866 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 22
rise to the topmost stage of spiritual perfection simply by following the
rituals and religious principles. He has to take shelter of a bona fide
spiritual master and work under his direction faithfully and sincerely;
then he becomes perfect, without a doubt.
TEXT 7
feet aaTafUEIsE Haas AE |
UES: Boietger FeeatadtfAe: 1
distya tvayanusisto ‘ham
krtas cdnugraho mahan
apaurtaih karna-randhrair
justa distyoSatir girah

distya—luckily; tuaya—by you; anusistah—instructed; aham—I; krtah—
bestowed; ca—and; anugrahah—favor; mahan— great ;apaurtaih— open;karna-
randhraih—with the holes of the ears; justah—received; distya—by good
fortune; usatih—pure; girah—words.

TRANSLATION

I have fortunately been instructed by you, and thus great favor has been
bestowed upon me. I thank God that I have listened with open ears to your
pure words.

PURPORT

Srila Ripa Gosvami has given directions, in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu,
on how to accept a bona fide spiritual master and how to deal with him.
First, the desiring candidate must find a bona fide spiritual master, and
then he must very eagerly receive instructions from him and execute them.
This is reciprocal service. A bona fide spiritual master or saintly person
always desires to elevate a common man who comes to him. Because
everyone is under the delusion of maya and is forgetful of his prime duty,
Krsna consciousness, a saintly person always desires that everyone become
a saintly person. It is the function of a saintly person to invoke Krsna
consciousness in every forgetful common man.

Manu said that since he was advised and instructed by Kardama Muni,
he was very much favored. He considered himself lucky to receive the
message by aural reception. It is especially mentioned here that one should
be very inquisitive to hear with open ears from the authorized source of
