VNN Editorial - Blasphemy Of The Bonafide Spiritual Master

EDITORIAL October 1, 2000 VNN6287 Comment on this story

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Blasphemy Of The Bonafide Spiritual Master

BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI

EDITORIAL, Oct 1 (VNN) — Dear Assembled Vaisnavas,

Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Please accept my fallen obeisances.

As a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, (although fallen as I am), I see my Guru Maharaj as the Krsna's deputed representative who has taken it upon himself to try to save not only me from this world of samsara, but the other jivas as well. Despite the varying words and opinions of other devotees, I see Srila Prabhupada as being infallible in this regard. This vision is not simply based on the evidence gathered through my own conditioned assessment, but is based on the statements of sastra (in which are to be found Krsna's words of assessment as well), and the teachings of previous sadhus given as evidence, these assessments which I accept to be absolute.

“Quite a number of devotees are now trying to blame the mishaps of ITS GON on Srila Prabhupada himself, but I think it would do them well to think things over again and reassess the matter.”

Since Aug 98, when I went to live in New Vrndavan and then in the Columbus ashram, I have heard numerous negative comments voiced by various devotees against Srila Prabhupada. Getting some little computer access, I am seeing things in print as well. I have even received emails from devotees in this regard where they call Srila Prabhupada "fanatical" with relation to some of the things that Srila Prabhupada said, including his asking us to follow the regulative principles.

The following words are a few excerpts from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Siddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada's purports to CB Adi Ch 17, Verse 154-158

"...If an atheist considers that suffering miseries in the hell known as Andhatamisra or Maha-raurava is most palatable, and in order to achieve that he blasphemes my spiritual master, then without considering his mundane prestigious position or exalted post I will kick his head, which is the reservoir of all sinful propensities.

"If a genuine disciple lacks this quality of genuine, pure, topmost devotion at the lotus feet of his bona fide spiritual master, then he cannot be called an actual "disciple". Without understanding this fact, sinful hellish people invite inauspiciousness by blaspheming the spiritual master rather then serving him.

"...Even the genuine desire for receiving the nonduplicitious mercy of a pure Vaisnava is a rare commodity for ignorant mundane sinful people, pious fruitive workers, or mental speculators..."

Krsna explains (in BG 7.3), "Out of many thousands of men, one will endeavor for perfection, and out of those who achieve it, hardly one knows Me in truth." Krsna explains later (7.16) that generally the people who come to approach Him are pious and fall into four catagories of seekers: Those trying to obtain wealth, those who are in distress, the curious, and those who are seeking knowledge of the absolute truth. At the same time, there are also instances of other types of people who approach Krsna, even demons, attracted to Krsna or His opulences, who will approach Krsna for reasons other than attaining pure devotional service.

Srila (AC Bhaktivedanta) Prabhupada explains in his CC Madhya lila 1.220 purport "Unfortunately in this age of Kali there are many mundane persons in the dress of Vaisnavas and Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura has described them as disciples of Kali. He says kali-cela." In CC Madhya 1.218 purport, Srila Prabhupada explains, "A mundane person in the dress of a Vaisnava should not be respected but rejected. This in enjoined in the sastras (upeksa). The word upeksa means neglect. One should neglect an envious person...There are many jealous people in the dress of Vaisnavas in this Krsna consciousness movement and they should be completely neglected. There is no need to serve a jealous person who is in the dress of a Vaisnava." So we can see that Srila Prabhupada in the mid 1970s was telling us that even within THIS Krsna consciousness movement such people are present.

In 1970, (September 2), Srila Prabhupada wrote in a letter to Hansaduta, "It is a fact however that the great sinister movement is within our Society." Thus, not every last person in the dress of a Vaisnava is necessarily coming to Krsna and His pure devotee with the motive of receiving pure God consciousness, and may instead be seeking out something else.

When I see and hear of so many atrocities within the association of devotees, I forget these very important words of instruction in these purports. I also tend to forget these words when I hear the so many statements of very critical nature being made by various devotees against Srila Prabhupada, the very person who brought this Krsna conscious philosophy to the Western world, and without whose mercy MOST of us would not have had ANY exposure to Krsna consciousness. Needless to say, I feel very disturbed (and amazed) to hear and see such things, although once in a while though, I will get over my amazement and recall the information that Srila Prabhupada gave in those verses: "Not everyone wearing dhoti or sari and tilok is a devotee."

Quite a number of devotees are now trying to blame the mishaps of ITS GON on Srila Prabhupada himself, but I think it would do them well to think things over again and reassess the matter. I feel that most, (if not all), of the present-day problems we see being experienced within ISKCON are due to the fact that there are some very grave offenses being committed directly to Srila Prabhupada. So many of us, including GBC/sannyasi/guru ISKCON leaders are disobeying Srila Prabhupada's direct instructions to us even with regard to the basics, the following of the regulative principles, etc. There are also other offenses being made as well by various ISKCON leaders and their followers to other pure, and very advanced Vaisnavas.

(For now I am going to concentrate on the offenses being made to Srila Prabhupada as I feel that most devotees can agree to Srila Prabhupada's being a pure devotee, irregardless of the "camp" to which one identifies - or misidentifies - oneself as "belonging" to.)

When one commits such offenses, especially to the pure devotee (what to speak of one's own spiritual master who is a pure devotee), one is punished through the loss of one's bhakti which also includes the loss of one's devotional power of discrimination. The very sad fact of the matter is that many devotees, including at least some, (if not many), of ISKCON's present-day "big shots" (leaders) obviously do not have a proper understanding of Srila Prabhupada as a pure devotee, his position as a saktyavesa avatar, (being fully empowered by Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya to distribute Krsna consciousness according to kala, desa and patra - kali kalera dharma krsna nama sankirtan krsna sakti vina nahe tara pravartana), and what it is they are supposed to be doing as disciples of His Divine Grace in terms of their adhering to and executing Srila Prabhupada's instructions and desires in this regard. I say this based upon the many visible results of their improper actions and mentality.

(CC Antya 5.71-74) Pur: "One is forbidden to accept the guru, or spiritual master, as an ordinary human being (gurusu nara-matih)...A spiritually advanced person who acts with authority, as the spiritual master, speaks as the Supreme Personality of Godhead dictates from within. Thus it is not he that is personally speaking. When a pure devotee or spiritual master speaks, what he says should be accepted as having been directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the parampara system."

Padma Purana arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu...

sama dhir yasya va naraki sah

"One who considers the (bonafide) spiritual master to be an ordinary man is considered to possess a hellish mentality."

WHY is it that when such a mahabhagavat, our spiritual father, Srila Prabhupada - the founder of ISKCON - is being criticized and even blasphemed by people who have been initiated into this sampradaya (in direct link to Srila Prabhupada) through ISKCON gurus, are none of the ISKCON leaders making an appropriate (big) reaction about such things? WHY are ISKCON gurus NOT correcting their disciples in this regard? A bonafide disciple is willing to lay down his/her own life (which s/he sees as belonging to his/her Guru Maharaj) for the service, protection and defense of his/her spiritual master. Why is it that Srila Prabhupada's disciples - those who have been placed on the GBC to protect Srila Prabhupada and the spiritual movement that he implanted - do NOT come to the front and scripturally defeat such nonsense? Is it that they don't care? Is it that they themselves capitalize on the criticism and blasphemy of Srila Prabhupada made by newer devotees, their followers? (Sometimes they themselves make criticism - the "elevator effect": They allow Srila Prabhupada to be pulled down by others, (their doing it themselves sometimes), and they either push themselves up or allow others to push them up. Vuela!, one APPEARS to have become "balanced" "equalized" with Srila Prabhupada. One puts oneself on an "even" floor with Srila Prabhupada, thus posing, (maybe even deluding oneself into thinking oneself) to be a "pure" devotee on the same level with Srila Prabhupada.

Or is their apparent silence in the criticism and blasphemy of Srila Prabhupada due to their own lack of understanding and/or realization, (which may even have been taken away by Krsna Himself, due to numerous offenses to Srila Prabhupada and to so many devotees) that they do not know the actual position that Srila Prabhupada occupies, and are thus not able to speak up to defend Srila Prabhupada according to the assessments of sadhu and sastra. It seems to me that due to material objectives, the GBC body as a whole have minimized more and more, Srila Prabhupada's position as a pure devotee to such an extent that practically speaking, they have almost annihilated the very aims of ISKCON which Srila Prabhupada tried to establish.

CC Antya lila 3.164 explains, mahantera apamana ye desa-grame haya eka janara dose saba desa ujadaya

"Whenever an advanced devotee is insulted, for one man's fault the entire town or place is devastated.

Everyone in connection with him will suffer."

The problems in ITS A CON, stem right from the top, the leaders. With the leaders being so much deluded, so are many of the younger devotees who take their teaching by verbal instruction and example. (yad yad acarati sresthas...) Offenses and blasphemy of Srila Prabhupada ranges from the subtle to the blatent.

Seeing how devotees are so free in their criticisms and downright blasphemy of Krsna's purely empowered representative, no wonder there are so many other offenses being committed to other lesser devotees.

The first offense to the Holy Name is to blaspheme those devotees who have dedicated their lives to the propagation of Holy Name of the Lord. What better example do we all know of, of a devotee who was giving extensive propagation of Krsna's Holy Name, than Srila Prabhupada? And yet there are devotees who in their criticism, (among so many other things that they say against Srila Prabhupada), even go so far as to call Srila Prabhupada "fanatical" with regard to Srila Prabhupada's telling us the necessity of following the FOUR regulative principles. (Pretty amazing that this criticism is made, if you ask me.)

It is one thing to be weak, to not be able to follow, and to be open, honest, and admit to one's weaknessess in these regards, but it is another thing to try to either cover up for one's weaknesses by placing the falsified "blame" on the pure devotee, or to just be so devoid of a proper understanding of what the Vaisnava philosophy constitutes (with regard to proper and improper practice), and thus one's calling the pure devotee or his instructions "fanatical" when he directs his disciples to do or not do something. One must also realize that in negatively labeling Srila Prabhupada in such a manner, one is also labeling all of the great Vaisnava acaryas as well, thus risking offending them. (After all, any person of intelligence can understand that Srila Prabhupada is not putting his own presentation, but is simply passing down to us the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy with it's "Dos" and "Don'ts" which have been given by all of the previous Vaisnava Acaryas. If anything, Srila Prabhupada was so much lenient with us due to his knowing our greatly fallen, degraded, and wretched condition.)

(SB. 2.9.8) "Following the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the only duty of the disciple, and this completely faithful execution of the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the secret of success." And yet we will dare to criticize Srila Prabhupada within whose line we have taken initiation.

(SB 4.9.4 purport) "The Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone's heart, specifically gives a devotee intelligence to describe Him. It is therefore understood that when a devotee writes or speaks about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his words are dictated by the Lord from within. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-Gita, Tenth Chapter: to those who constantly engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, the Lord, from within, dictates what to do next in order to serve Him."

Amazingly enough, when younger devotees spout forth with their attacks, (not only on the pure devotee, but even directly on the Bhagavatam itself), those persons in leadership position, who one would THINK would philosophically defend and address these points, do NOT. Many of them either remain silent, or (worse), support the person's "right" to make such statements.

And they even go so far as to criticize and discredit those devotees who DO speak up on behalf of the sastra, Krsna's pure devotee, and Krsna's words in the sastra in defense to all of these. (I feel that these other "tributaries" of deviation are stemming from the main polluted "rivers," improper leadership who are possessed of a spiritually polluted and contaminated consciousness.)

With regard to the attacks concerning certain verses contained in the Srimad Bhagavatam, we must consider the question of the sages put to Suta Goswami at Naimasaranya" (SB 1.1.23) Now that Sri Krsna the Absolute Truth has left for His abode, tell us to whom the religious principles have gone for shelter." Suta Goswami then answers (SB 1.3.43) that this Srimad Bhagavatam (as brilliant as the sun) is where people shall be able to get light from the dense darkness of ignorance in this age of Kali Yuga. Amazingly enough even the Srimad Bhagavatam verses are being attacked by certain so-called devotees. (Hey, WHAT line of disciplic succession are you in anyway?) Not only is the pure devotee being attacked, but the Srimad Bhagavatam as well. These attackers seem to forget the verse (1.2.18) "By regular hearing of the Srimad Bhagavatam and by rendering service to the pure devotee, all the troublesome things in the heart are destroyed and loving devotional service to Krsna is established in the heart."

Who in this age is a better, more qualified Vaisnava scholar than Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur? These are HIS words: "If a genuine disciple lacks this quality of genuine, pure, topmost devotion at the lotus feet of his bona fide spiritual master, then he cannot be called an actual 'disciple'. Without understanding this fact, sinful hellish people invite inauspiciousness by blaspheming the spiritual master rather then serving him."

Amazingly enough, although a devotee is supposed to act like fire when the pure devotee is blasphemed, we are simply sitting back complacently. Either we are tolerating it, or worse, accepting the dangerous words of foolishness ourselves. What does that mean? That our spiritual intelligence has been STOLEN, taken, and ripped away from us. Why? Is it possible that because of our own offenses to Srila Prabhupada, our covering up, minimizing, deliberate ignoring, and denial of his instructions, our REFUSING to do our duty in carrying out the instructions of our Guru Maharaj, that our sense of proper, spiritual discrimination has been taken away from us by Krsna? And thus so many problems in the society of ISKCON have come?

(CC Adi 1.46 pur) "Influenced by an envious temperament and dissatisfied because of an attitude of sense gratification, mundaners criticize a real acarya...In his prayers to the spiritual master, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura confirms that all the revealed scriptures accept the spiritual master to be identical with the Personality of Godhead because he is a very dear and confidential servant of the Lord. Gaudiya Vaisnavas therefore worship Srila Gurudeva (the spiritual master) in the light of his being the servitor of the Personality of Godhead. In all the ancient scriptures of devotional service and in the more recent songs of Narottama das Thakura, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other unalloyed Vaisnavas, the spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Srimati Radharani or a manifested representation of Srila Nityananda Prabhu."

Of course we do not accept things blindly, even with regard to Guru, Sadhu, and Sastra, (these being our guides providing they are bonafide). Intelligence is never being negated or denied; questioning may be there, but there is a proper way to question, a proper mood in which it is done. BG 4.34 explains exactly HOW, (in what mentality), these questions are to be put forth; with submissive inquiry, NOT in a challenging way. That is a very elementary lesson in spiritual life, part of the ABCs. Thus, there is no problem with someone having a question about some aspects of the philosophy of Krsna consciousness, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the meaning of some, many, or all of Srila Prabhupada's purports, or even of Srila Prabhupada himself, but after a person has taken initiation within this line, one would think that the persoh would have some understanding of HOW, (in what mood) to present one's questions. We also have to accept the fact, (which requires one to be possessed to some extent of the quality of humility), that we are not capable of understanding and knowing so many of the things in Vaisnavism that may NOT be open to us at a particular point in time due to our own lack of purity or qualification (adhikara).

Mundaka Upanisad 3.2.3
nayam atma pravacanena labhya
na medhasa na bahuna srutena
yam evaisa vrnute tena labhyas
tasyaisa atma vivrnute tanum svam

"The Supreme Lord is not obtained by expert material explanations, by vast intelligence or even by hearing.

He is obtained only by those to whom He chooses to reveal Himself."

And Krsna explains that the only way to obtain Him is through devotional service, (BG 18.55). And how is that devotional service to be rendered? By serving Krsna through Krsna's pure devotee. Krsna Himself explains that one who claims oneself to be Krsna's devotee is NOT a devotee, but one who claims himself to be a servant of Krsna's devotee, s/he is a devotee.

Garuda Purana ye me bhakta janar partha na me bhaktas ca te janah mad bhaktanam ca ye bhaktas te me bhaktatamo matah

Lord Brahma explains in SB 10.14.3 that a person who engages himself in hearing from a bonafide devotee, who lives an honest life and gives up those empiric speculations concerning Krsna, will eventually attract the mercy of Krsna. Lord Brahma continues, "My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years." And Krsna Himself gives caution against the flowery words of the Vedas. (BG 2.42,43) So other than the mercy of the pure devotee, there is no way that one can come to know Krsna. (And we are certainly NOT anywhere near to the level of those jnanis and empiric philosophers who try to understand and know the Supreme Lord through empiric methods.) Thus, better to abandon our false egos, our thinking ourselves to be so intelligent that we can dare to criticize the pure devotee, who through his empowerment was able to spread this Krsna conscious philosophy throughout the whole world. (Even within just two months, Srila Prabhupada put out the whole Caitanya Caritamrta in SEVENTEEN volumes. If that is not empowerment by Krsna, then I don't know what else is. I challenge ANY of Srila Prabhupada's critics to put out TEN volumes of scriptural work in that amount of time.)

(SB 4.9.4 purport) "The Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone's heart, specifically gives a devotee intelligence to describe Him. It is therefore understood that when a devotee writes or speaks about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his words are dictated by the Lord from within. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-Gita, Tenth Chapter: to those who constantly engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, the Lord, from within, dictates what to do next in order to serve Him."

There are so many verses in the scriptures which explain that the conditioned soul can NOT understand the pure devotee by any means other than Krsna's mercy. Lord Caitanya says to Sanatan Goswami,

yanra citte krsna prema karaye udaya tanra vakya kriya mudra vijneha na bujhaya dhanyasyayam nava prema yasyon milati cetasi antarvanibhir apyasya nudra susthu sudurgama

"Even the most learned man cannot understand the words, activities and symptoms of a person situated in love of Godhead."

Krsna Himself says, (specifically with regard to the bonafide spiritual master),

acaryam mam vijaniyan navamanyeta karhicit na martya buddhya suyeta sarva deva mayo guruh

"One should know the acarya to be My very self and should never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him thinking him to be an ordinary man for he is the sum total of the demigods."

Who is a better authority than Krsna? So we can make so many speculations and theories, but there is NO point to ANY of these things. One can only know Krsna and His pure devotee by Krsna's mercy and the mercy of the pure devotee - brahmanda brahmite konya bhagavan jiva guru krsna prasade paya bhakti lata bija; yasya prasadad bhagavat prasado yasya prasadana gatih kuto pi dhyayan stuvams tasyaiya sastri sandam vande guror sri caranavindam - and if one is possessed of envy of Krsna and His pure devotee, then that mercy will most likely be denied to them, unless there is some very special circumstance for the mercy to be given. Thus, your speculation, my speculation, or anyone's speculation is NOT important. IF we are aspiring to become devotees, (or are already devotees) we are concerned with what Krsna Himself says, and what His pure devotees say. They are our guides and authorities.

Some devotees try to quote Srila Prabhupada as saying, "I am not perfect. None of us claim to be perfect; we have so many faults. But because we don't speak anything beyond Krsna's teachings, our teaching is therefore perfect." (Consciousness: The Missing Link, p.13-14), and they use such quotes to "substantiate" Srila Prabhupada's "imperfections," with their going on to speculate at to what perfection in the pure devotee does or does not constitute.

Again, devotees accept the conclusions of Krsna and His pure devotees, NOT our own philosophical and/or mental speculations. (Well, I think this means, and I think that means. Who cares what you think or I think? Have we even come to the point of realizing that we are NOT these bodies, that we can even DARE to think that we know what pure devotee means?) Better that we accept the words of Krsna, and those devotees who KNOW Krsna, and Krsna's energies, etc. and act according to Their words and instructions. The pure devotee is being directed by Krsna, wholly and solely. We know that one of the prominent qualities of a pure devotee is humility. So many prayers are there where such great Vaisnavas like Bhaktivinode Thakur and other pure Vaisnavas refer to themselves as being so "lowly" "having no love of Krsna," etc. But we know that they are saying those things simply out of their pure love and pure humility which comes from that pure love; likewise with Srila Prabhupada. So are we going to accept the presentation and conclusions of the bonafide gurus, scriptures, and previous sadhus, or will we go on with the propagations of our own (lack of) "intelligence" and mind with its speculations and concoctions, tainted with false ego, including the speculations of theso-called "leaders" of MISCON?

Srila Prabhupada explains: (SB 4.20.20) "Those who constantly engage in the devotional service

of the Lord in love and affection are directly in contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead sitting as the Supersoul in everyone's heart. The Lord is not faraway from the devotee. He is always in everyone's heart, but only the devotee can realize the Lord's presence, and thus he is directly connected, and he takes instruction from the Lord at every moment. Therefore, there is no chance of a devotee's being in error, nor is there any partiality on the part of the Lord for His pure devotees."

(SB 2.9.34) "God can be seen by the light of God and not by man-made speculations. Here this light is specifically mentioned as vidyat, which is an order by the Lord to Brahma. This direct order of the Lord is a manifestation of His internal energy, and this particular energy is the means of seeing the Lord face to face. Not only Brahma but anyone who may be graced by the Lord to see such merciful direct internal energy can also realize the Personality of Godhead WITHOUT ANY MENTAL SPECULATION."

Note: "without any mental speculation". The materially conditioned mind, intelligence, and ego are not going to enable us to realize Krsna. These elements have to be engaged in executing Krsna's desires which comes through the disciplic succession and is presented by the bonafide spiritual master; then one will be able to realize Krsna. Krsna does not reveal himself to mental speculators or materialists.

atah sri krsna namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih sevon mukhe hi javadau svayam eve sphuraty adah

No one can understand Krsna as He is with the blunt material senses, but He reveals Himself to one who has rendered devotional service to Him. (That service to Krsna is rendered through the pure devotee and the revelation includes understanding Krsna's pure devotee as well as Krsna.)

Krsna explains to Arjuna, (Garuda Purana) ye me bhaktah janar partha na me bhaktas ca te janah mad bhaktanam ca ye bhaktas te me bhaktatamo matah

"One who says he is My devotee is not My devotee, but one who says he is a servant of My devotees, he is My devotee." Very simple; by rendering service and pleasing Krsna's bonafide devotees, Krsna becomes pleased. Do the opposite, and the opposite happens.

Krsna can only be approached through the mercy of His devotee; He can NOT be approached directly by the neophyte. Blaspheme the pure devotee and one can put him/herself into big trouble.

(CC Antya Lila 3.52) TRANSLATION: Haridasa Thakura replied, "My dear Lord, do not be in anxiety. Do not be unhappy to see the condition of the yavanas in material existence.

PURPORT: These words of Haridasa Thakura are just befitting a devotee who has dedicated his life and soul to the service of the Lord...One who tries to relieve Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's anxiety for the fallen souls is certainly a most dear and confidential devotee of the Lord. To blaspheme such a devotee who is trying his best to spread the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the greatest offense. One who does so is simply awaiting punishment for his envy.

And in conclusion, this last reference: SB. 2.2.32) The truth is eternal, and as such there cannot be any new opinion about the truth. That is the way of knowing the knowledge contained in the Vedas. It is not a thing to be understood by one's erudite scholarship or by the fashionable interpretations of mundane scholars. THERE IS NOTHING TO BE ADDED AND NOTHING TO BE SUBTRACTED, BECAUSE THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH."

May Srimati Radharani bless us with pure surrender to the lotus feet of Her pure devotees.

I remain your fallen servant,

Mahavegavati Dasi
Hare Krsna

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