By Pancaratna dasa
(Chairman IRGB)
Dear Members of the Indian Regional Governing Body (IRGB)
The following is my submission for your consideration. Please take the time to read and meditate.
Love and Trust.
Srila Prabhupada put a lot of emphasis Love and Trust.
We heard He said our movement will be built on Love and Trust.
Love: that’s for Lord Krishna and “Prabhupada”.
Trust: that’s between us, the conditioned souls.
If we are to be united then we have to trust each other. I trust you, you trust me and because of that trust we can cooperate and work together.
The material world is working under the spell of madness. What I think is wrong may be quite acceptable to someone else. We all have our own variety of insanity, we all live under the witches spell, mixed up with our material desires, our own variety of Maya.
Srila Prabhupada, sees it all as madness. He sees madness in the murderer, the cow killer, the drug addict, the doctor, the lawyer, the businessman and the housewife, it’s all Maya. He sees it all going on, to him it’s all different forms of madness, illusion.
Therefor he formed ISKCON, to address the ills of society. He gave his seven purposes. Understanding our conditioned nature, that we suffer the four defects, he wants to give unity and a place to shelter all devotees, “a house in which the whole world can live”.
But we change things, because of weakness of heart, unwittingly, unconsciously, in all sincerity we try, but we change things, on all levels. Conditioned souls do this, no one is to blame, but devotees trust has been broken. The children trusted us, the ladies trusted us, the disciples trusted us and the Guru’s trusted us. Many have had their trust broken. I was told by a retired GBC member, “If you have not survived your horror story in ISKCON, you have not yet matured”. I refuse to believe that.
Life is built on trust, it is all about relationships. Married couples trust each other they stay together. Friends trust each other, they remain friends. Business partners trust each other they remain in business. But as soon as that trust is broken, that faith is broken, the relationship is finished.
Srila Prabhupada wanted that we trust each other and work together for the good of each other and to develop Love of God. He was not concerned about organization as much as he was about the individuals, the relationships. But we talk more about the institution and corporatization and have made our zonal and international bodies elite. We have put ourselves above the others.
As soon as there is even the idea of an elite body that answers only unto itself, then the question of accountability is gone. If there is no accountability amongst conditioned souls, living their own varieties madness and who suffer the four defects, then the basis of relationship breaks down and devotees loose trust and many times leave. No matter how hard you try convincing everyone that the body is sincere, concerned about protecting Srila Prabhupada’s mission, which it may be, if it is even perceived to be elite, unaccountable, there will be no trust. And we all know it is natural for us to look for people that agree with us, but now this has become our criterion for selection into our elite bodies. This alone has created a serious lack of trust.
But if we create a system where we are accountable, if the elite body becomes the voice of the general body, then you have a recipe for trust. When devotees have trust they can give their life unconditionally, if they don’t then we cannot expect too much from them. Accountability means disclosure of assets, chanting 16 rounds and following the Temple program, but it means much more. Accountability means to give voice to the general body, recognizing others rights to decide. Let the devotees have a say, in some shape or form, in who is a member of the elite bodies.
Srila Prabhupada is not a conditioned soul and therefor he is able to move in certain ways which we cannot. Accepting our limitations as conditioned souls we must create a system of trust and unity. We need to research what Srila Prabhupada wanted, make sure we are doing the things that he did, emphasising the things that he felt important then we will be successful. At times we have gone away from Srila Prabhupada’s ideals and have suffered and in many cases we have done according to HDG and we have progressed.
Therefor the GBC body and we as Regional bodies must sit down and check ourselves, we have to give a voice and instill faith in the body of general devotees, a faith that is not there today. Srila Prabhupada created the GBC and the GBC has created Regional Governing Bodies but if we wish to unite ISKCON then we must be accountable and not just unto ourselves. Then Srila Prabhupada’s mission can accomplish what he wanted.
I pray to all members of Elite Bodies to consider these points deeply, please consider the rights of all devotees and followers of Srila Prabhuapda.
Pancaratna dasa.
Chairman IRGB
President ISKCON Jaipur branch.
“In God we trust.”
Trust begins when one trusts in God first. Bg. 18.66. Then one will be able to be properly situated. One must trust that God will protect oneself against the onslaught of the illusory energy by simply taking shelter of His devotional service. Otherwise one will be overwhelmed by the illusory energy (Bg 7.14).
Actually our true position is to take protection from the Lord, the Supreme Purusha of Whom we are only a small prakriti meant for His enjoyment through our sincere service however fragile we may be. One should not be forgetful of one’s insignificant position; unfortunately we forget repeatedly our true position as described by Lord Caitanya: trinad api sunicena… this is the position we should keep ourselves and consider ourselves. We must abide the best we can to this recommendation of Lord Caitanya. Then we will keep ourselves sheltered in the chanting of the Holy Name constantly.
It is difficult to have and inspire trust when false pride is still between us and others; it actually blurs our understanding, what to speak of our appreciation of others. Under false ego, we are bewildered, we think ourselves bigger than we really are. We are pitifully sick. We are desperately mad after what cannot be enjoyed at all because wherever we look at, everything belongs to and is solely meant for the Supreme and Only Legitimate Enjoyer, God or Krishna. We enjoy only when we are willing to accept God as the All-Pervasive Proprietor and Enjoyer. As such He fully and trustfully deserves our complete surrender in full reciprocal trust.
Humble chanting, trusting in God, helps removing our sick vision. With time, when one becomes properly situated, according to Sri Isopanisad, mantra 7: “One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?”
In spritual life, love and trust is natural amongst spiritually awakened beings who trust in God. On the material platform, trust is required because it is a matter of survival while in the great struggle for existence. Material hypocritical and self-motivated trust does not compare with eternal trust meant to be in God and His devotees.
As Srila Prabhupada has put it: this chanting of the maha-mantra is not an artificial imposition on the mind. KC is the original energy of the living entity. Everything fits perfectly in KC. Love and trust are symptoms of life in the Vaikuntha world.
Prabhava Vigraha quoted an important and relevant sloka- how it is essential to develop the vision of spiritual equality of all beings with the Lord. Pancharatna prabhu has suggested a practical exhibition of such vision, by breaking down the barriers of “us” and “them”, the elite, and the rank and file in this movement. He also mention the seven purposes of ISKCON. One is “To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna… to develop the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead. ” There are two parts to this purpose. The first one is to bring devotees together, or eliminate divisions and misunderstanding between them, and the second, to bring them nearer to the Lord. Both purposes are served by the understanding that we are all of the quality of Godhead.
Pancharatna prabhu wrote: And we all know it is natural for us to look for people that agree with us, but now this has become our criterion for selection into our elite bodies.
Understanding that we are all of the quality of Godhead makes it impossible not to show equal respect to all. If a self-realized soul sees no difference between a dog and a learned sage (!), how much more would he see no difference between a devotee who offers critical feedback, and one who just offers praise and confirmation that we are doing well? Indeed, Krsna describes a self-realized soul as regarding praise and blame equally.
Of the secondary objectives for ISKCON, Prabhupada wanted “To discharge as a matter of course the vitiated system of supremacy of one man over another by false prestige of birthright or vested interests.” He equated the caste system as not just prestige of birth, but prestige of vested interest. To avoid it, we need to act on behalf each other’s interest, and that is varnashrama. In VA, the ksatriya regards all people exactly as he does his family members. That is his equal vision. In the story of Arjuna retrieving the brahmana’s sons, it is described that the ksatriya felt completely responsble for even mental suffering in his subjects, and would go to all lengths to alleviate it.
This is the basis of love and trust- that we are prepared to put others interests before our own. It is a tall order- therefore we need VA so that those who are the most selfless and caring become our ksatriyas, and those who are the most wise and realized, detached from position, become our brahmans.
Idealism is desirable. Realism is also necessary. I opened temples in the US, Africa, Europe and even India from 1970-1976. Since that time, I attended the University of California as a student in Sanskrit, Hindi, and Indian History, the UCSF School of Medicine, the USC orthopedic surgery residency, the Hospital for Special Surgery fellowship in arthritis surgery, and practiced in the Kaiser system for 10 years in northern California, and for the last 10 years have been in private practice in San Jose, California. I have not encountered an instance in all of my experiences, either in ISKCON or outside of ISKCON where politics and envy did not exist. This is human nature.
Now, how do we understand Srila Prabhupad, Our Ever Well Wisher. He overlooked our flaws to engage us in the service of the Supreme Lord. This is the vision of Krishna’s devotee. Politics went on within ISKCON around Srila Prabhupad all of the time. It never stopped. Trust, an ideal described in this article, was often determined to be allowing yourself to become vulnerable to exploitation….sad but true. This is the state of human affairs. It is rare to find truly good-hearted individuals who want to engage you in Krishna’s service as Srila Prabhupad engaged us. At the age of 23, while preaching in Paris, France, I received a letter from Srila Prabhupad to go to South Africa to take over the preaching there from Ksudhi das who was left alone there and who was being expelled from the country by the secret police in 1973. Can you imagine giving so much responsibility to a 23 year old with 2 years of experience in Krishna consciousness? This is Srila Prabhupad. He had confidence in the process of bhakti, overlooking any shortcomings we might have, and they were many.
We want to avoid politics, but we will not be successful in avoiding it. However, if we can find a true pure devotee who has Krishna’s interest at heart, we may be fortunate to receive engagement in Krishna’s service. The provincial vision of many is that people want to protect their turf, rather than engage the world in service. That is an unfair generalization, unless it applies to you, whoever you may be.
Just some thoughts along the way…. Pusta Krishna das
It’s good to be back here on Dandavats after a hiatus caused by moving to Campbell (closer to San Jose temple). It looks like lots of interesting discussions and articles have been published while I was away.
Trust and unity are important themes. Without trust and unity we cannot succeed in our mission. It is much more important to have a united and trusting community than to have buildings or money or anything else. “A house divided against itself cannot long endure”.
By “trust” obviously we do not mean blind faith or naive over-dependence and exposure to exploitation (nor should anyone think that gaining the power to command others is a sign of success in bhakti yoga).
Trust means the solid confidence we can get by participating together in discussions of Srila Prabhupada’s books, sharing realizations and serving side by side, getting to know and appreciate one another’s character and good intentions.
One thing I see Vaisesika do here in San Jose is have periodic “Devotee Appreciation Day” festivals where the devotees gather in a park or in a householder’s home for a day of hearing and chanting and honoring prasadam, with some time set aside for devotees to discuss their realizations of and appreciation for the qualities and service of other devotees in the community.
I suppose in other settings this could be “official” and not genuine, like taking secretaries out to lunch for “Administrative Professionals Day”, but at ISV it works. The devotees really talk about their genuine appreciation for each other (and not just for the “senior” devotees).
The following quotation from “Meeting of Lord Krishna With Sudama Brahmana” may be germane:
“That the Lord is represented in everyone’s heart is a fact, and therefore the highly advanced devotee offers his respects to every living entity, considering that the body is the temple of the Lord. But it is not possible for all men to come to that stage of life immediately, because that stage is for the first-class devotee. The second-class devotee can consider the Vaisnavas, or the devotees of the Lord, to be representatives of Krishna, and the devotee who is just beginning, the neophyte or third-class devotee, can bow his head before the Deity in the temple and before the spiritual master, who is the direct manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
[Therefore, King Pariksit noted that the function of the head is perfected by bowing down before the Lord or His representative.]
We do need leadership and hierarchy to accomplish things, and there is certainly hierarchy in the spiritual world (although it is a “Vaikuntha” hierarchy where everyone wants to be the servant of the servant and there are no inebrieties of pride and envy and exploitation for sense gratification that can make mundane hierarchies so painful and full of injustice at times).
If we can show a nice example of Vaikuntha hierarchy on earth, that will make a great impression on the people of this age who rarely get a chance to see such a miracle.
Regarding “accountability” and the GBC, I remember reading something Kalakantha suggested that I found interesting. (Apologies to Kalakantha Prabhu if I am not getting it quite right):
He said, the GBC might do well to take as its model a typical non-profit organization, whether a public radio station or a museum or environmental NGO or whatever. It should clarify exactly what its mission is and how it will carry that mission out, including how its doing so will serve the interests of various constituencies (e.g., temples, BBT, book distributors and other preachers, etc.) Then, it can get the resources it needs by approaching these constituencies and requesting contributions as well as feedback on how it can do a better job in carrying out its mission and meeting the needs of those constituencies.
That is not to say that the GBC should have to justify its legitimacy as the ultimate managing authority of ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada unquestionably bestowed such legitimacy on the GBC and no one else.
Still, it seems axiomatic that to perform its functions well it needs to maintain the trust and confidence and support of constituents (including all ISKCON members), and cannot take such things for granted. One of the GBC’s great functions is its unifying function, which works best when it is admired and appreciated by all ISKCON members and entities.
It seems the GBC needs more resources. It has a tiny budget. Its members have to pay their own way to attend meetings and get little (if anything) to support the under-appreciated work they do. (I hear they even have to buy their own computers and office equipment). They are hardly like despotic pharoahs living high on the backs of struggling slaves.
But to get the resources it needs (via taxation or otherwise), it needs to do a better job of explaining the value or “return” its supporters will realize. Maybe it needs a better P.R. department…
Pusta Krsna has given some practical insights into the challenges that face us, in bringing the delightful couple Love and Trust into our movement, but it appears that he has almost given up hope, based on his past experience, which is quite vast.
There is one thing we have not tried in our movement, and that is to organize it– not on the basis of favours and rewards, nor on conformity to authority, nor on seniority, influence and/or connections– but on guna- the innate quality of the individual. There are among our devotees, some who care more about themselves, and some who care more about others, some who care more about profit, and some who care more about if the devotees are deepening their realizations, growing in spiritual values. This individuation is natural, because every one of us has had a different evolutionary path, different conditioning in the modes. That does not mean that the profit-minded or the ambitious are not given service- everyone can be a devotee, who wants to. But if the profit-minded head up sankirtan teams, the objective to spread enlightenment may be lost. Or if the more self-absorbed and/or ambitious personalities become the presidents of temples, the objective of the presidency-to care for the devotees welfare- may be lost.
I do not believe that in this wide and wonderful movement, there are no devotees who are interested in helping other devotees get ahead in their spiritual lives- that all are ambitious and exploitative types. Even in the material world, there are the ambitious exploiters and the caring well-wishers, existing side by side. Look at what whistle-blowers do- forsaking career, security, and even safety for the sake of what is right. They are out there. They may have never picked up beads to chant the holy name and be purified by that method, but they are detached anyway. What to speak of our movement, which is all about becoming free from material ambition?
When one is disappointed, it is easy to fall into cynicism, which is a kind of blindness, as it limits one’s vision of all the alternatives, as yet unexplored. Cynicism is the hard shell of hopelessness, which under a soft shell, becomes depression. All hopelessness, leads to death within, a stagnation we can never succumb to. The fact is, we have not explored the alternatives given us by Prabhupada. Put the caring men and women in our movement, in positions of leadership, and love and trust will naturally follow.
There is one thing more I wanted to share with our audience. I have expressed this before somewhere in the pages of Dandavats.com, but it is very pertinent here. During my second meeting with Srila Prabhupad in Mumbai/Bombay in early 1971, after I came there from our early preaching excursion into Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), I sat alone with Srila Prabhupad in his quarters. I was not yet initiated even. Srila Prabhupad sat behind his desk sitting cross-legged on his cushion while applying his forehead tilaka. After brief personal discussion with His Divine Grace, I said to Srila Prabhupad that he was the only person I trusted in this world. Srila Prabhupad looked at me with complete humility and said the following word for word: “Don’t trust me, I may let you down. Trust KRISHNA, He will never let you down!”
We do not like to minimize the importance of Guru, and throughout the years, we often hear our Godbrothers who can give a great lecture inspiring confidence and the like in association and especially almost deifying the Guru (which Krishna Himself does, “acarya mam vijaniyat”. But, the position taken by the genuine Guru is completely congruent with the position demanded by Krishna.. mam ekam saranam vrajet. Surrender only unto Me. So, when Srila Prabhupad told me to trust Krishna implicitly, I believed him, and also believed that he was indeed a transparent via medium to Krishna. Krishna said surrender unto Me, and Sri Gurudeva said surrender unto Krishna.
Now, how do we understand trust, and love. The affairs between jiva souls are all exploitative unless they go through Krishna first. We cannot minimize the request of Krishna (mam ekam, only unto Me). We can analyze these things until we are blue in the face, but the principle of Krishna, the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Summum Bonum, is clear. And, those who will represent Krishna are also transparent, translucent, or opaque when it comes to seeing through them to Krishna.
Our goal, love of Krishna, is the ideal of Vrindaban in all of its rasic permutations, which we may someday come to know by His grace, not by mental concoction. This does not in any way deter devotees from working together in Sankirtan for when Krishna is the Center, and the bhaktas are glorifying Him, then “tushyanti ca ramanti ca”, they take great transcendental pleasure….Krishna Centric. There it is for contemplation by our devotional audience. Pusta Krishna dasa
We all want to see an ideal situation within Iskcon. But I wonder sometimes, that if everything were perfect and harmonious, and everything functioned with Swiss clockwork precision, and all ideals met our expectations, then what would be left to attain? There is a good chance of becoming complacent.
If we are expecting this to happen amongst kanisthas, madhyamas, and uttamas and much more in between, then the famous, “Trust no future, however pleasant,” will likely dash our hopes. If trust is difficult enough between fellow members, we are going to have to trust time itself.
There is a constant flux within Iskcon. It is healthy. It keeps us occupied – “How to improve this, or that?” Sometimes I say to myself that nothing really surprises me anymore. We have experienced as many surprises in Iskcon as other traditions have experienced over centuries. Anything new under the sun?
The fact that we have a worldwide movement still held together by Srila Prabhupada’s plea to cooperate is truly unique. Putting our trust on this plea has worked thus far. Developing love and trust amongst each member is not instant. It usually takes time. So, time, in this case, helps us to develop trust.
However much some of us may not trust certain personnel in trustworthy positions, and the allocation of responsibilities, all meet with exposure in good time. While we have to serve this mission and make it a loving home, still, the surprise factor can dramatically alter matters.
Selflessness is the clue to trust. If each of us is honest about our own position, materially and spiritually, more trust will develop. So, honesty is the truth factor for trust. Without it, time and again, we revisit old issues which are part of the flux.
Ys, Kesava Krsna Dasa.
Srila Prabhupada’s trust in his disciples — Part I.
Oh, yes, Srila Prabhupad would have an almost automatic trust in his disciples. I write “almost automatic” because Srila Prabhupada was as aware as nobody else of individual deficiencies in his disciples, but that was not a criterion for not accepting service from and not directing his disciples in devotional service. Srila Prabhupada never rejected anybody in Krishna’s service. Obviously, Srila Prabhupada was making sure everyone was dutifully, as if it was a given for granted twice born right to have a chance of being engaged in Krishna’s service, “under the expert guidance of the spiritual master”. If need be, he would also direct a disciple to refrain from such and such actions, etc. All was part of Krishna’s service: mostly positive instructions and negative ones, if need be.
It would be as if on that basis of Srila Prabhupada’s trust alone in his disciples, one would feel so much indebted towards him, feeling so much fortunate for such mercy from a pure devotee representative of Krishna. The positive effect of such trust is that one would in return feel absolutely responsible to bring about positive result(s) to Srila Prabhupada and by all means very scrupulously try by all means to avoid displeasing him by less than acceptable results. One would try to please him by all means. That was the power of trust given by Srila Prabhupada to his disciples. Examples of disciples carrying direct orders depending on Krishna for success ultimately, not knowing necessarily all the ins and outs of how to do everything in the mean time, but remaining faithful executors of HDG’s orders. Devotees working day after day in their respective positions all over the world, in Srila Prabhupada’s service, despite distance and odds, having faith that success would come eventually because Srila Prabhupada had said so for the future. Therefore, so many nice results came about during Srila Prabhupada’s presence. So many results based on the faith in Srila Prabhupada’s orders and instructions. As Srila Prabhupada’s has described in one of his classes about his disciples being his miracles: “this is Krishna’s magic”. Srila Prabhupada explained that Krishna’s magic will work on the condition that the devotees are very serious and sincere.
Srila Prabhupada’s trust in his disciples — Part II.
One may say that these were the good old days. Yes, so it was then. But who stops one from getting the same mercy as then? The answer is very simple. The explanation is given by Srila Prabhupada SB 1, in regards to Arjuna, after Lord Krishna’s departure, having become bereft of his powers and composure, but regaining his composure by remembering constantly the instructions of Krishna that he received directly from Him. Similarly, Srila Prabhupada is present in his books, his instructions and “amongst the association of devotees who are actively engaged in his mission”. By associating with devotees, one remains enthused to serve him as ever. Over time, as devotees advance and discover the beauty and art of respecting and appreciating each other, “Krishna’s magic” can still work its way through them. Krishna is not cheap, devotional service is not cheap. Chanting of the holy names is not cheap. The results are not cheap either. Nothing happens by chance. Everything is absolutely controlled by Krishna and meant for His service. When will we be endowed with such vision? Such vision opens up into om purnam adah purnam idam. The service of the Complete Whole where there is no shortage of anything. Where there is no question as to where, why, when, to whom, love and trust are rightfully applied. Where there is no shortage of but ever expansion of true, tangible, honest, genuine Krishna consciousness amongst participating devotees. Where the Complete Whole sustains and blesses His wonderful surrendered devotees as usual according His own sweet will, with their ultimate good in mind, however the circumstances.
If in the meantime there is seemingly a lack of desired results, patience and faithful execution of devotional service are as required as ever. KC is meant to be peacefully and steadily executed “from within”. Execution of KC is compared to a wife having a lover. She does all her duties so nicely that her husband will not suspect anything, but within she is always absorbed in the thought of her lover. Similarly, we must be convinced that by carrying out our respective duties under the expert guidance of Srila Prabhupada or his representative servants in the association of devotees within the infrastructure of ISKCON set up by Srila Prabhupada, we will achieve success in our preaching efforts and that will be enough for the desired perfection of our human form of life. Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, ki jaya!
Not everyone is really trustworthy.
I guess part of Srila Prabhupada’s program was to offer everyone an opportunity to *become* trustworthy, but still, he tried to find responsible and capable people to put into responsible positions.
Only pure devotees are really trustworthy. Everyone else is on the chariot of the mind and is more or less liable to turn on you someday.
We should be able to appreciate that everyone is a spirit soul and a potential pure devotee. Still we have to be careful about who we let into our close circle of trust and confidence. As many have noted, such trust usually develops gradually over time based on serving side by side and exchanging views and realizations year in and year out.
The old hippie flower-child project of embracing strangers and giving them the run of the house and the keys to the safe is a foolish proposition, but I guess it is a reaction against the grhamedhi, krpana mentality of caring about nothing but material things and protecting one’s own little family or community and envying everyone else.
The solution or resolution of these extremes in sankirtan. We organize carefully and responsibly for the purpose of giving the holy names to everyone, the prime benediction to humanity at large, the para upakara. It is a very liberal project, but the methods for carrying it out should be wise and careful.
People in general should be encouraged to join the Hare Krishna movement, and qualified people may even be offered a position as resident, full-time students or sadhakas, but it generally takes time and some demonstration of steadiness before they can be accepted as trusted, responsible, core members of the sankirtan team.
Very nice and hopeful discussion. We can take this in, and yet we cannot supercede the principle of faith in Krishna, and devotional service applied under the direction of the Vaishnava Acharya. With surrender to Krishna, we have have our natural position of subordination to Krishna, and rightfully can pray for and expect the protection of Sri Krishna. In number 7 above, I am simply sharing with you what Srila Prabhupad shared with me. We will find the increasing satisfaction that our soul is yearning for by trusting in Krishna. If someone may wonder that Krishna might neglect us, then you may test Krishna by praying for His protection and His divine presence in your life. As small as we may be, still Krishna is the ocean of mercy. During the rasa-lila, Krishna expanded Himself to dance with each of the damsels of Braj individually, and each of the gopis felt like they were alone with Krishna. His capacity is unlimited and always personal. The pastimes of Krishna with the cowherd boys is similarly personal and always enthusing his eternal associates and servants. Kripa-sindhu, the ocean of Mercy. This is what Srila Prabhupad is encouraging us to do.
We have sometimes heard vaishnavas say…”Krishna is very far away, so you can simply serve me and then Krishna will receive your service accordingly.” That proposition is also good since Lord Shiva announces that those who are the servants of Krishna’s servants are even more dear to Krishna. Krishna Himself has said this as well in the Srimad Bhagavatam. So, dependence on Krishna does not equate with envy of, nor disregard for, the vaishnavas. But, dependence on Krishna is primally important in all of the devotional practices of the bhakta. We need not worry what our destination will be. We have seen certain groups of Gaudiya Vaishnavas demonstrate a concern that they must become servants of Sri Rupa Manjari or Srimati Radharani. A certain type of mundane pride can sometimes accompany this in some cases. It is not a mundane issue, and neither should one become a sahajiya, maintaining material attachments to kanak, kamini, and pratishtha while proposing to follow in the line of Sri Rupa Manjari. Srila Prabhupad proposed to his disciples that all such matters would be revealed at the appropriate time. These are not matters of this world. Best, in my opinion, to practice Krishna consciousness with determination, faith, and patience. Krishna is indeed with us always. Pusta Krishna das
Regarding #6 above..”given up hope…”, actually the mood that Srila Prabhupad tried to instill in us is the feeling of “hope against hope”. This is the feeling of hope in an ocean of humble feelings of worthlessness. That Krishna is my refuge, my Guardian, my Friend, my Master, and even the focus of my Love. That addressed, I hope (against hope), I want to address something in #10 above regarding the “good old days”. In all fairness, when Krishna leaves Vrindaban for Mathura, the gopis and brajavasis are always remembering Krishna through His lila and their feelings of love for Him. Although it may seem a little nostalgic, no doubt, to remember Srila Prabhupad’s personal association even over 30 years after his vapu or form passed from our vision, it is comforting to us to remember him, hopefully pridelessly and with the same kind of union in separation, lalasmayi, that we might have for Krishna being out of our sight.
This topic of love and trust is so vital to Krishna consciousness. But, I hope I am making one important point that will not be lost….you must never lose your faith if there are harsh dealings between the bhaktas. This is the point…your focus should be on Krishna. We can expect, in the Kali-yuga, incongruent actions between even semi-enlightened individuals. This is precisely the feeling that Srila Prabhupad gave me in #7 above. Srila Prabhupad is fully enlightened, and I am clearly semi-knowledgeable, so there is always room for disappointment, until one is on the uttama-adhikari plane. Then such Mahabhagavatas will see everything in relation with Krishna, they will see everything in Krishna and Krishna within everything. Naturally, this is the stage of Krishna consciousness that a Mahabhagavat like Srila Prabhupad is trying to pass on to his disciples. Srila Prabhupad would never cheat us, would never expose us to sahajaism, and is truly our “Ever Well-wisher”. That said, there clearly are instances, and we have all experienced them, when the mundane encroaches on the spiritual path of Krishna consciousness, and you can keep your faith growing more and more by following the advice that Srila Prabhupad offered to me (#7), if you can appreciate that your $5 dollar problems are solved when you have a $1 million dollars. When you have faith in Krishna, there is no higher faith to aspire for. Pusta Krishna das
I have been rereading and appreciating Niscala’s comment #6. I clipped a portion and sent to some others in private correspondence (I hope you do not mind Niscala).
Right now I have to run to the morning program…
“The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade.”
From Polonius’ advice to Laertes in Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.
Polonius is an officious old busy-body courtier, but Shakespeare gives him some good lines when he advises his son Laertes who is about to embark on a trip back to his studies in France.
This is also the speech in which he says, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” The most famous part is the conclusion: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Someone asked me recently how to find devotees we can trust, and I found myself suggesting that if we become trustworthy ourselves, that will attract the association of trustworthy devotees to make friends with or trustworthy seniors to serve and learn from.
Once we find someone who is a worthy friend, we have to be careful to “grapple them with hoops of steel” by making sure they can rely on us when they need us.
Of course it is easier for devotees, because they make friends with other devotees.
I remember hearing (I forget where, maybe Lilamrta?) Srila Prabhupada describing that when you become a devotee you automatically acquire so many new friends and new enemies also, just as, when you get married, you acquire the friends and enemies of your new in-laws.
I have this sense that we get the association we deserve; that Krishna sends us devotees’ association for a certain purpose, and we have to be careful and make the best use of it.
Devotees who are always complaining about the faults of those around them must have done something to be surrounded with so many faulty associates. If we can inspire and magnify the good qualities in those around us we will find more and more worthy people crossing our path, and that makes life wonderful.
“Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.”