Never Underestimate Maya's Power

The pathway back to home, back to Godhead is fraught with many dangers. Even a slight slip in one's practice can lead to complete, total fall down. So how carefully and conscientiously we must tread the path of bhakti? In this regard Lord Sri Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita:
indriyāṇāṁ hi caratāṁ
yan mano 'nuvidhīyate
tad asya harati prajñāṁ
vāyur nāvam ivāmbhasi

"As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence."
--BG 2.67

Just as a slight bit of inattention while driving a car can lead to a fatal automobile accident, in a similar way a slight bit of inattention on the path of bhakti can also be fatal. Therefore we must always pay close attention to what we are doing and make sure that it is pleasing to guru and Krishna, because it only by pleasing them that we can be successful in attaining the supreme destination of going back home, back to Godhead.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Why is the Guru Indispensible?

So the path of transcendental life can only be reached through study with a master? If the perfection is there within oneself, in one's own consciousness, why is the master indispensable? Isn't it another illusion to maintain the subjugation of the masses by a few in the elite of human power? Where is individual liberty? Is it that those in other religions are not saved? Whether they be Christians, Mohammedans, or whatever they may call themselves? What do you think of these statements?

Jose

Answer: The Sincere Seeker of Truth Welcomes Someone Who Can Reveal It to Him.

We may not like to accept any master or authority other than our own minds. But the reality is that there is a higher power and authority. We are the not the supreme. Each of us is a tiny part of a Complete Whole which is much, much greater than any of us. Like it or not we are indeed subordinate to that from which we have come. We have not created this reality. Rather we were born into it. At the present moment we are in a state of disharmony with our Source. When the individual consciousness is out of sync with the Supreme Consciousness, he must necessarily suffer. This is a highly unnatural condition for him to be in because in his original pure state, he is perfectly dovetailed with the Supreme Consciousness experiencing an eternal existence full of knowledge and full of bliss.

The individual's liberty is to choose whether he would like to live in harmony with the Supreme Consciousness, or whether he would like to strike out on his own and try to create his own new reality in which he is the center of existence. Modern humanity has chosen the latter and has become helplessly entangled in the fourfold miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease. The intelligent and thoughtful person opts out of the "I am the center" mass psychosis seeking an enlightened state of consciousness in which he is liberated from all types of suffering. He has an intuitive sense that there is a higher enlightened consciousness within him. And he seeks out someone who is already self-realized who can guide him how to also become self-realized. He does not think, "I refuse to take help from anyone." Only a person who is infected by false pride would refuse to take help from someone who can give him the key to unlock the door to the eternal treasure house of unlimited love, knowledge, and bliss sitting within.

Krishna consciousness is not a religion. It is the essence of all religions. It can be practiced by anyone in any religion. It means to come to the point of perfectly dovetailing one's individual consciousness with the Supreme Consciousness, i.e. attaining a state of absolutely pure, selfless devotion to that one Supreme Person, who is the source of all existence. While Krishna consciousness is not a religion, it is religion in its original pure form. It is the pure essence of being itself.

And, by the way, I found your statements to be thought provoking, and I wish you to best in your search for truth. My search for truth was fruitful. I found it by discovering a spiritual master who revealed to me. And I hope that you can find it too!

And one more point I hope that you can understand: The sincere seeker of truth welcomes someone who can reveal it to him. Would a person drowning in the middle of the ocean hundreds of miles from the nearest shore refuse to take help from a rescue boat saying, "I do not want your help. I will swim for the shore on my own."?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari