ALUNA TEMPLE MAGAZINE Edition No3 'INITIATIONS' | Page 17

The text goes further in its emphasis that a proper guru should test for one year a disciple who has taken shelter of him. ‘The faulty acts of a minister accrue to the king, and a wife’s sins fall on her husband. Similarly, a guru certainly obtains the sinful reactions accumulated by his disciple.’ (Mantra-muktavali 77) Thus when both of them, the guru and a prospective student, are convinced that: ‘Here is a person from whom I can learn about God,’ or: ‘Because this person is desirous of knowing the Absolute Truth, he or she is fit to become my student,’ then the relationship is established. Once the relationship is established, one can experience the true meaning of initiation—transmission of spiritual knowledge. Srila Prabhupada © www.harekrsna.de But back in 2004, when I got initiated, much of this information was unknown to me. I supplanted the lacking of scriptural and philosophical understanding with my sincerity, an eagerness to discover what is life all about. In my searched for answers, my search for meaning, I stumbled upon the Bhagavad-Gita in 1998. Its message was appealing, and I felt that in order to fully grasp the purport of the Bhagavad-Gita, I needed a personal guide who will show me how to apply the philosophy in my daily life. What I realized is that you cannot separate the book from the person who embodies the teachings of the book, a guru for whom devotion to God is a preferable choice in the way of yoga. The mystery of spiritual advancement is to approach the sacred tradition as it wants to be approached, which, in the case of the Vaishnava tradition, is by the process of initiation and authorized training. Many cannot hear about the soul, and even after hearing about it many cannot understand it, because it is hard to find a guru who is a genuine seer of the truth. Such a qualified guru is a great soul and is very rare. Only those who follow his teachings can realize the truth and become experts in the science of God. Such disciples are also very rare. — Katha Upanishad (1.2.7) Know the Self as lord of the Chariot © Shadow_Light5 Yugal Kisor lives in Slovenia. If you have comments or inquires about his work, future workshops or want to learn more about Bhakti Yoga you can contact him at [email protected] 17