522 Srimad Bhagavatam [Canto 2, Ch. 9
quiries, but the Srimad-Bhagavatam gives answers to all of the various
students of self-realization: this ultimate objective of life is not to be
searched out without any great labor or perseverance. One who is imbucd
with such sincere inquiries must ask the bona fide spiritual master in the
disciplic succession from Brahmaji, and that is the direction given here.
Because the mystery was disclosed before Brahmaji by the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead, the mystery of all such inquiries regarding self-
realization must be put before such a spiritual master who is directly the
representative of the Lord, acknowledged in that disciplic succession. Such
a bona fide spiritual master is able to clear up the whole thing by evidences
from the revealed scriptures, both directly and indirectly. Although every-
one is free to consult the revealed scriptures in this connection, still one
requires the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, and that is the direc-
tion in this verse. The bona fide spiritual master is the most confidential
representative of the Lord, and one must receive direction from the
spiritual master in the same spirit as Brahmaji received them from the
Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna. The bona fide spiritual master in
that bona fide chain of disciplic succession never claims to be the Lord
Himself, although such a spiritual master is greater than the Lord in the
sense that he can deliver the Lord by his personally realized experience.
The Lord is not to he found simply by education or by a good fertile brain,
but surely He can be found by the sincere student through the transparent
medium of the bona fide spiritual master.

The revealed scriptures give direction directly to this end, but because
the bewildered living entities are blinded by the glaring reflection in the
darkness, they are unable to find out the truth of the revealed scriptures.
For example, in the Bhagavad-gita the whole direction is targetted toward
the Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krsna, but for want of a bona fide
spiritual master in the line of Brahmaji or the direct hearer, Arjuna, there
are different distortions of the revealed knowledge by many unauthorized
persons who just want to satisfy their own whims. Undoubtedly the
Bhagavad-gita is accepted as one of the most brilliant stars in the horizon
of the spiritual sky, yet the interpretations of the great book of knowledge
have so grossly been distorted that every student of the Bhagavad-gita is
still in the same darkness of glaring material reflection, and such students
are hardly enlightened by the Bhagavad-gita. In the Gita practically the
same instruction is imparted as in the four prime verses of the Bhagavatam,
but due to wrong and fashionable interpretations by unauthorized persons,
one cannot reach the ultimate conclusion. In the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 18.61)
it is clearly said,
