A Backlog of Unanswered Emails

The time is 6:55 pm on Friday the 26th of January 2007. I have gotten quite far behind on answering my emails and today I am making an all out effort to catch up. I have spent the entire afternoon on this endeavor and am almost caught up. There is nothing that disturbs me more than getting behind on answering the important questions that are coming to me everyday from my readers around the world.

Just as according to the teachings of Krishna it is the duty for the student to inquire from the spiritual master, it is also the duty of the spiritual master answer the sincere inquirers to their full satisfaction. This places a great burden of responsibility on me. I am regularly praying for my spiritual master's blessings that I can successfully execute my duty.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Why Do We Need Initiation?...

My question is: "Why do we need a initiation process by a guru for the advancement in spiritual life?"

With all my humble respect to you,

Sugumaran

Answer: Only a Liberated Soul Can Liberate Us..

The absolute necessity of initiation by a spiritual master is confirmed in the Vedic injunctions as follows:

tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet

"In order to understand the transcendental science, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master."
--Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12

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

"Therefore 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

Without a guru we are nowhere. It takes a liberated soul to get us out of the cycle of birth and death. A conditioned soul cannot become liberated unless he takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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