Qualifications of an

Ideal Disciple
 Humble Surrender

• A disciple should submissively

and humbly surrender to the
spiritual master.
 Humble Surrender
• One should consider oneself a
fool in front of the guru and
should put aside all preconceived
notions learnt earlier from
unreliable sources.
• Story of 2 students at music
class, one who already knew was
charged more than the one who
knew nothing.
 Humble Surrender

• Example
- Arjuna’s Surrender to Lord
Krishna
: Sarvam Etad…
: Karishye Vachanam Tava….
 Humble Surrender

• If the disciple maintains his

own reservations, then such a
disciple’s heart is like barren
land where the seed cannot
sprout, or like a barren woman
who cannot beget a child.
 Inquisitiveness

• A disciple should be sincerely

inquisitive about the ultimate
goal of life.
- Short-term goals (preyas )
- Long-term goals (shreyas)
• Correct & Mundane Enquiries
 Service Attitude

• A disciple should never be

proud of his material
qualifications like education,
bodily beauty, wealth, high
birth, etc.
• Story of Din Dayal Upadhyaya
 Submissive Service

• By submissive service, one

can make greater progress
than by merely acquiring
scholarship to increase one’s
fame.
• Spirituality is not just therotical.
 Devotion to the Supreme Lord

• The disciple should be a

devotee of the Lord as told by
the Lord Himself:
‘bhakto ‘si me sakha cheti
rahasyam hy etad uttamam’
[BG 4.3]
 Unflinching Faith in the
order of guru
• The disciple must have
unflinching faith in the spiritual
master and must make his
instructions his life and soul.
• Moon Landing & Vedic
Conclusions …
 Unflinching Faith in the
order of guru
• Examples
- Krishna Sudama
- Three Disciples of Dhaumya
 Avowed Truthfulness

• A disciple should have a sincere

desire for enlightenment and avowed
truthfulness to the spiritual master.
• Story of Satyakam, the truthful
disciple who honestly said to his guru
“I don’t know who my father is since
my mother was a prostitute and
associated with many men”