Nor can anyone become a doctor by simply purchasing a book from the market and reading it at home. One has to be admitted to a medical college and undergo training under licensed doctors.

Invitation to Experiment

Religion does not mean blind faith

SATSVARUPA: The history of civilization in the West is that for centuries people believed whatever the Bible said about existence, and then, when science developed, the Bible did not appear very wise anymore, so they... They overthrew all the dogmatic teachings.

PRABHUPADA: They are dogmatic teachings.

SATSVARUPA: So they take us like that too, another religious explanation.

PRABHUPADA: No. Our religion is not faith. It is science. That is the fault. Fanaticism of Christianism, Muhammadanism, has created this godlessness. But Vedic knowledge is not that. It is really knowledge.

SATSVARUPA: And in the beginning, when science began, modern science, the scientists would say something against the Bible that was different than the Bible. Then they would torture him. The church would torture him, this Galileo, big scientist... So they point these things out, that the church is not tolerant.

PRABHUPADA: That is not our point. We want to understand God through philosophy. "Through philosophy" means logic. Blind faith is not our business.

Embracing the discipline means surrender, not just dipping a toe into the water

That is the philosophy of Vaishnava philosophy, that we want to enter into the spiritual kingdom and we want to live in our spiritual identity. Not superficially simply we mix with water and again evaporate, again come back. ...Any sane man can understand that by mixing superficially with the water there is no solution. There is chance of coming out again, being evaporated. If you take that example, you have to accept this also. How you can say that you are not coming back? It is a fact. So if you don't want to come back again, you go deep into the water and live as one of the living entities under the shelter of the water. They have no problem. They do not come back. The big animals, or big aquatics, they peacefully live within the water. They never come into the river because in the river there is no place to accommodate them. There are so big gigantic aquatics. So if you want to live perpetually in the water, then you have to keep your identity as one of the aquatics in the water. Then you'll be perfect. Otherwise you'll be baffled.

Necessity of accepting a spiritual master - there's more to it than merely 'going by the book'

In the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita Sri Krishna concludes that of all sacrifices, the best is the acquisition of knowledge.

shreyan dravya-mayad yajñaj
jñana-yajñah parantapa
sarvam karmakhilam partha
jñane parisamapyate

"O chastiser of the enemy, the sacrifice of knowledge is greater than the sacrifice of material possessions. O son of Pritha, after all, the sacrifice of work culminates in transcendental knowledge." (Bg. 4.33)

Knowledge is the best sacrifice because this conditional life is due to ignorance. The purpose of sacrifice, penance, yoga and philosophical discussion is to acquire knowledge. There are three stages of transcendental knowledge by which one realizes the impersonal aspect of God (Brahman realization), the localized aspect of God within the heart and within every atom (Paramatma or Supersoul realization) and the realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Bhagavan realization). But the very first step in acquiring knowledge is coming to understand that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul, and my aim of life is to get out of this material entanglement." The point is that whatever sacrifice we make is intended to enable us to come to the point of real knowledge. The highest perfection of knowledge is given in Bhagavad-gita as surrender to Krishna (bahunam janmanam ante jñanavan mam prapadyate - Bg. 7.19). The jñanavan, not the fool, surrenders unto Krishna, and that is the highest stage of knowledge. Similarly, at the end of Bhagavad-gita Sri Krishna advises Arjuna:

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam sharanam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
mokshayishyami ma shucah

"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (Bg. 18.66)

This is the most confidential part of knowledge. From all points of view, if we make an analytical study of the Vedic literatures, we will find that the ultimate summit of knowledge is to surrender unto Krishna. And what type of surrender is recommended? Surrender in full knowledge — when one comes to the perfectional point he must understand that Vasudeva, Krishna, is everything. This is also confirmed in Brahma-samhita:

ishvarah paramah krishnah
sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime cause of all causes." (Bs. 5.1)

The words sarva-karana indicate that Krishna is the cause of all causes. If we search to see who the father of our father is, and who his father is, and so on back, if it were somehow possible to trace our ancestry back through time, we would arrive at the Supreme Father, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Of course everyone wants to see God immediately, but we can see God when we are qualified and in perfect knowledge. We can see God eye to eye, just as we are seeing one another, but qualification is required, and that qualification is Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness begins with shravanam, hearing about Krishna through Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures, and kirtanam, repeating what we've heard and glorifying Krishna by chanting His names. By chanting and hearing of Krishna we can actually associate with Him, for He is absolute and nondifferent from His names, qualities, forms and pastimes. As we associate with Krishna, He helps us to understand Him and dispels the darkness of ignorance with the light of knowledge. Krishna is sitting within our hearts acting as guru. When we begin hearing topics about Him, the dust which has accumulated on our minds due to so many years of material contamination becomes gradually cleaned. Krishna is a friend to everyone, but He is a special friend to His devotees. As soon as we become a little inclined toward Him, He begins to give favorable instructions from within our hearts so that we can gradually make progress. Krishna is the first spiritual master, and when we become more interested in Him, we have to go to a sadhu or holy man who serves as spiritual master from without. This is enjoined by Sri Krishna Himself in the following verse:

tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprashnena sevaya
upadekshyanti te jñanam
jñaninas tattva-darshinah

"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." (Bg. 4.34)

It is necessary to select a person to whom we can surrender ourselves. Of course no one likes to surrender to anyone. We are puffed up with whatever knowledge we have, and our attitude is, "Oh, who can give me knowledge?" Some people say that for spiritual realization there is no need for a spiritual master, but so far as Vedic literature is concerned, and as far as Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Upanishads are concerned, there is need of a spiritual master. Even in the material world if one wants to learn to be a musician, he has to search out a musician to teach him, or if one wants to be an engineer, he has to go to a technological college and learn from those who know the technology. Nor can anyone become a doctor by simply purchasing a book from the market and reading it at home. One has to be admitted to a medical college and undergo training under licensed doctors. It is not possible to learn any major subject simply by purchasing books and reading them at home. Someone is needed to show us how to apply that knowledge which is found in the books. As far as the science of God is concerned, Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, advises us to go to a person to whom we can surrender. This means that we have to check to see if a person is capable of giving instructions in Bhagavad-gita and other literatures of God realization. It is not that we are to search out a spiritual master whimsically. We should be very serious to find a person who is actually in knowledge of the subject.

In the beginning of Bhagavad-gita Arjuna was talking to Krishna just like a friend, and Krishna was questioning how he, as a military man, could give up fighting. But when Arjuna saw that friendly talks would not make a solution to his problems, he surrendered unto Krishna, saying, shishyas te 'ham shadhi mam tvam prapannam: "Now I am Your disciple and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me." (Bg. 2.7) This is the process. It is not that we should blindly surrender, but we should be able to inquire with intelligence.

Without inquiry, we cannot make advancement. In school a student who makes inquiries from the teacher is usually an intelligent student. It is generally a sign of intelligence when a small child inquires from his father, "Oh, what is this? What is that?" We may have a very good spiritual master, but if we have no power to inquire, we cannot make progress. Nor should the inquiry be of the nature of a challenge. One should not think, "Now I will see what kind of spiritual master he is. I will challenge him." Our inquiries (pariprashnena) should be on the subject of service (sevaya). Without service, our inquiries will be futile, but even before making inquiries, we should have some qualification. If we go to a store to purchase some gold or jewelry and we know nothing about jewels or gold, we are likely to be cheated. If we go to a jeweler and say, "Can you give me a diamond?" he will understand that this is a fool. He could charge us any price for anything. That kind of searching will not do at all. We first have to become a little intelligent, for it is not possible to make spiritual progress otherwise.