(By sampradāya-saṁrakṣaka Śrī Śyām Dās Babajī Mahārāja)
Without absolute sincerity unto the Lotus Feet of The Prabhupāda we are going to be deprived from that Absolute truth
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Patiḥ Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda very often used to say that— “In the name of hari-kathā-kīrtana and hari-bhajana those who are misguiding or cheating public, to become cheated by them—at present, this has become a fashion of the age”. Without being cheated by those kapaṭa sādhus we don’t feel happy. People want to be cheated, so they can get cheated, so what to do!
Śrīla Prabhupāda also very often used to say that— “What we want and what we don’t want—this should be finalized first of all in our life.” It is really not a matter of surprise that most of us don’t want Bhagavān in our life. Most of us simply want to become happy by getting some relief from painful material experiences in this material world, but not more than that. It is really very rare that someone want to go beyond dharma-artha-kāma and mokṣa. Most of the people in this world they like to use Bhagavān to get some worldly benefit. Some of them, they ask God for good health or long life etc., some of them may ask to get more and more money or position etc., others can ask for a beautiful wife or handsome husband, and again others can pray to get a beautiful daughter or a healthy son etc. etc. So then how can it be possible for us to do hari-bhajana (?), just like a blind man guided by another blind man we are deprived from that Absolute Truth forever. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda has written that—
bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat
piśācī hṛdi vartate
tāvad bhakti-sukhasyātra
katham abhyudayo bhavet (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.22)
“The material desire to enjoy the material world and the desire to become liberated from material bondage are considered to be two witches, and they haunt one like ghosts. As long as these witches remain within the heart, how can one feel transcendental bliss? As long as these two witches remain in the heart, there is no possibility of enjoying the transcendental bliss of devotional service.
It is only when the pure spiritual hankering manifests as an unalloyed longing of the Absolute sevā, then one can refuse to be satisfied with any mundane perspective.”
Bhaktivinoda-dhārā can never be stopped
The speeches and writings of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda are all absolute and beyond human comprehension. Aprākṛta śabda-brahma is always self-manifesting object. Very often Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that–“Logical interpretation cannot stand in the way of that Absolute Truth.” This is because self-manifesting truths can only be realized by the way of absolute submission.
Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja or Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī Mahārāja they all used to say that, “Śrīla Prabhupāda is the topmost paramahaṁsa ācārya of this Yuga.” At the Bhagavat assembly—which was held at Suktal Kṣetra, all those Ṛṣi-Munis said the same thing to Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī about his absolute paramahaṁsa stage. Even we cannot imagine that how fortunate we are to get the privilege of getting all those pure siddhānta-vicāras from Śrīla Prabhupāda. At all if we could get Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī among us, then and only then we could expect that kind of perfect siddhānta-vicāra (because she is the original āśraya vigraha) what we are getting from Śrīla Prabhupāda.”
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Patiḥ Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda said that— “I am not only a proofreader of the press; I am a proofreader of men—I see their faults and try to correct them. I am also a proofreader of religion. I have appeared in the zodiac sign of the crab (divine līlā), so whenever I see anything nondevotional, I act like a crab.”
In one article named “The seeming face” Prof Nisi Kanta Sanjal has written that— “The real spiritual preceptor will not agree to misguide us. He will not flatter our vanities. He never accepts any worldly riches from his disciples. But his conduct and his words cannot be understood by the ignorant people of this world. It is possible to deceive immoral persons by the trade of religion. The pseudo-gurus have been setting up hovels of brick, which they miscall temples of God, by misappropriating the wealth of their disciples. But Godhead does not abide in a temple made by the hands of man. The real preceptor can hardly be popular in this world. Worldly people, who resort to him for instruction, are disappointed by not getting from him what they want. There may be occasions when such disappointed persons set themselves actively against the preaching of the truth. But in spite of their seeming successes it is never possible for them to oppose the will of Godhead.” Śrīla Prabhupāda Paramahaṁsa Jagad-Guru also used to say that— “Absolute Truth is not such a cheap thing, so that this can be destroyed by public opinion or mass agitation, or by manpower or by money power or by strangling.”
Nowadays, we can see clearly that gradually one kind of dense dark cloud of non-Bhaktivinod Dhara coming down on this world to cover up the Absolute Truth. Kali is the age of controversy, so Kali surely cannot allow us to follow the track of Absolute Truth. Even we can see that—all those so-called devotees, they want to reject all those pure siddhānta-vicāras of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura and they like to follow their fanciful mood. We think this symptom is really very dangerous. That’s why at present it is really a deep concern for us about how to protect our Gauḍīya sāmpradāyika vāṇī-vaibhava. We know that bhaktivinoda-dhārā can never be stopped—this is the blessing and assurance of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, so still today somehow, we can keep hope. It is really very important to understand the basic difference between bhaktivinoda-dhārā and non-bhaktivinoda-dhārā. Bhaktivinoda-dhārā is the unadulterated pure flow of scriptural conclusions (siddhānta) all are given by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda. No compromise can be made with non-bhaktivinoda-dhārā. The day we can realize the difference between bhaktivinoda-dhārā and non-bhaktivinoda-dhārā, that day we must get a green signal in the way of our bhajana.
It is the main duty of all those ācāryas to help increase the consciousness level of innocent people, so that gradually they can realize that what is called real bhakti. At present we are passing through a very dark period of Kali, where we can find everything going against pure devotion. The whole world gradually going far away from that absolute truth. If some sādhu going to speak about the unalloyed absolute truth, then everyone become very afraid of that, no one like to accept that. Still, this was the unending effort of Śrīla Prabhupāda to protect us from Māyā. The unique and absolute Ācāryaship is really very rare. Once upon a time, Śrī Saradendu Ray started speaking in front of Śrīla Prabhupāda that— “Your achievement in the preaching field is very excellent, because within very short period of time you are successful to established fifty different branches of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha all over the world.” I mean according to him the mission of Śrīla Prabhupāda is very successful. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda replied in a very humble way that— “What to speak about fifty Maṭhas, actually I wanted to install Gauḍīya Maṭha inside the heart of everybody. Actually, I wanted to see fifty living Gauḍīya Maṭhas instead of fifty Gauḍīya Maṭhas.” Śrīla Prabhupāda also said that— “Why only one mouth? Let me have unlimited mouths in my infinite life period to glorify the unlimited qualities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His devotees”.
The absolute Idealism of The Prabhupāda need to be followed
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that— “If I do not remember the lotus feet of Śrī Guru at the beginning of every new year, every new month, every new day and every new moment, then I am sure to fall into far greater inconveniences. If I do not remember his lotus feet, then the desire will come to dress myself in the garb of guru. I will become liable to the bad desire of seeking to be worshiped by other people as guru. It is this which constitutes addiction to things other than the truth.”
We can see in the whole life of Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj how exclusively he wanted to remember Śrīla Prabhupāda each and every fraction of second in his life. Whenever he used to start speaking about Śrīla Prabhupāda, then always he used to say that—“Śrīla Prabhupāda was a divine personality sent by the Supreme Lord Śrī Gaurasundar Himself.” In the same way Śrīla Bhakti Rakshak Śrīdhar Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to speak constantly about the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura. The same we can also see in the life of Śrīla Bhakti Daitya Madhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj about whom Śrīla Bhakti Hridoya Ban Gosvāmī told that— “He was ready to sacrifice his own life for the service of guru and he adopted the most ideal life and absolute principles of Śrīla Prabhupāda without deviating even by an inch.
If one can make a comb operation throughout the whole world – then one can find a very few who are really following The Prabhupāda in toto, though verbally we are always exhibiting our śraddhā or believe in the teachings of the Prabhupāda, but in fact we always like to avoid him in our life. Śrīla Prabhupāda himself told that—”The real preceptor can never be popular in this world, because most of the people try to avoid those who speak about that Absolute Truth. He also told that nobody likes to speak (quote) what I speak.”
In the everyday hustle and bustle of preaching in the west and performing our many duties and services to Kṛṣṇa! and our guru-varga, we often forget, or have never heard of the previous generations of devotees who sacrificed and endured against all odds to spread the glory of the mission of Śrī Kṛṣṇa! Caitanya, and who achieved the ultimate grace of the Supreme Lord to become one of His eternal associates. Had they not done their duty and performed their service in the mission of Mahāprabhu, we ourselves would not be where we are today, basking in the rays of the effulgent sun of Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana movement. Let their memory and their achievements never be forgotten. All glories to Lord Caitanya’s devotees past, present and future! (from the pen of Swami B.G. Narasingha)
As Śrīla Prabhupāda himself told that—”Nowadays, Māyā devi’s servants are counted as servants of Śrī Caitanya. If we accept them as ‘devotees’, there is no one more foolish than us. 99-9 % of the world’s population are chopping with an ax at Caitanya-candra’s Lotus Feet in the name of offering flowers. Almost cent percent of the people are doing that. To remove their illusion is an act of the greatest compassion.”
The same way we can see at present that most of those so-called devotees are chopping the Lotus feet of The Prabhupāda with an ax in the name of offering flowers. Almost cent percent of the devotees are doing that knowingly or unknowingly.
Śrīla Prabhupāda Prestha Ācārya Kesari Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Pragyan Kesava Gosvāmī said that – “With a strong hope to get pratiṣṭhā by exhibiting our personal talent, if we never hesitate to identify our most favourable benefactor (or true well-wisher) previous ācāryas as ignorant and foolish, then in that case our children (our next generations) they also can call us ignorant, foolish or uncivilized (or brute) etc. What strange or surprise can be there in it?”
Our guru-paramparā totally depend up on the strength of śrauta vāṇī vaibhava, so if at all someone going to eradicate the eternal relationship with guru-Vaiṣṇava or guru-paramparā, in that case surely, he will be totally isolated by Māyā Devi.
Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that in general, the term jīva-hiṁsā is understood by people to mean ‘a physical or emotional act of violence against living entities, including oneself.’ If a person commits suicide, it is said that person has committed ātma-hatyā (murder of the self). But Śrīla Prabhupāda has explained that this is actually not ātma-hatyā, but rather śarīra-hatyā (murder of the body).
Therefore, physical or emotional violence against the gross and subtle bodies of the jīva is not jīva–hiṁsā, because the jīva is a spiritual soul distinct from these two bodies. While harming the gross and subtle bodies may be called jīva-hiṁsā by people in general, it is in fact not the true meaning of jīva-hiṁsā.
The soul is indestructible and cannot be harmed. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa has mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā (2.23):
nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
acchedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam
akledyo ’śoṣya eva ca
nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur
acalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ
The soul can never be pierced by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water nor dried by the wind. The soul is indivisible, insoluble and cannot be burned or dried. He is eternal, all-pervading, permanent, non-moving and ever-existing.
Then the question arises: what is the real meaning of jīva-hiṁsā?
Śrīla Prabhupāda has explained that the jīva possesses the qualification to attain the highest abode, provided he is following the path which is already laid down by those previous ācāryas. But if someone knowingly or unknowingly attempting to divert the jīva from the path leading to the highest abode (the path of pure bhakti) by instructing her to take up another path leading to any temporary destination, such as the paths of karma, jñāna, yoga and so on, by not giving those jivas a chance to connect with our previous Gaudiya guru-varga and in this way abstaining from helping the jīvas progress on the path leading to the highest abode. Therefore, real ahiṁsā (nonviolence) is to preach and follow the path of pure bhakti as shown by our previous mahājanas, and not the paths which are newly created by some so called ācāryas.
Śrīla Prabhupāda has very clearly mentioned in his commentary on ‘Guṇḍicā-mandira-mārjana-līlā–rahasya’ that jīva-hiṁsā means to have either kuṇṭhā (hesitation) or kṛpaṇatā (miserliness) in one’s preaching of śuddha-bhakti; to give Māyāvādīs, karmīs or anyābhilāṣīs an opportunity (praśraya) to speak about their philosophies; or to speak solely for the sake of pleasing one’s listeners.
We must realize that our very existence is to be totally subservient to the teachings given by Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura
It is a fact that nowadays almost nobody speaking about the divine achar and adarsha which all where exclusively shown by Śrīla Prabhupāda. The idealism shown by The Prabhupāda and our genuine guru-varga almost forgotten nowadays.
Ācārya Kesari Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Pragjan Kesava Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to say that— “Jagad Guru Śrī Śrīla Prabhupāda’s close servants know well which views he upheld in his time, which one he did not, and what standard of conduct he personally followed. It is no fault of Prabhupāda if those who were never around him whimsically chose not to follow his personal conduct. Their behaviour cannot be taken to represent the views accepted by Prabhupāda.”
(Gauḍīya-patrika, Year 41, Issue 6)
Those devotees who all neglect the writings and speeches of The Prabhupāda, and trying to spend their time creating their own mentally concocted philosophies and claim those to be perfect siddhānta vichars, they all can be sooner or later get afflicted by enviousness and in that way can start to criticize those pure Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas (it is quite natural).
Those jīvas are drowning in Māyā in this material world, they just cannot destroy the name of Śrīla Prabhupāda and his divine qualities or activities any way-anyhow; but those so-called devotees which are either Māyāvādīs in disguise of devotees, or devotees who are only busy with worshiping Prabhupāda by their lip service can bring the most harm for our Śrī Gauḍīya Madhva sampradāya, even though in reality their efforts are similar to those of Rāvaṇa, capturing Māyā-Sītā.
The transcendental subject matter of The Prabhupāda is something that can never be accepted by Māyāvādīs, karmis and wayward non-devotees. All those followers of demons like Rāvaṇa or Kaṁsa they all have tried in various ways to force Śrīla Prabhupāda to enter their own illusory domains, but at the same time Śrī Gaura Bhagavān is also sending His own pure devotees to the material world in order to frustrate the endeavours of those demons. There is an eternal struggle between the non-eternal philosophies of those demons and the absolute pure and divine teachings of Śrī Gaura. The result of this war is the rise of pure kṛṣṇa-prema in the uncontaminated land that is the heart of the jīva, or the swelling of poison in the impure soil of the jīva’s consciousness.”
Those so-called devotees who are following the principles of Kaṁsa and Rāvaṇa are going completely against our guru-varga and guru-paramparā. They mix everything up and then they establish what Śrīla Prabhupāda explained as perceiving sweet and bitter, dishonesty and honesty, idleness and enthusiasm, getting beaten and getting sweets are all the same thing and this is their so-called guru bhakti or sampradāya niṣṭhā.”
All our great Gauḍīya guru-varga they all told that— “First of all we must realize that our very existence is to be totally subservient to the teachings given by Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, who are pure devotees of Śrī Gaurasundara—it is only then that all the darkness and fog of illusion will be vanished like a momentary storm. One thing is sure that by rejecting this advice, one will only learn enmity towards those pure devotees by finding all kind of faults in their pure and divine character. Everything in our spiritual life depends on how much love and strong belief we have in our sampradāya. If we are not always ready to point out our previous ācāryas, our Gauḍīya guru-varga, then slowly slowly all the vitals of our bhajana life will dry up. It is only when one’s roots regarding guru niṣṭhā and sampradāya niṣṭhā have grown so deep that one’s heart will be touched by the actual kṛpā of Śrī Gaura and only then one will be inspired to know where the transcendental abode is and one can determine whose abode it is; one will believe the words of the pure devotees and understand what the atheistic Māyāvādīs say about Gaura and guru-varga.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda also said that— “Just as a Kazi, because he belongs to a different religion, is incapable of deciding the dates of Hindu festivals due to his lack of knowledge in śāstra, just as a barren woman is incapable of giving birth to a son, just as one cannot eat sweets with his eyes, similarly being under the influence of mundane faith and unknowingly accepting the essence of such so-called devotees, it is futile to try to understand spiritual subject matters concerning Gaura and his eternal pārṣadas.”
It is of utmost importance to distribute to others what His Divine Grace Gauḍīya Goṣṭhi Pati Paramahaṃsācārya Varya Śri Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākur Prabhupāda told, what our Gauḍīya guru-paramparā out of their causeless compassion kept for us—their writings, their books, their audios and video recordings. What we ourselves newly invent or discover is not necessary to distribute; just share and distribute what our Gauḍīya guru-varga already have told, that will be more than sufficient—people will be immensely benefitted through that. Only we need to keep patience to go through those immense treasures left by our Gauḍīya guru-varga.
Some of you may think that sounds too much orthodox. But as all our previous ācāryas said, that our bhajana life is not a matter of joke, it is the question of the survival of our real self. We may see that in the political or religious field there are always some modernisations and at the same time there are those who subscribe in following strictly the traditional orthodox way. That maybe regarding worldly matters, but if it comes to spiritual matters than these questions whom to follow doesn’t even come up, because it is very clear that those siddhānta vichars are once being said by our pure ācāryas, they must have eternal value. Like an arrow once shot, can never come back again.
The Prabhupāda used to say—“Just as an arrow’s power is calculated by the prowess of an archer, similarly the power and effect of one’s preaching depends on how much devotional strength one possesses. Therefore there is a gulf of difference between the preaching of ordinary devotees and the preaching of a powerful devotee. Such powerful devotees are referred to as “the living source.” Those who experience such persons in their own lives are certainly fortunate.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur also has written in ‘The Harmonist’ or ‘Sajjan Toshani’ that–” The Vaiṣṇava Philosophy has spoken about true wisdom. True wisdom is not subject to an attack from any rival camp like the changeable and fluctuating knowledge of the empiricists; this is the special feature of the Vaiṣṇava Philosophy. The philosophies that have been, are being and will be built on the foundation of empiricism and will be abandoned, enlarged and altered along with the increase and decrease of experience. Before the civilization five-thousand years old, the three-thousand-year-old civilisation is imperfect; and the seven-thousand-year-old one is more enlarged; and in ten thousand years it will be still further changed and enlarged. The Vaiṣṇava Philosophy built, as it is, upon the strong unalterable foundation, of true and perfect wisdom is not fit for change and reformation through scuffling and disputes even like the foot-ball being kicked to and fro.”
Also our seventh Gosvāmī Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura used to say that— “A path cannot be manufactured. Whatever path is there should be accepted by sādhus. Those who are proud and want fame try vigorously to discover new paths. Those who have good fortune from past lives give up pride and respect the established path. Those who are unfortunate walk on a new path and thus cheat the world.”
Gauḍīya literature is the absolutely unadulterated and pure flow of scriptural conclusions
There are countless books and articles written by Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda and our Gauḍīya guru-varga. We have so much transcendental Gauḍīya literature that we could go on reading and distributing them day and night. But why we are not seeing the full blossomed Gauḍīya Literatures in all our Sarasvat Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community? The only reason for that is our insincerity which is throwing us far away from the actual teachings of our Gauḍīya guru-paramparā only by following the instructions of some so-called ācāryas, by avoiding those real treasures protected and preserved by our Gauḍīya guru-varga.
Once, Śrī Madana-mohana Malaviya, the founder of the world-famous Banāras Hindu University in Vārāṇasī, Uttar Pradesh, while speaking with Śrīla Prabhupāda at Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha in Bāgbāzār, Kolkata, asked him with astonishment, “For how long will you be able to run this Dainika Nadīyā Prakāśa? From where will you obtain the great number of spiritual articles needed to keep it in print every day?”
Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, “Your astonishment pales in comparison to the astonishment I feel in seeing that you, a person regarded as foremost among the best scholars of India, is expressing wonder about these concerns. This material creation is merely the reflection of a quarter of the transcendental creation.
Across the globe, countless newspapers are published every day in different languages, and this earth planet is only one part of the fourteen-fold planetary system, which belongs to just one of the innumerable brahmānandas in the material creation. Therefore, why would you be astonished about the daily publishing of but one newspaper, the ‘Dainika Nadīyā Prakāśa’, which focuses on the transcendental spiritual world? In fact, we have enough transcendental content about the spiritual realm to publish numerous daily newspapers from now until forever.”
Because a scholar can very easily detect implied meanings, Śrī Madana-mohana Malaviya was extremely pleased to hear Śrīla Prabhupāda’s assertion that because the spiritual world is unlimited by nature, the reservoir of transcendental subject matters from which the paper could draw would be similarly unlimited.
Also Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura expressed his deep concern—“Newspapers that make the readers happy by daily writing of new topics only write about varieties of the material world, but the topics of Lord Hari are different. They never become old. The more one hears or speaks of the Lord the more one relishes these topics. O readers! If you have any attachment for the topics of Hari, then again and again relish the descriptions written by the mahājanas. Although this newspaper [in which this article first appeared] is very small, nevertheless in each edition the conclusive descriptions of the mellows of devotional service written by the previous mahājanas are published part by part. Since there is no question of worldly stories in this paper, we must publish some compositions of the previous great learned scholars. The material world is full of nonsense talks; therefore, do not avoid relishing the pastimes and the science of devotional service available in this small newspaper, ‘Śrī Sajjana-toṣaṇī’. There is no doubt that the compositions of the previous great saintly persons will be more covered than our own writings. Another point of consideration is that those who are fond of reading should certainly read the devotional work of the previous saintly persons. If such readers gradually enter into and relish these writings, they will obtain immense pleasure. Unfortunately, we love to read our own writing or the writing of some new modern authors. But when we deeply absorb ourselves in the compositions of the mahājanas, we no longer like the modern compositions. The point is that we think we can compose better than the mahājanas, but when this illusion is destroyed, we no longer like the modern compositions. Great personalities and poets are not always coming to the material world. They are rare. Therefore, it is very difficult to find great poets after Jayadev Goswami and Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī. Only when some recipients of Śrī Krishna’s mercy appear in this world will we again see books like ‘Śrī Gīta-govinda’ and ‘Śrī Bhāgavatāmṛta’. To feel happy by reading the work of modern authors and poets is like imagining one is relishing milk by drinking buttermilk because there is an absence of milk. We do not find any writing sweeter than the writing of the mahājanas.” (‘Śrī Sajjana-toṣaṇī’ 10.5, quoted in ‘Śrī Bhaktivinoda Vāṇī Vaibhava’, Chapter 39)
Due to our own insincerity nowadays all attempts have been made to lower the yardstick as it was set by The Prabhupāda
Is it not at all some consideration worthy, to just stop for a moment and think—How is it possible that I call myself a Gauḍīya devotee, a follower of The Prabhupāda, a devotee in Caitanya’s Mission without having even the slightest idea about the actual teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda and Gauḍīya Maṭha. It is due to our own insincerity that nowadays all attempts have been made to lower the yardstick as it was set by The Prabhupāda. But that was never the idea of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda in his own life has shown that he never wanted to make any compromise regarding the pure teachings of Śrīman Mahārabhu.
Nowadays the situation is the direct evidence that we can almost no longer find that divine yardstick set by The Prabhupāda, and not only that even we find that those innocent new adepts which are trying to start their spiritual journey became polluted by the miss preaching and misinformation given by so-called spiritual leaders who are totally against Gauḍīya Maṭha. So how in infinite time period will we get maṅgala by avoiding Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha, whereas Śrīla Prabhupāda himself told that—”Gauḍīya Maṭha is the only way”. Will it not be an act of the greatest of all jīva-hiṁsās, to deprive those innocent adepts from their real maṅgala? Without following the path shown by The Prabhupāda everything else will just stay a dream only, no reality at all. We cannot allow this contamination to flow generation after generation.
Ācārya Kesari Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Pragyan Kesava Gosvāmī Mahārāj the disciple of Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Paramahaṁsa Jagad Guru said that—“With a strong hope to get pratiṣṭhā by exhibiting our personal talent, if we never hesitate to identify our most favourable benefactor (or true well-wisher) previous ācāryas as ignorant and foolish, then in that case our children (our next generations) they also can call us ignorant, foolish or uncivilized (or brute) etc. what strange or surprise can be there in it?” (Taken from the article named “Asistachar” on the basis of some special advice given by Śrīla Prabhupāda in ‘Nadia Prakasa Patrika’)
We do not want to be very big big monkeys, we don’t want to be imitators, we want to have the real thing. That is why it is of the utmost importance to understand the difference between bhaktivinod-dhara and non-bhaktivinod-dhara. If somehow someone is thinking that— “I am not getting any taste when I read or hear those articles and absolute speech by The Prabhupāda and his actual followers, then we must understand that inside such a heart there must be some aparādha, which is an indication that the person in question lacks the most elementary conditions for God’s Mercy. Otherwise, the power (śakti) of Mercy, which bestows wisdom and true knowledge, would have given the insight that without the writings and teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura there is no alternative—no entry into the real endless ocean of loveful worship and sevā of Śrīman Mahārabhu.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that— “Do not try to discover the nature of truth by the exercise of your imagination. Do not endeavour to attain the truth through experience of this world. Do not try to manufacture truth in order to satisfy your erring inclinations, or hastily accept anything for the reason that it satisfies such inclinations. Do not regard as truth anything that has been “built up” or has the support of a majority of people like yourself, nor as untruth anything that is rejected by the overwhelming majority. According to the scriptures there will be found hardly one in a crore of human beings who really worships the truth. What is proclaimed by the united voices of all the people of this world as truth may turn out to be false. Therefore, cease to confront the truth in a challenging mood. The truth is not brought into existence by such arrogance. One has to approach the truth in the spirit of absolute submission. It is necessary to listen to truth. Truth is self-revealing, and only when it is pleased to reveal itself can its actual nature be known to us, and not otherwise.” (Lecture, 1926: Gauḍīya 15.342; Nadia Prakash, 12.276.1127)
Śrīla Prabhupāda also many times said that— “If I seek the path leading to that ultimate good then I must ignore the countless voices of popular wisdom and listen only to that of the realized soul.”
Bhajana life is not a matter of joke; it is the question of the survival of our real self. The only question what we need to put in front of ourselves is that— “Are we in a position to realize the above siddhānta vichar of Śrīla Prabhupāda or not?” Why most of us are not able to realise the dangerous situation at present prevailing all around the world in the form of massive miss preaching? In the name of actual Gauḍīya bhajana we all are misled. The only reason behind this is our insincerity to follow the exact teachings of The Prabhupāda. We have no sincerity inside our heart that is why we are not feeling any pain for the negative situation prevailing in our devotional field. Those genuine sincere devotees they can surely get divine help of Śrīla Nityānanda-Balarāma. Lack of sincerity can put us in the ocean of misery. Sincerity is the first and foremost important thing in our bhajana life. Śrīla Prabhupāda also used to say that— “Whether one is Brahmā, Śiva, Vāyu, or Vāruṇa, whether one is a great religious preacher or religious leader, if he deviates even an inch from Śrī Caitanyadeva’s teachings, he will find himself in trouble.”
Śrīla Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to give one nice example regarding sincerity which we would like to quote here—
Only a sincere student is qualified to assess the qualification of his teacher
Suppose we come across two individuals: one is a praṇayi-bhakta, and the other is only claiming to be a praṇayi-bhakta. We may observe that the person pretending to be a praṇayi-bhakta is externally exhibiting all the symptoms of a praṇayi-bhakta and is forcing us to accept him as such, while the actual praṇayi-bhakta makes no endeavour to prove his position to others. If we are unqualified, insincere and not adequately intelligent or well-versed in the śāstras, how we will be able to differentiate between the two?
A student in eighth standard was assigned a tutor by his parents. The tutor was highly qualified and possessed a PhD degree. However, after receiving lessons for some time, the student complained to his parents, “I am unsatisfied with this tutor; he is unable to teach me properly. It would be better if you could arrange for a new tutor.”
Because of the student’s sincerity in his studies, he was easily able to realize that the tutor was not teaching him properly. Similarly, we will only be able to identify a praṇayi-bhakta if we too are completely sincere. If we are not sincere at heart, we will simply cheat ourselves, whether we happen to meet with a praṇayi-bhakta or a pretender. (Taken from the book ‘Viśuddha Caitanya-vāṇī’, by Śrīla Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Gosvāmī Mahārāj)
Sometimes we hear from some so-called devotees that, “Who can follow the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura?” or “That is very high” or most of them speaking— “We have no adhikāra up to that level” or “How we can run our temple by following Śrīla Prabhupāda’s strict rules and regulations?” Whatever may be their understanding, but in reality, we can see that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to give fitting answer to those who used to consider his teachings as too much, that— “Instead of coming down to your level, it is better if you all can come up to my level, which is more practical.” So in this way we only can come to the conclusion that it is our own insincerity.
If one can follow all the strict rules and regulations (the yardstick set by Śrīla Prabhupāda) from the very beginning and can try to get habituated, then in future it will be very easy to maintain all the Vaiṣṇava-etiquette perfectly. We should always try our best to never lose the standard which was set by The Prabhupāda and maintained by all our Gauḍīya guru-varga. Śrīla Prabhupāda very often used to say that— “We Gauḍīyas always have some speciality.” Speciality regarding pure siddhānta vichar and ācaraṇa.
If we love Śrīla Prabhupāda then surely, we cannot say that Prabhupāda is too strict. Because love cannot accept any compromise. Even in this material world, I can give one example, there was one girl who was from a very rich family, but she fell in love with one poor motor mechanic. Then the father of the girl was bound to say, “I cannot accept you as my daughter if you marry that guy.” Then that girl said, “Love is love. I cannot throw him away simply because he is poor. I can leave you and go away if the situation demands so.” Then she went away even leaving her father. She was never habituated to live in poverty but still it was possible for her to make adjustment with her husband. Why? Simply because she was in love with her husband. Also, most of our guru-varga came from high family but still when they could feel the nectar coming from Śrīla Prabhupāda continuously, then they were ready to give up everything for him. The unique and absolute love affair of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī was so strong that no amount of impediment could stand in the way of Her love for Kṛṣṇa! That is the mystery of great love affair.
So if our goal of life is to attain śuddha bhakti, then there can be no other way open except the way already shown by The Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— “Most of my time was spent in cutting the ‘jungles’ of māyāvāda, sahajiyā-vāda, sakhī-bheki and all other non-devotional ideas. If there is a māyāvāda jungle, the seeds of bhakti cannot sprout. I therefore had to cut so many jungles, and still there are so many jungles left throughout the world. Most of my time was spent in clarifying philosophical points.”
It was the only desire of Śrīla Prabhupāda to bring us up to the highest level of devotional platform by uprooting all the thorns on the pathway of śuddha bhakti, that is why he also used to say that— “I have given anxiety to you all to engage you all in unalloyed hari-bhajana, I was bound to do so. Someday some birth you can understand this point”.
All those who are unwilling to listen bhakti siddhānta vāṇī, must have some secondary interest, other than śuddha bhakti. For those who pretend to sleep nothing can be done, but for those sincere seekers of the Absolute Truth it is fact that ‘śuddha bhakti siddhānta vāṇī‘ is just like an earthquake which can crash down everything negative to help us attain pure devotion.
Bhakti siddhānta vāṇī’ is always ready to save us all from imminent danger (māyā). Actual hari-kathā is just like a heavy operation, so naturally a patient is not ready to undergo such heavy treatment. That is why so much agitation developing at present regarding pure hari-kathā -kīrtana .
Even it is more dangerous – if somebody pretending to sleep, because surely, they are less interested to understand the importance of bhakti siddhānta vāṇī sevā. But due to their weakness most of them are not even ready to confess this fact. In this way history always repeating itself. Many of them can try to stop such pure and divine hari-kathā like fire, because in that case their naked picture can get exposed shortly. We know the following śloka by Śrīla Raghunath Das Gosvāmī that—
are cetaḥ prodyat-kapaṭa-kuṭināṭī-bhara-khara-
kṣaran-mūtre snātvā dahasi kathām ātmānam api mām
sadā tvaṁ gāndharvā-giridhara-pada-prema-vilasat-
sudhāmbhodhau snātvā tvam api nitarāṁ māṁ ca sukhaya (Manaḥ Śikṣā – Verse 6)
O mind, why are you bathing in the caustic urine of the great donkey of full-blown deceit and hypocrisy? By doing so, you are burning both you and me! Instead, you should constantly bathe in the ambrosial ocean of prema emanating from the feet of Gāndharvā-Giridhārī which will thoroughly delight both of us.
Many times it is seen that some so-called devotees are always trying to destroy the weak faith of those innocent devotees those who are at least trying to follow The Prabhupāda from heart. We know it for sure that such conspiracy under the spell of māyā can never be tolerated by Śrīman Nityānanda Prabhu, today or tomorrow surely, they can get their result of their mischievous activities, so we like to pray unto the Lotus Feet of Śrīman Nityānanda Prabhu to change their dirty heart.
It is my request unto you all that please try your best to reach such a point of sincerity level so that never-nothing can distract you from the actual teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda is our main milestone in the way of Gauḍīya bhajana.
Many came to Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda with some ulterior motives, and he also was ready to fulfil their respective desires. This way they were all deprived by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Some of them gathered money, some gathered worldly education, some of them arranged big big buildings and properties etc., yet some others collected name and fame as so-called preachers or ācāryas. But in this way only they were deceived by Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. The Prabhupāda can surely save those who are weak, but cannot help those who are kapaṭa.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol