- vadanti tat tattva-vidas
- tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayaṁ
- brahmeti paramātmeti
- bhagavān iti śabdyate
- (SB 1.2.11)
One who knows what is Paramātmā, what is Brahman, what is Bhagavān, he is tattva-darśi. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). So these are the qualification of guru. Why one should go to a guru to see some magic? One who can make some gold, one who can make some . . . So many magicians, they are becoming guru. This is going on. The public, they do not know what is the meaning of guru, and the cheaters, they get the opportunity of becoming false gurus. In the Western countries we have seen so many so-called rascal gurus go there and cheat the public, because the Europeans, Americans, they have got some conviction that India has got some spiritual knowledge, so anyone goes as a sannyāsī, as a svāmī, they expect to get something from them. So they gather round them. But these rascals cheat them. Somebody says, "I am incarnation of God, and I can make my secretary, woman, pregnant, and marry and get some money." This is going on. And somebody is Transcendental Meditation. What is the result of . . . (indistinct) . . .? He'll will get strong. He will get money. Your health will be right. These things are going on.
But śāstra says that you should not . . . you are rascal. You should not become a guru because you have no power to save your disciple from the clutches of imminent death. You should not cheat others. Gurur na sa syāt, this is Bhāgavatam. You are rascal if you are not confident that you can save him from the clutches of birth and . . . This is my problem. But they do not know what is the problem. They think that little pain in my belly or in the head, if the guru can give me a little dust and it is cured.