106 Sri Isopanigad

atmosphere of Kali-yuga, often problematic. As spiritual master,
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup§ada is the
last recourse and the ultimate standard of Krsna Consciousness,
and he writes some twenty-five letters a day to leaders and
students of his various worldwide centers. He himself resides in |
no one place but travels from center to center and regularly
lectures. The spiritual master is responsible for his devotees; when
he accepts a sincere soul as his disciple, he promises to take him
back home, back to Godhead. No one should think, “‘Oh, every-
one is taking a spiritual master; let me take one.” The spiritual
master as a style or as a pet is useless. Rather, his order is to be
taken as one’s life and soul. By taking shelter at the feet of the
bona fide guru and serving him twenty-four hours a day, the
fallen soul can be lifted to the spiritual sky. It is said that if the
spiritual master is pleased, then one can make great advances in
spiritual life. And one pure convinced devotee can make many
pure devotees by his example and teachings. Those serious
students with an understanding of the absolute value of the
spiritual platform of life therefore honor the spiritual master with
the honor due to God because the guru is the transparent via
medium or representative of God and is distributing unalloyed
love of God. The intelligent reader is invited to take to this
philosophy with the utmost seriousness.
Sr
