All over the world there are organizations, religions and cults that teach spirituality and other various metaphysical systems.
Updated 10/11/2019
Some look for a Mother or Father in a spiritual mentor, some position the spiritual mentor as a therapist. Other people are missing something in their life, so they try to solve the problem through spiritual enlightenment. Unfortunately, there are many scammers and “spiritual” organizations in the world now that take advantage of people’s gullibility.
Who is a Spiritual Guide
How can a person who is looking for a spiritual mentor recognize a real teacher (or organization)? After all, many people claim to be spiritual teachers, but not everyone actually is.
A spiritual mentor is a person who provides assistance in development, spiritual enlightenment, problem solving and achieving life goals . Helps to find answers to many questions, especially spiritual ones. A healer or a psychologist, as a rule, helps a person solve individual issues or problems and does not completely influence a person’s fate as a Spiritual Mentor.
Perfect spiritual master His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in a family of Krishna conscious devotees in 1896 in Calcutta, India. From his childhood, he showed signs of being a pure devotee of the Lord by participating in kirtanas and performing in Krishna consciousness plays in school. His father, Gour Mohan De, gave him good spiritual education.
Srila Prabhupada first met his spiritual teacher, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami (1874-1937), in Calcutta in 1922. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, representing a link in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya disciplic succession, was the greatest preacher and scholar of the philosophy of Krishna consciousness and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Math centers in India.
During his first meeting with him, Srila Prabhupada received instructions from him that inspired him to bring about a spiritual revolution in the world. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati told him, “You are an educated young man. Why don’t you preach the message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world?” Although the followers of the Vedas have been worshiping Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, since time immemorial, their true philosophy and transcendental literature were unknown outside India.
In 1944, Srila Prabhupada began publishing the magazine Back to Godhead (Back to Godhead), revealing the transcendental science of Krishna consciousness. Without any assistants and investing his own resources in publishing the magazine, he wrote, corrected, edited, printed and distributed the magazine throughout North India.
In subsequent years, Srila Prabhupada dreamed several times that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati advised him to give up family life and accept the highest spiritual order of renunciation - sannyasa. When Srila Prabhupada had this dream again in Vrindavan, on the holy land that is most dear to Krishna, he decided to follow this order.
In September 1959, in Mathura, Srila Prabhupada took initiation into sannyasa, the vow of renunciation, from the famous scientist, Srila Keshava Maharaja and received the name “A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami For Srila Prabhupada, sannyasa was the ideal status to carry out the orders of his spiritual master, but first he needed books and financial assistance to travel to the United States.
Relying on the mercy of Lord Krishna, Srila Prabhupada began a monumental literary project - publishing an English translation of the Srimad-Bhagavatam of Srila Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, the literary incarnation of the Lord, with elaborate commentaries. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, an encyclopedic work, is often called the “cream of Vedic literature” because it exclusively describes the Personality of Godhead and His transcendental pastimes.
In 1965, when Srila Prabhupada finally figured out where he would go, he boarded a ship to begin his historic journey to the West. The Navy provided him with free passage aboard the merchant ship Jaladuta, and in August 1965 Srila Prabhupada left India with a wicker basket containing volumes of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, a pair of karatalas (cymbals) and forty Indian rupees (about seven dollars) .
The forty-day journey turned out to be difficult. A few days after sailing, the Jaladuta passed through severe storms, and Srila Prabhupada, in addition to seasickness, also suffered two heart attacks. The attacks recurred over the next two nights, and Srila Prabhupada knew that at sixty-nine years of age they could have been the cause of death. On the third night, he dreamed that Lord Krishna Himself came and encouraged him, promising him complete protection. The attacks did not recur.
When the Jaladuta finally docked in Boston Harbor on September 17, 1965, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “My dear Lord Krishna, You are so merciful to this useless soul... But I do not know why You have brought me here. You can do whatever you want with me... How can I make Westerners understand the message of Krishna consciousness?
With his books and some money, Srila Prabhupada arrived in the world's largest metropolis, New York City. Throughout the winter of 1965-66. he suffered from cold and managed to sell only a few volumes of the Srimad-Bhagavatam to curious strangers. He eventually moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he rented an apartment and a small storefront at 26 Second Avenue.
Word soon spread among young seekers of spiritual truth that an Indian Swami had arrived with a “special spiritual process of yoga,” chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. In July 1966, Srila Prabhupada, along with several disciples, officially founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
Soon he took his first students to Washington Square Park for the first time chanting Hare Krishna in public. His small store was the very beginning - it attracted the attention of the Lower East Side. Despite strict restrictions - prohibitions on meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication and gambling - he soon gained a small but devoted group of followers.
Within a few months, Srila Prabhupada opened centers in San Francisco, Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles and Buffalo. In West Virginia, he founded the New Vrindaban farm community and introduced the Vedic education system, gurukula, to the West. In addition, Srila Prabhupada inspired devotees to build several huge international cultural centers in India, such as Sri Chaitanya Chandradaya Mandir in West Bengal, the Krishna Balaram Temple and Guest House in Vrindavan, and a large temple and educational center in Bombay.
Despite his constant travel—he traveled around the globe no less than 14 times in twelve years—Srila Prabhupada never stopped writing about the science of Krishna consciousness. More than 80 volumes of his books have been published in more than thirty languages, and more than 150 million copies of his works have been distributed throughout the world.
These books include Bhagavad-gita As It Is (1968), Teachings of Lord Caitanya (1968), Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (1970), Nectar of Devotion (1970), Sri Caitanya-caritamrta in 17 volumes (1973-1975) and thirty volumes of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1962-1977). Wherever Srila Prabhupada stayed, he continued to preach Vedic literature and take care of his disciples and the entire movement.
Srila Prabhupada accomplished all these inconceivable feats between the ages of 69 and 81 through great personal effort and unwavering faith in Krishna, the Supreme Lord. Only a few of his transcendental achievements are mentioned here. Now there is already a complete biography of him, written by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. It's called Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita
Srila Prabhupada was not an ordinary spiritualist, that's obvious; he was a great saint who was chosen and empowered by Lord Krishna to lead the people of the world into the kingdom of God by giving them the pure process of Krishna consciousness. In this regard, Srila Prabhupada's most important contributions are his books, which are highly respected in academic circles for their authority, depth and clarity.
In many college departments they serve as standard teaching aids. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, a publishing house founded in 1972 to publish his books, has become the world's largest publishing house in the field of Indian religion and philosophy. Srila Prabhupada's books can bring benefit to all humanity, since the words of a perfect spiritual master can free any person from the influence of this world, full of hypocrisy and suffering, and show the way home, back to the Lord.
Krishna Balarama Swami Ekadashi. Day of Lord Hari, pp.XIII-XVI
… www.Vedic-Culture.in.ua …
How to find a Spiritual Guide? Who has the right to give spiritual advice?
To find a good spiritual director, you need to know what qualifications do you need to be one? Most teachers are “self-rated.” There is no lineage or tradition.
A good spiritual mentor is one who distinguishes between Good and Evil, always follows the path of Light, does not pursue material values, is not selfish, is fully “enlightened” and understands the true nature of reality. This is a person who has achievements in spiritual development and helping people. He can teach others different levels of consciousness because he has spent years on his own spiritual development and has great awareness.
Six Goswamis of Vrindavan.
The six Goswamis of Vrndavana, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, were close disciples of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They lived in Vrindavan and were entrusted with the task of finding the lost holy places of Krishna's pastimes and compiling literature on the science of Krishna consciousness. The Goswamis exemplified the highest level of Krishna consciousness. The following are brief biographical sketches of their lives.
Spiritual counseling
There are many spiritual advisors around. Below are some tips regarding spiritual "consultants" who are not genuine:
• They have an inflated sense of self-importance.
• They or their followers ask you for money.
• They enjoy being famous and actively seek out many followers.
• A Guru who attracts people with his charisma and not with his teachings.
• Predicts the future with vague statements such as: “Something important will happen soon.”
• They pay a lot of attention to how they dress. Most are dressed in a "mystical" style, implying that they have "Great Secrets to Reveal".
• Unhealthy relationships with your followers.
• They want to control their students in everything. A real teacher wants his student to feel in control of his life.
• They claim to be a Powerful Magician or Prophet.
A true teacher wants to enlighten his student, to see him independent and capable of independently managing his life, and also for him to develop naturally.
A spiritual mentor will never promise super-fast development and, moreover, demand fabulous sums for training.
Main functions
A spiritual mentor has very specific functions (interaction effects), among which the main ones can be identified. These do not include morality, morality (from “mores”), or the functionality of society (let it cope with it, to put it mildly, with varying success).
Spirituality completely excludes moralizing (often characteristic of people who are absolutely unspiritual - completely materialistic). It gives rise to humanity, for which moral norms have become an artificial substitute that arose as a result of people’s alienation from Nature, (state of) Unity, Spirit. The main goal of mentoring is return. The rest is added, ceasing to be artificial. Becoming natural, realized, like the person himself.
Awakening and Enlightenment
The cause of almost all the ills of humanity is sleep. Somnambulism. Mechanical, as Gurdjieff called it, automatic (according to existing, instilled or arising under the influence of circumstances, adaptive functions of the psyche, patterns) existence, far from what belongs to a Man and is possible for him. So the first task is awakening.
Life sometimes deals with it on its own. Shaking the person properly. But if such shocks were always effective, everyone would wake up. But no. They continue to sleep. And they often have nightmares. The spiritual mentor awakens from them. As a result, a person begins to see things (processes) as they are (in their entirety - with origins, possible options for development), and not far-fetched, invented, made up.
As a result of non-stop, automatic activity of the mind, people find themselves immersed in a speculative reality - a dream. Awakening means, among other things, the cessation of this speculativeness. At first, realities simply appear as they are. No more, no less. Something you can deal with without having to wade through the jungle of the far-fetched. Further, a greater Reality is revealed, in its Spiritual invisible (in the usual way), but tangible aspect.
Expanding perspective (when a person begins to look wider and see more) already contributes to enlightenment, which also relates to the functions of a spiritual mentor. First, little things happen—relative to the existing circumstances of existence, by which a person ceases to be darkened. First, due to the fact that it begins, as a result of assistance, to perceive differently (a change in perception changes the state, and therefore being). Then, because he cognizes the very essence of spirituality - the expansion of being into the space of the Spirit.
Through its sensation, awareness, and abiding in it, a person learns to Be in the Spirit. Despite everything. From his heights, what previously seemed so significant becomes small and insignificant. (No longer darkens, which is enlightenment). Therefore, the solution is much simpler. And if it is not resolved, then it is abandoned. Because it’s too far and insignificant to catch, stop, prevent you from moving on (one of the key moments of development and Life).
Discovery of the spiritual
Without feeling the spiritual principle in himself (mostly due to inattention to it), a person is dead. Or, to be less categorical, only partly (minimally) alive. For the Spirit breathes out Life. Therefore, she herself exists. There is no real life in lack of spirituality. It is one-sided, disharmonious, incomplete. What gives rise to that thirst (black hole) that people try to quench (fill) with relationships, entertainment, consumption (the identified problem is the foundation of a consumer society). None of this fills it. At best, only for a while, allowing you to be distracted. Soon the inner emptiness makes itself felt again, which prompts us to seek new entertainment and continue to consume. No matter how many centuries have passed, “bread and circuses” is still relevant.
One of the main functions of a spiritual mentor is to lead a person to the discovery of the corresponding principle in himself and the World. This is a return to Nature, Self, giving rise to peace. That same inner peace in the midst of a stormy ocean, which people seek in vain in various ways. He's not outside. The manifested is yang, active, restless. He's inside. Where they usually don’t look, being turned outward. But once you turn inward, this is the beginning of learning more. Hidden behind the veil of the superficial.
A person can open the Limitless - spiritual space. Thanks to him, you can begin to breathe and Live much more freely and fully.
This is the space beyond: all superficial circumstances (internal and external). Space of Will, Strength, Spirit. A mentor can take you beyond these limits, because he himself once left them. Stop passively agreeing with this limitation. Starting to be not only here, but also there - on the other side. That the possibilities of functioning (and its productivity) here significantly expands. Circumstances can no longer dictate when you know the Greater and rely on it.
By working with a spiritual mentor, you can create a real experience when spirituality ceases to be abstract (perceived distortedly, speculatively), becoming an extremely concrete state of existence. Clear and therefore clarifying. Everything you need to clarify. There is no clarity about something, which means you are overly immersed in it, dissolved. You can, of course, get distracted. But this is a half measure.
Liberation
All of the above allows you to realize the most essential point - liberation. After all, it is the main function of a spiritual mentor. First from sleep - awakening. Then from darkness comes enlightenment. Through the affirmation of being at a higher level - in the Spirit.
The desire to free oneself arises because the soul does not tolerate restrictions (at the Call of the Spirit nurturing it). But a person can endure. A very long time. Why does he feel constrained? Tied hand and foot. Enslaved, oppressed by circumstances. There is nothing more essential than liberation. This is the primary task of a Man, to stop being a victim, to become more than he (s) is now.
Thus, the spiritual master must have the ability to liberate. Along with the awareness of the primacy of this moment. Free from pain, suffering, weakness, lack of will, everything else that prevents a person from Being, Opening up, Creating. Liberation is the basis of the Art of Harmonious Being. What harmony is there in slavery?
The ability to liberate is born solely through one’s own liberation (you need to get out of the bonds yourself, create the skill to be able to do this for “others”). Realizable only in the Spirit. No other way. You cannot free yourself from the shackles here, at this level, where there are many restrictions (rules of the game). To do this you need to upgrade to a higher one. Transcend. Stopping limiting your existence only to what is here.
The liberating nature of what is being discussed excludes emotional dependence or its intentional formation, based on the fact that “you’ll find out further” at the next stage, as is done in Scientology and in many destructive sects.
A spiritual mentor, if he (s) really is one, never nurtures dependence on himself. Cultivating independence and self-sufficiency. Leading a person to Being in the Spirit, on which he (s) can always rely, ceasing to need mentoring.
Life itself instructs. The main thing is to be able to listen and hear it. There is within you the same source of wisdom from which all gurus (the best of them) draw it. The task of the teacher, without claiming to be the only Source of Truth, is to lead you to it. This is the very essence of mentoring.
Consequences of learning from dark teachers
The consequences of staying in dark schools, especially if they position themselves as light, can be catastrophic. It takes many people years, and sometimes decades, to somehow restore themselves and their destiny. One of the saddest consequences after crossing with such pseudo-teachers is complete disappointment in the spiritual path, abandonment of faith in God, development and spirituality as such. A person may become disappointed and close this topic for the rest of his life, and sometimes for more than one life. This is sad! There can really be many negative consequences, I won’t list them all:
- • in such a school, under the rule of such a guru, a person gradually becomes a “zombie”. He thinks that he is going to God, but in fact he is moving further and further away from the Divine Soul and life. And returning back from the world of illusions to reality is always difficult and excruciatingly painful;
- • destroyed self-esteem and self-confidence (loss of self), and cultivated “insignificance” and total dependence on higher authorities makes a person absolutely helpless;
- • lost feelings and values: a person escaped from a sect, as if from a prison, and he needs to learn to live again - to look for what to believe in, what to live for, to learn to trust and love again;
- • it happens that a person returns to his life and finds ruins there; it turns out that he completely abandoned his life, focusing only on the interests of his guru and his school, and over the years spent in the sect, his responsibility for himself and his destiny atrophies completely, and he seems to be all developed, but in fact in reality life turns out to be capable of little;
- • if a person has escaped from the esoteric non-light school, he feels negative influences from it for many more years; Even years after leaving school, they can try to take away a person’s vital energy, health, beauty and youth, in return dumping into his fate illnesses, the energy of curses, other people’s negative karma, old age and other negativity.
Vasily Vasilenko
https://harekrishnazp.info
