Adi-lila, Chapter 7 55

PURPORT

Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja comments in this connection,
“One can become perfectly successful in the mission of his life if he acts exactly
according to the words he hears from the mouth of his spiritual master.”” This
acceptance of the words of the spiritual master is called srauta-vakya, which indi-
cates that the disciple must carry out the spiritual master’s instructions without
deviation. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura remarks in this connection that a
disciple must accept the words of his spiritual master as his life and soul. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu here confirms this by saying that since His spiritual master ordered Him
only to chant the holy name of Krsna, He always chanted the Hare Krsna maha-
mantra according to this direction (‘krsna-mantra’ japa sada—ei mantra-sara).

Krsna is the origin of everything. Therefore when a person is fully Krsna con-
scious it is to be understood that his relationship with Krsna has been fully con-
firmed. Lacking Krsna consciousness, one is only partially related with Krsna and
is therefore not in his constitutional position. Although Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, the spiritual master of the entire
universe, He nevertheless took the position of a disciple in order to teach by example
how a devotee should strictly follow the orders of a spiritual master in executing
the duty of always chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. One who is very much
attracted to the study of Vedanta philosophy must take lessons from Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. In this age, no one is actually competent to study Vedanta, and
therefore it is better that one chant the holy name of the Lord, which is the essence
of all Vedic knowledge, as Krsna Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gita:

vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham

“By all the Vedas am | to be known; indeed | am the compiler of Vedanta, and |
am the knower of the Vedas.”’ (Bg. 15.15)

Only fools give up the service of the spiritual master and think themselves ad-
vanced in spiritual knowledge. In order to check such fools, Caitanya Mahaprabhu
Himself presented the perfect example of how to be a disciple. A spiritual master
knows very well how to engage each disciple in a particular duty, but if a disciple,
thinking himself more advanced than his spiritual master, gives up his orders and
acts independently, he checks his own spiritual progress. Every disciple must con-
sider himself completely unaware of the science of Krsna and must always be ready
to carry out the orders of the spiritual master to become competent in Krsna con-
sciousness. A disciple should always remain a fool before his spiritual master. There-
fore sometimes pseudo-spiritualists accept a spiritual master who is not even fit to
become a disciple because they want to keep him under their control. This is useless
for spiritual realization.

One who imperfectly knows Krsna consciousness cannot know Vedanta
philosophy. A showy display of Vedanta study without Krsna consciousness is a
feature of the external energy, maya, and as long as one is attracted by the inebrieties
