# The Transparent Via Medium One approaches the Supreme Lord through His representative, the spiritual master. Service to the Lord begins with service to His devotees. The guru is the transparent via medium through which one can see and approach Kṛṣṇa. --- ## One Approaches Kṛṣṇa Through His Devotee **One can approach Kṛṣṇa not directly, but through His pure devotee, by accepting such a pure devotee as spiritual master:** In the *Ādi-līlā Purāṇa* there is the following statement by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, addressed to Arjuna: **"My dear Pārtha, one who claims to be My devotee is not so. Only a person who claims to be the devotee of My devotee is actually My devotee."** No one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. One must approach Him through His pure devotees. Therefore, **in the system of Vaiṣṇava activities, the first duty is to accept a devotee as spiritual master and then to render service unto him.** —*The Nectar of Devotion* --- **One should approach Kṛṣṇa not directly, but through a transparent via medium:** ![[sb/1/9/22#purport|The best way to establish our relation in transcendental sweetness is to approach the Lord through His recognized devotees. One should not try to establish the relation directly; there must be a via medium which is transparent and competent to lead us to the right path]] —SB [[sb/1/9/22|1.9.22]] Purport --- ## The Transparent Via Medium **The spiritual master is the transparent via medium through which one can approach the Supreme Lord:** My spiritual master used to say, **"The spiritual master is the transparent via medium."** For example, I can see the letters of this book very nicely through these transparent eyeglasses, without which I cannot see because my eyes are defective. Similarly, our senses are all defective. **We cannot see God with these eyes, we cannot hear Hare Kṛṣṇa with these ears, we cannot do anything without the via medium of the spiritual master.** Just as a defective eye cannot see without the via medium of spectacles, so one cannot approach the Supreme Lord without the transparent via medium of the spiritual master. **"Transparent" means that the via medium must be free of contamination.** If it is transparent, one can see through it. —*The Science of Self-Realization* --- ## Servant of the Servant **To become a servant of the Lord, one must become a servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord by accepting a spiritual master in disciplic succession:** ![[sb/6/11/24#purport|one must first become a servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord...Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised, and He also showed by His own example, that a living entity should always desire to be a servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa]] —SB [[sb/6/11/24|6.11.24]] Purport --- ## Serve the Spiritual Master First **The disciple does not serve the Lord directly, but serves the spiritual master first:** ![[sb/7/9/28|My dear Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?]] —SB [[sb/7/9/28|7.9.28]] ![[sb/7/9/28#purport|One should serve the spiritual master first. It is not that one should bypass the spiritual master and desire to serve the Supreme Lord. This is not the principle for a Vaiṣṇava]] —SB [[sb/7/9/28|7.9.28]] Purport One should not be anxious to offer direct service to the Lord. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised that one become a servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. This is the process for approaching the Supreme Lord. **The first service should be rendered to the spiritual master so that by his mercy one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead to render service.** --- ## The Bona Fide Representative **One can approach the Supreme Lord by approaching His representative:** ![[sb/2/7/46#purport|The Personality of Godhead may not be present before one's eyes, but if one is sincere in wanting such guidance the Lord will send a bona fide person who can guide one properly back home, back to Godhead]] —SB [[sb/2/7/46|2.7.46]] Purport **The bona fide representative of God is as good as God Himself.** Or, in other words, the loving representative of the Lord is more kind and more easy to approach. A sinful soul cannot approach the Lord directly, but such a sinful man can very easily approach a pure devotee of the Lord. --- ## Service Begins with the Devotee **Service to the devotee (spiritual master) in disciplic succession is the first condition of devotional service:** ![[sb/2/3/23#purport|The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee]] —SB [[sb/2/3/23|2.3.23]] Purport Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure unconditional devotees, and as such **only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly.** The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly. --- **Service of the Lord begins with service of His servants:** ![[sb/1/5/23#purport|the service of the Lord begins with the service of the Lord's bona fide servants...Service of the devotees is more valuable than the service of the Lord]] —SB [[sb/1/5/23|1.5.23]] Purport One should therefore choose a bona fide servant of the Lord constantly engaged in His service, accept such a servant as the spiritual master and engage himself in his (the spiritual master's) service. **Such a spiritual master is the transparent medium by which to visualize the Lord.** --- ## Without the Devotee's Favor **Without the favor of the spiritual master, one cannot directly approach Kṛṣṇa:** ![[sb/10/10/25#purport|without the favor of a devotee, one cannot directly approach Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of engaging in His service]] —SB [[sb/10/10/25|10.10.25]] Purport One should desire to become like a dog in strictly following a devotee. Kṛṣṇa is in the hand of a devotee. Unless one becomes a servant of a pure devotee, one cannot be delivered from the material condition of life. In our Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava society, following in the footsteps of Rūpa Gosvāmī, **our first business is to seek shelter of a bona fide spiritual master** (*ādau gurv-āśrayaḥ*). --- **[← Back to Spiritual Master and Disciple](wiki/compile/spiritual-master-disciple)**