So the principle... What is that principle? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is principle. "You give up all these nonsense activities. Simply surrender." So one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa fully, no other business, he is guru. This is the definition of guru. There is no difficult to understand who is guru. One who follows strictly the principles laid down by jagad-guru, he is guru. So the jagad-guru says... Because we have to learn everything, especially spiritual subject matter, from guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This is the injunction of the Vedas. If you want to understand Brahman... Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, human life, is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth: athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is not meant for any other purpose. This life, any life... There is no question of inquiring about "Where shall I eat? Where shall I sleep? Where shall I have sex? How shall I be saved from fear?" There is no such question. This is already arranged. These things are already arranged even for the birds and beasts. They are also living. They are also eating. They are also sleeping. They are also having sex life. They also defend them from danger. So by nature the arrangement is already there. So only thing is, difference, that in other life... There are 8,400,000... So eighty-million, 8,000,000 lives, they do not know except these things. And out of the four millions, eight million, four..., 400,000 human species, so mostly they are like animals. So unless one comes to the Vedic civilization, he's not human being. He's not human being.
So when one comes to the Vedic principle, then the question is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Vedānta-sūtra says, "Now you have come to the real platform. You inquire about Brahman." Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ (SB 11.3.21). When one is inquisitive to inquire about the higher level questions, brahma-jijñāsā, then he requires a guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta: "You are now inquisitive about understanding higher level knowledge, so you must go to a guru." Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta. Who? Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Uttamam. Uttamam means this which is above this darkness. This whole world is darkness. So one who wants to go above darkness... Tamasi mā jyotir gama. The Vedic injunction is: "Don't keep yourself in darkness. Go to the light." That light is Brahman, brahma-jijñāsā.
So one who is inquisitive... The uttama... Udgata-tama yasmāt. Udgata-tama. Tama means ignorance. So in the spiritual world, there is no ignorance. Jñāna. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they simply say, jñāna, jñānavān. But jñāna is not stereotyped. There is varieties of jñāna. Just like in Vṛndāvana, there is jñāna, but there is varieties. Somebody wants to love Kṛṣṇa as servant. Somebody wants to love Kṛṣṇa as friend. Somebody wants to appreciate Kṛṣṇa's opulence. Somebody wants to love Kṛṣṇa as father and mother. Somebody wants to love Kṛṣṇa as conjugal lover, as paramour—never mind. So somebody wants to love Kṛṣṇa as enemy, just like Kaṁsa. That is also vṛndāvana-līlā. He is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa in a different way, how to kill Kṛṣṇa. Pūtanā, she also apparently came as lover of Kṛṣṇa, to offer her breast for sucking; but the internal desire was how to kill Kṛṣṇa. But that is also taken indirect love, indirect love. Anvayāt.
So Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru. He is the original teacher. That teacher is teaching personally in the Bhagavad-gītā, and we rascals, we do not take the lesson. Just see. Therefore we are mūḍhas. Anyone who is unfit to take the lessons given by the jagad-guru, he is mūḍha. Therefore our test tube is: if one does not know Kṛṣṇa, if one does not know how to follow Bhagavad-gītā, we immediately take him as a rascal. That's all. Never mind he... He may be prime minister, he may be high-court judge, or... No. "No, he is prime minister. He is high-court judge. Still, mūḍhaḥ?" Yes. "How?" Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ: (BG 7.15) "He has no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. He is covered by māyā." Māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. Therefore he's mūḍha. So straightly preach. Of course, you may say all these things in soft language just to, not to make any agitation, but anyone who does not accept Kṛṣṇa as the jagad-guru and does not take His lessons, he is a rascal. Just like this mūḍha in Jagannātha Purī. He says that "You take next birth. Then you can..." That mūḍha, take him as rascal. Why? He is jagad-guru; he also says, "I am jagad-guru." But he is not jagad-guru. He has not even seen what is jagat. He is a frog. And he is claiming jagad-guru. So he's mūḍha. Kṛṣṇa says. He is mūḍha because he has not taken the lessons given by Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa personally says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). Pāpa-yoni... Those who are born in the family of mlecchas, yavanas, or the śvapacas, they are called pāpa-yoni. But Kṛṣṇa says, "Even they, the born in the pāpa-yoni..." Yathā bījaṁ yathā, yathā bījaṁ yathā yoni. The father is the bījam. He gives the semina, and mother is the source of birth. So combination of father, mother... So pāpa-yoni. Therefore yoni. Yoni means source of birth. So Kṛṣṇa says pāpa-yonayaḥ, plural number, yonayaḥ. Yoni, this word, śabda, so the plural number, yonayaḥ... There are many different types... That is also mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. What are that? Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpāḥ (SB 2.4.18). These are mentioned, pāpa-yoni. And less than them, if there are still pāpa-yoni, śudhyanti yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ, if such persons take shelter of a pure devotee, he's śudhyanti. This is the shastric injunction. He becomes purified because the pure devotee knows how to purify the pāpa-yoni. He knows. That rascal is not a pure devotee. He does not know. Therefore he thinks, "Unless the birth is changed, how one can be purified?" He does not know the process.
Therefore śāstra says that the Māyāvādīs, rascals, they should not become guru because they do not know how to purify the disciple. The Māyāvādī rascals, they do not know. They think after changing this body, one becomes purified. No. Therefore śāstra says that ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. A person, vipra, brāhmaṇa, he is expert in six kinds of brahminical business, ṣaṭ-karma. Ṣaṭ means six, and karma means activities. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipraḥ. Nipuṇa. Nipuṇa, very expert. He knows all the brahminical activities. What is that? Paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. He knows, he is educated. Brāhmaṇa means paṇḍita. He's personally educated, and he educates others. That is brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa does not keep himself educated. That education, that means he is brāhmaṇa, he makes others also brāhmaṇa. That is brāhmaṇa, not that "I remain brāhmaṇa. I remain Vaiṣṇava, and others may suffer." No. Paṭhana-pāṭhana. He must educate others. That is the business of brāhmaṇa. Para-duḥkha-duhkhī. That is Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava means who is unhappy by seeing other's unhappy.