Mantra Ten 533

the Bhagavad-gita gives instructions as to the development of
real knowledge. In this mantra there is a hint that the instruc-
lion of vidya, knowledge, must be gained from the dhira.
Dhira 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 dhira 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 dhiras 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 dhira only by such sub-
missive 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
vidya, knowledge, from the dhira, the undisturbed.

Adhira, one who has not undergone the training of a dhira,
cannot be an instructive leader. Modern politicians who pose
themselves as dhiras are themselves adhiras. One cannot expect
perfect knowledge from them. They are busy with their own
remuneration in dollars and pounds. How can they lead the
