"The Way Out of Illusion."

Mortality means anxiety. Nobody wants to die. This is why bodily consciousness, the false identity with the material body, is the root cause of all our suffering and anxiety. If we can simply rise beyond bodily consciousness to the spiritual platform, all of our anxieties will be finished. With proper training from the Bhagavad-gita, the devotees, and

the bona fide spiritual master, it is a simple thing to do. But we are so proud that we hesitate to place ourselves under proper guidance. We think that we can figure out how to get out of illusion on our own. This is our foolishness. Someone who is in illusion cannot know the way out of illusion. This is the nature of being in illusion. We can only be guided out of illusion by someone who is free from illusion.

If a blind man leads another blind man, both of them will fall into a ditch. Such unqualified leaders are described as follows in the Vedic wisdom:

avidyayam antare vartamanah

svayam dhirah panditam-manyamanah

janghanyamanah pariyanti mudha

andhenaiva niyamana yathandhah

"Caught in the grip of ignorance, self-proclaimed experts consider themselves learned authorities. They wander about this world befooled, like the blind leading the blind."

Katha Upanisad 1.2.5

If we want actual knowledge we must approach that person who knows things as they are. This is the bona fide spiritual master. In this connection we are advised as follows in the Srimad Bhagavatam, 11th Canto, 3rd

Chapter, text 21:

tasmad gurum prapadyeta

jijnasuh sreya uttamam

sabde pare ca nisnatam

brahmany upasamasrayam

"Any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation."

The spiritual master is situated beyond the illusory energy by dint of his full absorption in Krishna consciousness. By taking shelter of him we gradually master the art of also being fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness. This enlightened state of consciousness is the greatest opulence that one can possess. There is nothing in this world that compares to it even to the slightest degree. 

The spiritual master teaches us how to purely situated on the deathless platform of eternity, knowledge, bliss. There is nothing more valuable than the training we receive from him. By his mercy we can fully realize that we are unborn and deathless, that the soul is never born and never dies. This realization of our immortality delivers us from the anxiety of

material existence.