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EDITORIAL October 11, 1999 VNN4915 Comment on this story The Branches Of The Caitanya Tree BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI EDITORIAL, Oct 11 (VNN) — Submitted for the meditation and consideration of the assembled Vaisnavas. Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, who in his infinite mercy, and by the empowerment of Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, came to save the world and give to us all, Krsna consciousness. May our minds be focused upon his lotus feet and on the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna and His pure devotees and their service, and how we can serve them. Please accept my fallen obeisances. The following verses and purports are taken from Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's translation of Caitanya Caritamrita. May we all be able to reflect upon these words of Krsna das Kaviraj, and of Srila Prabhupada in his purports: Adi lila chapter 9.6-12 I take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who Himself is the tree of transcendental love of Krsna, its gardener and also the bestower and enjoyer of its fruits. Lord Caitanya thought: "My name is visvambhara, 'one who maintains the entire universe.' Its meaning will be actualized if I can fill the whole universe with love of Godhead." Thinking in this way, He accepted the duty of a planter and began to grow a garden in Navadvipa. Thus the Lord brought the desire tree of devotional service to this earth and became its gardener. He sowed the seed and sprinkled upon it the water of His will. All glories to Sri Madhavendra Puri, the storehouse of all devotional service unto Krsna! He is a desire tree of devotional service, and it is in him that the seed of devotional service first fructified. The seed of devotional service next fructified in the form of Isvara Puri, and then the gardener Himself, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, became the main trunk of the tree of devotional service. By His inconceivable powers, the Lord became the gardener, the trunk and the branches simultaneously. Adi lila 9.17,18 From the trunk grew many branches and above them innumerable others. Thus the branches of the Caitanya tree fromed a cluster or society, with great branches covering all the universe. Purport (vs 18): Our International Society for Krishna Consciousness is ONE of the branches of the Caitanya tree. (My emphasis added.) Adi lila 9.19-36 From each branch grew many hundreds of sub-branches. Please hear the description of the Caitanya tree. At the top of the tree the trunk branched into two. One trunk was named Sri Advaita Prabhu and the other Sri Nityananda Prabhu. From these two trunks grew many branches and sub-branches that covered the entire world. These branches and sub-branches and their sub-branches became so numerous that no one can actually write about them. Thus the disciples and the grand-disciples and their admirers spread throughout the entire world, and it is not possible to enumerate them all. As a big fig tree bears fruits all over its body, each part of the tree of devotional service bore fruit. Since Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the original trunk, the taste of the fruits that grew on the branches and sub-branches surpassed the taste of nectar. The fruits ripened and became sweet and nectarean. The gardener, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, distributed them without asking any price. All the wealth in the three worlds cannot equal the value of one such nectarean fruit of devotional service. Not considering who asked for it and who did not, nor who was fit and who unfit to receive it, Caitanya Mahaprabhu distributed the fruit of devotional service. The transcendental gardener, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, distributed handful after handful of fruit in all directions, and when the poor hungry people ate the fruit, the gardener smiled with great pleasure. Lord Caitanya thus addressed the mulitfarious varieties of branches and sub-branches of the tree of devotional service: "Since the tree of devotional service is transcendental, every one of its parts can perform the action of all the others. Although a tree is supposed to be immovable, this tree nevertheless moves. All the parts of this tree are spiritually cognizant, and thus as they grow up they spread all over the world. I am the only gardener. How many places can I go? How many fruits can I pick and distribute? It would certainly be a very laborious task to pick the fruits and distribute them alone, and still I suspect that some would receive them and others would not. Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Krsna consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere." Adi lila 10.160 From each branch of the tree have grown hundreds and thousands of sub-branches of disciples and grand-disciples. Purport: It was the desire of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu that His cult be spread all over the world. Therefore there is a great necessity for many, many disciples of the branches of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's disciplic succession. (Please note in Srila Prabhupada's words, "many disciples of the branchES - NOT ONE branch, but MANY branches. Ie. NONsectarianism, not JUST ISKCON. At the same time, there MUST be PROPER discrimination. We do not accept sahajiyaism, false Vaisnavism, etc. Adi lila 10.161,162 Every branch and sub-branch of the tree is full of innumerable fruits and flowers. They inundate the world with the waters of love of Krsna. Each and every branch of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's devotees has unlimited spiritual power and glory. Even if one had thousands of mouths, it would be impossible to describe the limits of their activities. (Please see Srila Prabhupada's purport in SB 4.28.31) Adi lila 12.1 The followers of Sri Advaita were of two kinds. Some were real followers, and the others were false. Rejecting the false followers, I offer my respectful obeisances to the real followers of Sri Advaita Acarya whose life and soul were Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Adi lila 12.5-8 Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also the gardener, and as He poured the water of His mercy on the tree, all the branches and sub-branches grew, day after day. The fruits of love of Godhead that grew on those branches of the Caitanya tree were so large that they flooded the entire world with love of Krsna. As the trunk and branches were watered, the branches and sub-branches spread lavishly, and the tree grew full with fruits and flowers. At first all the followers of Advaita Acarya shared a single opinion. But later they followed two different opinions, as ordained by providence. Purport (vs 8): The words daivera karana indicate that by dint of providence, or by God's will, the followers of Advaita Acarya divided into two parties. Such disagreement among the disciples of one acarya is also found among the members of the Gaudiya Matha. (My note: We can also see this within ISKCON.) In the beginning, during the presence of Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara-sata Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada, all the disciples worked in agreement; but just after his disappearance, they disagreed. One party strictly followed in the instructions of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, but another group created their own concoction about executing his desires. (My note: Is there a similarity in ISKCON? Could this be a reason why there are so many problems within the institution?) Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively. He did not instruct a particular man to become the next acarya. But just after his passing, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of acarya, and they split in two factions over who the next acarya would be. Consequently, both factions were asara, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. (My note: Does ANY of this sound somewhat familiar. Same problem but with some little change in details? THINK about it. "But after his passing his leading secretaries made plans without authority." Sounds pretty familiar huh?) Therefore, we do not belong to any faction. But because the two parties, busy dividing the material assets of the Gaudiya matha institution, stopped the preaching work, we took up the mission of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Bhaktivinoda Thakur to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world, under the protection of all the predecessor acaryas, and we find that our humble attempt has been successful...According to this instruction of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur, it is the duty of a disciple to follow strictly the orders of his spiritual master. The secret of success in advancement in spiritual life is the firm faith of the disciple in the orders of his spiritual master. (My note: we should ALL read this last sentence over, over, over, over and over again.) Adi lila 12.9 Some of the disciples strictly accepted the orders of the acarya, and others deviated, independently concocting their own opinions under the spell of daivi maya. Purport: This verse describes the beginning of a schism. when disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas. (My note, same as above: We should ALL read this OVER, OVER AND OVER AGAIN. "Any opinion different form the opinion of the spiritual master is useless..... There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas.") Adi lila 12.10 The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life. Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless. (My note: I probably should have capitalized this verse. We ALL MUST read, read, read and reread it.) Adi 12.67-69 After the disappearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, some of the branches, for unfortunate reasons, deviated from His path. Some branches did not accept the original trunk that vitalized and maintained the entire tree. When they thus became ungrateful, the original trunk was angry at them. Thus, Lord Caitanya did not sprinkle upon them the water of His mercy, and they gradually withered and died. This seems to be applicable of ISKCON of today. UNLESS the ISKCON leaders start to bring ISKCON BACK ON TRACK, (the PROPER track), the ISKCON branch will wither up more, and can possibly even die. One should also take note of Srila Prabhupada's words in His Divine Grace's purport to Madhya lila 1.218: There are many jealous people in the dress of Vaisnavas in this Krsna consciousness movement, and they should be completely neglected. There is no need to serve a jealous person who is in the dress of a Vaisnava. When Narottama dasa Thakura says chadiya vaisnava seva nistara payeche keba, he is indicating an actual Vaisnava, not an envious or jealous person in the dress of a Vaisnava. Submitted for the consideration and reconsideration of the assembled Vaisnavas. I remain your servant, Mahavegavati Dasi Hare Krsna About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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