Prabhupäda: Spiritual master is not the question of... Spiritual master is
eternal. Spiritual master is eternal. So your question is without spiritual
master. Without spiritual master you cannot be, at any stage of your life. You
may accept this spiritual master or that spiritual master. That is a different
thing. But you have to accept. As you say that "by reading Bible," when you read
Bible that means you are following the spiritual master represented by some
priest or some clergyman in the line of Lord Jesus Christ. So any case, you have
to follow a spiritual master. There cannot be the question without spiritual
master. Is that clear? Haribol This passage quoted above from Srila Prabhupada
is misinterpreted by some to mean that the clergyman is a representative of
Jesus and Jesus is the spiritual master. However, in this example it is the
clergyman is the individual spiritual master and Jesus who is the universal
spiritual master. So in all cases, one at least has the universal spiritual
master, but one gets initiated by a physically present individual spiritual
master. Gerald Surya


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