Madhu Pandit Dasa
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.Yet another year has passed under the transcendental shower of your causeless mercy. The transcendental shower that cools the scorching heat of miseries of this material world where there is the danger at every step. It is only by your mercy that over the last sixteen years we, the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore, have survived the material forces that have attempted to break the faith of thousands of your followers on this planet - that Your Divine Grace can be accepted as everyone’s direct sad-guru - both Primary Siksha and Diksha guru. It is easier to survive the attack of atheists than the guruvadis in ISKCON, who twist your direct orders and preach that Your Divine Grace cannot be a guru for anyone on this planet anymore after 1977.
According to them, Srila Prabhupada, you are ‘no longer with us’, having physically ‘departed’ in 1977. Therefore it is only to them that the jivas have to surrender to as disciples, and not to Your Divine Grace. It is nothing but the twisted philosophy of ‘kill guru and become guru’. Your Divine Grace has used this very phrase while referring to ambitious neophyte disciples. This is especially so when you have explicitly ordered that those initiated in ISKCON will always be the disciples of Your Divine Grace.
This faith of thousands of devotees that: Your Divine Grace actually receives their direct surrender from them; Your Divine Grace actually guides sincere seekers in advancing in spiritual life, in the wonderful association of your other servants, in an organization Your Divine Grace designed. This truth is proven today by your lilas at ISKCON Bangalore for the last fifteen years. Thousands of lives are transformed every day, by the association of your books and your deity form in the temples of our group over the past fifteen years. The intense and foremost attachment and commitment to Your Divine Grace, of all the devotees, is the proof of this.
Srila Prabhupada, you have nicely explained the prakata and aprakata form of the Lord. The visible and invisible. In CC Madhya 13.155 purport
“Krishna has two kinds of presence—prakata and aprakata, manifest and unmanifest. These are identical for the sincere devotee. Even if Krishna is not physically present, the devotee’s constant absorption in the affairs of Krishna makes Him always present.”
Srila Prabhupada, when Your Divine Grace were asked by a reporter, “what will happen to the movement when Your Divine Grace die?” Your Divine Grace replied, “I will never die”. Thus, wherever Your Divine Grace is sought after as the guru and worshipped and followed, Your Divine grace, even today in the aprakata (invisible) form, continue your aprakata lila with such disciples and inspire them to advance in Krishna Consciousness as much as Your Divine Grace were doing during your prakata lila. This is the understanding from your reply to the reporter – ‘I will never
die’.
Your Divine Grace also established your deity forms in your temples even when present on the planet. In these forms, Your Divine Grace is prakta, giving opportunity for rendering personal service of dressing, offering bhoga, worshipping etc. All these are in no way, different from your lila on this
planet before November 14th 1977. From your teachings it is clear that there is no difference. To think that on that day, Nov 14th 1977, some significant change happened and you are no longer ‘present’ with us after that date as a ‘living guru’ anymore, is absurd and false. It was this falsehood that led to so called new ‘living gurus’ being propped up in 1978 and thereafter continuing till date. And this turned out to be the biggest disaster which has practically destroyed the movement- so carefully built and nurtured by Your Divine Grace.
The Hare Krishna Movement is your transcendental creation and it transcendentally belongs to Your Divine Grace. It is your house in this world, where your service to the guru-parampara is conducted eternally, through your disciples. Your Divine Grace has expressed your transcendental ownership of ISKCON by clearly mandating through written instructions, that the words ‘Founder-Acharya’ shall always be written below, wherever ‘ISKCON’ is mentioned. Your mandate through this instruction is crystal clear. It is your transcendental vision to prevent future generations of ambitious neophytes from assuming that since Your Divine Grace is no longer physically present, it is time for the next person to fill your shoes, in ‘parampara’, and take over as the Acharya or spiritual successor. Promoting Your Divine Grace as the purva acarya, directly or indirectly, in ISKCON, is an act of constant offence as it means Your Divine Grace can be approached only through another current link as present guru.
On 18/2/76 Your Divine Grace said in a room conversation,
“After 80 years no one can be expected to live long. My life is almost ended. So you have to carry on, and these books will do everything.”
So it is very clear that Your Divine Grace will continue to influence thousands of souls by being directly connected to them as their spiritual master. Your transcendental vision in setting up the ISKCON organization was to facilitate and give service to all your disciples for all future generations as long as ISKCON exists to become instruments in training and strengthening every spiritual aspirant’s direct connection with Your Divine Grace as their spiritual master, both diksha and siksha guru and thus continue your parampara.
On this occasion Srila Prabhupada, I would also like to meditate on your glory of taking so many hardships for the preaching mission in this world and setting the example for future generation of disciples - the standard of hard work to spread Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada, your life has demonstrated how one can express his love for his guru. To develop that love for one’s guru, one has to sacrifice one’s comfort for guru’s mission and vision. This means to take pains for his pleasure of expanding his spiritual mission on this earth. There is a tendency to think that perfection means that everything will go smoothly in this world and there will be no hardship. This principle of working hard by taking pains even for fulfilling the Lord’s mission, is nicely explained by Your Divine Grace in this following purport.
“In executing penance, one must be determined to return home, back to Godhead, and must decide to undergo all types of tribulations for that end. Even for material prosperity, name and fame, one has to undergo severe types of penance; otherwise no one can become an important figure in this material world. Why, then, are there severe types of penance for the perfection of devotional service? An easygoing life and attainment of perfection in transcendental realization cannot go together. The Lord is more clever than any living entity; therefore He wants to see how painstaking the devotee is in devotional service. The order is received from the Lord, either directly or through the bona fide spiritual master, and to execute that order, however painstaking, is the severe type of penance. One who follows the principle rigidly is sure to achieve success in attaining the Lord's mercy.” SB 2.9.24 purport
Anyone who reads this purport will come out of the false idea that the perfection of devotional service is one of comfort to the senses, body and mind, without any disturbance from any quarter. Your Divine Grace, as the Acarya, has taught us by your own example how to be well grounded by emotional acceptance of the reality that troubles and pains are very much part of devotional service and it is very natural. And devotees have to take up such austerities if any significant progress is to be made against maya’s plans to keep the jivas within her clutches. Situations that demand austerity in devotional service are great opportunities to purify our self-centered mentality. Your Divine Grace wrote to your disciple on 27th July 1970:
“Kindly keep me informed of your activities at least twice in a week, otherwise I become very much anxious and due to my blood pressure sometimes do not eat, do not sleep. I am just trying to organize a worldwide movement not for any personal ambition but to execute superior orders, and by the grace of Krsna we are getting good encouragement. So I request my students to co-operate fully.”
So this is Acarya - one who sets standards by his own example. Your Divine Grace never taught an easy going life. You spent sleepless nights in the anxieties of organizing this world-wide movement for Lord Chaitanya. Your Divine Grace promised to take us back to Godhead - but instructed us all to lead a life of struggle for spiritual advancement and hard work to preach Lord Chaitanya’s mission. Dedication and commitment to fulfill the order of one’s guru, even if it means fighting formidable forces against all odds. Even if it means going to courts.
Your Divine Grace never settled to rest in material comforts or in the glory of your success while preaching in this world till your last breath. Preaching or practicing devotional service with such material ideas is just sense gratification and is just another deep anartha. Preaching mission in this world of maya means always dealing with opposing forces that are bound to attack, starting with our own body and mind.
While we are asked to take pains to preach the glories of the Holy Name, Your Divine Grace has also armed us with enough ammunition to give us real empowerment and transcendental happiness for the soul, by teaching us the art of associating with the Holy Name by chanting and hearing the sound incarnation of the Lord, “kali-käle näma-rüpe kåñëa-avatära”. Srila Prabhupada, you have talked and talked and talked about the glories of the Holy Name - of how to chant, how to hear, how to be attentive and the theology of the Holy Name in your books. So many transcendental secrets of the Holy Names are hidden in simple lines of your several purports. Each one of them opens the door to the spiritual world. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu named Haridas Thakur the Nama-acarya. Your Divine Grace has extended the mission of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all over the world and has spread the Nama which is today dancing on the tongues of millions of jivas. Your Divine Grace is the true Ambassador, like Haridas Thakur, of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the very personification of Hare Krishna maha-mantra. What a spiritual wonder you have created on this earth. Now there is no stopping of this sankirtana. How close and dear you are to the Holy Name is understandable from the degree of empowerment with which Your Divine Grace spread the Holy name all over the world in such a short span. kåñëa-çakti vinä nahe tära pravartana – (CC Antya 7.11)
We are all so fortunate to be born at a time to even hear about this Hare Krishna movement. Srila Prabhupada we all know that Your Divine Grace is in our midst, guiding and protecting us. In spite of not being surrendered enough to perfectly receive and follow all your instructions, Srila Prabhupada, you are still protecting me. I know that any complexity in your mission that is not solvable, is due to our lack of clearly hearing your directions; lack of clearly understanding your instructions; lack of enough determination to follow.
For years together, following your teachings, I prayed to the Supersoul, for practical guidance in preaching and have received tremendous reciprocation by repeated application of Krishna’s words in Bhagavad-gita “mat citta sarva durgani, mat prasadat tarisyasi”. But, for some reason, some big preaching projects that have been conceived and started off in the recent times, by your mercy, have stagnated for years, faced by one hurdle or the other inspite of increased prayer and dependence on the Lord in my heart. I understood that Krishna wanted to teach me something important and until I learn this, He would not permit or sanction the progress of these projects.
After a lot of soul searching, the realization dawned on me that there is a small - but significant difference - in praying, surrendering and depending on guru and praying and surrendering and depending directly on the Supersoul, Krishna. Krishna wants me to learn that first dependence is on his pure devotee - and then on Him. I have to move to the next phase of increased faith in Srila Prabhupada as the true power of attorney holder of Krishna. First things first. That is the true purport of “yasya prasädäd bhagavatprasädo asyäprasädän na gatiù kuto 'pi”. Though I sing this every morning, yet I prayed to the Lord directly everyday all these years. After this finer realization, I am now training myself to always pray to Your Divine Grace first, for granting of devotional service and strength to overcome all obstacles in your preaching mission and then only to the Lord. And I find increased spiritual energy to serve Your Divine Grace. After that I have started to see that things are changing for good in these stagnated projects in the last few months.
Srila Prabhupada, you have preached that we always pray and surrender to the Lord in the heart. But now I know that the Lord is more pleased when we surrender and pray to His pure devotees first. The very same Lord is more eager to reciprocate with mercy of all kinds when a devotee surrenders and prays to Your Divine Grace, for that is the right culture of devotion for a disciple. One thing I am sure from my own realization - Your Divine Grace is by the side of anyone who wants to serve your mission without simply thinking of his own peace and bliss at the material level. And your teachings direct us to experience the transcendental peace and bliss that comes from simply knowing and feeling the sense of one’s eternal belonging to the eternal guru and the eternal Lord as their eternal servant, and becoming indifferent to material ups and downs.
Thank you Srila Prabhupada and your dear Lord Krishna for the intense merciful grind you are putting me through to learn these finer nuances of devotional service. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada for the daily dose of “divyagyan hrde prakashita” and hardships that make me think and learn different lessons. Thank you Srila Prabhupada for making my daily life transcendentally blissful in spite of trials and tribulations from the material energy. Based on this realization, on this auspicious day of this year’s Vyasa puja, I pray that if it so pleases Your Divine Grace, kindly put an end to this legal battle as soon as possible, and remove all the obstacles, and sanction us all in the coming five years the devotional service of completing the construction of a world’s largest monumental temple for your dear Lordships at Vrindavan dham to expand the glories of Vrindavan dham, which, Your Divine Grace has already put on world map.
Again I pray, if it pleases Your Divine Grace, in the coming five years, sanction us all, the service of completing the construction of an equally monumental complex of the Krishna Lila Park at Vaikunta Hill, Bangalore South, to make it the Vaikunta Embassy on this earth from where the Holy Name will be distributed to millions of souls by inspiring them through depiction of the wonderful lilas of Lord Krishna. Again I pray, give me the knowledge and spiritual skills and strength to do the service of chanting and hearing the Maha-mantra better and better without offenses and also to serve and share such knowledge of improved japa with all devotees who have dedicated their lives to spread the Holy Name as your unalloyed servants.
Srila Prabhupada, just as I finished writing this offering to Your Divine Grace, I received a mail of the following conversation of yours of 1976 from a recent set of new tapes released now by the Bhaktivedanta Archives. We are greatly enlivened by confirmation in this conversation that you wanted only siksha gurus in ISKCON, while you remain the diksha guru.
“Prabhupada: The tendency for becoming guru is there. But after all, every one of you should become guru. But why immature attempt? That is my question. Everyone will become guru when he is expert disciple, but why this immature attempt? Guru is not a thing, imitation. When one is mature, he becomes guru automatically. What is the answer to this, their making some attempt to become guru? I am training you all to become guru in the future. Now the K???a consciousness movement, the properties and everything, I will not take with me. They will remain where they are. It requires very mature treatment. But there has been some attempt to become guru immediately. Am I correct or not? Hm? We are also acting as guru. My other Godbrothers, they are also doing that. But we never attempted during the lifetime of our Guru Maharaja. That is not the etiquette. It is an immature attempt. And it is not the thing that by artificial attempt one becomes guru. Guru is accepted by etiquette, not by artificial attempt.
Amara ajnaya guru hana (CC Madhya 7.128): "Follow My order and become guru." Not that you become guru. amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa yare dekha, tare kaha "krishna"-upadesa (CC Madhya 7.128)
Hmm? You have to follow the paramparasystem, order. That is guru. Not that I declare myself as guru. No. That is not guru. Guru is he who has strictly followed the order of the spiritual master. He can become guru. Otherwise it will be spoilt. Artificial attempt is not good. (pause) Prabhupada: Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado (Sri Sri Gurv-a??aka 8)—we are singing daily, hundred times. Guru means kintu prabhor ya? priya eva tasya (Sri Sri Gurv-a??aka 7). Do you understand all these lines? You sing daily, thrice. Do you understand the meaning of these words? Can anyone explain?
Devotee (3): Kintu prabhor ya? priya eva tasya—"The spiritual master is very dear to Krishna."
Prabhupada: Yes. First of all one has to become very dear to K???a, then automatically he becomes guru. And when one becomes very dear to K???a, then he becomes guru, and by the mercy of such guru Krishna becomes merciful. These are the statements of the sastra. Ar na koriho asa. What is that, guru-mukha-padma-vakya?
Devotee (3): guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya ar na koriho mane asa (Sri-guru-vandana)
Prabhupada: Ar na koriho mane asa. Simply whatever you hear from the guru, try to execute it. Ar na koriho mane asa. Do not expect anything more. So whatever we are chanting, we are reading, we must realize that. The Gaudiya Madha institution became a failure on account of disobedience and not following the orders. Visvanatha Cakravarti ?hakura's statement about the verse vyavasayatmika buddhir—find out this verse from the Bhagavad-gita. The Caitanya-caritam?ta statement, amara: one can become guru by the superior order.
Devotee (3): Shall I read it?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Devotee (3): vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana bahu-sakha hy anantas ca buddhayo 'vyavasayinam (BG 2.41)
"Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolved is many-branched."
Prabhupada: And the purport?
Devotee (3): “A strong faith in Krishna consciousness that one should be elevated to the highest perfection of life is called vyavasayatmika intelligence. The Caitanya-caritam?ta states:
'sraddha'-sabde visvasa kahe sudha niscaya krishe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kta haya (CC Madhya 22.62)
“Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. When one is engaged in the duties of Krishna consciousness, he need not act in relationship to the material world, with obligations to family traditions, humanity or nationality. Fruitive activities are the engagements of one's reaction from past good or bad deeds. When one is awake in K???a consciousness, he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities. When one is situated in Krishna consciousness, all activities are on the absolute plane, for they are no longer subject to dualities like "good" and "bad." The highest perfection of K???a consciousness is renunciation of the material conception of life. This state is automatically achieved by progressive Krishna consciousness.
The resolute purpose of a person in Krishna consciousness is based on knowledge (vasudeva? sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabha?) (BG7.19) by which one comes to know perfectly that Vasudeva, or Krishnaa, is the root of all manifested causes. As water on the root of a tree is automatically distributed to the leaves and branches, in Krishna consciousness one can render the highest service to everyone—namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Krishna is satisfied by one's actions, then everyone will be satisfied. “Service in Krishna consciousness is, however, best practiced under the able guidance of a spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of Krishna, who knows the nature of the student and who
can guide him to act in Krishna consciousness. As such, to be well versed in Krishna consciousness one has to act firmly and obey the representative of Krishna, and one should accept the instructions of the bona fide spiritual master as one's mission in life. Visvanatha Cakravarti ?hakura instructs us, in his famous prayers for the spiritual master, as follows: yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadanna gati? kuto 'pi dhyaya? stuva?s tasya yasas tri-sandhya? vande guro? sricara?aravindam
(Sri Sri Gurv-a??aka 8)
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.Yet another year has passed under the transcendental shower of your causeless mercy. The transcendental shower that cools the scorching heat of miseries of this material world where there is the danger at every step. It is only by your mercy that over the last sixteen years we, the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore, have survived the material forces that have attempted to break the faith of thousands of your followers on this planet - that Your Divine Grace can be accepted as everyone’s direct sad-guru - both Primary Siksha and Diksha guru. It is easier to survive the attack of atheists than the guruvadis in ISKCON, who twist your direct orders and preach that Your Divine Grace cannot be a guru for anyone on this planet anymore after 1977.
According to them, Srila Prabhupada, you are ‘no longer with us’, having physically ‘departed’ in 1977. Therefore it is only to them that the jivas have to surrender to as disciples, and not to Your Divine Grace. It is nothing but the twisted philosophy of ‘kill guru and become guru’. Your Divine Grace has used this very phrase while referring to ambitious neophyte disciples. This is especially so when you have explicitly ordered that those initiated in ISKCON will always be the disciples of Your Divine Grace.
This faith of thousands of devotees that: Your Divine Grace actually receives their direct surrender from them; Your Divine Grace actually guides sincere seekers in advancing in spiritual life, in the wonderful association of your other servants, in an organization Your Divine Grace designed. This truth is proven today by your lilas at ISKCON Bangalore for the last fifteen years. Thousands of lives are transformed every day, by the association of your books and your deity form in the temples of our group over the past fifteen years. The intense and foremost attachment and commitment to Your Divine Grace, of all the devotees, is the proof of this.
Srila Prabhupada, you have nicely explained the prakata and aprakata form of the Lord. The visible and invisible. In CC Madhya 13.155 purport
“Krishna has two kinds of presence—prakata and aprakata, manifest and unmanifest. These are identical for the sincere devotee. Even if Krishna is not physically present, the devotee’s constant absorption in the affairs of Krishna makes Him always present.”
Srila Prabhupada, when Your Divine Grace were asked by a reporter, “what will happen to the movement when Your Divine Grace die?” Your Divine Grace replied, “I will never die”. Thus, wherever Your Divine Grace is sought after as the guru and worshipped and followed, Your Divine grace, even today in the aprakata (invisible) form, continue your aprakata lila with such disciples and inspire them to advance in Krishna Consciousness as much as Your Divine Grace were doing during your prakata lila. This is the understanding from your reply to the reporter – ‘I will never
die’.
Your Divine Grace also established your deity forms in your temples even when present on the planet. In these forms, Your Divine Grace is prakta, giving opportunity for rendering personal service of dressing, offering bhoga, worshipping etc. All these are in no way, different from your lila on this
planet before November 14th 1977. From your teachings it is clear that there is no difference. To think that on that day, Nov 14th 1977, some significant change happened and you are no longer ‘present’ with us after that date as a ‘living guru’ anymore, is absurd and false. It was this falsehood that led to so called new ‘living gurus’ being propped up in 1978 and thereafter continuing till date. And this turned out to be the biggest disaster which has practically destroyed the movement- so carefully built and nurtured by Your Divine Grace.
The Hare Krishna Movement is your transcendental creation and it transcendentally belongs to Your Divine Grace. It is your house in this world, where your service to the guru-parampara is conducted eternally, through your disciples. Your Divine Grace has expressed your transcendental ownership of ISKCON by clearly mandating through written instructions, that the words ‘Founder-Acharya’ shall always be written below, wherever ‘ISKCON’ is mentioned. Your mandate through this instruction is crystal clear. It is your transcendental vision to prevent future generations of ambitious neophytes from assuming that since Your Divine Grace is no longer physically present, it is time for the next person to fill your shoes, in ‘parampara’, and take over as the Acharya or spiritual successor. Promoting Your Divine Grace as the purva acarya, directly or indirectly, in ISKCON, is an act of constant offence as it means Your Divine Grace can be approached only through another current link as present guru.
On 18/2/76 Your Divine Grace said in a room conversation,
“After 80 years no one can be expected to live long. My life is almost ended. So you have to carry on, and these books will do everything.”
So it is very clear that Your Divine Grace will continue to influence thousands of souls by being directly connected to them as their spiritual master. Your transcendental vision in setting up the ISKCON organization was to facilitate and give service to all your disciples for all future generations as long as ISKCON exists to become instruments in training and strengthening every spiritual aspirant’s direct connection with Your Divine Grace as their spiritual master, both diksha and siksha guru and thus continue your parampara.
On this occasion Srila Prabhupada, I would also like to meditate on your glory of taking so many hardships for the preaching mission in this world and setting the example for future generation of disciples - the standard of hard work to spread Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada, your life has demonstrated how one can express his love for his guru. To develop that love for one’s guru, one has to sacrifice one’s comfort for guru’s mission and vision. This means to take pains for his pleasure of expanding his spiritual mission on this earth. There is a tendency to think that perfection means that everything will go smoothly in this world and there will be no hardship. This principle of working hard by taking pains even for fulfilling the Lord’s mission, is nicely explained by Your Divine Grace in this following purport.
“In executing penance, one must be determined to return home, back to Godhead, and must decide to undergo all types of tribulations for that end. Even for material prosperity, name and fame, one has to undergo severe types of penance; otherwise no one can become an important figure in this material world. Why, then, are there severe types of penance for the perfection of devotional service? An easygoing life and attainment of perfection in transcendental realization cannot go together. The Lord is more clever than any living entity; therefore He wants to see how painstaking the devotee is in devotional service. The order is received from the Lord, either directly or through the bona fide spiritual master, and to execute that order, however painstaking, is the severe type of penance. One who follows the principle rigidly is sure to achieve success in attaining the Lord's mercy.” SB 2.9.24 purport
Anyone who reads this purport will come out of the false idea that the perfection of devotional service is one of comfort to the senses, body and mind, without any disturbance from any quarter. Your Divine Grace, as the Acarya, has taught us by your own example how to be well grounded by emotional acceptance of the reality that troubles and pains are very much part of devotional service and it is very natural. And devotees have to take up such austerities if any significant progress is to be made against maya’s plans to keep the jivas within her clutches. Situations that demand austerity in devotional service are great opportunities to purify our self-centered mentality. Your Divine Grace wrote to your disciple on 27th July 1970:
“Kindly keep me informed of your activities at least twice in a week, otherwise I become very much anxious and due to my blood pressure sometimes do not eat, do not sleep. I am just trying to organize a worldwide movement not for any personal ambition but to execute superior orders, and by the grace of Krsna we are getting good encouragement. So I request my students to co-operate fully.”
So this is Acarya - one who sets standards by his own example. Your Divine Grace never taught an easy going life. You spent sleepless nights in the anxieties of organizing this world-wide movement for Lord Chaitanya. Your Divine Grace promised to take us back to Godhead - but instructed us all to lead a life of struggle for spiritual advancement and hard work to preach Lord Chaitanya’s mission. Dedication and commitment to fulfill the order of one’s guru, even if it means fighting formidable forces against all odds. Even if it means going to courts.
Your Divine Grace never settled to rest in material comforts or in the glory of your success while preaching in this world till your last breath. Preaching or practicing devotional service with such material ideas is just sense gratification and is just another deep anartha. Preaching mission in this world of maya means always dealing with opposing forces that are bound to attack, starting with our own body and mind.
While we are asked to take pains to preach the glories of the Holy Name, Your Divine Grace has also armed us with enough ammunition to give us real empowerment and transcendental happiness for the soul, by teaching us the art of associating with the Holy Name by chanting and hearing the sound incarnation of the Lord, “kali-käle näma-rüpe kåñëa-avatära”. Srila Prabhupada, you have talked and talked and talked about the glories of the Holy Name - of how to chant, how to hear, how to be attentive and the theology of the Holy Name in your books. So many transcendental secrets of the Holy Names are hidden in simple lines of your several purports. Each one of them opens the door to the spiritual world. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu named Haridas Thakur the Nama-acarya. Your Divine Grace has extended the mission of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all over the world and has spread the Nama which is today dancing on the tongues of millions of jivas. Your Divine Grace is the true Ambassador, like Haridas Thakur, of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the very personification of Hare Krishna maha-mantra. What a spiritual wonder you have created on this earth. Now there is no stopping of this sankirtana. How close and dear you are to the Holy Name is understandable from the degree of empowerment with which Your Divine Grace spread the Holy name all over the world in such a short span. kåñëa-çakti vinä nahe tära pravartana – (CC Antya 7.11)
We are all so fortunate to be born at a time to even hear about this Hare Krishna movement. Srila Prabhupada we all know that Your Divine Grace is in our midst, guiding and protecting us. In spite of not being surrendered enough to perfectly receive and follow all your instructions, Srila Prabhupada, you are still protecting me. I know that any complexity in your mission that is not solvable, is due to our lack of clearly hearing your directions; lack of clearly understanding your instructions; lack of enough determination to follow.
For years together, following your teachings, I prayed to the Supersoul, for practical guidance in preaching and have received tremendous reciprocation by repeated application of Krishna’s words in Bhagavad-gita “mat citta sarva durgani, mat prasadat tarisyasi”. But, for some reason, some big preaching projects that have been conceived and started off in the recent times, by your mercy, have stagnated for years, faced by one hurdle or the other inspite of increased prayer and dependence on the Lord in my heart. I understood that Krishna wanted to teach me something important and until I learn this, He would not permit or sanction the progress of these projects.
After a lot of soul searching, the realization dawned on me that there is a small - but significant difference - in praying, surrendering and depending on guru and praying and surrendering and depending directly on the Supersoul, Krishna. Krishna wants me to learn that first dependence is on his pure devotee - and then on Him. I have to move to the next phase of increased faith in Srila Prabhupada as the true power of attorney holder of Krishna. First things first. That is the true purport of “yasya prasädäd bhagavatprasädo asyäprasädän na gatiù kuto 'pi”. Though I sing this every morning, yet I prayed to the Lord directly everyday all these years. After this finer realization, I am now training myself to always pray to Your Divine Grace first, for granting of devotional service and strength to overcome all obstacles in your preaching mission and then only to the Lord. And I find increased spiritual energy to serve Your Divine Grace. After that I have started to see that things are changing for good in these stagnated projects in the last few months.
Srila Prabhupada, you have preached that we always pray and surrender to the Lord in the heart. But now I know that the Lord is more pleased when we surrender and pray to His pure devotees first. The very same Lord is more eager to reciprocate with mercy of all kinds when a devotee surrenders and prays to Your Divine Grace, for that is the right culture of devotion for a disciple. One thing I am sure from my own realization - Your Divine Grace is by the side of anyone who wants to serve your mission without simply thinking of his own peace and bliss at the material level. And your teachings direct us to experience the transcendental peace and bliss that comes from simply knowing and feeling the sense of one’s eternal belonging to the eternal guru and the eternal Lord as their eternal servant, and becoming indifferent to material ups and downs.
Thank you Srila Prabhupada and your dear Lord Krishna for the intense merciful grind you are putting me through to learn these finer nuances of devotional service. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada for the daily dose of “divyagyan hrde prakashita” and hardships that make me think and learn different lessons. Thank you Srila Prabhupada for making my daily life transcendentally blissful in spite of trials and tribulations from the material energy. Based on this realization, on this auspicious day of this year’s Vyasa puja, I pray that if it so pleases Your Divine Grace, kindly put an end to this legal battle as soon as possible, and remove all the obstacles, and sanction us all in the coming five years the devotional service of completing the construction of a world’s largest monumental temple for your dear Lordships at Vrindavan dham to expand the glories of Vrindavan dham, which, Your Divine Grace has already put on world map.
Again I pray, if it pleases Your Divine Grace, in the coming five years, sanction us all, the service of completing the construction of an equally monumental complex of the Krishna Lila Park at Vaikunta Hill, Bangalore South, to make it the Vaikunta Embassy on this earth from where the Holy Name will be distributed to millions of souls by inspiring them through depiction of the wonderful lilas of Lord Krishna. Again I pray, give me the knowledge and spiritual skills and strength to do the service of chanting and hearing the Maha-mantra better and better without offenses and also to serve and share such knowledge of improved japa with all devotees who have dedicated their lives to spread the Holy Name as your unalloyed servants.
Srila Prabhupada, just as I finished writing this offering to Your Divine Grace, I received a mail of the following conversation of yours of 1976 from a recent set of new tapes released now by the Bhaktivedanta Archives. We are greatly enlivened by confirmation in this conversation that you wanted only siksha gurus in ISKCON, while you remain the diksha guru.
“Prabhupada: The tendency for becoming guru is there. But after all, every one of you should become guru. But why immature attempt? That is my question. Everyone will become guru when he is expert disciple, but why this immature attempt? Guru is not a thing, imitation. When one is mature, he becomes guru automatically. What is the answer to this, their making some attempt to become guru? I am training you all to become guru in the future. Now the K???a consciousness movement, the properties and everything, I will not take with me. They will remain where they are. It requires very mature treatment. But there has been some attempt to become guru immediately. Am I correct or not? Hm? We are also acting as guru. My other Godbrothers, they are also doing that. But we never attempted during the lifetime of our Guru Maharaja. That is not the etiquette. It is an immature attempt. And it is not the thing that by artificial attempt one becomes guru. Guru is accepted by etiquette, not by artificial attempt.
Amara ajnaya guru hana (CC Madhya 7.128): "Follow My order and become guru." Not that you become guru. amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa yare dekha, tare kaha "krishna"-upadesa (CC Madhya 7.128)
Hmm? You have to follow the paramparasystem, order. That is guru. Not that I declare myself as guru. No. That is not guru. Guru is he who has strictly followed the order of the spiritual master. He can become guru. Otherwise it will be spoilt. Artificial attempt is not good. (pause) Prabhupada: Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado (Sri Sri Gurv-a??aka 8)—we are singing daily, hundred times. Guru means kintu prabhor ya? priya eva tasya (Sri Sri Gurv-a??aka 7). Do you understand all these lines? You sing daily, thrice. Do you understand the meaning of these words? Can anyone explain?
Devotee (3): Kintu prabhor ya? priya eva tasya—"The spiritual master is very dear to Krishna."
Prabhupada: Yes. First of all one has to become very dear to K???a, then automatically he becomes guru. And when one becomes very dear to K???a, then he becomes guru, and by the mercy of such guru Krishna becomes merciful. These are the statements of the sastra. Ar na koriho asa. What is that, guru-mukha-padma-vakya?
Devotee (3): guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya ar na koriho mane asa (Sri-guru-vandana)
Prabhupada: Ar na koriho mane asa. Simply whatever you hear from the guru, try to execute it. Ar na koriho mane asa. Do not expect anything more. So whatever we are chanting, we are reading, we must realize that. The Gaudiya Madha institution became a failure on account of disobedience and not following the orders. Visvanatha Cakravarti ?hakura's statement about the verse vyavasayatmika buddhir—find out this verse from the Bhagavad-gita. The Caitanya-caritam?ta statement, amara: one can become guru by the superior order.
Devotee (3): Shall I read it?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Devotee (3): vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana bahu-sakha hy anantas ca buddhayo 'vyavasayinam (BG 2.41)
"Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolved is many-branched."
Prabhupada: And the purport?
Devotee (3): “A strong faith in Krishna consciousness that one should be elevated to the highest perfection of life is called vyavasayatmika intelligence. The Caitanya-caritam?ta states:
'sraddha'-sabde visvasa kahe sudha niscaya krishe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kta haya (CC Madhya 22.62)
“Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. When one is engaged in the duties of Krishna consciousness, he need not act in relationship to the material world, with obligations to family traditions, humanity or nationality. Fruitive activities are the engagements of one's reaction from past good or bad deeds. When one is awake in K???a consciousness, he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities. When one is situated in Krishna consciousness, all activities are on the absolute plane, for they are no longer subject to dualities like "good" and "bad." The highest perfection of K???a consciousness is renunciation of the material conception of life. This state is automatically achieved by progressive Krishna consciousness.
The resolute purpose of a person in Krishna consciousness is based on knowledge (vasudeva? sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabha?) (BG7.19) by which one comes to know perfectly that Vasudeva, or Krishnaa, is the root of all manifested causes. As water on the root of a tree is automatically distributed to the leaves and branches, in Krishna consciousness one can render the highest service to everyone—namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Krishna is satisfied by one's actions, then everyone will be satisfied. “Service in Krishna consciousness is, however, best practiced under the able guidance of a spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of Krishna, who knows the nature of the student and who
can guide him to act in Krishna consciousness. As such, to be well versed in Krishna consciousness one has to act firmly and obey the representative of Krishna, and one should accept the instructions of the bona fide spiritual master as one's mission in life. Visvanatha Cakravarti ?hakura instructs us, in his famous prayers for the spiritual master, as follows: yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadanna gati? kuto 'pi dhyaya? stuva?s tasya yasas tri-sandhya? vande guro? sricara?aravindam
(Sri Sri Gurv-a??aka 8)
“"By satisfaction of the spiritual master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes satisfied. And by not satisfying the spiritual master, there is no chance of being promoted to the plane of Krishna consciousness. I should, therefore, meditate and pray for his mercy three times a day, and offer my respectful obeisances unto him, my spiritual master."
"The whole process, however, depends on perfect knowledge of the soul beyond the conception of the body—not theoretically, but practically, when there is no longer chance for sense gratification manifested in Fruitive activities. When one is not firmly fixed in mind… One who is not firmly fixed in mind is diverted by various types of fruitive activities." Prabhupada: These artificial attempts to become guru is not the platform of guru. Do you all realize this now? Hm?
Devotees: Yes.
Prabhupada: Just like this Bal Yogi Guru Maharaja. That kind of Guru Maharaja anyone can become; it is not very difficult. But really guru is not like that. That is eva? parampara vidu?.Eva? parampara…Eh?
Devotees: eva? parampara-praptam ima? rajar?ayo vidu? (BG 4.2)
Prabhupada: Ima? rajar?ayo vidu?. Through the parampara. Hmm? Ima? vivasvate yoga proktavan aham (BG 4.1). So the training period to attempt to become guru, that is not very good etiquette. That is artificial. At least officially during the lifetime of guru, nobody should attempt like that. The disciple should always remain as perfectly subordinate and be disciplined. Disciple means one who is being disciplined. That is disciple. Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
He is God, Krishna;
still He said, guru more murkha dekhi' karila sasana (CC Adi 7.71): "My guru, seeing Me a fool number one, he has chastised Me." Now who can chastise Krishna, Caitanya Mahaprabhu? But that is the way of disciplic succession. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, guru more murkha dekhi. Who can be guru of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and who is actually His guru who will say Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a fool? But He said that guru more murkha dekhi' karila sasana: "My Guru Maharaja found Me a fool number one, and therefore he has chastised Me." This is the position of disciple.
So one who is always prepared to be chastised by guru, he is eligible to become guru. So these attempts are being done, just like Gaurasundara told, that "Why should I live under the subjugation of these people? Let me go away, become a guru." Similarly Sudama. This attempt will not be successful, but there is some attempt like that. What can be done? Such attempt will never be successful, but there are some attempts like that. (break) What is your answer? Gopala Krisha: I think that everybody should resolve not to do it in any form at all. I have heard similar… I have heard this type of complaint from other places also, where some other devotees have tried to call themselves some type of a guru. Whenever I heard that, I have been very disturbed.
Devotee (2): Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is desiring to be lower than the straw in the street.
Prabhupada: Hm?
Devotee (2): Caitanya Mahaprabhu is desiring to be lower than the straw in the street. So for him to desire to be guru, that is not in line with Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Gopala Krishna: Srila Prabhupada, I am just trying to clarify—I don’t want to offend anyone—but no disciple of yours should call himself dik?a-guru or sik?a-guru. Am I right? Prabhupada: Well, everyone is engaged to become sik?a-guru, but one should become perfect. The attempt is—what is called?—probationer. When probationer period is finished, then he is naturally, automatically, bona fide guru. Not in the probationer period. That is immature attempt. That will failure. Amara ajnaya (CC Madhya 7.128),
Caitanya Mahaprabhu said: "By My order."
So all my disciples are expected to become sik?a-guru on my order, not by his own order. That is meaning I am giving sannyasa, I am sending you to different places, so this means that you have to carry out the order of the guru very strictly; then you become mature. Otherwise it will be artificial attempt, and that kind of guru will not help. Just like there are so many gurus and avataras and yogis are coming. For time being there is some culture(?), and what is the effect? Just like this… What is that?.....”
Srila Prabhupada, you created a Hare Krishna explosion in 1966 on this earth - the tremors of which continue to be felt even today. Please create more such explosions, which results in creating transcendental employment of loving devotional service to the Lord for thousands of souls. Anticipating and always in great hope for such new transcendental explosions, Your fallen servant who begs at your lotus feet to be held always by your divine mercy,
Madhu Pandit Dasa
President, ISKCON-Bangalore
