honour or dishonour– all the same for pure Gaudiya Devotees
Gaudiya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Jagad Guru told that— “Nowadays a pure sādhu cannot get honour and respect. The common people nowadays cannot understand a pure sādhu. Almost everybody tries to avoid a pure sādhu. Just like the case of Shankar Bhagavan, because most of the people can misunderstand him by his external appearance. They cannot understand that he is the topmost Vaiṣṇava. So, about Shankar Bhagavan it is written in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam–
nimna-gānāṁ yathā gaṅgā
devānām acyuto yathā
vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ
purāṇānām idam tathā (ŚB 12.13.16)
Just as the Gaṅgā can be given priority among all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Śambhu [Śiva] the greatest of Vaiṣṇavas, so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the greatest of all Purāṇas.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we can see that the highest honour is given to Shankar Bhagavan as a Vaiṣṇava, but we all know that how wrong way Prajapati Daksha wanted to insult and ignore him. He wanted to speak all rubbish about vaiṣṇavanam-yatha Shyambhu—The great personality, but still there was no reaction found inside the heart of Śrī Shankar Bhagavan because he is a pure devotee. Later on, Dakṣa Prajāpati arranged a big yajña festival (brihaspati utshava), but he didn’t think it necessary to invite Shankar Bhagavan whereas whole fourteen worlds where invited. We all know that ultimately the whole festival was in danger because of ignoring Shankar Bhagavan the great. It is the fact that without pure hari-katha (pure guru and vaiṣṇava) any function or festival can come to a flop end. It matters little how majestic way the festival was organized. Some dry philosophy, some so called prasādaṁ, some external ‘jay‘ all those are not the symptom to prove the success of the function. By avoiding pure guru-vaiṣṇava one can only make a material function, nothing else. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— “Preaching without proper background can be called as karma (mundane activities).” Guru-vaiṣṇava-bhagavan can never be satisfied by this kind of function or preaching. The society where pure guru- vaiṣṇava getting no honour is surely running towards destruction. This can be declared in the name of Prabhupāda.
Śrī Gaudiya Math never care about like and dislike of common people, because the absolute duty of Gaudiya Math is to guide people towards that absolute truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda told that— “Though material people like to avoid and ignore guru-vaiṣṇava, still each and every member of our Gaudiya society must be ready to spend gallons of blood for the emancipation of common people of this society.” That is like a charitably service on behalf of Śrī Gaudiya Math, because we Gaudiyas we have no expectation at all in return. This is the privilege that can be accepted by the common people of the society, or they can avoid taking that kind of divine help. But still, we Gaudiya Devotee (Gaudiya Math devotees) must carry on our duty to distribute the absolute message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu to each and everybody even with more enthusiastic attitude. One example is just fitting here in this respect. It is seen that those lifeguards who are taking risks to deliver someone drowning in water and sometimes he can get kicked by the drowning man, but still, the lifeguard is not going to stop his effort to deliver that drowning man. Also, sometimes we can see a psychotic person can kick the doctor, but still the doctor is not going to stop his effort to deliver the patient from the painful situation. The same you can think about Gaudiya Math devotees those who are dedicated unto the Lotus Feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu for the absolute seva of Caitanya-vāṇī.
Śrīla Prabhupāda told that— “In the name of hari-katha-kirtana (hari-bhajana) those who are going to misguide common people, we common people want to be cheated by them, so we are cheated. To be cheated by them—this has become a usual fashion of the days”.
Nowadays our society has taken such an ugly term, that they like to avoid pure guru-vaiṣṇava and their hari-katha. Externally they can exhibit some love and respect for our exalted guru-varga like Śrīla Prabhupāda or Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura etc., but internally they are with empty bhava. In front of pure guru-vaiṣṇava and their hari-katha, they can discover their naked picture. That is why they like to avoid it. On behalf of Śrī Gaudiya Math Śrīla Prabhupāda and his mission always ready to cut and throw challa dharma (false dharma) and upa-siddhanta (wrong siddhanta). Śrīla Prabhupāda always used to say that a fraud sadhu and his false preaching should be brought into light (brought into the notice of public).
Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that the actual meaning of ‘tṛṇād api sunīcena’ bhava is to establish the honour and interest of Gaudiya guru-varga and to ignore personal labha–puja–pratiṣṭhā (personal interest). Usually, those who are always trying to protect and preserve the interest of Gaudiya guru-parampara, they are not going to be honoured by those jealous people or so-called devotees; this way the whole system going to collapse down. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— “Because we like to ignore pure guru-vaiṣṇava so the present situation is so dangerous, there is a scarcity of hari-katha prevailing everywhere.”
Even in this world in any country, the ruling government also usually giving honour to those who are showing some special qualities. Such exclusive qualities should be brought into light. If we are not going to have that kind of open heart, then those exclusive personalities would be automatically ignored. For the overall development of the human society this kind of tolerance should be there.
For pure devotees the only aim is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. Pure devotees are feeling no reaction of honour or dishonour. Like our Sadananda Prabhu, the eternal associate of Śrīla Prabhupāda he used to say that— “A bhaktas life and activity in the world takes place in the fulfillment of his nature to serve Krsna, and is not indented to delight or offend, to enlighten or mislead people regulated by law. The life of the bhakta has its center in Krsna, and the fact that, here and there, there may be a person who by His grace becomes free from himself, is only a side effect. The bhakta may extol Bhagavan and make His līlā’ known so that it seems that he was endeavoring for the sake of humanity.—How little this is the case follows from the fact that the realized bhakta may extol and make Bhagavan and His lila known even where there is not one single person ready to receive it, because the only meaningful use of his faculty of language is to speak of Krsna and sing His Name.”