Are You Claiming to Be God?


Question: Are You Claiming to Be God?

1. When I asked you if it is it true that the guru is non different from God Himself, you said the answer was yes, and that this is confirmed in all the revealed scriptures. So does this mean that you are you claiming to be God?

2. Are you appointed therefore to be a guru? Best may not be good enough. And what if you fall from grace, then what?

3. Are you free from material desires?

Answer: The Spiritual Master is Not God.  He is God's Representative.

When the scriptures say that the spiritual master is non-different from God, this does not mean that he is God. Just as a policeman is an ordinary citizen like you and me, but must be respected as non-different from the government when he is on duty, because the spiritual master executes the duty of being God's representative we respect him equally with God.

Because spiritual masters are not appointed, my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, did not appoint any of his disciples to be spiritual masters. He simply ordered that all of us who were strictly following his instructions should become spiritual masters. So it is not that one is appointed to become a spiritual master. The disciple is ordered to become a spiritual master by strictly following the predecessor acharyas. And all those disciples who strictly follow are automatically spiritual masters. Those who strictly follow do not fall down. Only those disciples who are loose in their practice fall down.

I have made a vow at the time of my initiation in 1971 to never deviate from my spiritual master's orders. I have strictly kept this vow since I took it 38 years ago. My only desire is strictly follow his orders for all of eternity either in this material world or in the spiritual world. This desire is a spiritual desire. It is not a material desire.

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