Is Salvation not Possible Without a Guru?
Thus a real
Swami Ramsukhdas, Gita Press Pub
1. Who can be a Guru
The one under whose guidance, we visualize the
light of knowledge and who helps us to eliminate
the darkness of ignorance – be it any subject, is our
Guru (Spiritual Guide). Guru’s work is done once
he links us to God. Only after the disciple is
enlightened with knowledge of truth, that’s when
the guide is called a guru, before that he is just a
guide. It is a deception if a Guru does not show the
way to reach and know God.
Guru helps human being to be in front of God and
not make student make a relation with guru
himself. Our duty is to be one with God and not to
relate ourselves to a Guru. Our relationship with
God is eternal and natural because we are eternal
part of God. Guru makes us recall that forgotten
relationship and not to form a new one with Guru.
Guru is accepted with reverence, only when he puts
the disciple in front of God.
2. Real Guru
Real guru wants his disciple to attain salvation and
strives hard for it, and a real disciple is one who
implements the instructions given by guru
regarding sadhana. A guru who desires to make
disciples is a slave of the disciples. A person who
desires anything from the student cannot be a
guru. A true saint does not crave for the world, but
the world has a dire need for him. A real guru does
not wish to have anything, and are not interested
even in becoming a guru. A true saint has a
genuine desire for spiritual progress of the people of
the world.
There is no condition that only a living person can
become a guru. For eg., Suka Maharshi (ancient)
giving initiation to Charanadasa (contemporary). If
a disciple is sincere, he doesn’t need to search for a
Guru, he on its own gets him. People seek a guru,
but real guru tries to find a true, sincere disciple.
A true guru never instructs his disciples to see him
equal to God, if not even higher than God. On the
contrary, a true guru when he realizes that his
disciples are giving him more importance than God,
he discourages it because the disciple who gets
attached to the guru fails to become one with God.
It is desirable that a student should develop
devotion towards God and not bondage with Guru.
There is no better well-wisher to than God, be it
guru, mother, father or any other relationship. Only
an imposter makes people worship and not God.
Those people who have desire for money, property,
praise, respect, fame etc., it is farfetched affair to
lead others to salvation, as they themselves cannot
attain salvation. Only those who are selfless and
are without desires, can free others from their
desires.
Those who make others weak are themselves weak
inside, and those who make others strong and
capable are also capable themselves.
guru helps other to become gurus and not make
his disciples weak, incapable and dependent upon
him. God does not make anyone smaller to him.
Those who surrender to God, God makes him His
equal, and not His subordinate. God is friend of all
beings in the creation. In Bhagavad Gita, though
Arjuna accepted himself as disciple of Lord
Krishna, the Lord treated Arjuna as a friend and
well-wisher and did not consider Himself as a
Guru. The one who is great regards other as great
is great himself, he who thinks others a lowly
himself becomes so. And one who is great in reality
internally doesn’t feel ashamed of being small. For
eg., Lord Krishna did not mind becoming charioteer
of Arjuna, or picking up used plates of Brahmins
after meals during Pandava’s Rajasuya yajna. Only
small people are scared and ashamed, and are
worried that other may not know about their being
lowly and degrade them, thus tries to maintain an
air of superiority.
3. Glory of Guru
When scriptures declare Guru more important than
even God, it is only for his truthfulness and not for
his vanity, hypocrisy or wickedness. A false guru
tries to spread that ‘guru is more than God’ for
their self-interest and greed. Such a one is not
worthy of the disciple’s devotion towards him. If one
has a desire to become a Guru, he can’t do
anything for the welfare of others.
A true guru feels that he has just shifted the
disciple’s point of view towards an obvious and real
truth and has not contributed anything in anyway.
But it is beneficial for the devotee in his ego
reduction to feel that guru has given him all his
wisdom and whatever good has happened to him is
because of kindness of guru. A real guru should
link the student to God, but one who only talks
about it is indeed not a guru.
4. Guru’s Grace
Because of guru’s grace, a disciple realizes God.
When guru is moved, (his heart diluted) looking at
humble, distressed state of disciple, they are
automatically blessed by his grace. Grace (Krupa) is
different from compassion (daya) in the sense that
grace is accompanied with a sense of command,
while compassion depicts soft feelings without a
sense of command. The saint is compassionate to
everyone, but only the inquisitive aspirant who is
genuinely keen to know the essence of Almighty
can be benefitted by that kindness. In reality, the
one who is devoted towards his goal with thirst to
know true nature of Supreme Soul, he can only
receive kindness the most. Once guru bestows his
kindness, there remains nothing more to know, but
such real gurus are rare to find.
It is not the concern of a true guru whether people
become his disciples or not, whether they love him
or go against him. It is not that after making a
disciple only, real gurus shower their blessings.
Their compassion is natural, self-evident. Just like
sunlight, rain, guru’s grace is uniform for everyone,
and it is upto the individuals how they utilize it for
their self-progress.
Grace of guru is showered in 4 ways:
(1) by memory – disciple gains wisdom by mere
recalling nature of a guru (e.g., tortoise
remembering her eggs to ripen)
(2) by sight – guru helps disciple gain wisdom by
sight of compassion (e.g., fish keeps looking at her
eggs time to time)
(3) by words – guru with his profound words help
disciple gain knowledge (e.g., sparrow makes
peculiar noises to her eggs)
(4) by touch – by mere touch of a guru, a disciple
attain salvation (e.g., peahen sits on her eggs)
5. Significance of Guru’s Teaching
Guru is not the body, but an utterance. For the
sake of principles guru gives away his body, but not
for the sake of body they give away their principles.
To make one’s life according to guru’s principles is
real devotion and real service to a guru. Thus
instead of uttering guru’s name and meditating
upon him, it is more important to follow his orders
and principles. A guru is the reality (Truth) and not
body. If someone regards guru as a body, it is
sinful. It is a sin that people instead of worshipping
God, worship the body of guru which is made up of
flesh and bones. A guru who gets his worship done
is disloyal towards God. If guru is a body, then
when he dies, how would he lead the disciple to
salvation? If guru dies and disciple laments, what
knowledge did the disciple gain? A true guru
teaches his disciples to worship God and not
himself. They also don’t expect the disciples to obey
their orders, but to follow scriptures.
5 things by which one can be benefitted from
Almighty:
(1) Uttering of God’s name (naama japa) (2)
Meditation (3) Devotion, Service (4) Obedience (5)
Good company.
6. Who has the Right to be a Guru?
One should not become a guru till he is capable of
leading the disciple to salvation, because it is a
deadly sin to be a guru and not to lead the disciple
to achieve enlightenment. The guru goes to hell,
because a devotee could have gone somewhere else
to attain salvation, but by being tied up, he was
unable to do that. Such fake guru obstructed his
way to enlightenment for which he was given
human body by God.
Just as a secretary’s fault affects the king, wife’s
shortcomings affect a husband, even so a disciple’s
sin passes to his guru. If a guru fails to lead a
disciple to salvation, then he would have to take
future births to complete his task. Those guru’s
who instead of leading their disciples towards God,
divert them towards themselves commit a deadly
sin. For eg., Hanuman assisted Vibhishana to
believe in Lord Rama rather than diverting him to
himself. It is more important for the seeker to gain
from spiritual teachings bet it from satsangs or
discourses or books rather than to be attached to a
guru. If a disciple falsely believes that guru will lead
him to salvation, he may slack in his spiritual
practice.
Sometimes disciples of one guru are violent or fight
against those of other gurus. This means these
disciples have much more attachment and
aversion, and then it may be better to just be in the
company of
pious men. These people don’t attain salvation, it is
nothing else but self-satisfaction that they own a
guru. It is very risky to be a guru and to make a
guru. It is not fair and is outright deceiving for the
guru to accept a disciple, take the offerings from
him, but do not lead him to salvation. You don’t
have the right to be a guru, if you can’t get the
disciple to achieve god and liberate him from
worldly bondage. Let the disciple go somewhere else
to seek knowledge. Otherwise the disciple’s human
birth is becoming meaningless and it is a big
injustice to him. Even without forming guru-
disciple relationship, if you listen to saints and
follow their teachings, you would gain; but even if
you don’t follow their teachings, you would not lose
anything. But if one forms a relationship with guru
and does not follow his teachings, he will suffer
loss.
7. A True Guru is Rare
There are many gurus who snatch the wealth of a
disciple, but a guru who can relieve the disciple of
the burning sensation of his heart is rare to find
(Guru gita). A true guru always thinks of the well-
being and salvation of others – not only for their
disciples, but for all living beings. A true guru has
themselves experienced and realized that there is
so much suffering in the world, and to get
everlasting happiness it is essential to sacrifice the
pleasures of the world. A true guru wants that
everyone should be free from worldly pains and
experience highest form of happiness till eternity.
True gurus are rare even in the past, but especially
at present, they are even rarer to find. Gurudom
has become a profession wherein they initiate
disciples to earn their own livelihood, to impose
their own beliefs and systems, to encourage their
praise and fame and to serve their own self-
interest. Disciples also are going to gurus not for
salvation, but for worldly benefits. To achieve
salvation one should not get bonded to anything or
anybody including even guru.
Bliss, liberation, divine wisdom and attainment of
God are not dependent on a guru. If without a
guru, there is no knowledge of the self, then how
would have the first guru in the world attained
wisdom? Thus a human being realizes eternal truth
only by grace of God. But now it has become a
common belief that it is prerequisite to become a
disciple, to accept the principles of guru and then
only guru would guide.
Thus attend spiritual discourses and take as much
as possible, but do not have a guru. From wherever
you gain something good, accept it and if there is
no benefit in it, move on. You shouldn’t get stuck to
a guru. The way a greedy bee sucks honey from
flower to flower, a keen seeker of knowledge should
go from one guru to another (Guru gita). If a guru is
himself caught in the worldly affairs and thus is
incapable of attaining salvation himself, how would
he be able to lead the disciple to salvation. Guru’s
of high stature don’t insist on their own ideologies
like duality or non-duality, but encourage the
seeker to experience Truth directly. Thus ia striver
is completely dedicated to God, as He is only Perfect
and not any particular person. If we move towards
God, He would bless us with Yoga, Knowledge and
Devotion.
8. Discrimination – Human’s Inborn Guru
God who gave us human body to realize Him, also
gave us guru in the form of discrimination.
Discrimination discriminates between real &
unreal, temporary & permanent, transitory &
everlasting, right & wrong, desirable & undesirable
etc. One who uses his discrimination does not need
an external guru, and one who doesn’t use it – even
if he has a guru, he is not capable to attain
salvation. Thus it is not necessary to have an
external guru. The more one uses his
discrimination, the more it gets enhanced and is
finally transformed into self-realization.
True knowledge flows from true saints natural
behaviour and their preaching’s become scriptures.
Thus concentrate on implementing teachings of real
saints and not get attached to a guru. You will
become saintly if you start practicing all the good
that you get to hear.
9. Pre-eminence of a Disciple for Attaining
Salvation
If a disciple is not keen for his salvation, then a
guru can’t help him; but if a disciple is keenly
interested in his salvation, then even without
guru’s assistance, he will attain salvation (e.g.,
Ekalavya became a better archer than Arjuna even
without Dronacharya’s help).
It is not essential that by being attached to Guru
only, you attain salvation. Else have all persons
devoted to a guru, did they attain salvation? The
one by whose guidance we attain salvation is our
true spiritual guru, whether we consider him guru
or not, and whether he treats us as his disciples or
not, and even if the guru is not aware of this.
Though Dattatreya has 24 gurus, nobody asked
Dattatreya to accept him as his guru. A guru
should be unaware that he has a disciple.
10. Attainment of God is not dependent on Guru
The sages who know the reality of Divine Soul,
neither aspire to become gurus, nor they accept
gifts, instead they help the seekers openly. The
ones who are not inclined to become gurus are able
to teach us the truth of soul better, and not the
ones who aspire to become gurus.
If a guru says that it is prerequisite for them that
you should become their disciple, in order to help
you in showing the way to reach God, then he is
not a true guru. Thus if someone wants you to be
his disciple, he is not fit to be a guru.
11. Our Own Yearnings Lead Us to Welfare
Attain personal upliftment through your own self,
not downfall. We are our own friend and our own
enemy as well (Gita 6-5). We are wholly responsible
for our elevation as well as our downfall, not
someone else. God has gifted us with human body
along with all the resources needed for our
salvation. We don’t require anyone else for our
salvation.
Only our own inward surrender, dedication to God,
obedience and implementation of Guru’s teachings
ensures the way to spiritual progress. Nobody or
nothing can help an unyearning disciple, just as
one cannot enjoy the best food when one is not
hungry. Though there have been a number of
famous saints, teachers, gurus, incarnations of
God, the reason why we still are not liberated is
because of our lack of effort. When in absence of
our own aspiration for salvation, even Supreme
Lord cannot help us, then how can any human
being lead us to salvation when we are not keen to
put effort. We can transform our life by our own
yearning, perseverance and endeavour. We are our
own master, leader and ruler. Our progress is in
our hands only.
Instead of finding faults with others, we should look
at ourselves to find out our shortcomings and make
adequate efforts to free ourselves from them. If we
have true yearning in our heart, we would find a
guru, a sage, God, good spiritual books and
wisdom. Just as when a fruit is ripe, parrot comes
to eat it, a guru would himself approach a real pure
seeker. The keenness of a disciple to get his guru is
relatively less intense than that of the guru to have
a true disciple.
If we get a fraud guru, God would free us from his
clutches. It is a rule that when a person has the
desire towards spiritual progress, he does not get
stuck-up anywhere. When a seeker finds the holy
company of exalted souls, he should hold on to it
and he stick to it. If you are determined to attain
salvation, nobody can stop you; and if you are not
keen for it, even good guru can’t help you in
attainment of salvation. If a person is whole-
heartedly devoted to God but is engulfed with
hardships, these hardships also prove to be helpful
in his spiritual progress. Even if a person who
doesn’t accept existence of God, attains true
wisdom if he develops true aspiration for salvation.
It is your job to intensify your pursuit towards
spiritual enrichment. Krishna helped Draupadi
when her clothes are being pulled away because
she called Him for help. But since Yudhisthira
while losing gamble did not call Him for help,
Krishna didn’t help him.
12. God is the Supreme Guru
Since God is the Guru of the whole world, and we
are part of this world itself, we are the disciples of
the real great Guru i.e., God. The gurus of kaliyuga
are very dangerous. Accept God as your guru, and
Gita (His utterance) as spiritual instruction and
reform your life accordingly, then there is no doubt
about your liberation. If we surrender ourselves to
God, either we shall get a right guru, or God
himself shall become our guru.
We are fragments of God, and He is our Guru,
mother, father and everything to us. We should not
bind ourselves with a worldly guru, instead
recognize our affinity with God. We need not seek
anybody’s advice because all beings are naturally
and permanently bound with God, and no
middleman is required. Why should we create the
distance of a middleman between us and God,
when we are ourselves capable of having an
intimate and direct relationship with Him.
13. Generosity of God – the Preceptor of the
World
God has unlimited virtues that some say that God
Himself is not fully aware of His infinite virtues.
Out of those 3 main virtues of God are
Omniscience, Omnipotence and Compassion. None
other than God can possess so much knowledge,
strength and grace. In spite of this strong support
of God being at your disposal, if you fail to attain
salvation and continue to suffer, how can an
ordinary guru lead you to salvation. A guru can
never be more knowledgeable, powerful and
generous than God. The virtues of a guru are not
their own, but are derived by them from God, and
have been assumed by you. Even evil beings derive
their strength from God alone. The Almighty
bestows strength on everyone, whether he is His
enemy, beloved or indifferent. In spite of this divine
presence of such a generous God, if we suffer and
expect a guru to give us happiness and salvation, it
is a stupid and deceptive proposition.
Pray truthfully to God “O my Lord! Let me be free
from worldly bondage. Let me realize ultimate
Truth. I don’t know about any real bliss; help me
attain the real bliss. Guide me as to what I should
do. Help me not to be involved with anything.” God
always responds to truthful prayers. A guru can
never be such a well-wisher of ours as God is. Just
as a mother is always more worried about her
children than they themselves are, similarly God
and saints always remain engrossed in our welfare
without any selfishness. When you can’t stop
yourself from giving food to a hungry child, how
can you think that God and saints who are
overflowing with compassion does not help a
sincere seeker.
14. Q&A about Guru
Q) Ramacharitamanas says ‘No one can cross
worldly ocean without a guru!’
A) A person can attain salvation from teachings of
any noble soul (e.g., Lord Dattatreya’s 24 gurus).
Salvation is possible only when you follow the path
shown by a real saint and then he is your only
guru. When anybody’s teachings help us to attain
salvation, he becomes our guru even without our
declaring so. Thus having a guru is not as
important as following the noble teachings. Though
we have a guru, if we don’t follow his teachings, it
amounts to sin and it will not lead to salvation.
Q) A guruless person cannot attain salvation. Is it
true?
A) Each person’s discrimination is his own guru.
God is the Guru of the whole world (Krishnam
vande jagatgurum) and thus no one is ever
guruless. It is beneficial to stay in company of
noble saints and follow their teachings. Guru-
disciple relationship is an unnecessary bondage.
Actually God-realized enlightened souls never likes
to have disciples. You shall be benefitted by
following their teachings even without accepting
them as your Guru.
Q) Is mantra given by a guru is more powerful?
A) Guru mantra will be effective only when guru is
effective. Effective influence of a guru lies in his
nobility and not in his hollow utterances. You can
attain the Truth only when you practice spiritual
disciple according to your belief, faith, taste and
ability. All types of worship and prayer are good,
but the real ones are those which are spontaneous
and natural, while those which require special
efforts are all artificial. Prayer and worship are
effective only when these are in tune with devotee’s
nature and liking. Forcibly imposed acts of worship
never produce effective result. Thus always pray to
your ishta-devata as opposed to kula-devata or
guru-suggested-devata. Finally, it is your own
dedication and faith that makes a mantra or
worship more effective, because real strength
always comes from God and not from an individual.
Strength of God is ever-present, eternal and ever
available to all. There is no question of partiality or
requirement of a middleman. Whosoever seeks it,
gets it abundantly.
Q) Is Kundalini awakening possible without a guru?
A) It is not possible to attain God or salvation by
awakening of Kundalini. Kundalini is part of our
body and is not concerned with our true self/soul.
How will a striver transcend body by awakening
kundalini, which is part of the body. Salvation is
possible only when you are fully detached from the
body. Therefore awakening kundalini shall not lead
you to liberation. Getting supernatural experiences
by awakening of kundalini does not help in
attainment of eternal bliss or salvation, which is
possible only when you detach yourself from the
inert matter of your body and the world.
Q) If I have no faith and interest in a practice
prescribed to me by my guru, what should I do?
A) You should practice sadhana of your liking, like
chanting holy name of your favourite diety, study
holy books, attend divine discourses of exalted
souls. But instead of altogether eliminated guru
prescribed sadhana, it is better if you could it to a
minimum extent if possible.
Q) Though I accepted someone as my guru, now I
have lost faith in him. Would it be a sin if I give him
up?
A) There is no sin or offence in leaving a Guru who
is greedy, has strong craving for women, has no
sense of distinction between good and bad, and
indulges in undesirable activities. If guru, out of his
false ego, forgets what to do and what not to do,
and proceeds on the wrong path, he should be
given up (Mahabharata). An ignorant, untruthful,
confusing guru should be gotten rid of. Because the
one who could not attain tranquillity and peace
himself, how can he give peace to others (Guru
gita). Though a degraded guru is to be renounced, a
mother is never so. Giving birth to a child and
upbringing him make a mother much greater than
gurus. (Matsya Purana 227-150, Skanda Purana
MK 6-7).
Q) May a woman make a guru? May a woman be
taken as a disciple?
A) A woman should never have a guru. If already
made, she should give him up. For a woman, her
husband is the only guru. For women, obedience to
the marital rites is the only vedic activity (sacred
thread), service of the husband is the only period of
study, household duties are her only religious
sacrifice (agnihotra) (Manusmruti 2-67).
A woman should not develop any type of
relationship with anybody other than her husband
as they could be victimized by fraudulent gurus.
A monk should not initiate any woman as his
disciple. It is prohibited for an ascetic even to touch
a woman; not to talk of woman in flesh and blood,
not even a woman’s statue and not even by feet
(Bhagavata 11-8-13). A man should not remain
with his mother, sister and daughter in a lonely
place because sensual temptations are very strong
which even the learned person cannot overcome or
resist. ( Manusmruti 2-215). A person who wants to
attain the supreme state of yoga, who has realized
the truth of self and non-self, should never indulge
with women because women are the open gateway
to hell for such a person. (Bhagavata 3-31-39).
Even sages like Viswamitra and Paraasara who led
a life of extreme austerity merely by breathing air,
or drinking water and eating dry leaves could not
resist their lust for beautiful faced women and were
deluded. Then it is rather an impossibility if people
surrounded by all types of foods and luxuries can
control their sensual cravings.
Q) Is it true that a realized exalted soul is not
adversely affected even if he indulges in worldly
pleasures?
A) It is just impossible. Total liberation and
indulgence in worldly pleasures can never go
together. Craving for pleasures vanishes even while
aspirant is practicing spiritual discipline. The
question of such pleasures does not arise at all for
a realized soul. Such nonsense utterances are
made and spread by selfish people for their selfish
ends.
Even attaining Supreme Knowledge of real self, if a
person remains engaged in irresponsible conduct
such as impure food (meat, wine etc.) then what is
the difference between the so-called realized soul
and a dog? (Ramcharitamaanas Uttara 98-2, 100-
1). One who indulges in sex with a woman even
after renouncing the world, such a sannyasi has to
spend 60,000 years as an insect in excrement.
Desires are real cause of worldly pleasures and a
person attains liberation only after getting rid of
such desires fully. If at all it is mentioned in
scriptures that ‘a liberated soul is not even spoilt by
indulging in material pleasures’, it is to show his
greatness and not glory, and not that he practices
it. Gita also mentions that a liberated soul who has
diluted his ego, whose intellect is not tainted, is
never regarded guilty of even killing. It does not
mean that he actually kills anybody.
Q) A guru is necessary because he performs a
powerful mystic infusion of strength in the disciple.
A) In present times such miracles are neither seen
nor heard of. Even it can be done, possibly the
receiver will not have the strength to tolerate it.
Such miracles are very rare to perform and rarer
still to withstand.
Q) There is nothing wrong in making those disciples
who would otherwise get converted to Christianity
or Islam?
A) This is wrong. Those who wish to become
Christians or Muslims shall never come to a guru.
If somebody becomes a Muslim or Christian on
guru’s refusal to initiate him, then guru is not
guilty. But if a disciple wants to get converted and
guru prevents it, it is wrong. Guru should always
allow the disciple to go elsewhere in seeking
attainment of his salvation. It is great sin and
injustice if a guru forces the disciple to take refuge
in him, rather than in God (be it any religion’s God
as there is only God).
Q) How to know and test a guru?
A) You (inferior) are not capable of testing a guru
(superior). If you have even the slightest doubt
about a guru, then do not establish the guru-
disciple relationship; only get benefit from pious
company of saints. Instead of making a guru, study
the sacred texts, have association with saints who
intensify your desire to attain God, who dissuade
you from evil, who encourage you towards virtues,
who reminds you of God, who enhances your faith
and reverence for God, who dispels your doubts,
who never expects any reward in return from you.
A Guru is never tested rather you yourself are put
to test. We are not capable of testing a guru, but we
can test ourselves as how intensely we have been
influenced and transformed by him; how it has
affected our actions and thoughts; to what extent it
has diminished our evil tendencies such as
attachment & aversion, lust & wrath etc.
15. For Sannyasi Strivers (Devotees) and
Devotional Singers
Fall of a sannyasi devotee is inevitable, if he is
attached to women and wealth. Seekers should feel
scared of the evils of attachment to wealth &
women, in the same way as generally people are
afraid of ghosts, evil spirits, snakes and wild
animals etc.
Attachment & aversion, passion & fear etc. are not
the nature of the mind, but evils that are to be
gotten rid of. One who regards them as natural and
continues to treat them as inevitable till the end of
life, is not even a real seeker, not to talk of being
wise.
Evils like passion and anger never remain with a
truly realized person. A person may be a good
orator who can describe the Supreme in beautiful
words based on citations of scriptures, and also
can write logical articles on the real knowledge, but
it is not necessary he is a genuine knower of truth.
Acting like a mahatma on the stage is different from
actually being a mahatma. The wise have fully
crossed the ocean of ignorance. Liking, disliking,
passion and anger are parts of ignorance, and these
cannot exist with real knowledge.
Those people who start accepting themselves Self-
realized based on their bookish knowledge and give
up spiritual pursuit by treating themselves free
from all prescription and prohibition even before
attaining the highest spiritual godly state, face a
downfall. Till ignorance exists, attachment to
sensory pleasures remains intact, and this
attachment is the root cause of all sins. Therefore
seekers should be very careful in keeping
themselves away from evils like attachment-
aversion, passion, anger, greed etc. After accepting
total renunciation, seekers should not keep any
contact with women & wealth.
Instead of being a hypocritical realized soul, it is
better to stay ignorant because then at least you
are afraid of sin. A hypocritical person goes on
committing sins to protect his false image.
A true sannyasi should follow some rules:
1. Not to keep company of householders
2. Not to see even picture of a woman
3. Not to touch money
4. Not to establish relationship with anybody
5. Not to be possessive about anything
6. Not to accept any type of honor or admiration
7. Always protect his dispassion very carefully
8. Always keep his senses under full control
9. Not to collect worldly objects
10. Not to develop any sect
11. Not to make a house
12. Not to speak unnecessarily
13. Observe celibacy
14. Keep away from passion, anger, greed etc.
15. Be free from attachment & aversion
16. Should devote himself in spiritual practice
17. Should always be in remembrance of God
These are also followed by great self-realized souls
so that other seekers may emulate them.
If you intend to become a devotee,
1. Take God’s shelter, constantly remember Him
2. Don’t allow cravings for wealth, respect,
admiration to enter into the mind
3. Don’t care whether you are regarded as a devotee
or not by people
4. Continue to sing the name and glories of God
with devotion
5. Don’t reveal your devotion to others
6. Don’t give opportunity to anyone to honor or
worship. Always protect yourself from honor, praise
7. Avoid company of women, and those indulged
with women
8. Never allow your mind to develop lust for wealth
and reputation
Devotional singing with chanting of God’s name is a
highly respectable adored way of life. It should be
done with deepest of feelings and highest of
conduct. For devotional singers,
1. Do devotional singing wholeheartedly only to
please God and not for entertainment of people, as
then it becomes extrovert.
2. Always keep in mind a strong feeling that your
God is present here and you are singing His name
and glories before Him and for His pleasure.
3. Get fully engrossed in singing God’s name while
remembering Him and His virtues (glories) and
meditating on Him.
4. Never think whether others have been pleased or
attracted by your devotional singing or not.
5. Have reverence and love for God’s name and sing
His name merged with extreme reverence and love.
Then such utterances have overwhelming effect on
the listeners e.g., Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
6. Follow righteous conduct and possess divine
qualities, as one who sings and dances in the name
of God, but whose conduct is not pure, cannot
leave good impression on the people. This gives
opportunity for others to make false allegations
against devotional singing, its singers, even against
their object of singing i.e., God Himself. Never
tarnish the image of divine singing or God, due to
your bad conduct. If your conduct is not pure,
practice devotional singing in loneliness. Beg and
cry before God for purification of your conduct.
Never try to hide your ill-conduct nor give any
support to ill-conduct under any circumstances.
7. Never abandon duties relating to your social
order and stage of life, on the pretext of devotional
singing.
8. Knowledge, dispassion, righteous conduct, Varna
(social order)-ashrama (stage of life) dharma,
sandhya prayers, Gayatri mantra should never be
criticized, while praising the loud chanting of Lord’s
holy name, rather they should be followed properly
according to the ordinance of the scriptures.
9. Don’t indulge in partiality or develop feeling of a
high and low standard in different names of God
and encourage groupism.
10. Chant divine names with simple, pure, genuine,
sincere, selfless, exclusive feeling of love, and other
should also be inspired to do so.
11. Refrain from becoming a preacher, leader or
teacher.
12. Protect yourself from being honoured, admired
or worshipped.
13. Resist temptations for wealth and women.
14. Chant God’s name with full force of voice. Don’t
remain silent out of pride of knowledge, learning,
status or riches.
15. None of our conduct should result in disrespect
for the devotional singing of God’s names.
16. Dance only when you are overwhelmed with
loveful emotions and not just for show.