Is a Spiritual Master Required?

Sometimes people ask, "I just want to love God and fully surrender unto him. So why do I need a spiritual master?" This is a very logical and intelligent question. 

Surrendering fully unto God means doing what He wants me to do. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna clearly instructs to take shelter of a spiritual master. In the Adi Purana Krishna instructs that unless we are a devotee of His devotee we are not His devotee. So if we are serious about fully surrendering unto Lord Krishna, we have to obey His instruction by becoming a disciple of a bona fide spiritual master. 

ISKCON Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada used to say quoting the English maxim, "If you love me, love my dog." He used this saying to illustrate the importance of our taking shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. If we try to bypass this system and be a devotee of the Lord independently He will never accept our service. 

Therefore, if we are at all serious about achieving spiritual perfection, we should take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master.

Do You Have Questions or Need Guidance?

Buddhism-Hinduism 

Buddhism seems quite similar to Hinduism to me. What are the differences besides the name? Don't both lead to the Supreme Godhead?

Gloria 

Avoid Void 

Philosophically Buddhism is atheistic because the Buddhists regard zero or nothingness as the Absolute Truth. (The word Hindu is a term coined by the Muslims. It is not an accurate denotation.) The followers of the Bhagavad-gita reject this void philosophy of Buddhism because the Supreme is a person. He is not void. 

Everything comes from something. It cannot come from nothing. Do we have any experience of something coming out of nothing? Therefore the Supreme must be a person. That Supreme Person has revealed Himself as Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 

The Buddhist denial of God and His personality will not take them back to Godhead, because they deny the very existence of Godhead. They say that everything is void. It is not possible to attain something whose very existence you deny. Can someone be granted US citizenship if they deny the existence of the USA? No. Therefore is better to avoid void and chant Hare Krishna. 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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