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EDITORIAL September 4, 1999 VNN4653 Related VNN Stories ...Also Part Of The Krishna Consciousness Movement... BY DEVARSIRAT DAS EDITORIAL, Sep 4 (VNN) — "I see that you, and many others, who are not directly connected with the present formal institution of Iskcon, are also part of the Krishna consciousness movement..." AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Dear Prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and I just read that the GBC resolution which says in print, that Srila Narayana Maharaja is a sahajiya. I left Iskcon over two years ago because of other offenses committed to this great vaisnava . I refused to hear devotees speaking about Srila Narayan Maharaj a in a bad way. I was not interested in having anything to do with such behavior. Until some days ago I did not even know about the aforementioned GBC resolution. I deeply regret this statement about His divine Grace Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja. If it was true I would not go to Him, I could never commit such an offense to Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet. The ones who are propagating this incredible nonsense have stabbed Srila Prabhupada into His heart by making this offense to Srila Narayana Maharaja and similar types of offenses to the God Brothers of Srila Prabhupada like Srila Sridhar Maharaja . Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja had thousands of disciples, when Srila Prabhupada said His God Brothers could harm the movement, He certainly was not speaking about all of His God Brothers, just very few. The real harm and danger comes from within the movement itself, the cancer is the mentality of carelessly committed offenses by numerous devotees, the attitude of superiority to other vaisnavas and the artificially implanted idea, that only the institutionalized Iskcon Guru has the power to deliver the fallen souls Without mentioning any names, I will describe something pitiful that happened a few days ago to me. I was contacted by an Iskcon Nama Hatta member, who happened to be also a friend of ours for some years. She inquired how my family and I was and I told her about Srila Narayana Maharaja and how positively He has influenced our devotional life for the past two years. She also was inquiring why we never came to the Nama Hatta program and was very surprised when she found out that we did not even know about the program which is only a few miles from where we live. A year before I invited her to come to see Srila Narayana Maharaja in Wales, but she was not able to come that time. Being non sectarian and open minded she was happy to hear, that we are doing well spiritually and agreed for me to send her some information about Srila Narayana Maharaja and a lecture in print. She then mentioned at the next Iskcon Nama Hatta program that she spoke to me and that we are sending her some information about Srila Narayana Maharaja. The next thing I know, is that I get a telephone call from the Nama Hatta leader, asking me to stay away from their members. Remember that I was contacted first and that the person in question is a personal friend of my family. I am also not in the habit of trying to solicit devotees away from Iskcon, but when I am contacted, I reserve the right to speak freely about anything I like, including who my siksa guru is and why. After all I am almost 50 years old and have being trying to be a Vaisnava for almost 24 years, am I still supposed to be subjected to mind control and silly orders? The caller "forbade" me from the very start, to continue sending out material from Srila Narayana Maharaja which he called bogus junk mail and called me a dissident who has given up Srila Prabhupada now being unconnected to Lord Krishna because I was not with Iskcon anymore. He further told me "that information and teachings from Narayana Maharaja go straight in the bin" He told me: "We are just trying to do our service. We are simple devotees who are trying to protect our Nama Hatta members from going to Narayana Maharaja so they won't ruin their spiritual life." I suppose that some unfortunate souls will praise such offensive behavior. He also criticised Srila Narayana Maharaja for giving harinam to a friend of mine. This devotee was following strictly at the time of his initiation and due to an unsolved drinking problem has great difficulties at present to follow properly. In his heart however he suffers greatly because of his misfortune and tries everything he can, to get out of his dilemma and to come back. Many devotees who have received harinam or diksa and even sannyasa from Srila Prabhupada are gone today or known to have engaged in the most despicable activities after their initiations. To criticize Srila Narayana Maharaja for giving harinam to a seemingly unqualified person, are they not criticizing Srila Prabhupada in the same time? During the conversation we also spoke about guru tattva in which the caller showed his complete ignorance of the subject. His view was that the Guru can fall down at any time and that such a kanistha adhikari guru can give diksa. When I said that one should understand that such a fallen Guru was not a real spiritual master in the first place and that is impossible to have faith in someone who can fall down at any given moment he could not understand and disagreed. Such faith can only be very superficial and how can it develop properly, if it is possible at any moment, that the so called Guru has shot off with some disciples wife or something else like this. Do I want to put my faith into such a person? NO. Do I want to stay a kanistha adhikari for ever ? NO. How can a guru who can not even give sraddha (kanistha adhikaries are known to have week faith) and who also then falls down, help someone to attain pure love for Krishna ?? This will not happen under a kanistha adhikari. I do not speak about any person in particular, this should be simple general knowledge. In reality and according to proper vaisnava etiquette we bring new devotees to our spiritual master and when there is a lesser qualified guru like a madhyam adhikari guru, he should lead his followers to the lotus feet of an Uttama devotee if there is one present, this should be clear to all. This is not dependent on that the higher guru belongs to the same institution or not, if he is a Vaisnava Maha Bhagavad Spiritual master, all should run like hell to get a place right at the front of His lotus feet and learn. If we can not do that and close our minds and hearts to the real progress, and allow others to deny us the access to it, we might as well have joined the Jehovas Witnesses, why do we want to be devotees ? When I said that Srila Rupa Goswami advises that we should take a spiritual Master from the highest position, from the uttama stage, he did not want to know, as if I was a dangerous person trying to ruin his spiritual life. I represented Srila Prabhupada's teachings and he closed his ears. This is clearly stated in the fifth sloka purport of Nectar of instruction: "In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami advises the devotee to be intelligent enough to distinguish between the kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari. The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has given some practical hints to the effect that an uttama-adhikari Vaisnava can be recognized by his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaisnavism. One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari. A neophyte Vaisnava or a Vaisnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal of life under his insufficient guidance. Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master. (Nectar of Instruction p. 58) This devotee has been in Iskcon for many years and is actually a very nice personality. One wonders how it is possible that he still does not understand guru tattva properly. I then realized that it was not him who is unintelligent, but that he is a victim of the incorrect understanding and teachings coming down from the Iskcon GBC, which he is listening to. They are teaching that a genuine guru can fall down. Such misconceptions prevent, it seems, the natural progress in spiritual life that a sincere devotee should be able to experience. Do I have to get out the many quotes Srila Prabhupada made about the real spiritual master, real guru tattva, association with superior Vaisnava and pure devotees? If Iskcon is Srila Prabhupada' body and I can see that His body is being made ill, don't I have to go and consult a proper doctor to get the right medicine if I want to be a good son? The medicine is not available in the house and the illness is spreading. The problem is that upon coming back from the expert physician you are prevented from giving the proper medicine, you must not say the name of it, or indeed apply it, no. Why? Vaisnava Aparadha is ruining Srila Prabhupada's Iskcon. The spreading of hate and misinformation about a pure devotee who happens not to be a member of Iskcon is the death knell of this institution. I was told by this Nama Hatta leader, that Iskcon is Srila Prabhupada's body and I have left Iskcon and therefore I have left Srila Prabhupada. Here is my answer to all of you who promote the mis-understanding, that the Srila Prabhupada disciples who take siksa from Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja are unconnected and bogus. Vani is more important then vapuh. You may hold on to the body, the marble, the money, everything, but I chose to I concentrate on His Divine Graces Vani and try to get a real understanding of His teachings, his essence. There is not one day when I do not think about Srila Prabhupada's teachings and read His books. I pray to Him and worship Him, I love Him and cannot be without Him, for me He is and was the greatest personality who ever walked this planet and more. But to be all that, I do not have to be in the Iskcon institution. Every single body that grows and is alive has a spiritual soul within, everywhere in the universe. My next door neighbor, the fishes in the ocean, the birds the beasts, everything, all are Jivas, who are on different levels, all go back at one point in time. To understand this fact is to actually be a member of Iskcon. Srila Prabhupada never said only from within Iskcon, or only my disciples, or only the institution Iskcon is bona fide, or that none of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura's disciples are bona fide, or that only His disciples are. Vaco vegam manasah krodha-vegam jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam etan vegan yo visaheta dhirah sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat TRANSLATION "A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world. (Nectar of Instruction Verse 1) This was written by Srila Rupa Goswami in his Sri Upadesamrta and translated by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. We all know that Srila Rupa Goswami did not write that this sloka applies to an institution by the name Iskcon. In fact there is no statement at all anywhere, that one is only connected to Krishna when one follows Iskcon, or that only Iskcon followers can go back home to God Head. In fact one Iskcon guru has written to another god brother of mine "Krishna has descended in the form of the Krishna consciousness movement. This is quite natural, for without the Krishna consciousness movement the world cannot be peaceful and happy." SB.10-1-17 Throughout the Tenth Canto, Srila Prabhupada's last purports, you will find many references where Srila Prabhupada is explaining that the "Hare Krishna movement" and the "Krishna consciousness movement" is an incarnation of Krishna. Granted that Srila Prabhupada uses the term "Krishna consciousness movement", or the "Hare Krishna movement", he does not say "Iskcon", or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. . . . "..I see that you, and many others, who are not directly connected with the present formal institution of Iskcon, are also part of the Krishna consciousness movement ! " I might also add that Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj is reported to have said that the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, means wherever you find devotees who are conscious of Krishna. Where is Iskcon taking the mentality from, to blaspheme pure vaisnavas openly and even let their followers do the same? Maybe it is Iskcon who is not connected to Krishna by dint of their countless offenses to pure Vaisnavas ( not all Iskcon devotees of course ). I certainly want to be where I can purchase pure love for Krishna, even if it means that I had to leave the opulence, the comfort and the big temples behind. Krishna resides where the pure devotees sing His glories without offenses. Srila Prabhupada teaches us to be there and let our hearts reside at such a place. My duty is to Seek out such pure devotees and take to their service and association. I will and can Not stay where such great personalities are blasphemed. I am in the greater society called "the Krishna Consciousness Movement." There is an institution called Iskcon and there is the greater society of all the Vaisnavas of this world. We are all Brothers and sisters advanced or not so advanced. We are all following the same teachings, the same Lord Caitanya, the same Krishna, the same Srimati Radharani , the same Bhagavatam. The same Srila Prabhupada, and I am a simple devotee between millions of other devotees, which are present all over the universe. The difference is, that the Iskcon institution devotees preach that Krishna and Srila Prabhupada are only in Iskcon, that they alone have the exclusive privilege of devotional service to the Supreme Lord . Their policy is, that pure devotees who are very dear to the Lord, like Srila Narayana Maharaja, cannot preach the philosophy of bhagavata dharma within the walls of any Iskcon center. The reality is, that the Lord is where His pure devotees chant His Holy name in love and devotion and wherever this place is that's where one should go and make advancement. It is also true, that all places where a pure devotee is blasphemed and character assassinated, should be avoided at all cost, as a general guideline. This mentality to run as quick and far as possible to avoid such places and persons, even if they appear as white as sheep when they speak, can protect one from the greatest danger. I am absolutely sure that Srila Prabhupada totally agrees with this. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written a collection of four essays about Srila Rupa Goswami's Bhakti-rasamrta sindhu called The Bhakti-tattva-viveka. He says that the association of those in the mixed conception of bhakti is more dangerous than the association of the gross materialists. "Unfortunately, in present day society in the name of suddha--bhakti various types of mixed devotion such as karma-misra (mixed with fruitive knowledge), jnana-misra (mixed with speculative knowledge) and yoga misra (mixed with various types of yoga processes) as well as various polluted and imaginary conceptions are spreading everywhere like germs of plague. People in general consider these polluted and mixed conceptions to be bhakti, respect them as such, and thus remain deprived of suddha-bhakti. These polluted and mixed concepts are our greatest enemies . Some people say that there is no value in bhakti, that God is an imaginary sentiment only, that man has merely created the image of a God in his imagination, and that bhakti is just a diseased state of consciousness which cannot benefit us in any way. These type of people, though opposed to bhakti, cannot do much harm to us because we can easily recognize them and avoid them. But those who propagate that bhagavad-bhakti is the highest dharma yet behave against the principles of suddha-bhakti can be especially harmful to us. In the name of bhakti they instruct us against the actual principles of bhakti and ultimately lead us onto a path which is totally opposed to bhagavad-bhakti . Therefore, with great endeavor our previous acaryas have defined the svarupa or intrinsic nature of bhakti and have repeatedly cautioned us to keep ourselves away form polluted and mixed concepts. We shall deliberate on their instructions in sequence. They have compiled numerous literatures to establish the svarupa of bhakti, and amongst them Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu is the most beneficial. In defining the general characteristics of suddha-bhakti, Srila Rupa Goswami has written there (verse 1.1.11): anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam anakulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir utthama "The cultivation of activities which are meant exclusively for the pleasure of Sri Krsna, or in other words the uninterrupted flow of service to Sri Krsna performed through all endeavors of the body, mind and speech and through the expression of various spiritual sentiments (bhava), which is not covered by jnana (knowledge aimed at impersonal liberation) and karma (reward-seeking activity), and which is devoid of all desires other than the aspiration to bring happiness to Sri Krsna, is called uttama-bhakti, pure devotional service." (Bhakti-tattva--viveka p. 2-4) So chose your association carefully, and seek out devotees who want to imbibe the principles of this sloka from Srila Rupa Goswami in their lives and instruct it to others. Your servant, Devarsirat das adhikari Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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