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We have seen in the Bhagavad-gita so far that Arjuna, when he cannot solve his problem independently, accepts Kṛṣṇa as his guru. We have also mentioned that the first pitfall on the path of spiritual life is to disobey the instructions of one’s guru.

What is the condition of one does not follow the instructions of guru? Then he’s misguided, like a ship without rudder, or without a captain. A ship without a captain can never reach the destination. The crew will simply argue among themselves uselessly. They require leadership to be effective. Similarly, without a guru we will simply remain on the mental platform, never coming to any practical conclusion. So we have search for a guru, and accept a bona fide guru if we are to attain perfection in spiritual life.

How can we understand who is a bona fide guru? Currently we are in illusion; therefore we cannot know directly who is a bona fide guru. And there are so many false gurus, so if we try to choose by our own intelligence, we will err.

When you go for treatment to a physician, how do you understand who is a bona fide physician? You understand by the title and reputation. If he is accepted by the physicians’ association and granted a license, then he is bona fide.

Similarly, you have to find out who is real guru by the symptoms. Kṛṣṇa is the original guru, so whoever teaches the same philosophy as Kṛṣṇa, both in theory and practice, is a bona fide guru. Other symptoms are described in the Esoteric Teaching:

tasmad gurum prapadyeta
jijnasuh sreya uttamam
sabde pare ca nisnatam
brahmany upasamasrayam

“Any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.3.21]

One who is very much inquisitive to know about spiritual life requires a guru. We are suffering in this material world. When the question comes into one’s mind, “Why I am suffering?” that is the beginning of spiritual life. A real human being wants to inquire about spiritual life.

When this spiritual inquiry awakens in one’s mind, then one requires a guru. The method of approaching the guru is stated in Bhagavad-gita:

tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.34]

One has to learn by surrendering, pranipata. So first of all there must be a strong impulse to inquire about the transcendental subject matter. Then one requires a guru. One must actually surrender to the guru to receive the benefit.

acaryavan puruso veda

One must come under the control of the guru to receive perfect knowledge. [Chandogya Upanisad 6.14.2]

Therefore the Vedas say,

tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet
samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nistham

“To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.” [Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12]

For understanding the transcendental science of the Esoteric Teaching, one must approach a guru. And what is the symptom of guru? Samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nistham: Guru means one who has complete knowledge of Vedic version of the Absolute Truth, is fully self-realized and he is an advanced devotee of the Supreme Lord. These are the qualifications of the bona fide guru. The guru strictly follows the Vedic injunction and teaches the same thing to his disciple.

So first thing is that one must be inquisitive about spiritual life. Just like you have downloaded this podcast. You know that this is not political propaganda. Here some deep spiritual subject matter is being discussed. Therefore you have come. This inclination is the beginning of spiritual life. This is called sraddha, or preliminary faith.

So this sraddha has to be developed further, and to develop this sraddha, one has to associate with persons who are also keeping this faith. Therefore it is said, adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sangah: [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 23.14-15] “First of all you must have faith, then associate with persons who are devotees and faithful.” In this way, with further development, then atha bhajana-kriya, means the learning the process of devotional service under the guidance of the guru.

The bona fide guru prescribes some rules: one must chant the mantra given by the guru and also avoid illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-eating. These are unwanted. In the beginning of life nobody smokes or becomes intoxicated. It is learned by bad association; similarly, it can be given up by good association. These are called anarthas, meaning unwanted bad habits. When we are children, innocent, we have no bad habits, but as we grow and associate with bad company, we also acquire all these bad habits. So to give up all these bad habits means we have to associate with sadhus or devotees, saintly persons. Then we can give it up. This is called anartha-nivrtti, means giving up all unwanted bad habits. These things are not wanted. Nobody dies if he does not smoke or drink. Nobody dies. Artificially by bad association we learn bad habits, so by good association we can give them up. So when we are purified out of all the bad habits, then we become fixed up in spiritual knowledge. So in this way we make advance in spiritual life, and in the highest stage we become lover of God. This is the process of self-realization, and one who teaches this process and also practices it himself is guru. This is the definition of guru.

Some people misinterpret Bhagavad-gita 2.11 as indicating that Kṛṣṇa is callous to the sufferings of Arjuna. This is not a fact. When Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna the Esoteric Teaching, it is because the people are suffering on account of ignorance. Therefore we are also teaching the same thing. How we are callous? We are not callous; we are very much sympathetic, that is why we try so hard to give this knowledge to everyone.

But Kṛṣṇa is right: lamenting over the troubles of this body is not the path to knowledge; it is the road to ignorance and further suffering. The greatest sufferings of material existence are old age, disease, death and rebirth. No amount of lamentation will stop these sufferings. We have only a limited amount of time, energy and resources to attain perfection in spiritual life. The time we waste on lamentation is wasted. Better to stop lamenting so we can do something positive to attain spiritual enlightenment.

Therefore the greatest offense in spiritual life is to disobey the guru. Sruti-sastra-nindanam guror avajna. If you accept a guru and then disobey him, then what is your position? You are duplicitous. You promise before the guru, before Kṛṣṇa, before the sacred fire, that “I shall obey your order; I shall execute whatever you like,” and then you do not fulfill your commitment. Then you are not even a sane human being, what to speak of a devotee. This is common sense.

So the first symptom of a bona fide devotee is that he controls his tongue. He is sincere and truthful, he chants the Holy Names of the Lord, and he eats only prasadam, sacred food offered to the lord. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said,

ta’ra madhye jihwa ati
lobhamoy sudurmati
ta’ke jeta kathina samsare

“Out of all the senses, the tongue is very powerful. So it is very difficult to control it.”

So then he says,

ta’ra madhye jihwa ati
lobhamoy sudurmati

“The tongue is very greedy and very difficult to be controlled. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has given us one weapon.”

What is that?

Kṛṣṇa baro doyamoy
koribare jihwa jay
swa-prasad-anna dilo bhai

“Kṛṣṇa is very kind. Therefore He has given us the remnants of His foodstuff.”

So if we make this promise, that “I shall not eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa,” then your tongue will be controlled. And in the sastra it is said that you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, you cannot understand even His name with these imperfect senses.

atah sri-Kṛṣṇa-namadi
na bhaved grahyam indriyaih
sevonmukhe hi jihvadau
svayam eva sphuraty adah

“No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Sri Kṛṣṇa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.” [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234]

“But when you engage your tongue in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself.” So the tongue’s business is twofold. One is with tongue we speak—it vibrates sound—and another business is with tongue we taste nice foodstuff. So if you engage this tongue in the matter of Kṛṣṇa’s service by vibrating your mantra, and if you don’t allow your tongue to touch anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, then you become immediately Kṛṣṇa-realized soul. So when the tongue is controlled, all other senses are automatically controlled. This is the process. So always engage your tongue by chanting the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.