Jñāni means tattva-darśī. Tattva means Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, paraṁ tattva. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Tattva. What is that tattva? The tattva is described in three phases: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam. Tattva-jñāna is one. What is that? Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. So Bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu svayaṁ bhagavān (SB 1.3.28). So guru, according to the capacity of the student, he teaches first about Brahman, then Paramātmā, then Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate knowledge of tattva-jñāna. And one who teaches this tattva-jñāna, he is guru. Otherwise he's a rascal. So therefore the first indication is that if you want to become a real human being, then you must approach a real guru and learn from him. Mold your life in that way. This is human civilization. Then, after guru . . . Gurvaṣṭaka we chant daily. Guru. What is the duty of the guru?
- saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-
- trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam
- prāptasya kalyāṇa-guṇārṇavasya
- vande guroḥ śrī caraṇāravindam
We have . . . Daily we understand what is guru. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, citette kariyā aikya, āra nā kariya mane āśā (Sri Prema-bhakti-candrika). This is that. This is wanted. If you have got real guru and if you follow him, then your life is successful. There is no doubt. But if you have a so-called bogus guru, and without any knowledge of the śāstra, then your life will be spoiled. Especially the Māyāvādī guru, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). Māyāvādī guru means one who thinks that everyone is God. That is Māyāvādī guru. If you approach such guru, then your life is spoiled. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Finished. Your spiritual progress finished.
So in this way, guru, arka, these are the training. Where is that training? Where is that school? So why they will not learn from eight years, ten years of age, smoking bīḍī and cigarette? I was . . . When I was in America first, I saw some little boy, not more than ten to twelve years, smoking cigarette. I was astonished, that "What kind of education is there?" But they don't mind. Even in their classroom, the elderly young boys and girls, they smoke before the teacher. I have seen it in New York University. So this is not training. Training is he must be very controlled. And if you teach from the beginning, then he will be trained up. There is a Bengali proverb, gancai noale vas, mas korbe tans tas(?): "When the bamboo is green, you can bend it, but when it is yellow, dried, it will crack." So education begins from the very, I mean, childhood. That is education. Therefore gurukula is required. It doesn't require how much he has learned A-B-C-D and grammar. No. First of all character. That is gurukula living. Let him become dānta, guru-gṛhe. Brahmacārī guru-gṛhe vasan dāntaḥ (SB 7.12.1). How to become sense controller, that is first education.