270
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 5]
Mahārāja, should not have been surprised that Prahlāda Mahārāja differed from his way of life. Nonetheless, Hiraṇyakaśipu was extremely angry and wanted to rebuke his son for deriding his teacher or spiritual master, who had been born in the  brāhmaṇa  family of the great  ācārya  Śukrācārya. The word  śukra  means “semen,” and  ācārya  refers to a teacher or  guru . Hereditary  gurus , or spiritual masters, have been accepted everywhere since time immemorial, but Prahlāda Mahārāja declined to accept such a seminal  guru  or take instruction from him. An actual  guru  is  śrotriya , one who has heard or received perfect knowledge through  paramparā , the discipline succession. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja did not recognize a seminal spiritual master. Such spiritual masters are not at all interested in Viṣṇu. Indeed, they are hopeful of material success ( bahir-artha-māninaḥ ). The word  bahiḥ  means “external,”  artha  means “interest,” and  mānina  means “taking very seriously.” Generally speaking, practically everyone is unaware of the spiritual world. The knowledge of the materialists is restricted within the four-billion-mile limit of this material world, which is in the dark portion of the creation; they do not know that beyond the material world is the spiritual world. Unless one is a devotee of the Lord, one cannot understand the existence of the spiritual world.  Gurus , teachers, who are simply interested in this material world are described in this verse as  andha , blind. Such blind men may lead many other blind followers without true knowledge of material conditions, but they are not accepted by devotees like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Such blind teachers, being interested in the external, material world, are always bound by the strong ropes of material nature.
TEXT 32
नैषां मतिस्तावदुरुक्रमाङ्घ्रिं 
  स्पृशत्यनर्थापगमो यदर्थः । 
  महीयसां पादरजोऽमिषेकं 
  निष्किञ्चनानां न वृणीत यावत्॥३२॥
naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ 
  sprśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ