Jagabandhu das: I see dead people. And dying people. Suffering and sad people. Everywhere. Others are disposed to pre-occupy the mind with considerations of ecclesiastical authority and who shall wield such absolute might. And who will yield to It. Meanwhile, countless suffering souls meet with unfortunate ends without having the Fortunate Confluence of Mahaprabhu’s Munificent Influence and Supremely Auspicious Association with the Holy Sound Vibration of Sri Hari.
May we be reminded that Srila Saraswati Thakur declared that the only thing lacking in the world was Hari-katha or real Krishna Consciousness.
Mahaprabhu tells us that we must wake up! And then wake others up! Serve the High Souls and then I will develop a real taste for Harinam. I will then become consumed by helping other jivas by assisting to give them this same taste for Sri Nam Prabhu. This is real Krishna Consciousness. And Its for all souls. Not just some fortunate few (who grow fewer by the day.)
Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur sings that the Holy Name is not just for a certain class of people, but rather for all people, for all time. There is nothing else. If I don’t subscribe to this particular conviction, my actual inner progress will be slow and uncertain.
May we consider Srila Saraswati Thakur’s admonitions about over-reliance on administrative and institutional legislative solutions in the apparently feeble ongoing attempts to govern, check or control the Divine Flow of Mahaprabhu’s Mission of Mercy.
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada perfectly instructs all souls for all time that it is not a question of my guru, or your guru or anyone else’s guru. Sri Guru is not a sectarian consideration but rather one of universal application. Rather, there is only one guru, manifest in an infinity of forms for the intrinsic eternal benefit of all jivas. Sri Guru is not constrained by anything but the Divine Will. And by the Supreme Lord’s Grace, Sri Guru may become manifest to any soul, anywhere, anytime.
From the Scriptures we can know that based on real inner hankering for actual deeper meaning and the subsequent genuinely inquisitive spirit of the jiva, God provides the facility of a real teacher, Sri Guru. Asking progressively pertinent questions of Sri Guru is a rare moment for the subjective evolution of the jiva’s consciousness. Really listening to the answers is rarer still.
At first, we were seekers of Truth. And so by God’s Grace, we met Sri Guru. May we again become such earnest seekers and Sri Guru will again manifest, by God’s Grace.
No doubt, Sri Guru had disagreements with his spiritual siblings. May we remember that he emphasized that it was only over varying methods of mixing and spreading Krishna Consciousness. He perfectly demonstrated as the Perfect Teacher for all souls for all time, that rather than wasting time arguing the various points of ecclesiastical administrative authority, he felt the great need to fulfil the two-fold obligation of both serving His Divine Master and reaching out to the countless suffering souls, forgetful of their own intrinsic Divine essence. He risked everything to do so. His real followers will naturally follow suit.
From Mahabharata we can know that the only news is that all are rushing into the jaws of Death. Again and again. The real Vaishnavas by dint of real inner awakenment, are perpetually prepared to continually risk everything to create a positive revolution in the consciousness of the countless souls suffering in this dire predicament. Can you hear their screams? Or shall we merely harden our hearts in a spiritually sterile vault impervious to anything but selfish concerns, fraught with impervious disdain to the great pain of the suffering jivas?
I’m dying. You’re dying. We’re all dying. Again. At least a little. Maybe a lot. Before long, in what will seem like a blink to the soul, we’ll all be dead. Again.
What will my consciousness be at my time of reckoning (the final test for all of intrinsic value which I may have been so fortunate to really learn in this rarified human life)? Never mind who I pretended to follow so I might “fit” in (and meanwhile lull myself back to sleep with false esteem and a sense of quasi-belonging.)
Hopefully, I have not lived my life as a dharmadvaji/kali-chela, feebly attempting to hide misdeeds and improprieties behind kunti-mala and tilak. Such cheap disguises cannot fool Sri Yamaraj, who is worshiped in his ghastly form in Tibet for eating the perverters of the Dharma as his foodstuff. Mmmm! Tasty critters! And so many of them, too!
King Pariksit had seven days advance warning of his impending transmigration. Few souls are given such immediate warning of the so-called end. What if I had a mere seven seconds notice of my death? What thought or ideal would I focus my total concentration upon out of countless possibilities? Is this the thought or ideal which can really cause the most benefit to myself and other jivas?
In my outer life as a construction worker I have had much contact with many suffering souls of all races and creeds. The overwhelming majority of these jivas are unlikely to ever frequent any of the various attempts of socialized Krishna Consciousness within their sad lives. Additionally, in the hospitals which I have worked in building and remodeling, I have often worked in and around cancer wards, where the smell of hopelessness and death are thick in the air. In such dire circumstances, my heavy heart wishes that with my entire utmost being I might be allowed to loudly bellow endlessly the Holy Name of Sri Hari to my suffering brothers and sisters. Over and over again. Until there is Consciousness of nothing other than Sri Hari.
Sometimes, I have happened to be around groups of workers who barely speak English as they converse in their own native tongue. I nonchalantly chime in with the Bengali verse of Sri Vrindaban Das Thakur, Mahaprabhu’s emphatic instruction to Sri Rupa and all other jivas:
prabhu kohe jiva doya
vaishnava seva nam ruchi
I must wake up! And then wake others up! Serve the true Vaishnavas and Sri Nam Prabhu will bless me with a real taste for His Holy Name. My heart will then become consumed by compassion for the suffering of jivas and the attempt to give them this same taste.
If I had seven seconds advance notice of my death, it is These Eight Words of Mahaprabhu upon which I would focus my utmost attention before shouting Hari! Hari! Hari! Hari!….. until my final gasp escaped my withered lungs.
Sri Guru teaches everyone for all time that by hearing from the Guru without, all souls might learn to really listen to the Guru within. Unfortunately, ecclesiastical bureaucrats usually attempt to stifle such natural communion between soul and Supersoul because it may not serve the distorted protocols of the institutional hierarchy. Regardless, eventually I must simply be a soul and again become friends with the Other Bird of the tree of my ephemeral existence, Sri Ksirodakshayi Vishnu, Supersoul, the Lord of the heart, the Guru within. Then I must show other jivas how to re-awaken this same Friendship within themselves. Such Friendship is the birthright of all souls. And the hallmark of all of Mahaprabhu’s True Followers.
Mahaprabhu has ordered all His real followers for all time to become re-awakened within themselves with real Krishna Consciousness and then become a real guru and awaken the countless suffering jivas. Never mind institutionalization of ideals or ecclesiasticism of asceticism. Countless suffering jivas, many of them in human form, are facing only great sadness at death, because of a lack of Krishna Consciousness.
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada risked everything at a very advanced age, sacrificing his entire existence for the Pleasure of Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga, and also out of intense compassion for the suffering of total strangers on the opposite end of the globe. Please. All his real followers must naturally extend the same compassion. To all the countless suffering jivas blazing in the great conflagration of material existence. Can you feel the heat? Can you hear their screams?