230 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 5
his master. Understanding of the master begins from understanding of
the spiritual master.
yasya prasdddd bhagavat-prasado
yasyaprasddan na gatih kuto "pi
“By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction of
Krsna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any
advancement.”
saksad-dharitvena samasta-sdstrair
uktas tathé bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-carandravindam
“The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord be-
cause he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is
acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and followed by all authorities.
Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a
spiritual master, who is a bona fide representative of Sri Hari (Krsna].”
The spiritual master, the servant of God, is engaged in the most confi-
dential service of the Lord, namely delivering all the conditioned souls
from the clutches of maya, in which one thinks, “This person is my
enemy, and that one is my friend.”’ Actually the Supreme Personality of
Godhead is the friend of all living entities, and all living entities are eter-
nal servants of the Supreme Lord. Oneness is possible through this
understanding, not through artificially thinking that every one of us is
God or equal to God. The true understanding is that God is the supreme
master and that all of us are servants of the Supreme Lord and are
therefore on the same platform. This had already been taught to
Prahlada Maharaja by his spiritual master, Narada, but Prahlada was
nonetheless surprised by how a bewildered soul thinks one person his
enemy and another his friend.

As long as one adheres to the philosophy of duality, thinking one per-
son a friend and another an enemy, he should be understood to be in the
clutches of maya. The Mayavadi philosopher who thinks that all living
entities are God and are therefore one is also mistaken. No one is equal to
