270. Swamiji, what is the sense in worshipping the Guru as people do here in India? Isn't that slavery? You mean to say that the disciple becomes the slave of the Guru?

Aren't you grateful to the man who serves you and helps you? Don't you express your gratitude to him in some form or the other? If you behave that way with a man who has helped you a little bit in a secular way, how much more ought to be your gratitude to the man who shows you the path to the Supreme? He has given you new life, nay, immortality and eternal bliss. Can you refrain from expressing your gratitude to him? Actual worship of the Guru is the Indian way of expressing this highest gratitude. You express gratitude to the man who has helped you by giving him something; and to the Guru¾the man who has bestowed upon you the highest gift of spiritual knowledge—you give yourself!

That is not slavery. Oh, no. The real Guru can never enslave the aspirant. In fact, the real Guru is the seeker's servant! The real Guru has the highest kind of love for the aspirant. The Guru is in his heart; the Guru has won the disciple's heart; the two have become one now. There will be divine love between the two— not slavery.

271. How can a person, who has been thinking in a negative way for a long time, change to positive thinking?

Let him start with some positive suggestive formulas: "I am hale and hearty. I am healthy. There is nothing wrong with me. I was under a misconception of my own abilities and capacities. Now I have realized my real nature". Let him do it with the help of some person advanced in Yoga or a devotee of the Lord. Let him start with a prayer to the Lord. Let him make prayer a part of his daily life and ‘a must' in life. All negative thinking will end and he will become quite normal.

272. What is the purpose of singing Kirtans constantly?

Singing of Kirtans incessantly will produce divine vibrations within and these vibrations are so powerful as to counteract all external forces distracting the human mind and arrest the wanderings of the mind, bringing peace and happiness to the individual. There is a mysterious power in the Divine Name that singing it purifies the heart and mind and makes the Kirtanist God-conscious.