Choosing a Spiritual Master 55

present everyone is suffering due to ignorance, just as one contracts a dis-
ease out of ignorance. If one does not know hygienic principles, he will
not know what will contaminate him. Therefore due to ignorance there is
infection, and we suffer from disease. A criminal may say, ‘‘I did not
know the law,”” but he will not be excused if he commits a crime. Ig-
norance is no excuse. Similarly, a child, not knowing that fire will burn,
will touch the fire. The fire does not think, ‘‘This is a child, and he does
not know I will burn.’’ No, there is no excuse. Just as there are state laws,
there are also stringent laws of nature, and these laws will act despite our
ignorance of them. If we do something wrong out of ignorance, we must
suffer. This is the law. Whether the law is a state law or a law of nature,
we risk suffering if we break it.

The guru’s business is to see that no human being suffers in this
material world. No one can claim that he is not suffering. That is not
possible. In this material world, there are three kinds of suffering: adhyat-
mika, adhibhautika, and adhidaivika. These are miseries arising from the
material body and mind, from other living entities, and from the forces
of nature. We may suffer mental anguish, or we may suffer from other
living entities—from ants or mosquitos or flies—or we may suffer due to
some superior power. There may be no rain, or there may be flood. There
may be excessive heat or excessive cold. So many types of suffering are
imposed by nature. Thus there are three types of miseries within the
material world, and everyone is suffering from one, two, or three of
them. No one can say that he is completely free from suffering.

We may then ask why the living entity is suffering. The answer is: out
of ignorance. He does not think, ‘‘I am committing mistakes and am
leading a sinful life; that is why I am suffering.’’ Therefore the guru’s first
business is to rescue his disciple from this ignorance. We send our
children to school to save them from suffering. If our children do not
receive an education, we fear that they will suffer in the future. The guru
sees that suffering is due to ignorance, which is compared to darkness.
How can one in darkness be saved? By light. The guru takes the
torchlight of knowledge and presents it before the living entity enveloped
in darkness. That knowledge relieves him from the sufferings of the
darkness of ignorance.

One may ask whether the guru is absolutely necessary. The Vedas in-
form us that he is:

tad-vijfidnartham sa gurum evabhigacchet
Samit-panih Srotriyam brahma-nistham
[Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12]
