Make the Whole World Our Disciples

The following verse from the Nectar of Instruction:

vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ
jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ
sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt

has been translated as follows:

"A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world."

However, Srila Prabhupada has also given an alternate definition as follows:

"A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals can make the whole world his disciples."

This translation is very inspiring and enlivening for those devotees who have fully embraced Srila Prabhupada's world deliverance mission as their very life and soul. It gives them hope that they can indeed make the whole world Krishna conscious. Simply they must become absolutely perfect masters of their senses. In this way their success as preachers of Krishna consciousness is assured.

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Make the Whole World Our Disciples

Answers According to Vedic Wisdom

Question: Why Do I Need a Guru?

I love Krishna and accept myself as His servant. I am ready to do anything that would enable me to reach Him. I have stopped eating onions and garlic from the last one year. I have also recently started chanting 16 rounds of japa mala every a day. I have enrolled in your self realization course as well. You have also initiated my aunt (who is my source of inspiration). But I don't understand why do I need to have a guru. Even that is okay. I am ready to get initiated without any question, if that enhances my Krishna consciousness thus taking it to a next level. But I feel there is no use of having a guru if you can't love and obey him. So if I have a guru, how to surrender unto him? (I mean executing all his orders without fail, developing a belief that your gurudeva is always right, loving and respecting him,etc.)

Thank you for you precious time that you have invested in reading the mail of an insignificant individual like me.

Hare Krishna!

A sincere seeker

Answer: Krishna's Says We Must Have a Guru

​​​​​​​In the beginning of my practice of Krishna consciousness I also did not understand why I needed a guru. But these words of Lord Sri Krishna spoken to Arjuna, as cited in the Adi Purana, make it crystal clear why we need a guru:

ye me bhakta-janāḥ pārtha
na me bhaktāś ca te janāḥ
mad-bhaktānāṁ ca ye bhaktās
te me bhakta-tamā matāḥ

"Those who are My direct devotees are actually not My devotees. Only those who are the devotees of my devotees are factually My devotees."

In other words, Krishna wants us to accept a spiritual master and fully surrender ourselves to him. Of course we do not blindly surrender to anyone accepting him as our guru. We first study his teachings carefully and compare them with the Vedic wisdom. When we see that he is perfectly giving us the teachings of Krishna as they are without any interpretation, addition, or subtraction, only then do we surrender unto him fully accept his instructions as our very life soul. That bona fide guru who purely gives us Krishna's teachings is the external manifestation of the Supersoul, the Supreme Lord who is situated within our hearts.

It is also a matter of practicality. We are not there on the chariot with Krishna like Arjuna was to be personally guided by Krishna. But we can be personally guided by the spiritual master, just as I am now guiding you. That direct personal guidance is necessary to give us the necessary intelligence and strength to conquer over the material nature and qualify ourselves for going back home, back to Godhead. So I hope you have understood this with your intelligence and are now prepared to fully surrender yourself unto the bona fide spiritual master.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari