A Second Chance | Part [SC.CH8.02]

Everyone in the material world is puzzled about what religion is. Therefore, the Mundaka Upanishad (1.2.12) says, one should approach a guru: tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. "If someone wants to learn the transcendental science, he has to approach a guru." There are no exceptions. One cannot say, "I shall learn the transcendental science without going to a spiritual master." No. That is not possible. The Vaishnava principles enjoin, adau gurv-asrayam: the first step in understanding spiritual knowledge is to take shelter of a bona fide guru. And there are three principles to observe in taking shelter of a guru: tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya [Bg. 4.34]. We must surrender to the spiritual master, we must inquire from him, and we must render service to him. Then we will be able to understand real spiritual knowledge.

When Sanatana Gosvami approached Lord Caitanya to become His disciple, Sanatana surrendered himself and said, "My dear Lord, when I was a minister, people used to address me as a learned man, and so I accepted that I was learned and intelligent. But actually I am neither learned nor intelligent, because I do not know what I am. This is the result of my learning: I know everything except what I am and how to get out of this miserable material condition of life."

We see that modern education fails here also. The professor talks about so many things, but if we ask him what he is, he has no answer. Universities award degrees to the graduates, who think, "I am a Ph.D., a very learned man," but if we ask that Ph.D. to explain what he is and what the purpose of life is, he will refer only to his bodily designations: "I am American, I am male, etc." He can only state his identification with the body, which he is not, and therefore he is fool number one.

At first Arjuna was also thinking in terms of bodily connections: "Krishna, how can I fight? On the other side there are my cousins, my brothers, my uncles, my nephews, and my brothers-in-law. If I kill them, their wives will become widows and be polluted, and there will be unwanted children." Arjuna was a very learned man, but he was perplexed. He said, "My dear Krishna, now I am puzzled. I am a kshatriya, and it is my duty to fight, but I am deviating from this duty because I am bewildered and cannot reason clearly. I know You can explain to me what I should do; therefore I surrender unto You as Your disciple. Please instruct me." (Bhagavad-gita 2.7)

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Written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada