08/25/98 - 2071

Empowered by Krishna

India (VNN) - by Swami B.G. Narasingha
gosai@gosai.com
http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/

In response to my article, 'Monarchs of Mantra Diksa' I received the following letter from Premananda dasa the anti-party spokesman for the siddha-pranali section.

Premananda wrote:

"Hare Krishna and dandavats Swamiji, You are also 'monarchs of mantra-diksa', because you say that the mantras of the traditional guru-paramparas are dead, or blank mantras. Only your mantras are living, it seems! There is no difference between you and the 'anti-party' (which is a ridiculous word, because one who has realized the atma does not think that anyone is an enemy, but sees all living beings as servants of the Lord), in the sense that the Gaudiya Math became the new 'monarchs'!

The traditional lines though, give mantras that are living, while your mantras are nisphala, fruitless, spiritually, because you don't belong to a Vaishnava Sampradaya. The number of devotees and countries they come from means nothing, it doesn't prove anything about your authenticity. Therefore there is a chance of getting a 'living mantra' by receiving diksa from a Nityananda-vamsa Goswami for example; on the other hand, it's guaranteed that all the mantras received from anyone in the Gaudiya Math are fruitless (dead)."

Our reply to the above letter is as follows:

It would indeed be whole hearted foolishness to say that, "The number of devotees and countries they come from means nothing, it doesn't prove anything about your authenticity." One who makes such a statement is either envious of the preaching work of the Lord's pure devotees or has no proper knowledge of the Caitanya Caritamrta written by Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami, the authority of Caitanya-lila.

According to Kaviraja Goswami:

kali-kalera dharma - krsna-nama-sankirtana krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana

"The fundamental religious system in the age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of krsna. unless empowered by Krsna, one cannot propagate the sankirtan movement."

Our spiritual master Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in twelve short years spread the glories of chanting the holy name of Krsna across every continent of this planet. Such is not possible by any mundane means especially if one is an old man with only forty rupees in his pocket. A correct understanding of the preaching mission of Srila A.C, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is that he was indeed empowered my Krishna to spread the sankirtan movement.

Specifically it has been stated by highly realized souls and learned scholars that Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was an empowered incarnation (saktyavesa-avatara) of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. The work of manifesting the pastimes of Sri Krishna is that of Baladeva Prabhu whose potency known as yoga-maya expands the Lord's pastimes. In Caitanya-lila the sankirtan pastime (spreading the glories of the holy name of Krishna) is made possible by the direct energy of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. One who can spread the chanting of the holy name of Krishna in every town and village must surely be considered empowered by Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

The anti-party spokesman suggests that our mantras are fruitless and that we had better surrender to someone in the Nityananda-vamsa Goswami family-parampara if we are to at all be successful in this life. However, as already mentioned our mantra (Hare Krishna maha-mantra) is directly empowered by Sri Nityananda Prabhu Himself as evidenced by the successful preaching campaign of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

The fact that there are fruits to our mantras (maha-mantra, gayatri-mantra, and sannyasa-mantra) is also evidenced by the fact that our Guru Maharaja and his disciples tirelessly preach the glories of the holy name of Krishna to deliver the conditioned souls from the path of material illusion and to establish them in a life of divine love of Krishna. Such endeavors are not possible for anyone who is selfishly motivated. Only those who are themselves tasting the fruits of love of God can tirelessly distribute those fruits to others. It is also a fact that only the pure hearted devotees of the Supreme Lord themselves feel unhappiness by seeing the suffering of other living entities and it is out of that compassion that they preach the glories of the holy name of Krishna.

krpambudhir yah para-duhkha-duhkhi

"The Vaishnava is an ocean of mercy to the fallen, conditioned souls: indeed he is so compassionate that, although for himself he knows no unhappiness, he feels unhappiness on account of their suffering." (Vilapa-kusumanjali #6)

This verse which describes the compassion of the Vaishnava on the suffering conditioned souls appears in the book Vilapa-kusumanjali by Raghunatha dasa Goswami. Vilapa-kusumanjali is perhaps one of the greatest books of divine love poetry ever written. In that book the prayojana-tattva is clearly revealed - shelter at the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani is the summon bonum of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In that treatise the nature of a Vaishnava as para-duhkha-duhkhi is mentioned. Therefore it is concluded that this para-duhka-duhkhi is the nature of those Vaishnavas who have attained the highest level of Krishna-prema, the ultimate fruit - the eternal divine service of Srimati Radharani. It was this para-dhukha-duhkhi, compassion for all living entities compelled by attainment of the fruit of love of Radha and Krishna, that filled the heart of our divine master Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and enabled him to preach Krishna consciousness throughout the world.

It is quite clear that the anti-party spokesman has no appreciation for the value of preaching and spreading the glories of the holy name of Krishna. Possibly this is because he has never tried to preach the glories of the holy name of Krishna except to criticize the Lord's pure devotees and the success of the sankirtan movement.

It appears that Mr. Premananda is very hung up on his own conception of parampara to the extent that whatever we say or whatever evidence we present will not satisfy him. As it is said, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

Whatever criticisms Mr. Premananda has made against our parampara in his letter given above have already been dealt with in five articles previously posted here on VNN. These articles are now being edited for publication in a book along with twelve other articles (seventeen total) under the title, The Authorized Sri Caitanya Saraswat Parampara." Our readers are requested to make a careful study of this book when it is released with a view to establish the principles of pure devotional service throughout the world and to crush the numerous anti-party misconceptions which if allowed to prosper will eventually spoil the sankirtan movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Indeed that would be an intolerable loss for the whole of humanity.