lord, establishes these principles, but when he disappears, things once again become disordered. The perfect disciples of the ācārya try to relieve the situation by sincerely following the instructions of the spiritual master."

— Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.28.48

Whoever desires to find more of the thousands of quotes from Srila Prabhupada regarding the Guru-Disciple relationship may be advised to find a book published by BBT in 1978 for this purpose, which contains all the necessary information.