Question: There are so many spiritual masters, we are associated with directly or online, is there any guidelines to choose spiritual master? How to choose a guru and how can we know when we are eligible to take initiation?

Jayapataka Swami: As far as which spiritual master you should choose, that’s your personal preference. Who you see as your connection with the guru parampara, who you think is merciful to you, who you understand better. One has one diksha guru, but they may have many siksha gurus. So, that’s about which guru to choose. Maybe sometimes one accepts several siksha gurus and then sees which one is better able to answer their questions and then that siksha guru becomes one’s diksha guru. But you may still keep the same siksha gurus. You can have many siksha gurus, but only one diksha guru. What was the second part? (When do we know that we are eligible for initiation?) First of all, the guru may have his prerequisites, so one should complete those. And then when we feel we can follow the guru and we meet his qualifications or prerequisites then we can take initiation. So, the guru doesn’t want to ask the disciple to do something which they can’t do, because what is the benefit. But the guru has to advise what should be done and if he sees some problem, he tells the disciple. That’s why we have a system of taking aspiration, taking shelter, and then one tests oneself if I can follow what the guru asks. At the time of initiation you agree to chant 16 rounds, follow the 4 regulative principles, no meat, no fish, no egg, no onion, no garlic, no intoxication, no illicit sex or sex outside of marriage and no gambling. And I ask my disciples to help me fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. I don’t know if other gurus ask. So you can see what each guru asks, what their nature is, etc. Thank you for your question.
28-MAY-2020 SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA