Mantra Ten
53
the  Bhagavad-gītā  gives instructions as to the development of real knowledge. In this  mantra  there is a hint that the instruction of  vidyā , knowledge, must be gained from the  dhīra .  Dhīra  means undisturbed, not disturbed by material illusion. No one can be undisturbed unless and until he has perfect spiritual realization. When one is perfectly spiritually realized he has no more hankering for anything acquired, nor does he lament for anything lost. Such a  dhīra  has realized that the material body and mind which he has acquired by chance material association are foreign elements, and therefore he simply makes the best use of a bad bargain.
The material body and mind are bad bargains for the spiritual living entity. The living entity has different functions in the living world, but this material world is dead. As long as the living spiritual sparks manipulate the dead lumps of matter, the dead world appears to be a living world. But actually it is the living souls, the parts and parcels of the Supreme Living Being, which move the world. The  dhīras  are those who have come to know all these facts by hearing of them from superior authorities, and who have realized them by following the regulative principles.
To follow the regulative principles, one must go under the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. The transcendental message comes down from the spiritual master to the disciple with the regulative principles, and not in the hazardous way of nescient education. One can become a  dhīra  only by such submissive hearing from the Personality of Godhead. The perfect disciple must be like Arjuna, and the spiritual master must be as good as the Lord Himself. These are the processes of learning  vidyā , knowledge, from the  dhīra , the undisturbed.
Adhīra , one who has not undergone the training of a  dhīra , cannot be an instructive leader. Modern politicians who pose themselves as  dhīras  are themselves  adhīras . One cannot expect perfect knowledge from them. They are busy with their own remuneration in dollars and pounds. How can they lead the