A painting of the evening sky necessitates a creator, but what of the multidimensional beauty in the world around us? Who are we? Why are we here? The superiority of humankind over the animal kingdom lies in its ability to search for the truth of existence. Countless people have undergone such a quest throughout the ages. Of them most return baffled, while others paint a picture of their perceived reality. Thus sprang the myriad schools of thought found in the world today.
 
Faced with a vast marketplace of ideas, one can become perplexed about which beliefs to buy into. Many say that everyone is ultimately God. But then questions arise: "If we are all God, then why are we bound to suffer? Why can't we control reality?" Such a powerless God defies His definition as the Almighty Being. Others claim that God is simply a figment of the unscientific mind; however, in spite of numerous physical laws and theories, a definitive explanation on the origins of life eludes the scientists. There are those who say God is a detached observer, a clockmaker unable to interact with His creation. Others claim there is no reality at all, that everything is an illusion. Many become frustrated in the search for truth, unable to find the answers they seek. As if searching for a single needle in an endless haystack, they throw aside all possibilities, thinking, "This is not it. This is not it." Finally, they negate all meaning to naught, without realizing that the object they search for is not separate from the hay they have recklessly thrown aside.
 
Nothing can exist outside the Absolute Truth. Indeed, nothing can be nothing, because for nothing to exist, it is necessarily something. How do -we distinguish the relative from the absolute? From birth to death, we seek lasting happiness and love, yet must ultimately suffer the impermanence of our mortal lives. Souls drowning in the sea of relativities cannot hope to find the Shore of eternal truth without a capable guide from that land.
In the Sanskrit language of the Vedas such a guide is known as guru. Guru is one who, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, leads souls out of the frightening darkness of ignorance in a transient existence, to the blissful reality of the self in an eternal loving relationship with God. Nowadays, guru has become a term used to imply an expert of any field. The majority of these gurus only lead one further into ignorance-or a stronger attachment to material life. A genuine guru takes responsibility for the spiritual progress of the soul, transferring attachment to objects of this world to loving attachment for God.
 
Sri Guru is empowered with all spiritual energy from the Divine Potency. Sri means beauty or fortune. Although all people search for beauty and fortune, they accept that which swiftly fades. Everlasting Sri only exists with Her eternal possessor, the Supreme Lord, known in Sanskrit as Bhagavan. Bhagavan is He who possesses absolute beauty, wealth, strength, fame, knowledge, and renunciation. These six qualities are the potency of God. Fire cannot be separated from heat and light, for they are the potencies of fire-and the fire itself is the potent. Likewise, Bhagavan is the Supreme Potent, and Sri is His inseparable Divine Potency and Feminine Counterpart. The absolute and topmost form of Bhagavan is Krsna, meaning the all-attractive reservoir of love and sweetness. He exists in the realm of Vraja, the highest spiritual abode, where He is absorbed in loving pastimes with Srimati Radharani, the embodiment of the Divine Potency, and the source of all love, beauty, and fortune. Radha-Krsna exist in two forms for the interplay of love and also in a combined form as Caitanya Mahaprabhu to further relish the depth of love and also to spread divine love to others. Radha-Krsna send expansions of Their mercy, known as Sri Guru, to this world to attract the lost souls by giving them a taste of divine love. Sri Guru is thus Radha-Krsna's mercy incarnate in this world.