Prabhupada 0541 - If You Love Me, Love My Dog
Sri Vyasa-puja -- Hyderabad, August 19, 1976
You cannot interpret on the words of God. That is not possible. And dharma means dharmāṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). You cannot manufacture at your home a kind of religious system. That is rascaldom, that is useless. Dharma means sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam. Just like the law. Law means what is given by the government. You cannot manufacture law at your home. Suppose in the street, common sense, the government law is keep to the right or keep to the left. You cannot say "What is the wrong there if I go to the right or left?" No, that you cannot. Then you'll be criminal. Similarly nowadays... Not nowadays—from time immemorial there are so many religious systems. So many. But real religious system is what God says or Kṛṣṇa says. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is religion. Simple. You cannot manufacture.
Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the beginning is dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām (SB 1.1.2). So the... Somebody may envy that this person has sophisticated some disciples and they are offering prayers and pūjā. No, it is the system. Don't envy the... Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit (SB 11.17.27). Ācārya is the representative of God. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo **. If you offer prayers, honor to the ācārya, then Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased. To please Him you have to please His representative. "If you love me, love my dog." And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said ācāryopāsanam (BG 13.8-12). Ācāryopāsanam. We have to worship the ācārya.
- yasya deve parā bhaktir
- yathā deve tathā gurau
- tasyaite kathita hy arthaḥ
- prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
- (ŚU 6.23)
This is the Vedic mantra. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12).
- tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
- jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
- śabde pāre ca niṣṇātaṁ
- brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
- (SB 11.3.21)
Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). So these are the injunction. The guru must come through the paramparā system. Then he is bona fide. Otherwise he is a rascal. Must come through the paramparā system, and in order to understand tad-vijñānam, transcendental science, you have to approach guru. You cannot say that "I can understand at home." No. That is not possible. That is the injunction of the all śāstra. Tasmād guruṁ prapad... Who requires a guru? Guru is not a fashion just like you keep a dog as a fashion, modern civilization, similarly we keep a guru. No, not like that. Who requires a guru? Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21)—one who is actually serious to understand the science of spirit soul. Tad vijñānam. Oṁ tat sat. He requires a guru. Guru is not a fashion.