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A bona fide spiritual master makes broadcasting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead his only business. He never wastes time making materialistic plans or concocting dry philosophical speculations about God, for he knows full well that all people will be completely satisfied if they simply glorify God. Lord Krishna describes such genuine mahatmas(great souls) as follows: “Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpe

Sometimes a so-called guru seeks to help humanity by performing some social welfare mission, such as opening hospitals or uplifting the poor. Such a man is generally an atheist, devoid of any real spiritual knowledge.

Such a true guru has complete faith in Narada Muni’s words in the Srimad-Bhagavatam: “As pouring water on the root of a tree energizes the trunk, branches, twigs, and leaves; and as supplying food to the stomach enlivens the senses and limbs of the body; so simply worshiping Lord K

Since renunciation is a criterion for a genuine guru, then what about yogis who remain alone in silent meditation, seeking to stay pure by avoiding all material contact? Are they the ideal gurus?

No—because such withdrawal from the mass of people does not help those who are suffering without God consciousness.

One of the greatest God-realized guru, Srila Rupa Goswami, states in his Bhakti-rasamrita- sindhu, “If one rejects material things which could be used in the service of Krishna [God], his

A genuine guru must not only speak the truth; he must also live it. In other words, his character must be perfect and his behavior exemplary.

In the West we commonly see that a professor or philosopher achieves renown on the basis of his teachings alone, regardless of his personal life. But in Vedic society, if a man is a drunkard or in some other way violates the ideal principles he teaches, then he is considered not a teacher but a cheater.

According to the Bhagavad Gita a real guru, who teach

An important criterion for a guru is that he himself must be a disciple of a bonafide spiritual master—one who is part of a succession of spiritual masters coming from Lord Krishna Himself.

A guru’s teachings are genuine only when he has received his knowledge by this process of disciplic succession, because one who is not part of a genuine disciplic chain can have no access to the Vedic knowledge. So we must comprehend the importance of disciplic succession in determining the credibility of a s

Since we are all servants of the Supreme Lord, a bona fide guru must be a devotee of the Supreme Lord and teach others how to become His devotees. In fact, unless the guru is a devotee of Lord Krishna, he cannot understand transcendental knowledge—what to speak of imparting it to others.

An ideal example of a qualified recipient of transcendental knowledge is Arjuna, whom Lord Krishna empowered to understand the Bhagavad-gita because of his devotional attitude.

Krishna explains in the fourth cha

Just as it is a fraud for a so-called guru to offer only gross material benefits, or to collect money from his disciples for selfish aims, or to teach the disciples that they are God or can become God—so it is an even greater fraud for the so-called guru to proclaim that he himself is an incarnation of God.

The Vedic scriptures predict the incarnations of God and describe their extraordinary qualities and activities. So any ordinary person who poses as a guru and says he is an incarnation of God

A true spiritual master must not only be able to distinguish spirit from matter; he must also be able to distinguish the minute, individual spirit (the soul) from the supreme spirit (the Supersoul, or God). Failure to make this important distinction disqualifies many of today’s so- called spiritual masters. In fact, blurring the difference between God and the living entity is the most common philosophical flaw among modern gurus. Their reasoning goes something like this: “The eternal spirit soul

We often come across pseudo-sadhus who pretend to have some spiritual knowledge, but who teach their disciples only how to gain some material advantage—a slimmer body, better sex life, success in business, and so on. 

Real spiritual life means getting free from the agony of birth and death. How can a common man, unable to distinguish spirit from matter—and thus himself caught in the cycle of birth and death—claim to be a spiritual master? Such cheaters generally take up the “guru business” just

According to the Vedic scriptures, the primary criterion of a genuine guru can be fathomed by the quality of the words the teacher speaks. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Sri Krishna, the original spiritual master, tells his disciple Arjuna, “The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth".

Therefore we understand that, a genuine guru must have realized the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, and he must be able to impart this truth to his disciple, thus fr

A recent international survey revealed that more than twenty million U.S. citizens today, are practicing some form of yoga, meditation, or other “self-renewal” process. To meet this great demand, many “gurus” have appeared on the scene, each teaching his version of spiritual truth. Some have attracted large followings, and every disciple undoubtedly feels that his guru is the best.

But for the serious seeker of truth, choosing a spiritual master cannot be a matter of mere sentiment. Spiritual lif

Many noble souls in quest of spiritual enlightenment, often ask me this question - What is self realisation? How can we attain it?

According to Vedic civilization, the perfection of life is to realize one's relationship with God. In the Bhagavad-Gita which is accepted by all authorities in transcendental science as the basis of all Vedic knowledge, we understand that not only human beings but all living entities are parts and parcels of God. The parts are meant for serving the whole, just as the

The Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be forgotten even for a moment by His surrendered devotees. The devotee understands that the Lord’s causeless mercy is beyond his estimation; he cannot know how much he is benefited by the grace of the Lord. The more one engages himself in the devotional service of the Lord, the more encouragement is supplied by the energy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that to those who are constantly engaged in devotional service with love and affectio

Sometimes when we hear that great sages and devotees go to the forest and engage themselves in devotional service or meditation, we become surprised: how can one live in the forest and not be taken care of by anyone? Such persons are well protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Śaraṇāgati, or surrender, means acceptance or firm belief that wherever the surrendered soul lives he is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; he is never alone or unprotected. Dhruva Mahārāja’s

Everyone has to surrender to someone superior. That is always the nature of our living condition. At the present moment we are trying to surrender to someone—either to society or to our nation, family, state or government.

The surrendering process already exists, but it is never perfect because the person or institution unto whom we surrender is imperfect, and our surrender, having so many ulterior motives, is also imperfect. As such, in the material world no one is worthy to accept anyone’s sur

Hera Panchami is a unique festival celebrated at the Gundicha Temple at Puri, Odisha in India. ‘Hera’ means to ‘see’ and ‘Panchami’ means the ‘fifth day’.

Historical Significance

On the fifth day of the Rathayatra Festival, Goddess Lakshmi becomes very worried and thinks, "Where has my husband gone? He told me, I am going for a change of environment for some days, and I will return very soon. It has been five days now, and still He has not come back." She becomes anxious because her husband does

'Netrotsava' - the Festival for the Eyes, originally celebrated at Puri Jagannath Temple in India is a sacred ritual performed before Rath Yatra: The Grand Festival of Chariots. After Snana Purnima - the royal bath of the dieties, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra are believed to fall ill with fever and do not return to their pedestal in the main temple. The Deities are kept in a special room called the 'Ratan bedi' inside the temple. The dieties stay away from public view for

During one of my excursions to North India, I remember in the midst of our sight-seeing expeditions, halfway through the journey our cab driver halted to drink a cup of tea while all the passengers restlessly waited. The worst part was that there was a medical emergency wherein a young girl was feeling breathless and needed to be rushed to the hospital but the driver was derelict, simply due to his addiction to this intoxicant. He could not control his senses and lost his sense of responsibility

Our life is like a yatra – a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey towards the Divine. Our body symbolises the rath or chariot, through which we embark on the journey towards serving and attaining eternal love of the Lordships. Though we live in this material body or ‘rath’, the bonafide shastras and acharyas advise us to surrender its control to the all-merciful Lord Purushottama.  Thus, by sincerely following their instructions, we earn their blessings and eventually we are able to blissfully maneuv