Separating the Saints From the Swindlers
Srīla Prabhupāda   speaks out in an interview with the  London Times : “If you want to be cheated, you will find many cheating gurus. But if you are sincere, you will find a sincere guru. . . . The genuine guru is God’s representative, and he speaks about God and nothing else. . . . A genuine guru is not a businessman. He is a representative of God. Whatever God says, the guru repeats. He does not speak otherwise.”
Reporter:  Your Grace, it seems that more people than ever are seeking some kind of spiritual life. I wonder if you could tell me why this is so.
Srīla Prabhupāda :  The desire for spiritual life is an absolutely natural bankering. Because we are spirit souls, we cannot be happy in the material atmosphere. If you take a fish out of the water, it cannot be happy on land. Similarly, if we are without spiritual consciousness, we can never be happy. Today, so many people are after scientific advancement and economic development, but they are not happy because these are not the actual goals of life. Many young people are realizing this, and they are rejecting materialistic life and are trying to search for spiritual life. Actually, this is the proper search. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the proper goal of life. Unless you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you cannot be happy. That is a fact. Therefore, we invite everyone to study and understand this great movement.
Reporter:  What frankly worries me is that since the arrival in Britain some time ago of an Indian yogi, who was the first “guru” that most people had ever heard of, a lot of “gurus” have suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Sometimes I get the feeling that not all of them are as genuine as they ought to be. Would it be right to warn people who are thinking of taking up spiritual life that they should make sure that they have a genuine guru to teach them?
Srīla Prabhupāda :  Yes. Of course, to search out a guru is very nice, but if you want a cheap guru, or if you want to be cheated, then you will find many cheating gurus. But if you are sincere, you will find a sincere guru. Because people want everything very cheaply, they are cheated. We ask
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