Positive Thinker: The quest for a genuine guide

According to BG 4.34, what is the proper way to approach a bonafide spiritual master?

• By offering gifts and expecting blessings

• By challenging him intellectually

• By inquiring submissively, rendering service, and seeking transcendental knowledge

• By reading scriptures independently without guidance

In BG 4.34, approaching a bona fide spiritual master involves three key principles, Pranipāta, Paripraśna, Sevā.. which means?

• Pranipāta – Personal Interpretation, Paripraśna – Challenging spirit, Sevā – Faith

• Pranipāta – Humble submission, Paripraśna – Sincere inquiry, Sevā – Service attitude

• Pranipāta – ArgNone of the aboveument, Paripraśna – analysis paralysis, Sevā – Service for the self

• None of the above

As per BG 4.34 The self realized souls can impart the knowledge unto us because they have seen the truth ?

• TRUE

• FALSE

Is there an Absolute necessity for a Spiritual Master?

• No, better to rely on one’s own power of Analysis than merely accepting someone else’s opinion as Gospel Truth

• No, It is not necessary to believe authorities in order to get knowledge

• Yes, Material knowledge may not require a Teacher as it is all about cramming ability, writing speed, information reproduction and communication skills without testing the values imbibed by the student in his life.

• Yes, A sincere seeker of truth must understand the need of a bonafide Spiritual master. Further, the God himself has demonstrated through his examples during the descent to the Material world.

• Both C and D

What is the essence of Śrimad Bhagavatam 11.3.21, Fill in the blanks

तस्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासु: श्रेय उत्तमम् ।

शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्मण्युपशमाश्रयम् ॥ २१ ॥

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta

jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam

śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ

brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

Translation

Therefore any person who seriously desires -------------------must seek a bonafide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bonafide guru is that he has --------------the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bonafide spiritual masters.

• basic necessities, theoretically understood

• real happiness, realized

• Educational degree, blindly believed

• Riches, hypothetically

Fill in the blanks..

The teaching of a real Guru are meant to take one from --------- to ------------.

• Jahannum to Jannat

• Narak to Swarg

• Hell to Heaven

• Material World to Spiritual World(Gachibowli to Goloka)

A real Guru is an incarnation of God and has unfathomable intelligence and thus he can dictate the disciples to just read his realizations authored by him and there is no need of reading scriptures..

• TRUE

• FALSE

One of the important preachings of a Guru is to

• Make us feel, each one of us is God and when we attain the highest realization we all become God.

• Seed the belief that Only by Brahminical birth and recitation of Agama shastras can one become qualified to realize the God

• become God Conscious and never claim yourself to be God but the servant of God.

• Both A and B

What do we understand from the pastime of Kanchipurna and Vardaraj Swamy?

• Varadaraj Swamy loved and granted liberation to the ones who directly served him.

• Varadaraj Swamy loved more and liberated the devotees who served his devotees.

• Varadaraj Swamy was random in showering his mercy

• None of the above

Even when preaching in the most liberal and permissive cultures of the 60s and 70s like the hippie movement in the West, Srila Prabhupad remained unwavering to compromise on the regulative principles, No meat eating, No intoxication, No illicit relationships, No gambling.Because he chose purity over popularity and by holding the standard high, he gave the world something rare, authentic, and eternally transformative.

• TRUE

• FALSE