Two kinds of Pure Devotees

When Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada uses the phrase “pure devotee,” we understand these two little mysterious words in two ways: suddha-bhakta and antaranga-bhakta. Suddha-bhaktas are pure devotees in the mellows of dasya, sakhya, and vatsalya; antaranga-bhaktas are pure devotees in the mellow of madhura-rasa only. Hanumanaji is a suddha-bhakta, not an antaranga-bhakta.

Uddhavaji is a suddha-bhakta not an antaranga-bhakta, and so on. But when we come to the followers of the gopis of Vrindavana, we enter the realm of antaranga-bhaktas. Gadadhara Pandita is the leading example of an antaranga-bhakta. There are more, no doubt, like for example: Rupa Goswami/Rupa Manjari; Sanatana Goswami/Lavanga Manjari; Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada/Nayanamani Manjari…

Bona fide Guru and Adhikara

Nowadays, there has come a growing controversy amongst ourselves: Who’s the next bona fide Guru? And since that has become a topic with a near foregone conclusion, another has simultaneously arisen more specifically: Isn’t Srila Narayana Maharaja speaking too high, way over our heads?

Recently, I heard it through the grapevine that some devotees were going to build up a concrete case against Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja for “speaking too high.” First, I would like to forewarn those devotees who are trying to build such a case that they are dangerously playing with a flower-in-the-sky. This is the present, glaring example of how Kali has definitely entered the sacred ground of all devotees.

Unfortunately, for the sake of society, friendship and family, some of us are willing to do anything to stop our inevitable push of surrender. The Philosopher Voltaire once said, “I detest what you write, but I will sacrifice my life to see that you continue.” It is certainly applicable here. Rather than being quick to find fault in the preaching and angle of presentation of Srila Narayana Maharaja, we should be quicker to embrace his fresh vision of Krishna consciousness. The point is: Everyone is entitled to preach the way they choose, but only the really intelligent class of devotees will be able to detect where the true flow is coming down from. I mean by this that the sincere devotees should help Srila Narayana Maharaja’s preaching (and all those who fearlessly try to push on Mahaprabhu’s mission) with kind support and loving words, not with threats of hindering his preaching.

Still, there is so much false propaganda being spread about Srila Narayana Maharaja that we are amazed to see how he keeps on going, preaching under all forms of bogus, kali-yuga criticism, fearlessly and uncompromisingly pushing forward, sparing no one who holds onto old conditionings. There have been so many concepts that many of us have learned from Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja that it is almost an understatement to extol him as our siksa-guru, our instructing spiritual master. I mean by this, that the word “Guru” in itself is a sacred, noble, unblemished, transcendental and svatantra word. (Note: Here, svatantra means that the guru has his own independence that none of us can change one way or the other.) In other words, by all my glorification of his qualities or critical analysis, nothing I say or do will change his Himalayan-Sumera-like position anyway. Wasn’t Srila Bhaktivedant Swami Maharaja Prabhupada like this? Wasn’t Srila Bhakti Raksaksa Sridhara Maharaja like this also? And what about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada also? And Srila Bhakti Prajnana Goswami Maharaja? And should we not add Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja also to this unique list of uncompromising pure Vaisnavas? And is it just my subjective, personal observation?

Sat-Guru is Always A Form-Breaker, not a Form-Maker

Some one may interrupt here and say with a doubt,”What are you saying? Is every rebel a Guru?” No, I am not saying Srila Narayana Maharaja is some rebel “without a cause.” We are not talking about chaos caused by ordinary, envious, and rebellious persons. Srila Narayana Maharaja is a spiritual enigma in his own right. He is what Srila Sridhara Maharaja himself once said in his own critical self-analysis: “I am a form-breaker, not a form-maker.” Still, Srila Narayana Maharaja has stayed within his own Guru’s society, the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti, founded by Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Goswami Maharaja, for all these 50 plus years, preaching with his own unique style, not venturing to initiate disciples until seventy-some years old. He had made a pact along with his godbrother, nitya-lila pravista Sripada Trivikrama Maharaja, not to take upon himself any disciples. The appointed and recognized acarya was Srila Bhaktivedanta Vamana Maharaja, a qualified senior devotee (a disciple of Srila Bhakisiddhanta Prabhupada by first initiation) to them both. So why would Srila Narayana Maharaja start taking on the burden of disciples and risk a schism within the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti? A necessity, that’s why. To help devotees once again understand what Srila Prabhupada came to give us. Cataracts had already began to form over our eyes.

Once I was on a morning walk in Mathura with Srila Narayana Maharaja, and my godbrother, Gopa Vrinda Pal Prabhu asked him some question regarding Guru; before he entered the door of Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Math, Srila Narayana Maharaja turned to him and said: “Who appointed Swami Maharaja as Guru? No one appointed Swami Maharaja as Guru…no one…” It is not a rubber-stamp title. And such is his own position. Now, according to the purport of Srila Jiva Goswami in the Bhakti-Rasamrita-Sindhu on the statement about “one should not accept too many disciples,” Jiva Goswami has said that that is according to the adhikara or qualification of that person, and here this statement is applicable. A Guru may have one or two disciples, or a Guru may have thousands of disciples. It is not a hard and fast rule. So, some one may come forward and try to criticize Srila Narayana Maharaja on this point: “He is initiating so many new devotees, like the phrase ‘sisya-pagal’ [note: Bengali for “mad for disciples”].

Oh, he is stealing our devotees! He must be stopped; he is causing so must disturbance in our society!” But we should examine the adhikara or qualification of the Guru before we make such flimflam, self-destructive allegations. The second accusation has also become consequential leftovers from rampant, errant propaganda: He is speaking too high.

Did Not Srila Prabhupada Speak Too High?

When I first came to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada, I could neither understand his “British/Indian English” nor his Bengali songs. The first song I remember hearing was this lamentable dirge, coming from a whining, groaning harmonium (Hari Haraye Namah Krsna).

God! I could not understand where he was coming from at that time at all! All I remember was I just wanted to try to understand what he was singing about.

Still, it did not matter at all, there was a ring of truth about it. I could have very well made the case that “Srila Prabhupada was speaking too high. Why doesn’t he sing so I can understand him? God knows, I can understand TS Eliot, William S Burroughs, or even Bob Dylan easier than this foreign Guru!” (note: The word “Guru” was not a popular term before Srila Prabhupada came to the West in the 60s.) I think if we all could look back, we were all in the same position. Then when I went to Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja I heard the same criticism (note: The phrase “siksha-guru” was not even thought much about before Srila Sridhara Maharaja clarified our siksa-guru-parampara.) The first time I heard him was in Mayapura Candradaya Mandira. He said on a tape simply, “Beauty is higher than justice.”

On trying to grasp the meaning of my Krsna conscious life in the absence of Srila Prabhupada, that struck me like an Indra-vajra, a thunderbolt from Satya-loka. It immediately took me to some refreshingly higher platform! And now Srila Narayana Maharaja, the same accusation. Even, recently, I remember one of Srila Narayana Maharaja’s disciples asking me to explain Bhakti-Rasamrita-Sindhu-Bindu and to also help clarify the meaning of Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s “form-breaker, not a form-breaker” statement. Both were too difficult to grasp. (note: It is like that many times when we never have had personal association with that Vaisnava.) Another devotee friend called me up with the Eureka! expression one morning, saying that he was getting into BRSB finally and it was so good now! I told him Srila Narayana Maharaja’s books are like that, time bombs. They explode in the brain like time-delayed pellets, clearing out so many encephalous misconceptions, challenging our limited understanding of tattva after tattva…opening our hearts to a natural greed for rasa-tattva and ultimately awakening our primary goal once again, Radha-dasyam, the service to Srimati Radhika’s lotus feet.

Those who seem to be gathering balsa wood for fire, trying to find convincing accusations against Srila Narayana Maharaja, are truly wasting their time. To put it mildly, they have come under a very contagious atmosphere in Kali-yuga. It is a signal to re-examine ourselves once again and ask ourselves: Did we really catch everything that our Guru, Srila Prabhupada, or even our previous siksa-guru after Srila Prabhupada left, was giving us? “Physicians, heal thyself!” begins to really come alive now. I mean, really, accusations such as “speaking too high” or “stealing Prabhupada’s devotees” is a lot of hot-air balloon. It is like the famous “underground writer” William S Burroughs said: It is a “Cold Burn,” like touching ice and feeling it burn.

Popped Balloons

How can I prove this? My dear Godbrothers, and interested gentlemen and ladies, I have no desire to prove all this. Spiritual life is just like it is given in the Brhad-Bhagavatamrta. Narada Muni goes to so many devotees expressing that they are the true recipients of Krishna’s mercy. That humble devotee remarks, no, that that other devotee is actually the true recipient…and so on and so on…until we come to the gopis of Vrindavana. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada himself says in Caitanya Caritamrta that if you want to understand raganuga-bhakti, spontaneous loving devotional sevice, read Brhad-Bhagavatamrta. But read it in the association of rasika devotees, those who have acquired the sukriti through the proper association and channels. We should study it until we are blue around our throat, until we understand what the three lines on Lord Siva’s neck really mean, or why mother Yasoda’s rope to bind Krsna was always two fingers short. If we have not learned to appreciate all devotees in a realistic manner, then what have we learned? A real devotee will see another’s greatness and glories in even the most insignificant attempts, not his shortcomings and frailties to become a qualified disciple himself. He has factually no time to compare one devotee to another in order to find fault in him. He only sees other devotees doing such wonderful service. All are special in the eyes of our transcendental spaceman Narada Muni, from the simple brahmin to the most exalted gopis. And even the gopis are addressing the trees, the bushes, the grass as more exalted than themselves! So, where are we now? Can we see the Guru with these cataract eyes or lasik surgery eyes? Never! It is a dynamic and living thing. It is the aprakrta realm, the humanlike yet divine realm, we are approaching.

Conclusion

There is certainly an absolute and a relative in spiritual life at every level that should be considered. But if we keep fighting amongst ourselves, not helping each other to relearn to see Guru, then we have sold out to Kali. Not how another devotee is preaching and becoming so polpular, how another Guru is “stealing my disciples,” how Srila Narayana Maharaja is “talking too high,” then what will happen? Kali wins, O Guru bhais, Kali wins and takes all…Loser wins nothing…Certainly we will not get the grace of our eternal bhagavata-parampara with such a compromising mood towards mayic conceptions. Srila Prabhupada has warned us very clearly about the atmosphere of quarrelsome Kali-yuga:

SB 10.3.21 purport: “The entire world is now full of many asuras in the guise of politicians, gurus, sadhus, yogis and incarnations, and they are misleading the general public away from Krsna consciousness, which can offer true benefit to human society.”

Prophetic, so prophetic, isn’t it?

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The Cold Burn –-This phrase was used by William S Burroughs to mean (in his own harrowing, descending experience): “Every addict has his own special symptom that cracks all control.”

In other words, we may see the ice is cold, but now it has become so-o-o cold we experience it as hot-t-t. Our only hope and pride in the vision, the words, and the causeless guidance of liberated, uttama, rasika Vaisnavas is really, truly the only way. This is what it means to relearn to see Guru again. It is not a question of forgetting Prabhupada, or keeping him in the center. We had already forgotten him; we had already lost the center as soon as he disappeared… Why? Because centralization of how to see Guru is a twenty-four hour thing, not some Form conscious mood. It is not a static thing; it is dynamic. Just as the eye needs to constantly be moving to see properly, to focus on the only point it can actually see, in the very center of the fovea centralis, our understanding of Guru has to be constantly growing and seeing Guru.

What does Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada say about all this? In Caitanya Caritamrta when Mahaprabhu visited the householder Kurma Das, who became enthused to leave his home and travel with Mahaprabhu everywhere, He spoke these words:

Prabhu kahe aiche bata kabhu na kahiba
Grhe rahi krsna-nama nirantara laiba

Yare dekha tare kah krsna-upasa
Amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa

Kabhu na badhibe tomaya visaya taranga
Punarapi ei thai pabe mora sanga

“Never make this suggestion again. You should rather remain at home and constantly chant the holy name of Krsna. Instruct whomever you see in the instructions and religion of Krsna. Become a spiritual master on my order and deliver everyone in this land. Do this and you will never again be entangled in the waves of materialistic life. Indeed, you will have my company again, here in this very place.” (CC 2.7.127-129)

And then in his anubhasya, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada says:

“For those who are determined to abandon everything to take shelter of the Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and serve Him exclusively, the Lord here gives the instruction to remain in the home, that is, to give up the pride of being a heroic performer of the holy name and adopt the regular practice of chanting the holy name of Krishna in the home and, with the humility that is characterized by remaining in the householder life, instruct others in chanting the holy names. If one takes up the duties of a spiritual master in this way, he will never become entangled in the “waves of materialistic life” in the form of the desire for self-aggrandizement.

(And here is the ultimate point of this paper by my own insignificant self)

“Many foolish people think that to teach through writing books as Rupa Goswami or Raghunatha Das Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Jiva Goswami have done, or to take on large numbers of disciples like Madhvacarya, Ramanujacarya or Narottama Das Thakur, is an impediment to spiritual practice.

Indeed, these less intelligent persons even claim that such activities are material entanglements. By adhering to such erroneous ideas, they become offenders to the many unalloyed devotees who have nothing to do with the material world and yet preach. This teaching of the Lord is intended for these people, who, if they analyze it carefully, will eventually give up false pride and the show of humility and, rather than demonstrating an inimical attitude towards those who are devout to the Lord, will advance the cause of genuine bhajana.”