By G. S. Senan – singapore
Dear Readers
You will find the following article in HG Madhavananda dasa’s ‘Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu’ No 211 dated 30 Sep 2009. He has generously allowed us to share it with everyone. It is a timely article for all of us to mull over very seriously with deep introspection. Why is there so much of endless discord amongst us who have somehow, by Srila Prabhupada’s universally flowing mercy, come into this Krsna-Consciousness movement? Is it only to go on and on fighting, bickering and quarrelling amongst ourselves as we have been doing remorselessly for the past 32 years since the holy disappearance of our jagadguru Srila Prabhupada? Why is this growing discord showing no signs of abating?
The trouble is: everyone thinks “I’m a Devotee,” or “I’m a Vaisnava.” Worse: they think “I’m a Senior Devotee” “I’m a GBC” “I’m a power-wielding Temple President” “I’m a Rtvik” “I’m anti-Rtvik” “I’m Isvara (Controller) of MY (not Krsna’s) domain, real and virtual” “I’m THIS” “I’m THAT”, ad infinitum, ad nauseam! ALAS! ‘Me & Mine’ is all that seems to matter…and if this sordid fact is pointed out, all hell is let loose!! I’ll nevertheless take the risk…for Prabhupada’s sake, and for the sake of the speaker who talks the talk that prods at the core of our ills.
The fact that the speaker of the following excerpt of his fuller class-speech, His Divine Grace Srila Gour Govinda Swami Mahasaya, is no longer with us, and the fact that his speech is ‘dated’ (>15 years old), do not diminish the significance and its great relevance to our self-destructive egoistic nature in the grip of Kali, always fighting and quarrelling with the goal of winning and domineering….goals far removed from the real goal of obtaining Krsna-Prema.
Let’s all just shed our mantle of superiority and humbly listen attentively to the Mahajana’s short lecture which will, hopefully, help us to understand we are NOT devotees….we are NOT Vaisnavas…. But that we are fortunate to have the RAREST OPPORTUNITY, an opportunity not easily available in kaliyuga, offered by Srila Prabhupada to TRY to become devotees one fine day, no matter how many countless lives it may take. Let’s therefore not MISUSE such a rare opportunity with useless INCESSANT QUARRELS. BETTER TO CHANT INCESSANTLY INSTEAD OF COUNTING “16” AND THEN READILY QUARRELLING AFTER THE “16” ARE DONE! HARIBOL!!
Dear Senan,
Srila Prabhupada in a class has said that if there is one thing we should remember from this movement is this: isavasyam idam sarvam.
Everyone knows the translation of this isavasyam idam sarvam. Is it too simple? Can anyone afford forgetting it without bearing the consequences?
This verse from the Sri Isopanishad is the very basis of devotional service. It is the beginning, the middle and the end of devotional service. In the true spirit of isavasyam, there is none of the above-mentioned interferences. Krishna is the Supreme enjoyer and everyone else should be serving Him in a humble attitude, accepting everybody else as a superior devotee. Even Srimati Radharani has this mood. So what to speak of us! We have to practice, practice, practice and pray for true humility. We have to stick to Srila Prabhupada’s order that our love for him will be demonstrated by how much we cooperate with each other after his departure from this world. One may ask: cooperate with what? With the sankirtan mission of Lord Caitanya. Is there not enough to be done? Everyone has a role to play in this great mission. No one should be rejected for his or her faults. Everyone should be welcomed as Srila Prabhupada has shown us while he was amongst us. We have to be mahatmas, open minded spiritualists who take to heart the welfare of society at large and it is our duty to Srila Prabhupada to act for this purpose, each and every of us according to our respective ability. Let us not deviate from this very course of action. If need be, let us study again the Sri Isopanishad to get back on track. Sri Isopanisad is much more powerful than many may think. Hare Krishna.
We have to be carefull with this concption there is no one that is a vaisanva this can lead to serious vaisnava aparadha.Lord Caitanya taught us to see ourself as eternal servants of Krsna, and the servant of His servants
naham vipro na ca nara-patir napi vaisyo na sudro
naham varni na ca grha-patir no vanastho yatir va
kintu prodyan nikhila-paramananda-purnamrtabdher
gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah
(Padyavali, 74):
[“I am not a brahmana (priest or Vedic scholar), ksatriya (warrior or administrator), vaisya (agriculturalist or businessman), or sudra (worker), nor a brahmacari (celibate student), grhastha (householder), vanaprastha (renounced householder) or sannyasi (full renunciate). Being transcendental to this gross and subtle body, I am the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of the master of the gopis, Sri Krsna, who is the ultimate shelter of everyone, full of transcendental bliss and an ocean of unlimited nectar.”
In the paramahamsa stage ,uttama adhikari , the liberated jiva thinks everyone renders betters service to Krsna than I, this is not to be imitated.Nor is it possible for us conditioned souls to understand.
your servant
Payonidhi das
We must realize that sentiments of extreme humility can come over a devotee and such sentiments might be expressed, that I am patita-pavana or a non-vaisnava. That is a sentiment that does not become a constant in the hearts and minds of devotees. Rather, mac citta mad gata prana BG 10.9 describe the joy that occurs when bhaktas come together to glorify Krishna and Krishna related topics. One does not have to feel themselves miserable to be Krishna conscious. It is not a play, nor dramatic presentation of hyper-self consciousness, something like we find in the writings of Dostoyevsky “Notes from the Underground”. In that work, the self-depracating Dostoyevsky makes comments like, “any one who lives beyond 40 years of age is arrogant.” The hyper-self-conscious exercise is not Krishna consciousness. Rather, Krishna consciousness is the art of remembering Krishna’s Name, Form, Glories, and Lila. Self-forgetfulness in favor of Krishna consciousness. Knowing that Krishna is Mukunda, we do not even need to worry about our own salvation, recognizing that Krishna’s pleasure is to save the fallen souls.
There is every opportunity to partake in the joy of Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupad never said: Chant and be miserable. Rather, he said, Chant and Be Happy. What is the problem with that. There is no currency in hyper-self-awareness neurosis, constantly self-deprecating…there is a time and place for that, and it is not “constantly”! Get on with the practice of bhakti in your moment to moment life, and still allow your self to occasionally be overwhelmed realizing that Krishna’s mercy is everything.
It sounds like you have had some bitter experiences in the temples. Everyone has had some difficulty. It is human nature, and it is the Kali Yuga. But, we must not take that approach. Imagine what Srila Prabhupad tolerated to help us along, the many disappointments. But, he chose to focus on the positive outcomes of our feeble attempts at service. He delegated so much authority to his disciples to preach the Bhagavad Gita and Teachings of Lord Chaitanyadeva. He believed in the process of bhakti and in the guardianship of Krishna.
So, do not get caught up in the negativity and misconceptions that may be there. Embrace and internalize the
joyous opportunity to interact in Krishna consciousness.
Pusta Krishna das
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I would like to relate an instance that happened with the disciples of Sri Parasara Bhatta, an acharya in the Ramanuja sampradaya in this context. Sri Parasara was apparently done giving a discourse when a person in the audience started criticizing Sri Parasara, saying things such as you didn’t do this right, you failed to do that and such. Sri Parasara patiently listened to what the man had to say and once he was done with his diatribe, asked him to come near him and presented the man with a gold ring/ornament. Sri Parasara’s disciples were astonished at this and asked him why he was rewarding this person in this way while the disciples had been all praise for their spiritual master but had never received a gold ring from Sri Parasara. Sri Parasara replied that one should talk about his own deficiencies if he is not talking about the glories of the Lord or His pure devotees. Since the man had done Sri Parasara’s job for Sri Parasara, Sri Parasara had to compensate him.
venkatesh Ramanuja Dasa
Dainya .vaisnava humility is there, it is the very first part of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakuras, Saranagati.Srila Prabhupada has also elaborated SB 7.9.8 is an example;
Prahlāda Mahārāja prayed: How is it possible for me, who have been born in a family of asuras, to offer suitable prayers to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Even until now, all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, and all the saintly persons, could not satisfy the Lord by streams of excellent words, although such persons are very qualified, being in the mode of goodness. Then what is to be said of me? I am not at all qualified.
PURPORT
A Vaiṣṇava who is fully qualified to serve the Lord still thinks himself extremely low while offering prayers to the Lord. For example, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, says:
jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha
(Cc. Ādi 5.205)
Thus he considers himself unqualified, lower than the worms in stool, and more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi. A pure Vaiṣṇava actually thinks of himself in this way. Similarly, although Prahlāda Mahārāja was a pure, exalted Vaiṣṇava, he thought himself most unqualified to offer prayers to the Supreme Lord. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. Every pure Vaiṣṇava should think like this. One should not be falsely proud of his Vaiṣṇava qualifications. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore instructed us:
tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror iva sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
[Cc. adi 17.31]
“One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.” Unless one is meek and humble, to make progress in spiritual life is very difficult.
It is not that someone failing to control his senses accuses everyone else to be like him ,this is not vaisnava behavior.
We see in Jaiva dharma chapter 17 how the vaisnavas wants to see everyone becomes a vaisnava, the nature of the real vaisnavas is they always give credit to other vaisnavas,we also see this in Brhad Bhagavatamrta.Narada Muni is the one who is the most eager to glorify so many vaisnavas..
The article posted by G.S. Senan refers to a class by HH Gaura Govinda Maharaja and an article by HG Madhavananda Prabhu published in Sri Krishna Kathamrta Bindu, but I was unable to find the class or article. I guess I can try to find that issue of KKB on the internet.
The thrust of Mr. Senan’s remarks seem mainly directed at the problem of quarrels, dissension and even serious conflicts and rifts appearing among Prabhupada’s followers after his departure. If devotees interacted among themselves with true Vaisnava humility we would not expect these types of quarrels to arise.
There may be differences of opinion, even amongst pure devotees, but they are not characterized by the kind of bitter, acerbic rhetoric and even personal enmity and hatred we sometimes find among quarreling camps of devotees.
Of course, most of us are not really pure devotees. We are not free of anarthas like lust and greed. I know I’m not. When I chant japa my mind often still wanders and prompts me to do something else. I cannot pretend to be, like Rupa Goswami, wishing I had thousands of tongues to chant with and ears to hear with. I still have too much envy of Krishna, too much jaundice of ignorance, to truly relish tasting His holy names (although even I have some momentary glimpses or hints of the unlimited nectar that can be found there).
Such realistic appraisal of ourselves is different from the ecstatic expressions of humility heard from great paramahamsas like Krishnadas Kaviraja. A truly advanced Vaisnava is really very exalted.
I loved what Caru Prabhu said at the D.C. diversity in preaching conference, about how we should not preach from a platform of artificial superiority. He said (paraphrasing) “Because of who he was, Prabhupada told us we were pure devotees, and because of who we were, we believed him.”
It is exciting to realize we have come into direct contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this Movement, and His direct representative Srila Prabhupada. But sometimes we let it go to our head and we think “Now I am qualified to lead everyone.” We do not readily enough recognize the good devotional qualities in others, and we too readily overlook our own real shortcomings.
The quarrels between devotees, being symptoms of Kali yuga, could be destroyed, or at least dampened, if everyone would strictly follow 4 regs and 16 rounds. Kali yuga fever is destroyed by that medicine.
I do see signs that the quarrels are abating, however.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has a famous song:
(1)
kṛpā koro vaiṣṇava ṭhākura, sambandha jāniyā
bhajite bhajite, abhimāna hau dūra
(2)
‘āmi to vaiṣṇava’, e buddhi hoile, amānī nā ho’bo āmi
pratiṣthāśā āsi’, hṛdoya dūṣibe, hoibo niraya-gāmī
(3)
tomāra kińkora, āpane jānibo, ‘guru’-abhimāna tyaji’
tomāra ucchiṣṭha, pada-jala-reṇu, sadā niṣkapaṭe bhaji
(4)
‘nije śreṣṭha’ jani, ucchiṣṭthādi dāne, ho’be abhimāna bhāra
tāi śiṣya taba, thākiyā sarvadā, nā loibo pūjā kā’r
(5)
amānī mānada, hoile kīrtane, adhikāra dibe tumi
tomāra caraṇe, niṣkapaṭe āmi, kāńdiyā luṭibo bhūmi
TRANSLATION
1) O Vaisnava Thakura! Please give me your mercy – knowledge of my relationship with Bhagavan and the ability to do bhajana, sending my false ego far away.
2) If I think “I am a Vaisnava,” then I will never become humble. My heart will become contaminated with the hope of receiving honor from others, and I will surely go to hell.
3) Give me the mercy that I can renounce the false conception of my being guru and can be your servant. Let me accept without duplicity your remnants and your foot-bath water.
4) By thinking that I am superior (guru) and giving my remnants to others, I will bring about my destruction. Let me always identify as your disciple and not accept any worship or praise from others.
5) In this way I can renounce the desire for honor for myself and can offer respect to others. Weeping sincerely at your lotus feet and rolling on the ground, I pray that you will give me the ability to chant nama purely.
It is a prayer where a Guru obviously prays to his Guru not to be caught up in pride ,about having taken the postion of Guru
The mental platform is a teetering one. There is a way out of that quagmire. Everything that one does can be heartfelt as doing service on behalf of Sri Gurudeva and Sri Vaishnavas. So long the attitude of service predominates, one finds a very nice comfort zone of genuine shelter. As soon as we thing that this is mine (my knowledge, my opulences of any kind) then it is both unsatisfying and self-defeating. We are being trained to try to please Krishna & overlook our limited self-interest.
Akruranath Prabhu has, I believe, gotten to the root of this. Because of harsh dealings, hurt feelings, one may try to “hammer home” the conception of humility. It is a contradiction in itself. One cannot force humility. It comes with softening of the heart, which may be a gradual process for most of us.
Try the approach I have submitted to you. Do all as a service of Sri Guru Vaishnava. Do not be concerned with position, or acceptance or rejection of your position. That is all mentally construed. What we hope and pray for is that Sri Krishna and His countless dispensers of mercy will protect us and nourish us in the ways of transcendental devotional service. Krishna, ever present as our eternal companion, will surely witness and judge us in His own way. If we do not obtain His mercy, then nothing is worth obtaining.
Pusta Krishna das
I am still unsuccessfully looking for the Sri Krishna Kathamrta Bindu article referenced by Mr. Senan, but that e-magazine, available at www.gopaljiu.org, is full of nectar. Hats off to Madhavananda Prabhu et al. for publishing such a wonderful magazine and website.
I found one booklet on the website with many nice quotations from Srila Prabhupada and articles from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and from H.H. Gaura Govinda Maharaja, about harmony, cooperation and effective organization for “unity in diversity”. Please see:
http://www.gopaljiu.org/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&view=book&id=5:vaisnava-institutions-and-the-sweet-dealings-of-sri-chaitanya-mahaprabhu&catid=3:booklets&Itemid=69
Thanks again to Pusta Krishna Prabhu for reminding us (in #3 and elsewhere) about how Srila Prabhupada organized ISKCON with so much faith in the process of bhakti and in how Krishna would take care of this important preaching organization.
Srila Prabhupada delegated a lot of authority to young disciples, even in the very beginning when they had little experience to speak of, materially or spiritually. Nevertheless he knew that if we keep the principles strictly and avoid unnecessary quarrels and divisions, the success will be very great.
It requires, as Praghosa Prabhu pointed out recently, “organization… and intelligence.” But if we are sincere and humbly cooperate, appreciating the good qualities of our fellow bhaktas who are members of this society, Krishna will certainly supply the necessary intelligence. He wants ISKCON to be very successful, and He is giving us an opportunity to become His instruments in making the success (“nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin.”)
Certain Hindu leaders have popularized the phrase “manava seva is madhava seva” (service to man is service to Madhava), but people generally accept this as an excuse to forget about real Madhava seva according to the principles of bhakti yoga, on the plea of doing mundane welfare work (sometimes without even really doing the mundane welfare work).
On the opposite end of the spectrum, materialistic neophyte devotees try to do service to Madhava in the temple without seeing how important it is to cooperate correctly with the devotees of Madhava. Only when we perfect the art of respecting each other and working together as Vaisnavas according to the principles of NOI can we very effectively perform the para-upakara which is our duty and spiritual birthright.
Akruranath you should write Madhavananda Prabhu and get that last Bindhu magazine ,from the last ekadasi.That article is in the last ekadasi issue
pamho, If we’re trully humble and speaking from the heart, purely chanting the Maha Mantra, experiencing bliss after so many years. Not just mouthing scripture. As for my self i consider i’m less then the lowest of the low, more contaminated then the least karmi, hoping that after a few million kalpa’s i’ll achieve some Bhakti, If we really would see ourselves as Srila Prabhupad did and see others the way, equally and purely, how can there be any disagreement. Your servant Madhumangala.
Even Sri Krsna quotes sastra those who do not accept and live by sastras live in vain, this is clearly stated in Bhagavad Gita..it is called sastra ninda.We should not think ourself advanced , no real acarya ever showed such pride,my point is however we should not take the words of Gaura Govinda Maharaja and use them as a stick against others, but internalize his teachings.