60 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 14
Even if one wanders for many millions of years, from the time of cre-
ation until the time of annihilation. one cannot get free from the path of
material existence unless one receives shelter at the lotus feet of a pure
devotee. As a monkey takes shelter of the branch of a banyan tree and
thinks he is enjoying, the conditioned soul, not knowing the real interest
of his life. takes shelter of the path of karma-kanda, fruitive activities.
Sometimes he is elevated to the heavenly planets by such activities, and
sometimes he again descends to earth. This is described by Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu as brahmanda bhramite. However, if by Krsna’s grace one
is fortunate enough to come under the shelter of the guru, by the mercy
of Krsna he receives lessons on how to execute devotional service to the
Supreme Lord. In this way he receives a clue of how to get out of his con-
tinuous struggle up and down within the material world. Therefore the
Vedic injunction is that one should approach a spiritual master. The
Vedas declare: tad-vijnadnartham sa gurum evabhigacchet (Mun-
daka Upanisad 1.2.12). Similarly in Bhagavad-gita (4.34) the Supreme
Personalty of Godhead advises:
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
Jndninas tattva-darsinah
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire
from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized
soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.”
Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.3.21) gives similar advice:
tasmad gurum prapadyeta
Jyndsuh sreya uttamam
sabde pare ca nisnatam
brahmany upasamasrayam
Any person who seriously desires to achieve real happiness must seek
out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The
qualification of his spiritual master is that he must have realized the con-
clusion of the scriptures by deliberation and be able to convince others of
