All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga
tatra bhāgavatān dharmān
śikṣed gurv-ātma-daivataḥ
amāyayānuvṛttyā yais
tuṣyed ātmātma-do hariḥ (ŚB 11.3.22)
Accepting the bona fide spiritual master as one’s life and soul and worshipable deity, the disciple should learn from him the process of pure devotional service. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, the soul of all souls, is inclined to give Himself to His pure devotees. Therefore, the disciple should learn from the spiritual master to serve the Lord without duplicity and in such a faithful and favourable way that the Supreme Lord, being satisfied, will offer Himself to the faithful disciple.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Patih Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Gosvāmī Prabhupāda told that– “Guru tattva is a unique and undivided tattva.” Svayaṁ-rūpa Bhagavān Brajendra Nandan Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion vigraha is Bhagavān Baladev. Though non-different from Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Baladev is still in the form of sevāka Bhagavān (āśraya vigraha). He appears in this material world in the form of different Sat Guru mūrtis to deliver jīvas caught in the bondage of this material world. Unless and until one is well established in guru-tattva, actual hari-bhajana cannot begin.
The above mentioned Bhāgavatam śloka explains that in order to realize Sat Guru as the most intimately benevolent friend who is really non-different from Śrī Hari, one should continuously serve him from the heart with full devotion. This way one learns and realizes bhāgavata-dharma and the renunciation of selfish interests and Hari becomes very, very pleased and satisfied.
Śrīla Prabhupāda also told that— “Recently in the name of hari-kathā and hari –bhajana those who are going to cheat common people of this world, to get cheated by them has become a usual fashion of this age-as if this has become the divine dispensations of this age; they are not sincere, they want to be cheated, so they are bound to be cheated.”
He also advising that– “You all must try to understand the distinction from bhaktivinod dhara which is the real sat-sanga from the none-bhaktivinod dhara.” In that case you need not join a deceiver group to learn something else in the name of devotion (then what to speak about pure devotee).
The success that results from taking shelter at the Lotus Feet of Sat Guru is that the jīvattma will develop the exclusive desire to take shelter of Hari-nama Prabhu.
In a letter, Śrīla Prabhupāda once chided a cunning and deceitful person that they were going to enter into a fearful stage of material life characterized by karma-marg overpowered by Kali. He asked the addressee whether they thought that leaving the way of ‘praṇipātena paripraśnena’ and sevā would provide the ultimate gain.
Śrīla Sacidānanda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura in his kīrtana expressing strong griff in front of us bonded souls to show the result of fanciful life. “bohu duksha paianche nath sva tantra jīvasne”…Oh! My Lord i have suffered much in my fanciful life. So perfect anugatya unto the Lotus feet of Sat Guru-Vaiṣṇava is the only way.
This kīrtana pad will expose the heart of a real śaraṇāgata jana, because Kṛṣṇa Bhajan is not at all possible for a heartless man who cannot understand what is the heart of Kṛṣṇa.
And those who think that they are our enemy, who all going to advice us to do actual Hari Bhajan avoiding separate desires, they can never get the association of a great sādhu (mahāt).
Without understanding the depth of the two words “sat” and “mahāt,” a lustful man will try to present himself as a wise personality. Because of jealousy or envy one will think of a sajjan or of a mahājana as his enemy and will forever lose kṛpā of mahāt-jana.
The constructive attitude of a karmi jana (man) means destructive attitude. Nobody in this material world can understand this point except pure devotees. The following scriptural advice from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta is really perfect:
“nirapekṣa na- hoile dharma na jaya rakhsane”
Until and unless one not going to stand on a neutral platform cannot go for any general dharma (mental–dharma, body–dharma, social–dharma etc.), then what to speak about that absolute bhāgavata dharma which is called atma dharma.
A materially bound jīvas can by no means rise to a neutral platform. As a result of this, dangerous situations are inevitable in different Maths and Temples. We find the direct reflection of this vital advice in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta as well as in the advice of Śrī Śrīla Saccitānanda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. We can find almost the same thing:
“math- mandir dalan bari na karo prayas”
Bonded soul should never try to make any Math, Mandir or concrete brick building.
Low tide (in the way of decreasing devotional mood) in the way of spiritual consciousness can give us a feeling of sure destruction. ‘vāṇī vaibhava’ is the only treasure of our own sampradāya. Nothing else is as important. To provide for the full protection of ‘Bhaktivinod-gaura vāṇī’ is the only duty of an ācārya. There cannot be any additional duty. Our tendency is to want to follow our fanciful mind but this is the sure way to death. The standing instruction of Śrīman Mahāprabhu is – “Try to broadcast my teachings with real idealism and acharan, and arrange the situation in such a way so that everybody can get the scope of hearing about the Absolute personality.”
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is written “kāya-mano-vākye kare udvega na dibe”– physically, mentally or verbally one shouldn’t give pain to others.
With undue advantage of this kīrtana pad we should not express our indifferent attitude towards the preaching about that Absolute Truth. Many try to take undue advantage of this kīrtana pad to identify themselves as a great sādhu and they falsely accept the rare title of Gosvāmī.
Śrīla Kṛṣṇa Das Kaviraja Gosvāmī Prabhu said, “We want to lead our lives with srī caitanya vāṇī and at the same time avoid material vāṇī.”
Without the causeless mercy of pure guru and Vaiṣṇava , one cannot even start hari-bhajana. Till then the desire of Lordship cannot leave the heart or cannot grow the desire to rectify himself from heart. Material enjoyment can never go side by side with the sevā of transcendental vilas.
Material desires simply prove the existence of the material bondage of the body and the soul. These material desires (kama) spring up from raja guṇa. That seed of kāma-bīja is material kāma-bīja. Pure gurus and Vaiṣṇavas always try to eradicate that material kāma-bīja with the help of heart rending and strong spoken śāstra. Kāma-bīja is the root cause of the strong bandage of the material body and the soul.
When Śrī Saṅkarṣaṇa wants to eradicate material lust by the strong cultivation of the heart field with the application of his plough, then naturally most people become very angry. The desires of a bound jīvas are thoroughly against his own best interest that they cannot help but be contrary to guru and Vaiṣṇava .
Without serving aprākṛta kama deva (Transcendental cupid—Śrī Kṛṣṇa), a jīvas’s heart can never get rid of material kama. Bondage jīvas going to show false submission unto the Lotus Feet of guru Vaiṣṇava till that point if personal interest (lābha-pūjā-pratiṣṭhā) not going to be disturbed. Otherwise bound to bite like poisonous snake. With hostile attitude– is it at all possible to serve Gurudeva?
If the blindness of rich men, out of their audacity from wealth, keeps us in operation, we can grow more enduring power and patience to get attached to the Lotus Feet of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. We can get the scope to increase our encouraging mood to serve Gurudeva and to honour and express truthfulness accordingly.
Why does Lakṣmī-devī ride an owl? The answer is going to make a laughing-stock of the conditioned soul bound by lābha (greed). Though it is humorous as well as tragic, the following should nonetheless be accepted as perfect siddhānta. On whom does Lakṣmī-devī ride and who is the recipient of Her kṛpā?
She bestows Her mercy so that some become rich. But this very opulence makes the beneficiary blind like an owl who cannot see during daylight. Deep darkness is favourable for the owl and that is why the rich man becomes maddened and blind and often develops a misguided yet fanatical belief in self-sufficiency. This can in turn lead to the audacious condition of not being able to see the excellency of sādhu–guru-Vaiṣṇava. Of course, the pastimes of Dhruva Mahārāja, Prahlāda Mahārāj, Pṛthu Mahārāja, Ambarish Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja or Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja do not fall in this same category. They all became fortunate and were blessed to receive the direct feeling of parama-tattva by the mercy of guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān. On the surface the situations might appear similar but Śrī Kṛṣṇa kṛpā and the kṛpā of Māyādevī are never one and the same. This can be known by the result.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī patih Śrī Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda said, “If the whole world goes against me, even those who all wanted to prove coming to me, if they all one by one leave me, still I will go on doing the kīrtana of that Absolute Truth fearlessly, standing under the Lotus Feet umbrella of srī guru caran.” He would also frequently say, “Many are coming to me to cheat me. They are not coming to get genuine kṛpā. I also want to deprive them with material opulences. I also want to cheat them life after life. Let me see how clever they are.”
I know very well that most people cannot comprehend these concepts about the Absolute Truth. Previous habits from infinite lives negatively impact the jīvattma by covering up entire portions of the heart and leaving no open space at all. What can be done about this?
Śrī Gaurāṅga-pārṣada Śrī Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpada expressed his deep painful feelings on this topic in the following way:
dhigastu brahmāhaṁ vadanapariphullān jaḍamatīn
kriyāsaktān dhigdhig vikaṭatapaso dhik ca yaminaḥ
kimetān śocāmo viṣayarāsa mattānarapaśūn
na keṣāncil leśo pyahaha milito gauramadhunaḥ (Śrī Caitanya candrāmṛtam Vers 32)
Shame on the gross materialists, so attached to fruitive, ritualistic performances according to the smṛtis; shame on the mystic yogis who perform severe penances, following the eight-fold path of mystic perfection; shame on the impersonalists who utter ahaṁ brahmāsmi (I am Brahman) – brimming with arrogance, they claim they are liberated, and thus, with blissful countenance, sink deep into meditation upon themselves. All these persons are mad for mundane pleasures devoid of any connection to the Supreme Personality. What sorrow can I express for these beasts in human form? Hall Alas! (Oh, me oh my!) Not one of them has received even a minute particle of the honey-drenched pollen from the lotus feet of Śrī Gaurasundar.
Māyāvādīi or impersonalists also arrange guru puja or vyāsa-pūjā, in a big way, with full enthusiastic attitude. They also worship vyāsa pañcake, but the procedure of vyāsa-pūjā by Gauḍīya devotees is totally different from them. Those Gauḍīyas are actually habituated to do vyāsa pañcake puja, in true sense. Where there is the realization of sevya sevāka sambhanda jñāna (sevā sambandha) felt as eternal, in that case guru puja or vyāsa-pūjā can have a successful meaning, otherwise all meaningless.
If vyāsa-pūjā is done with a relation of non-eternal bhava, in that case all useless. This can become hypocrisy, nothing else. In saṅkara-sampradāya–vyāsa puja is done with full glamour, but when there is doubt about the unparalleled unbitten tattva of Vyāsadeva in that case everything can be like an oblation in to fire.
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta – Ādi-līlā – Chapter 7.121 states:
vyāsera sūtrete kahe ‘pariṇāma’-vāda
‘vyāsa bhrānta’—bali’ tāra uṭhāila vivāda
“In his Vedānta-sūtra Śrīla Vyāsadeva has described that everything is but a transformation of the energy of the Lord. Śaṅkarācārya, however, has misled the world by commenting that Vyāsadeva was mistaken. Thus, he has raised great opposition to theism throughout the entire world.
This is the speciality of their vyāsa-pūjā. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that those who are totally established in the achar and acharan of Śrī Gaurāṅga Deva are actually the real preachers, and the rest (approximately 99%!) of them are more or less contaminated with māyāvāda-vicar. They cannot maintain full faith in guru–Vaiṣṇava–Bhagavān. On the contrary, they believe in their own power and efficiency. Wherever there is a special effort to project (protect) personal name and fame, in that case it is not at all guru-Vaiṣṇava sevā. Such an exhibition of sevā is not at all guru-sevā. A real guru sevāka cannot have separate desire, he always has equal vision.
Śrīla Prabhupāda gave some final advice, “I have most probably given many people troubles in the mind. Some of them might have thought about me that I am their enemy because I was obliged to speak the plain truth for service and devotion towards the Absolute Godhead. I have given them all those troubles only for the reason that they may turn their face towards the Personality of Godhead without any desire for gain and with unalloyed devotion. I hope someday or other they may understand me rightly.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda always used to say, “If the whole world is going against me still, I will not stop speaking about the Absolute Truth.”
Really so, if we can make a comb operation all over the world still there is doubt about how many numbers of people we can get, those who are genuine ready to accept that Absolute Truth. Still more rare would be the numbers of people those who can actually realize the heart of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, so how we can expect that they can understand all the rare siddhānta vichars of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Surely a genuine sad guru sevāk is also Sad Guru, because his exclusive idealism of guru sevā can make him Sad- Guru.
That kind of guru sevāka is always respectable to us. But if someone makes a false exhibition of guru sevā with a motive to capture the āsana of Gurudeva, in that case we must avoid him to protect our own downfall. Somebody can “rent” himself to Gurudeva for some time with the intention of getting a return on the investment in the near future. He can even hold the post of the “pension holder” after the departure of Gurudeva. This is the painful condition of our sampradāyaik bhajana.
At present, we are not so interested in the absolute interest of our sampradāya. We are too busy with our profit and loss accounts. But Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly stated, “The only duty of an ācārya is to give full protection to ‘siddhānta vāṇī–vaibhava’ and nothing else because if ‘sampradāyik vāṇī vaibhava’ (the real secret treasure) is protected then automatically we can find proper solutions everywhere and we can run our mission smoothly.”
But we are so kapat that we can take over some responsibility of guru-Vaiṣṇava sevā, but surely not at all without any self-interest. Specially with vāṇī-sevā a big wicked game is going on which is really very very painful. No ācārya– nobody going to protest those culprits in fear of losing their respective rank and position. We are so badly habituated to enjoy false pratiṣṭhā that by now these has become a chronic disease of our sampradāya.
Truthfulness, which is the most vital part of a life of bhajana, is almost gone. If we are really interested in doing bhajana of the Absolute, then why does this painful situation prevail all around the world? When no one is ready to take shelter of the apparent truth, then what to speak of their ability to hear the Absolute Truth!? Half-truth is no truth at all! Half-truth is actually even more dangerous than a lie!
When a bounded soul acts as an ācārya, what can be more dangerous than that?
In order to give full protection to siddhānta vāṇī vaibhava, one must first be totally established in that Absolute Truth. Without this fundamental grounding, any kind of external rank, position or efficiency cannot help us at all. Instead, there will always be the inclination to reserve our own honour or to take credit for any sevā we do. We will neglect trying to seek the total satisfaction of guru-Vaiṣṇava -Bhagavān, so ultimately, we will be doing karma and not sevā.
Suppose I want to translate the writings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura with a motive to change the theme of his writing or to enjoy some material benefit. In that case, this is a great offense. I have no right to change even one punctuation mark in his writing (or in any mahājan’s writing). Any scent of anyābhilāṣitā (separate desire) will prevent me from maintaining a life of Gauḍīya bhajana in the truest sense.
Śrīla Prabhupāda told, “Śrī Caitanya Deva ki vastu.” (What a great unique treasure Śrī Caitanya Deva is.)
In order to realize this point, all kinds of evil association must first be avoided, directly or indirectly. Otherwise, the vitality of our bhajana will diminish. We must not allow any kind of bad association to affect our Gauḍīya bhajana. Evil influence can eat up the very life of our bhajana just as the presence of worms or insects inside of our belly can eat up the vital function of the body and cause it to stop accessing nourishment. All those near and dear to us should be left if they are at all averse to Caitanya Deva.
Impersonalism and Māyāvādīsm can come into our lives in countless different forms and put profound and troubling impressions in our hearts. These concepts can cause us great trouble and ultimately deviate us from the track of bhaktivinod dhara. Such influences can even sneak in in the form of morality, honesty, duty, or even in the form of humility, etc. But a pure devotee in the line of bhaktivinod dhara can immediately arrest this effect. Māyāvādīs and other spiritual mafioso act externally so, so humble. We can go mad to see their sweet approach. Don’t believe the illusion. Inside of the external lamination of humbleness, a ferocious tiger resides in their heart.
They promise us so much glamour, position and honour that we are tempted to step into their preplanned network. For example, though we are not at all fit to speak hari-kathā, still they allow us to speak in front of the public or to otherwise confer some false pratiṣṭhā on us. Sometimes, they allow us to write an article in their useless magazine to feed our false pride. Why would we do this when the countless writings (vaikuṇṭha vāṇī) of our previous Gauḍīya guru-varga like Śrīla Bhaktinvod Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda Sarasvatī are waiting to catch our attention? Unluckily, due to the manipulation and distraction perpetrated by such mafias, these Gauḍīya writings are not given the chance to save us from Maya.
What can be the exact plan of those spiritual cabals?
In the guise of being Vaiṣṇavas (sannyāsī, brahmacārī, ācārya) they are all Māyāvādīi. They are planning to destroy the total system of ‘Visva Vaiṣṇava Raja Sabha’. I intend to expose their real features and also their criminal activities for the sake of foolish and naive people.
If at all anyone going to cut the direct link of sevā with Gurudeva or Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura —in that case the false title ‘guru-sevāk’ of that demon can automatically get lost. Whom to save! Each and everyone going to jump into the glowing fire of Maya.
Gaura Hari Haribol !