“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

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तद् विद्धि प्रणिपातेन
परिप्रश्नेन सेवया
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं
ज्ञानिनस् तत्त्व-दर्शिनः

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

“This might just be me, but are you surprised at the rapid pace at which AI has been adopted? It feels like the shift took place overnight. One day, people were fine entering their search terms into an online engine. They then sifted through the results. Sure, the results had bias. That bias grew over time to the point where I could no longer trust anything that was returned. I had to find my own people to follow, with their small communities, which were likely shadow-banned by the social media companies. But now, everyone just types their questions into an AI chatbot. They even report on the findings. They say that they asked such and such question to their AI of choice. They describe how it took them forever to find the correct answers, that they needed to tweak their prompts.

“Umm, what is going on here? If the politicians are biased, then why wouldn’t the AI behave the same way? If the medical professionals are wildly corrupt, why would you trust their inputs that feed the AI engine? Do you see what I am saying? People act as if this AI has a mind of its own, that it is rational, fair, and honest. That is simply impossible. There was a term popular around a decade or so ago. It was called ‘astroturfing.’ Basically, exposure of corruption of some sort was beginning to see the light of day. The corrupt actors then went into high gear to create fake books, fake websites, and fake rebuttals. The idea was to show an appearance of overwhelming skepticism. You see, the honest people were made to look like weirdos, like conspiracy theorists. It could be just one person spearheading the astroturfing effort, made to appear as a reflection of popular opinion.

“Anyway, what can be done? This is the world we live in. Today, industry leaders warn you to get up to speed with AI, lest you fall behind. My question relates to the spiritual master, who is a critical piece of the liberation puzzle presented in sanatana-dharma. Are we reaching the point where AI replaces the guru? Why approach someone humbly and render service when you can just enter prompts, instead? Why have a human being assess your current situation and offer recommendations when the AI will not judge? Do you see what I mean? What do you say to someone who argues in favor of this approach?”

As mentioned above, the AI works off of a base of knowledge. It is a machine, but it does not create anything new; at least not yet. Even the generative tasks rely on existing information. If the machine references knowledge published by a specific teacher, then the process is the same as approaching the guru. That is the reason for the published works in the first place. We can access the direct words of the adi-guru, Shri Krishna, for instance, by reading Bhagavad-gita. That work describes the concept of disciplic succession, in how the wisdom was originally shared with the sun-god.

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
इमं विवस्वते योगं
प्रोक्तवान् अहम् अव्ययम्
विवस्वान् मनवे प्राह
मनुर् इक्ष्वाकवे ’ब्रवीत्

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt

“The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikshvaku.” (Bhagavad-gita, 4.1)

If I am getting advice from AI and I do not know the source of the material reported, then how am I approaching a spiritual master? How do I know that I have connected with the eternal wisdom, which never changes? There might be variations to the methods recommended, based on time and circumstances. Shrimad Bhagavatam says that the highest religion, the actual dharma, is to develop love for God, who is a person.

स वै पुंसां परो धर्मो
यतो भक्तिर् अधोक्षजे
अहैतुक्य् अप्रतिहता
ययात्मा सुप्रसीदति

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.2.6)

I know all of this because of the influence of spiritual leaders and their followers. The succession is not murky. I know the names, the places, and the faces. I know exactly the type of person I am approaching. I can compare and contrast against other teachers. I can study the wisdom juxtaposed with modern philosophies. I can deliberate on the matter, in the way recommended to Arjuna at the conclusion of Bhagavad-gita.

इति ते ज्ञानम् आख्यातं
गुह्याद् गुह्यतरं मया
विमृश्यैतद् अशेषेण
यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ
guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa
yathecchasi tathā kuru

“Thus I have explained to you the most confidential of all knowledge. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad­-gita, 18.63)

If I want to give up, if I want to sleep, if I want to avoid the difficult work that has to be put in, I can surely surrender to a machine. I can accept the advice blindly, even though the fine print from the manufacturer says that mistakes can be made. They advise in favor of double-checking the answers. As God is a person, so is His representative. That representative can carry me across the ocean of birth and death.

“The Vedic scriptures and the acharyas, or saintly teachers, are compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the human body are compared to favorable breezes that help the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shri Ishopanishad, 3 Purport)

In Closing:

Machine on humans based,
But soon personality erased.

In the responses to receive,
How as genuine to believe?

The guru a person real and true,
Part of chain of disciples too.

Who to original teacher can trace,
The one of lotus-like face.

Categories: questions

Tags: ai, dailyprompt, guru, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry