Prayers by the Personified Vedas
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material nature. One has to accept a bona fide spiritual master and work according to his direction. Then it is possible to cross over the nescience of material conditions. Śrīpāda Śrīdhara Śvāmī has composed a nice verse in this connection, in which he says, “O all-merciful spiritual master, representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when will my mind be completely surrendered unto your lotus feet? At that time, only by your mercy, I shall be able to get relief from all obstacles to spiritual life, and I shall be situated in blissful life.”
Actually, ecstatic  samādhi  or absorption in the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be achieved by constant engagement in His service, and this constant engagement in devotional service can be performed only when one is working under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. The  Vedas  therefore instruct that in order to know the science of devotional service, one has to submit himself unto the bona fide spiritual master. The bona fide spiritual master is he who knows the science of devotional service in discipline succession. This discipline succession is called  śrotriyam . The prime symptom of one who has become a spiritual master in discipline succession is that he is one hundred percent fixed in  bhakti-yoga . Sometimes people neglect to accept a spiritual master, and instead they endeavor for self-realization by mystic  yoga  practice, but there are many instances of failure, even by great  yogīs  like Viśvāmitra. Arjuna said in the  Bhagavad-gītā  that controlling the mind is as impractical as stopping the blowing of a hurricane. Sometimes the mind is compared to a maddened elephant. Without following the direction of a spiritual master one cannot control the mind and the senses. In other words, if one practices  yoga  mysticism and does not accept a bona fide spiritual master, he will surely fail. He will simply waste his valuable time. The Vedic injunction is that no one can have full knowledge without being under the guidance of an  ācārya .  Ācāryavān puruṣo veda : one who has accepted an  ācārya  knows what is what. The Absolute Truth cannot be understood by arguments. One who has attained the perfect brahminical stage naturally becomes renounced; he does not strive for material gain because by spiritual knowledge he has come to the conclusion that in this world there is no insufficiency. Everything is sufficiently provided by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A real  brāhmana , therefore, does not endeavor for material perfection; rather, he approaches a bona fide spiritual master to accept orders from him. A spiritual master’s qualification is that he is  brahmaniṣṭham , which means that he has given up all other activities and has dedicated his life to working only for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. When a bona fide student approaches a bona fide spiritual master,