William Mathew: The following is a excerpt from Sripad Aindra Prabhu’s offering to Srila Prabhupada on his Vyasa Puja in 1997.
Now if I am not feeling enthused in Krishna consciousness then maybe I should come and join such and such party on the other side of town. So, I had to say to him is there any reason why I shouldn’t feel enthused in Krishna consciousness?
Krishna is always accessible, my Guru is always accessible, the instructions of my spiritual master is always accessible. Krishna is all attractive, Krishna’s svarupa sakti is also all attractive and as sakti avesh, my guru is also all attractive. His instructions are all attractive. There is no reason why I shouldn’t have everything at my disposal to be attracted to the lotus feet of Krishna.
This ISKCON movement is complete. We should never neglect this point. We should never misunderstand under some illusion and bewilderment that we don’t have all the facilities for complete perfection at the feet of Srila Prabhupada in this ISKCON movement.
(Crying in a choked voice) This ISKCON movement is complete because everything is here, because if you want it, if you want to have complete perfection you can have it because Srila Prabhupada is dying to give us that thing. He wants to give us that but he wants to see who is receptive. Who wants to get that thing? Who wants to have an eternal relationship with Krishna? or who wants to be satisfied with labha, puja, prathistha and various other grosser manifestation of material consciousness in the name of Krishna consciousness?
You can have all perfection. There is no doubt. Srila Prabhupada will give you all perfection. From him everything is coming, it is not limited to the words written on a book. It is a hearts affair between a sincere disciple and spiritual master. When the spiritual master is satisfied with service attitude of the disciple, never mind what service, he may be the smallest pot washer, he may be the biggest guru or GBC man, these are all menial services at the feet of our spiritual master. There is no high or low service on the absolute platform. They all are menial services. When he is thinking that we have actually taken the menial service attitude, then he understands that we have actually come to the realization of Krishnera Nitya Dasa. Then he reveals more… He becomes satisfied and by the satisfaction of the spiritual master from heart to heart, he reveals everything to you. There is no doubt.
It is quite possible. It is a question of the desire. By desire we come into this material world and by desire we get out of the material world. If you have a pinch of desire for material gratifications, however subtle it may be, Krishna is so kind, Srila Prabhupada said, that he will give an another chance to fulfill that material desire by awarding you another material body to pursue that paltry sense gratification.
Krishna says that you value this pinch of material desire so much that you can’t give it up for someone as beautiful and wonderful as me? Srila Prabhupada is saying practically the same thing, you can surrender this pinch of material desire to have an eternal relationship with me in the association of Krishna and his nitya parikars? You want that pinch of material desire so badly? He says ok, so you can have it, I am not so cheap that I give myself so easily….
The point is in the ultimate issue everyone has to fly his own plane. That doesn’t mean we don’t take advantage while we are on the ground of the association of our god-brothers, we don’t siksa, we don’t take good advice to help us to gather strength and to get direction in our cultivation of Krishna consciousness. But at the time of death when we are flying in formations no other plane can help you. You have to know how to fly your plane. It’s not enough that we pass the buck of the responsibility to the rest of
the society that the society will save us.
But individually we all have to become Krishna conscious. Individually we all have to take responsibility and individually we all have to be prepared for revolution. We have to be prepared to change.
So my only request is that my basic underlying gist of all this, please forgive me if I have taken too much time or which appears to be against the siddhant of our predecessors acharyas, but my only request is that it may be that we act individually but to individually do it together we require good association. It’s not enough to blame others for being bad association. Anyone can do that, blaming others for being bad association. Prabhupada has told that we can’t blame anyone except ourselves for our lack of advancement in Krishna consciousness. There is no excuse for not being advanced in Krishna consciousness. It is our duty to be advanced association for the benefit of others. So atleast, we should try for it to our utmost for the satisfaction of Srila Prabhupada.