(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada)
"Everything must be executed under the guidance of a guru, not whimsically, 'Oh, I have got my own idea. I have got my own God. I can do whatever I like.' This is simply waste of time. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ (BG 16.23). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that 'Anyone who does not follow the instruction of the śāstra, how things should be done,' śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, 'does things whimsically,' na sukhaṁ sāvāpnoti, 'he will never get happiness.' Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na sukhaṁ sa...
So everything should be done according to śāstra. And the śāstra should be guided by ācārya, guru. Ācārya means one who knows what is there in the śāstra. He practices in his life and teaches the disciple. He is called ācārya. Ācārya is not a whimsical thing. He must know."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Los Angeles, December 31, 1973)
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