The Role of the Guru in Spiritual Education

Necessity of education and shastra

0:01Prabhupāda: ...accepted in that group.

0:04Indian man (1): Suppose if somebody is absolutely ignorant about...

0:07Prabhupāda: So therefore there should be education. Why the śāstras are there? Why guru is there?

Requirement to accept a guru

0:11Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12You must accept guru and learn. Why should you remain ignorant?

0:19Indian man (1): How one should start when he's completely ignorant of all these things?

Analogy of attending school

0:36Prabhupāda: He should go... Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet.

0:39Indian man (1): Tad viddhi praṇipātena... BG 4.34

0:39Prabhupāda: Paripraśnena sevayā. He should become a disciple of a bona fide guru. Otherwise, how he can learn? If you are uneducated, you should go to school. [aside:]

0:39Indian man (1): You want to ask anything? [pause] [Hindi] [laughter]

Difficulty in accepting a guru

1:04Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to, to guru, but when guru comes, they also do not accept him. What can be done? They are so fallen. Only fortunate. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva CC Madhya 19.151

Fortune required to find truth

1:22So to go to guru, to Kṛṣṇa, that requires fortune. Kona bhāgyavān jīva. Some fortunate person. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja CC Madhya 19.151

Receiving the seed of devotion

1:36By the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, he gets the seed of this bhakti. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti BG 18.55

Understanding God through bhakti

1:46And when he's a bhakta, then he can understand what is God. [aside:] Get the light on. Bhaktyā mām abhijānā... No, there. That's all right. [Hindi] [Hindi for some time, a few English words] [break] [Hindi for some time] [end]