270 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 24

by a bona fide spiritual master and is expert in worshiping the Deity, chanting
mantras correctly, performing sacrifices, offering prayers to the Lord, and per-
forming sankirtana. He knows how to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead
and how to respect a Vaisnava. When one has attained the topmost position of
mahd-bhdagavata, he is to be accepted as a guru and worshiped exactly like Hari,
the Personality of Godhead. Only such a person is eligible to occupy the post of a
guru. However, if one is highly qualified but is not a Vaisnava, he cannot be ac-
cepted as a guru. One cannot be a brahmana unless one is a Vaisnava. If one is a
Vaisnava, he is already a brahmana. If a guru is completely qualified as a Vaisnava,
he must be accepted as a brahmana even if he is not born in a brahmana family.
The caste system method of distinguishing a brahmana by birth is not acceptable
when applied to a bona fide spiritual master. A spiritual master is a qualified
brahmana and dcdrya. If one is not a qualified brahmana, he is not expert in
studying Vedic literatures. Nand-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau. Every Vaisnava is a
spiritual master, and a spiritual master is automatically expert in brahminical
behavior. He also understands the Vedic sastras.

Similarly, a disciple’s qualifications must be observed by the spiritual master
before he is accepted as a disciple. In our Krsna consciousness movement, the re-
quirement is that one must be prepared to give up the four pillars of sinful life—il-
licit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. In Western countries especially,
we first observe whether a potential disciple is prepared to follow the regulative
principles. Then he is given the name of a Vaisnava servant and initiated to chant
the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, at least sixteen rounds daily. In this way the disciple
renders devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master or his repre-
sentative for at least six months to a year. He is then recommended for a second
initiation, during which a sacred thread is offered and the disciple is accepted as a
bona fide brahmana. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura introduced the
system of giving the sacred thread to a bona fide Vaisnava, and we are also
following in his footsteps. The qualifications of a bona fide disciple are described
in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.10.6) as follows:

amanya-matsaro dakso
nirmamo drdha-sauhrdah

asatvaro ‘rtha-jijfidsur
anasyur amogha-vak

The disciple must have the following qualifications. He must give up interest in
the material bodily conception. He must give up material lust, anger, greed, illu-
sion, madness and envy. He should be interested only in understanding the
science of God, and he should be ready to consider all points in this matter. He
should no longer think, “lam this body,” or, “This thing belongs to me.” One must
love the spiritual master with unflinching faith, and one must be very steady and
