62 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION

our students to refrain from illicit sex, meat eating, gambling, and intoxi-
cation. People think that this is all very difficult—a botheration. But if
someone else says, ‘‘You may do whatever nonsense you like, simply
take my mantra,”’ then people will like him. The point is that people want
to be cheated, and therefore cheaters come. No one wants to undergo any
austerity. Human life is meant for austerity, but no one is prepared to
undergo austerity. Consequently, cheaters come and say, ‘‘No austerity.
Whatever you like, you do. Simply pay me, and I’ll give you some
mantra, and you’ll become God in six months.”’ All this is going on. If
you want to be cheated like this, the cheaters will come.

Reporter: What about the person who seriously wants to find spiritual
life but who happens to finish up with the wrong guru?

Srila Prabhupada: If you simply want an ordinary education, you have
to devote so much time, labor, and understanding to it. Similarly, if you
are going to take to spiritual life, you must become serious. How is it that
simply by some wonderful mantras, someone can become God in six
months? Why do people want something like that? This means that they
want to be cheated.

Reporter: How can a person tell he has a genuine guru?

Srila Prabhupada: Can any of my students answer this question?
Disciple: Once I remember John Lennon asked you, ‘‘How will I know
who is the genuine guru?’’ And you answered, ‘‘Just find out the one
who is most addicted to Krsna. He is genuine.”

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. The genuine guru is God’s representative, and
he speaks about God and nothing else. The genuine guru is he who has
no interest in materialistic life. He is after God, and God only. That is
one of the tests of a genuine guru: brahma-nistham. He is absorbed in the
Absolute Truth. In the Mundaka Upanisad it is stated, srotriyam brahma-
nistham: ‘‘The genuine guru is well versed in the scriptures and Vedic
knowledge, and he is completely dependent on Brahman.”’ He should
know what Brahman [spirit] is and how to become situated in Brahman.
These signs are given in the Vedic literature. As I said before, the real
guru is God’s representative. He represents the Supreme Lord, just as a
viceroy represents a king. The real guru will not manufacture anything.
Everything he says is in accordance with the scriptures and the previous
acaryas. He will not give you a mantra and tell you that you will become
God in six months. This is not a guru’s business. A guru’s business is to
canvass everyone to become a devotee of God. That is the sum and sub-
stance of a real guru’s business. Indeed, he has no other business. He
tells whomever he sees, ‘‘Please become God conscious.’” If he can-
