A guru's business is to deliver the same message as Kṛṣṇa says. Then he's dīna-vatsala. Otherwise, if he says something else, he's a cheater; he's not guru. He must be, to the suffering humanity, being kind upon them, dīna-vatsala. Dīna means very poor, poor in knowledge. At the present moment, the—not only at the present moment; always—those who are in the material world, they are very, very poor. Very, very poor. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Because their mind is very crippled. They are thinking that this duration of life—say, fifty years or twenty years or utmost seventy or a hundred years—this is everything. That's all. Therefore they are very poor. Their expansion of knowledge is very, very meager. And it is the business of the saintly person to be kind upon them that, "This is not the life. You are thinking, making adjustment to live for fifty years or hundred years very comfortably, or even next life . . ." Karmīs, they also take consideration of the next life, to be promoted in the heavenly planet or other higher planetary system. But still, they are poor. Poor. Because they are lacking in the knowledge of eternal life, full of knowledge and blissfulness. That they do not know. Sac-cid-ānanda life.
So it is the business of the mahātmā to enlighten them to the real platform of life. Kṛṣṇa says personally:
- mām upetya punar janma
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
- saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
- (BG 8.15)
This is real life, to go back to home, back to Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Mām upetya. If you go back to home, back to Godhead, that is saṁsiddhiṁ paramām. That is the highest perfection of life. But generally . . . generally, almost . . . why generally? Almost everyone. Ninety-nine point nine percent people, they want to become happy within this material world. Therefore they are poor, very, very poor. And the mahātmās, they give the knowledge that "This is not life. This is a temporary platform." Aśāśvatam. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This is confidential knowledge. You are trying to be happy . . . suppose Brahmā. He lives for many millions of years. Still, it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. That life is also temporary. What is millions of years' duration of life in comparison to the eternal life? So beginning from Brahmā down to the small ant, whoever is within this material world, it is to be understood their understanding is very poor. And the mahātmā, being kind upon these poor souls, they deliver the same knowledge as Kṛṣṇa gives. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam . . . (BG 18.66). This is guru's business. Do not manufacture anything. There is no question of . . . there is no need of manufacturing anything. Simply you speak to the suffering humanity the same thing which Kṛṣṇa says. Sākṣād bhagavatā uditam. This is the business of guru. It is clearly said.
Nārada, he'll explain further in the next verses, how he became advanced. This verse is very important, that jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat. Actually, perfect knowledge you can get from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and in paramparā system you get that knowledge. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Paramparā means they do not change the word of Kṛṣṇa. That is paramparā. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), and the paramparā system says the same thing. No change. They never say that, "I have now become Kṛṣṇa, and you surrender unto me, think of me." There are many so-called incarnations who are preaching like that, "You think of me." Same, repeating the same word in his own favor, not in Kṛṣṇa's favor. That is not mahātmā; that is durātmā. Mahātmā means who always speaks in Kṛṣṇa's favor. That is mahātmā. This is the purport of this verse. Jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat sākṣād bhagava . . . Bhagavān says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.