Text 1] Bali Maharaja Surrenders the Universe 95
of Sukracarya, his spiritual master? It is the duty of such a sober per-
sonality as Bali Maharaja to abide by the orders of his spiritual master
immediately, as his spiritual master had advised. But Bali Maharaja also
considered that Sukracarya was no longer to be accepted as a spiritual
master, for he had deviated from the duty of a spiritual master. Accord-
ing to sastra, the duty of the guru is to take the disciple back home, back
to Godhead. If he is unable to do so and instead hinders the disciple in
going back to Godhead, he should not be a guru. Gurur na sa syat
(Bhag. 5.5.18). One should not become a guru if he cannot enable his
disciple to advance in Krsna consciousness. The goal of life is to become a
devotee of Lord Krsna so that one may be freed from the bondage of
material existence (tyaktvd deharh punar janma naiti mam eti so ’rjuna).
The spiritual master helps the disciple attain this stage by developing
Krsna consciousness. Now Sukracarya had advised Bali Maharaja to deny
the promise to Vamanadeva. Under the circumstances, therefore, Bali
Maharaja thought that there would be no fault if he disobeyed the order
of his spiritual master. He deliberated on this point—should he refuse to
accept the advice of his spiritual master, or should he independently do
everything to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead? He took some
time. Therefore it is said, tisnim bhiitva ksanam rdjann uvdacdavahito
gurum. After deliberating on this point, he decided that Lord Visnu
should be pleased in all circumstances, even at the risk of ignoring the
guru’s advice to the contrary.

Anyone who is supposed to be a guru but who goes against the princi-
ple of visnu-bhakti cannot be accepted as a guru. If one has falsely ac-
cepted such a guru, one should reject him. Such a guru is described as
follows (Mahabharata, Udyoga 179.25):

guror apy avaliptasya
karyakadryam ajanatah
utpatha-pratipannasya
parityago vidhiyate
Srila Jiva Gosvami has advised that such a useless guru, a family priest
acting as guru, should be given up, and that the proper, bona fide guru
should be accepted.
