The Necessity of Guru

Some people argue, "What is the necessity of having a spiritual master when God is there? Why can't I just have God directly as my guru just as Arjuna did?" The answer is that we are not standing face to face with God as Arjuna was. Of course since God is omnipresent, He is certainly present with us. That's a fact. But in our present state of conditioned consciousness we can neither hear Him nor see Him. So how we will receive instructions from Him for our deliverance from birth and death?'' To this question someone could answer, "Since God is present in the form of scriptures, if we simply follow the instructions in the scriptures, we will become delivered." This a valid principle. And in the scriptures we find that over and over again we are instructed to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. It is also enjoined in the scriptures that unless one has a spiritual master he is not qualified to study the scriptures. The scriptures guide us in this way because if we approach scriptures with our conditioned consciousness, we can easily misunderstand them. Therefore a bona fide spiritual master is required to help us properly understand the scriptures. In short, the will of God is revealed to us through the transparent via medium, the bona fide spiritual master.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Where is Independence?

Dear Teacher,

Please clarify my ignorance.

We generally say that without the Lord's permission even a blade of grass will not make a move. We also understand that the Lord is the one Who controls the thinking process of Jivatmas, the living beings. Krishna states, "By me one gets forgetfulness, by me one gets remembrance." This means to me that the Lord has full control over our minds and that He directs all our actions.

My questions is: If the Lord creates the circumstances and gives us the mind to react in a particular way, where is our independence to decide to do good or bad? And then if we react how we are we karmically bound by that?

In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in the Eighteenth chapter, " Now I have told you the most confidential knowledge and now it is up to you to decide what to do." Does it mean that the decision is not directed or influenced by the Lord?

It is difficult to understand for my mind. Please guide me.

Hare Krishna,

Srinivasa Murthy

Answer: Krishna Gives You Independence

Krishna does not control the thinking process. He facilitates it. He provides you with the sort of thinking that you desire. If you desire to be His devotee He will empower you to always be mindful of Him. If you desire to forget Him, He will give you so many atheistic arguments to convince you that He does not exist.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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