The Appearance of Sukadeva Gosvami

You are the spiritual master of great saints and devotees. I am therefore begging you to show the way of perfection for all persons, and especially for one who is about to die.

Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.

Unless one is perfectly anxious to inquire about the way of perfection, there is no necessity of approaching a spiritual master. A spiritual master is not a kind of decoration for a householder. Generally a fashionable materialist engages a so-called spiritual master without any profit. The pseudo- spiritual master flatters the so-called disciple, and thereby both the master and his ward go to hell without a doubt. Mahārāja Parīkṣit is the right type of disciple because he puts forward questions vital to the interest of all men, particularly for the dying men. The question put forward by Mahārāja Parīkṣit is the basic principle of the complete thesis of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Now let us see how intelligently the great master replies. (from purport to SB 1.19.37)

Srimad Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Canto 1, Chapter 19, Text 29-40

Spiritual Vision

When Vyasadeva was following his son, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, they came upon some damsels bathing in a pond, Sukadeva was also naked, yet the maidens did not cover themselves when he passed by. However, they did cover themselves when the fully-clad Vyasadeva approached. Astonished at the apparently inconsistent behavior of the young girls, Vyasadeva asked them to explain. “Your son is purified of all material contamination,” they said, “so when he looks at us he makes no distinction between male and female. But as a householder, you do make such distinctions. Therefore, while we feel no shame before your son, we must cover ourselves before you.