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EDITORIAL January 14, 1999 VNN2849 Has ISKCON Initiated Anyone Since 1977? BY MADHUDVISA DASA EDITORIAL, Jan 14 (VNN) — Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to become QUALIFIED spiritual masters and initiate their own disciples. Srila Prabhupada repeats this instruction over and over again in his books, classes, letters and conversations. It is impossible to dispute this direct order of Srila Prabhupada to all of his disciples to become QUALIFIED gurus. "That is the difficulty. Everyone sees that 'Some way or other, I become guru. Then so many persons will offer me respect. Somehow or other, create some situation. Then I become guru.' This is going on. Not bona fide guru. Bona fide guru is indicated by Caitanya, amara ajnaya guru hana: 'Become guru.' Why ambition? Actually become guru. But how to become guru? Yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna-upadesa'. That's it, otherwise goru. So they will not take this simple method." (760502rc.fij) Srila Prabhupada did not mention anything in his preaching except the standard concept of his disciples becoming qualified and preaching as "regular gurus." That's what Prabhupada wants, but it's up to his disciples to become qualified or to rot in maya, that's their independence. There's no other honest interpretation of what Srila Prabhupada preached. There are thousands of quotes. Srila Prabhupada always presents the same message. "One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should NEVER become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod." (SB 5.5.18) [ISKCON now admit their "gurus" cannot deliver the disciples, they say it is not necessary for them to do this anyhow as Prabhupada is the "deliver guru"! ISKCON gurus are only "instrumental gurus"??? Who has concocted this bogus concept of "guru"???!! They want to be gurus, to accept disciples and worship but they admit they can't deliver the disciples back home, back to Godhead--that we will have to leave to Srila Prabhupada...] "The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Krsna (Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam). Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Krsna becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart.... So by the order of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the cult of Srimad-Bhagavatam or the Bhagavad-gita can be preached all over the world, reclaiming all persons willing to accept the transcendental cult. Such cultural propaganda by the devotees will certainly be accepted by all persons who are reasonable and inquisitive, without any particular bias for the custom of the country." (SB 2.4.18) "One who is conversant with Vedic wisdom is a brahmana. And only a brahmana who is a pure Vaisnava and knows all the intricacies of the science of Krsna can become a spiritual master." (SB 3.6.30) "One who is engaged in devotional service has not the least fear in material existence. This is because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Supersoul and friend of everyone. One who knows this secret is actually educated, and one thus educated can become the spiritual master of the world. One who is an actually bona fide spiritual master, representative of Krsna, is not different from Krsna." (SB 4.29.51) "Prahlada Maharaja ultimately instructed his class friends, the sons of the demons, to accept the process of devotional service by preaching the science of Krsna consciousness to everyone. Preaching is the best service to the Lord. The Lord will immediately be extremely satisfied with one who engages in this service of preaching Krsna consciousness. This is confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita (18.69). Na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya-krttamah: 'There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.' If one sincerely tries his best to spread Krsna consciousness by preaching the glories of the Lord and His supremacy, even if he is imperfectly educated, he becomes the dearmost servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is bhakti. As one performs this service for humanity, without discrimination between friends and enemies, the Lord becomes satisfied, and the mission of one's life is fulfilled. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore advised everyone to become a guru-devotee and preach Krsna consciousness (yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa). That is the easiest way to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By such preaching, the preacher becomes satisfied, and those to whom he preaches are also satisfied. This is the process of bringing peace and tranquility to the entire world." (SB 6.16.43) The problem Srila Prabhupada had to deal with was at the time of his departure there was no one yet qualified among his disciples to initiate disciples. Prabhupada: Yes. I shall choose some guru. I shall say, "Now you become acarya. You become authorized." I am waiting for that. You become all acarya. I retire completely. But the training must be complete. Tamala Krsna: The process of purification must be there. Prabhupada: Oh, yes, must be there. Caitanya Mahaprabhu wants that. Amara ajnaya guru hana. "You become guru." (laughs) But be qualified. Little thing, strictly follower... Tamala Krsna: Not rubber stamp. Prabhupada: Then you'll not be effective. You can cheat, but it will not be effective... "The purport is that one cannot obtain krsna-bhakti, or the devotional service of the Lord, by official execution of the Vedic rituals. One has to approach a pure devotee. Narottama dasa Thakura sings, chadiya vaisnava-seva nistara payeche keba: 'Who has been elevated without rendering service to a pure Vaisnava?' It is the statement of Prahlada Maharaja that unless one is able to accept the dust from the lotus feet of a pure Vaisnava there is no possibility of achieving the platform of devotional service. That is the secret." (Adi 8.17) So Srila Prabhupada had the July 9th letter sent to all GBC's and Temple Presidents instructing that the ritvik system which was already in place in ISKCON should continue. Realistically can anyone suggest any other viable alternative? We have seen what happened when his leading disciples, his best men, appointed themselves as acaryas... It's history now, we all know what happened. Not a nice story. If the "Zonal Acaryas" were non-different to Srila Prabhupada as they claimed the whole world would be in a very different position now.... Just imagine if the Krishna consciousness movement had continued to expand as it was doing under Srila Prabhupada's personal direction, just imagine if the book distribution had continued to double every year after 1977. The devotees were distributing 1,000,000 copies of BTG every month then, if it had continued to double every year... [we would have to find some other planets also to distribute BTG on!] Anyhow it would have been a very different world... The "guru-tattva" Srila Prabhupada teaches is very simple. The Spiritual Master is a pure devotee, he is non-different from Krishna, because he only repeats the words spoken by Krishna and by his guru. He is acarya, he perfectly follows the principles of Krishna consciousness in his own life and teaches the same thing to his disciples. He does not have his own opinion. He simply presents the timeless knowledge coming to him from Krishna via the disciplic succession without changing it at all. In this way his words are not different from Krishna's words. He is a transparent via-medium to Krishna... "A real preacher cannot be bogus; he must first of all realize Lord Visnu as He is. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (4.34), upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah: 'one who has seen the truth can impart knowledge.' The word tattva-darsi refers to one who has perfectly realized the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a person can become a guru and propound Vaisnava philosophy all over the world." (SB 5.15.4) "'Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.' (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23) One must accept the pure devotee, the representative of God, as one's guru and then offer him all the respects one would offer the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the secret of success. For one who adopts this method, the perfect process is revealed. In this verse, the words yair anjasa ratih indicate that by offering service and surrendering to the spiritual master, one is elevated to devotional service, and by performing devotional service one gradually becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (SB 7.7.29) "'Any person who seriously desires to achieve real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of his spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters.' Similarly, Visvanatha Cakravarti, a great Vaisnava, also advises, yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah:'By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the mercy of Krsna.' This is the same advice given by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija). This is essential. One must come to Krsna consciousness, and therefore one must take shelter of a pure devotee. Thus one can become free from the clutches of matter." (SB 5.14.41) "We should strictly follow this injunction and never try to hear from Mayavadis, impersonalists, voidists, politicians or so-called scholars. Strictly avoiding such inauspicious association, we should simply hear from pure devotees. Srila Rupa Gosvami therefore recommends, sri-guru-padasrayah: one must seek shelter at the lotus feet of a pure devotee who can be one's guru. Caitanya Mahaprabhu advises that a guru is one who strictly follows the instructions of Bhagavad-gita: yare dekha, tare kaha, 'krsna'--upadesa (Cc. Madhya 7.128). A juggler, a magician or one who speaks nonsense as an academic career is not a guru. Rather, a guru is one who presents Bhagavad-gita, Krsna's instructions, as it is. Sravana is very important; one must hear from the Vaisnava sadhu, guru and sastra." (SB 10.2.37) "Professional men recite Srimad-Bhagavatam and discuss krsna-bhakti for an exchange of money. They cannot distribute such exalted transcendental property to everyone and anyone. Only pure devotees who have no motive other than serving Krsna can give such transcendentally valuable benedictions out of charity." (Madhya 15.41) "The teacher must be a representative of Krsna, a devotee, and the student must be like Arjuna. Then this Krsna consciousness study is perfect. Otherwise it is a waste of time. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated: 'If anyone wants to understand the science of Krsna, he should associate with pure devotees. When discussions take place among pure devotees, the potency of spiritual language is revealed.' Scholarly discussion of the Gita is futile. In the Upanisads it is stated: 'To one who has firm faith in God, and similar faith in God's representative, all the import of Vedic language will be revealed.'" (TYS 7) "If by chance during this training he meets a teacher who is a saintly person and a pure devotee of the Lord, then by such a contact he becomes pure. Therefore, Lord Caitanya said that the fortunate person who has had some spiritual asset in his past dealings will seek the association of a pure devotee. The seed of Krsna consciousness is received by the mercy of guru, the spiritual master, and by the mercy of Krsna. When the spiritual master and Lord Krsna will that a person must have Krsna consciousness, then the seed very nicely fructifies. That spiritual asset makes one fortunate, and thus he becomes spiritually enlivened, and then he meets a bona fide spiritual master, and, by the grace of the spiritual master, he can receive the seed of Krsna consciousness. That is his inner urge: 'Where can I get this association? Where can I get this awareness?' (TYS 9) "The spark of love for Krsna is struck by the spiritual master, the pure devotee. As for myself, my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Om Visnupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada, ordered me to take up the responsibility of spreading Krsna consciousness in the Western world. His Divine Grace had a great desire to preach Lord Caitanya's message in the West, and my success is both his grace and pleasure. When I first met my spiritual master, I was a very young man in India, a nationalist, engaged in a very responsible office. But although I did not want to go, one of my friends, who is still living in Calcutta, forcibly took me to His Divine Grace. I was reluctant to see him because in our home our father used to receive many sannyasis and I was not very satisfied with their dealings. I thought that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja might be a similar man, and if he were, what business would I have in seeing him? But my friend took me forcibly. 'Why not see him?' he asked. I finally relented and went with him, and I profited." (SSR 8) Things have not changed. Krishna consciousness is eternal and it does not change. A bona-fide guru is still a pure devotee and still only speaks what Krishna has said and what his spiritual master has said. He has no opinion of his own. The"Zonal Acarya" system was not established by Srila Prabhupada and time has shown that most of the "Zonal Acaryas" were conditioned souls themselves. Therefore how can anyone "initiated" by a conditioned soul posing as a "liberated pure devotee non-different from Srila Prabhupada" be initiated at all? These "gurus" promised their disciples: "If you surrender to me I will nullify all your past sinful activities and take you back home, back to Godhead..." But it seems unlikely that many of the "acaryas" are even going back to Godhead themselves for quite some time. So how can they take their disciples? "But when a living entity plays the part on behalf of Krsna, he also takes the responsibility for the sinful activities of his devotees. Therefore to become a guru is not an easy task. You see? He has to take all the poisons and absorb them. So sometimes--because he is not Krsna--sometimes there is some trouble. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu has forbidden, 'Don't make many sisyas, many disciples.' But for preaching work we have to accept many disciples--for expanding preaching--even if we suffer. That's a fact. The spiritual master has to take the responsibility for all the sinful activities of his disciples. Therefore to make many disciples is a risky job unless one is able to assimilate all the sins... "This is going on. We should be very much cautious: 'For my sinful actions my spiritual master will suffer, so I'll not commit even a pinch of sinful activities.' That is the duty of the disciple. After initiation, all sinful reaction is finished. Now if he again commits sinful activities, his spiritual master has to suffer. A disciple should be sympathetic and consider this. 'For my sinful activities, my spiritual master will suffer.' If the spiritual master is attacked by some disease, it is due to the sinful activities of others. 'Don't make many disciples.' But we do it because we are preaching. Never mind--let us suffer--still we shall accept them. Therefore your question was--when I suffer is it due to my past misdeeds? Was it not? That is my misdeed--that I accepted some disciples who are nonsense. That is my misdeed.... "This is sure to happen because we are accepting so many men. It is the duty of the disciples to be cautious. 'My spiritual master has saved me. I should not put him again into suffering.' When the spiritual master is in suffering, Krsna saves him. Krsna thinks, 'Oh, he has taken so much responsibility for delivering a fallen person.' So Krsna is there... "The pain is there sometimes, so that the disciples may know, 'Due to our sinful activities, our spiritual master is suffering.'" (PQPA 6) If the guru is bogus the disciples must be bogus also. There was no initiation at all by these bogus gurus. So there is no question of "reinitiation." It is initiation. They were never initiated in the first place. "One often sees that many so-called svamis and yogis sometimes advertise themselves as competent to cross the ocean of nescience and to help others cross, but in actuality they are found to be simply victims of their own senses. Instead of helping their followers to cross the ocean of nescience, such svamis and yogis fall prey to maya, represented by the fair sex, woman, and are thus devoured by the sharks in that ocean." (SB 4.22.40) "Sometimes we display our foolishness by accepting someone who is barely educated as a spiritual master. It is our duty to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose lotus feet are worshiped by all the Vedas. One who does not understand Him and is proud of a false understanding of Vedanta is actually a fool. Mundane attempts at academic knowledge are simply another type of foolishness." (TLC 18) "Therefore tad vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet, if you want to learn about that then you must find out a guru. What kind of guru? Just like Kapiladeva, Krsna, or His representative. Not a bogus guru. Then you will be cheated. Andha yathandair upaniyamanah. The so-called rascal guru, he does not know also what is the aim of life, and if he makes some disciples then sastra says, andha yathandair upaniyamanah, one blind man is trying to guide many other blind men. So what is the benefit? There is no benefit. So if you want to be guided by somebody, he must have opened eyes. Tattva-darsinah, upadeksyanti tad jnanam tad jnani tattva-darsinah. Darsana. Darsana means who have got eyes to see what is the absolute truth. Don't go to a blind man, who has no knowledge about the absolute truth. The absolute truth is there, Krsna. The sun is there, everyone can see. Sun is not hiding but I am hiding. I am closing my door, how can I see sun? Come to the field, open to the sun and you will see sun. There is sun, there is light. Similarly God is there, Krsna. You come to Krsna. Take His lesson, Bhagavad-gita, you will learn what is God. (741128SB.BOM) "There are many duratmas who claim to have realized themselves as Brahman and yet are unable to conquer material desires. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.54) it is clearly explained that an absolutely self-realized soul becomes completely aloof from all material desires. Material desires are based on the false ego of the living being and are exhibited by his childish and useless activities to conquer the laws of material nature and by his desire to lord it over the resources of the five elements." (SB 2.2.19) "We have Daily we understand what is guru. Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, citette kariya aikya, ara na kariya mane asa. This is that. This is wanted. If you have got real guru and if you follow him, then your life is successful. There is no doubt. But if you have a so-called bogus guru, and without any knowledge of the sastra, then your life will be spoiled. Especially the Mayavadi guru, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has warned, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa. Mayavadi guru means one who thinks that everyone is God. That is Mayavadi guru. If you approach such guru, then your life is spoiled. Mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa. Finished. Your spiritual progress finished." (760413SB.BOM) After it became so painfully obvious that the ISKCON "acaryas" were not qualified for the post, the GBC ran to the Gaudiya Matha again, this time to a disciple of one of Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers, and with his help they developed the current ISKCON "guru-tattva." Now ISKCON have made the guru such a cheap thing that he doesn't have to be a pure devotee, he can fall down and perform all sorts of sinful activities and still be a guru, he may not be able to get out of bed for Mangal-aroti, he may not even chant his 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and strictly follow the four regulative principles, it doesn't matter... And there are so many examples of this among the 100+ "authorized" ISKCON gurus... And ISKCON openly admit it... "If a so-called spiritual master accepts a disciple for his personal benefit or for material gain, the relationship between the spiritual master and the disciple turns into a material affair, and the spiritual master becomes like a smarta-guru. There are many caste gosvamis who professionally create some disciples who do not care for them or their instructions. Such spiritual masters are satisfied simply to get some material benefits from their disciples. Such a relationship is condemned by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, who calls such spiritual masters and disciples a society of cheaters and cheated. They are also called baulas or prakrta-sahajiyas. Their aim is to make the connection between the spiritual master and the disciple into a very cheap thing. They are not serious in wanting to understand spiritual life." (Madhya 24.330) So something has gone very seriously wrong in ISKCON. They have somehow missed the point... Of course it's not very difficult to be a bona fide guru, but at the same time a bona fide guru is very rare. So how to adjust this apparent contradiction? If it's easy to be a guru as Srila Prabhupada often states, why are there so few bona fide gurus? The thing it's very easy, but we don't like to follow the simple, easy process... "There may be many great souls--jnanis, yogis and bhaktas, or pure devotees, are also called great souls--but they are very rarely found. One can find many great souls amongst yogis and jnanis, but a truly great soul, a pure devotee of the Lord, who is fully surrendered to the Lord, is very rarely found (sa mahatma sudurlabhah, Bg. 7.19). A devotee's mind is always calm, quiet and desireless because he is always anyabhilasita-sunyam, having no desire other than to serve Krsna as His personal servant, friend, father, mother or conjugal lover. Due to his association with Krsna, a devotee is always very calm and cool.., Because the disciples of a devotee have taken shelter of a great soul, they become very calm and quiet and are not agitated by the waves of the material world." (SB 4.24.20) "Lord Siva is rarely seen by common men, and similarly a person who is fully surrendered unto Vasudeva, Krsna, is also very rarely seen because a person who is fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord is very rare (sa mahatma sudurlabhah)." (SB 4.24.28) "Lord Caitanya then asked Ramananda Raya, 'Out of many so-called liberated souls, who is actually liberated?' Ramananda replied that he who is actually completely saturated with the devotional love for Radha and Krsna is to be considered to be the best of all liberated persons. It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.14.4) that a devotee of Narayana is so rare that one can only find him out of millions and millions of people." (TLC 32) Another thing one should note is a bona fide guru is a devotee. Actually to find someone who is even a devotee of Krishna is very rare. A devotee of Krishna is a person who does everything for the pleasure of Krishna. He has no "personal interest." He understands he is a part-and-parcel of Krishna, so if he pleases Krishna then, as he is part-and-parcel of Krisna, he will become happy also. "We must have the qualification of being a devotee. Become dear to God. My spiritual master used to say, 'Don't try to see God. Act in such a way that God will see you.' We have to qualify ourselves. By your qualification God Himself will come and see you." (TYS 7) It's just like supplying water to a tree, you can try and supply water to all the branches, leaves and flowers individually but it will be a wasted effort. The way to satisfy the whole tree--including all the flowers, leaves and branches--is to supply water to the root of the tree. Also, if one wants to nourish all the limbs of the body he has to supply food to the stomach. These are VERY important points and sometimes we wonder why Srila Prabhupada repeats this so often... It's because it's a VERY important point and mostly we have missed this point. If we understand we are part-and-parcel of Krishna and our pleasure is dependent on Krishna's pleasure we will no longer do anything for our own personal sense gratification, we will no longer care about our bodily comfort, reputation, our position in society, etc. Our only concern will be to see that Krishna is happy, and if Krishna is happy we will be happy. That is Krishna consciousness and the most perfect representation of this Krishna consciousness is found in the gopis. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has very much praised the gopis' Krishna consciousness: "You cannot order Krsna, 'Krsna, please come, dancing with flute. I shall see You.' This is order. Krsna is not subjected to your order. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu gives us instruction, aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam marma-hatam karotu va adarsanam. Adarsanam. Everyone wants to see Krsna, a devotee, but a pure devotee says that 'No, if you don't like to see me, that's all right. You can break my heart. I may always pray to see You. But You do not come and break my heart, that is also accepted. Still, I shall worship You.' This is pure devotion. Not that 'I have asked Krsna to come before me dancing. He did not come. So I give up this nonsense. The Krsna consciousness movement is no value.' Not like that. This is Radharani's attitude. So Krsna left Vrndavana. All the gopis, they passed their days simply crying for Krsna, but never condemned Krsna. Whenever somebody came... Krsna also was thinking of them because gopis are the greatest devotees, topmost devotees. There is no comparison with the devotion of the gopis. Therefore Krsna was always obliged to them. Krsna said to the gopis that 'You have to be satisfied with your own business. I cannot return you anything for your love.' Krsna, the Supreme, the all-powerful, He was unable to repay the debts for the gopis. So gopis... Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena ya kalpita. There is no more better worship than what was conceived by the gopis. So gopis are the topmost devotees. And amongst the gopis, Srimati Radharani is the topmost. Therefore Srimati Radharani is greater than Krsna." (730804bg.lon) I remember the first time I read the Adi-Lila of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta I was completely astonished by the mood of the gopis. Sometimes we hear that the gopis were attracted to Krishna out of lust like young girls are attracted to a beautiful young boy. But it's not exactly like that at all. Srila Rupa Goswami has compared material lust to iron and the gopis love for Krishna to gold. So, of course, iron and gold are both metals, however, the quality and value of iron cannot be compared to gold. In the material world when a girl is attracted by a boy she is thinking of her sense gratification, and when a boy is attracted by a girl, he is thinking of his sense gratification, but the amazing thing about the gopis relationship with Krishna is they are thinking of Krishna's pleasure. They have no concept of pleasure except seeing Krishna happy. So the gopis would bathe, dress nicely and put on beautiful ornaments, just so when Krishna saw them Krishna would be happy... It's a very subtle thing, and it's all in Srila Prabhupada's Sri Caitany-caritamrta, a most wonderful book... But anyhow, the point is a devotee has no personal interest. His only interest is to see Krishna happy, and if by his acceptance of a greatly distressful condition Krishna becomes happy he takes that distress as great bliss and if by accepting a very pleasurable condition for his material senses Krishna is displeased, he takes that "pleasure" as the greatest poison. If we do not accept this principle, if we continue to maintain our own personal interest and think we will become happy by accumulating lots of money, by sex life, by becoming a famous devotee, by becoming a great scholar of the scriptures, by getting many disciples, etc., then we are not only unqualified to be gurus, WE ARE NOT EVEN DEVOTEES. It is the karmis who have personal desires and work for sense gratification, fame, profit, adoration and distinction, not the devotees. na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye/ mama janmani jamanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi "O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth." There is a very simple way to see if we are devotees or not. One simply has to compare his character and activities with the qualities and activities of devotees as described in the scriptures. It's not that we can pose ourselves as great devotees and not manifest the symptoms of a devotee. Of course some fools may be cheated, but any intelligent person will be able to see who is a devotee and who is a cheater. "Brahmaji confirms herewith that only persons who have developed the desirable qualities can enter into the kingdom of God. In the Caitanya-caritamrta, the devotee's desirable qualities are described to be twenty-six in number. They are stated as follows: He is very kind; he does not quarrel with anyone; he accepts Krsna consciousness as the highest goal of life; he is equal to everyone; no one can find fault in his character; he is magnanimous, mild and always clean, internally and externally; he does not profess to possess anything in this material world; he is a benefactor to all living entities; he is peaceful and is a soul completely surrendered to Krsna; he has no material desire to fulfill; he is meek and humble, always steady, and has conquered the sensual activities; he does not eat more than required to maintain body and soul together; he is never mad after material identity; he is respectful to all others and does not demand respect for himself; he is very grave, very compassionate and very friendly; he is poetic; he is expert in all activities, and he is silent in nonsense. Similarly, in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter, verse 21, the qualifications of a saintly person are mentioned. It is said there that a saintly person eligible to enter into the kingdom of God is very tolerant and very kind to all living entities. He is not partial; he is kind both to human beings and to animals. He is not such a fool that he will kill a goat Narayana to feed a human Narayana, or daridra-narayana. He is very kind to all living entities; therefore he has no enemy. He is very peaceful. These are the qualities of persons who are eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. That such a person gradually becomes liberated and enters the kingdom of God is confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 2. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto, Third Chapter, verse 24, also states that if a person does not cry or exhibit bodily changes after chanting the holy name of God without offense, it is to be understood that he is hardhearted and that therefore his heart does not change even after he chants the holy name of God, Hare Krsna. These bodily changes can take place due to ecstasy when we offenselessly chant the holy names of God: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare." (SB 3.15.25) The difficulty is many want to be cheated. They want a "guru" who will not restrict their sense gratification, who will not instruct them to live in the association of devotees and get out of bed before 4:00am to attend Mangal Aroti. They don't want to be sent out to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books to the fallen conditioned souls, they don't want to go out on the streets daily and chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare so everyone can hear the holy name chanted from the lips of pure devotees and thus advance in spiritual life. Most importantly these cheaters want a guru who doesn't very seriously enforce the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication). "Just like in our Krsna consciousness society, we are simply after the people, whether he is engaged or not. There must be engagement. If one remains idle, then it will be devil's workshop. Immediately maya will dictate, 'Do this, do this nonsense, do that nonsense, do that nonsense.'" (740322BG.BOM) "Simple negation, or giving up the company of materialistic persons, will not do. We must have engagements. Sometimes it is found that a person interested in spiritual advancement gives up the company of material society and goes to a secluded place as recommended for the yogis especially, but that will also not help a person in spiritual advancement, for in many instances such yogis also fall down. As far as jnanis are concerned, generally they fall down without taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. The impersonalists or the voidists can simply avoid the positive material association; they cannot remain fixed in transcendence without being engaged in devotional service. The beginning of devotional service is to hear about the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is recommended in this verse: vina harer guna-piyusa-panat. One must drink the nectar of the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and this means that one must be always engaged in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord. It is the prime method for advancing in spiritual life. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu also recommends this in the Caitanya-caritamrta. If one wants to make advancement in spiritual life, by great fortune he may meet a bona fide spiritual master and from him learn about Krsna. By serving both the spiritual master and Krsna he gets the seed of devotional service (bhakti-lata-bija), and if he sows the seed within his heart and waters it by hearing and chanting, it grows into a luxuriant bhakti-lata, or bhakti creeper. The creeper is so strong that it penetrates the covering of the universe and reaches the spiritual world and continues to grow on and on until it reaches and takes shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna, just as an ordinary creeper also grows on and on until it takes a solid shelter on a roof; then it very steadily grows and produces the required fruit. The real cause of the growing of such fruit, which is here called the nectar of hearing the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to water the creeper of devotional service by hearing and chanting. The purport is that one cannot live outside the society of devotees; one must live in the association of devotees, where there is constant chanting and hearing of the glories of the Lord. The Krsna consciousness movement is started for this purpose, so that hundreds of ISKCON centers may give people a chance to hear and chant, to accept the spiritual master and to disassociate themselves from persons who are materially interested, for in this way one can make solid advancement in going back home, back to Godhead." (SB 4.22.23) The cheaters and their cheating gurus do not know that even though some of the regulative principles may be a little difficult and even painful to follow in the beginning, without following them there is no question of Krishna consciousness or spiritual life. And after one is a little purified by actually following the process of saddhana-bhakti as taught to us by Srila Prabhupada and serving a bona fide spiritual master one experiences transcendental bliss and comes to the spontaneous stage and automatically follows these principles in great bliss and joy. "Thank you very much for your kind offer to have me as your Permanent Acarya and Honorary Chairman. I will accept this if your organization and members are agreed to follow the four regulative principles which discriminate animal life from human life, i.e. no eating of meat fish or eggs; no illicit sex life outside of marriage and then only for the begetting of God conscious children; no intoxicants, including coffee, tea, or cigarettes; no gambling, not even bingo. Unless one follows these principles, spiritual life is not possible." (76-09-08 Letter: David B. Richeter Hughes) I have personal, first-hand experience of enthusiastic cheaters enthusiastically worshiping their "guru" here in Australia, but he was a "sense gratification guru." He was doing every imaginable sense gratification activity himself and was preaching to his disciples: "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna is the supreme enjoyer, we are Krishna's servants, so we should enjoy just like Krishna..." And they loved him! He was not following the principles himself and he attracted a lot of disciples who also did not follow the principles... But this is not Krishna consciousness, this is the society of the cheaters and the cheated... "Many? What you...? Many followers.... The philosophy you present, it must be followed by everyone. That is wanted. You have got, say, ten thousand followers. That does not mean success. Everyone has got some followers. This.... What is that? Guruji Maharaja. He has got also so-called followers. The T.M., he has got also some followers. Everyone has got some followers. But what kind of followers they have? That is quality. Everything has quality. Simply quantity is not. There are many Christians. Even up to date, some Christian fair or.... Many millions will come. What is the quality? Quality is all meat-eater. But Christian means he should not kill. Where is the Christian? So we have to test by the quality, followers. Not many followers, the quality of the followers. My Guru Maharaja used to say like that, that 'If I get at least one quality disciple, then all my labor will be success.' He was saying like that: quality, not the quantity. By quantity if one is amazed, then he is also goru. By quality--what kind of followers? That is the.... From the very beginning my strictures are there, that 'You have to follow this'--quality. If I were..., 'No, you can do like Vivekananda. Yes, what you can, whatever you like,' then I think quantity would have been very, very big. But I don't say. I make him promise before the fire, before the Deity, before guru. (break) That one moon is taken into account. Who takes account of the millions of stars? Ekas candras tamo hanti na ca tara sahasrasah. Quality. So we should be quality devotee, not quantity devotee... And for hearing Bhagavad-gita they have no time, and they are trying to go to Vrndavana. Quantity, not quality. So civilization should be quality civilization, not quantity civilization. Do that... If one bhedi, lamb, is somehow or other pushed into slaughterhouse stockroom, so all the.... All of them. You haven't got to take many. Some way or other, you induce one of them to go into the, what is called, shed, where stocks are kept for taking out daily and killing. So they do not mind that 'We are being pushed into this room for future killing. Never mind. One has gone. Go.' They'll go. So this is called in Hindi, bhedyadasana, that without any consideration, 'One has entered. Let us all enter.' That is bhedi, means animal, their disciple like this..." (760502rc.fij) So the cheaters are there. It's not very wonderful to get many disciples if one doesn't enforce the principles: rising before 4:00 to attend Mangal-aroti, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, attending the full morning program and engaging in service full-time, 24 hours a day for the pleasure of Krishna. "I can understand there is some disturbance among you, but that is not to be taken very seriously. Real business is preaching work, and if there is full attention on this matter only, all other businesses will be automatically successful. Fighting amongst ourselves is not at all good, but if our preaching work is neglected, or if we fall down in following the regulative principles such as rising before four, chanting 16 rounds, like that, if these things are not strictly observed then maya will enter and spoil everything. So my best advice to you is to strictly observe these things yourself and be the example so that all others may follow. We should not criticize each other, as Vaisnavas, because there is fault in everyone and we may be ourselves subject to criticism. Best thing is to be above suspicion ourselves, then if we see discrepancies and make suggestion the others will automatically respect and take action to rectify the matters. That is cooperation. And we must exist on such cooperation, otherwise the whole thing is doomed if we simply go on fighting over some small thing. So try to organize things and preach together in this spirit, and that will please me very, very much." (72-11-18 Letter: Madhumangala) "I am requesting again and again that all of my disciples simply follow all of the rules and regulations very strictly. Rising early, chanting 16 rounds, attending mangala arati and class, etc. are all essential for spiritual development." (75-02-01 Letter: Jagadisa) "Always strictly follow all the rules and regulations, rising early, attending mangala arati and classes and without fail chanting 16 rounds daily. This will make you strong in Krishna Consciousness which is the most essential thing. Always be engaged 24 hours a day in the service of Krishna and be happy." (75-02-03 Letter: Gauri) "The most important things are that you follow very carefully all of the rules and regulations such as rising early, and having mangala arati and classes, etc. and that you chant at least 16 rounds daily without fail. These things are most essential for your spiritual advancement and then everything will be alright." (75-03-14 Letter: Tirthanga) There are so many bogus gurus with many disciples, but Srila Prabhupada was not interested in that. He wanted a few moons not many stars. So taking initiation from Srila Prabhupada is not a cheap thing at all. Devotees generally have to live in the temple for at least six months and the temple president has to recommend them to Srila Prabhupada and confirm they are chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra, following the four regulative principles, getting up for Mangal-aroti and fully engaged in devotional service 24 hours a day. Only then can they be initiated... "Initiation is the third stage. First stage is that... Just like you have come. This is called sraddha, faith, little faith, not full faith. Then you have to increase this faith by association of devotee. That is required. And when the faith is increased, then the question of initiation. Initiation should not be immediately offered. That will be misused. Therefore when we initiate, we inquire from the head of the temple, 'How long he is coming? What is his behavior?' If he certifies that 'Yes, he is doing nice,' then we initiate. Our initiation is not so cheap, 'You come and be initiated.' No, we do not do that. We must test you first of all. Then we initiate." (750521SB.MEL) Devotees always want to serve Krishna, they are very careful to see that not even a second is wasted without some good engagement. They are conscious that "an idle mind is the devils workshop," so devotees try to be engaged in practical service to Krishna 24 hours a day. "Satata means always, twenty-four hours, not that five minutes I meditate and rest of the time I live like cats and dogs. No. This kind of meditation will not help you. Krsna says, satata. Satata means twenty-four hours. You have to mold your life in such a way that twenty-four hours you'll think of Krsna. This is Krsna consciousness. If you think, 'Now I have chanted my sixteen rounds. Now I've finished my business. Now I can do whatever nonsense I like,' no. Krsna says no. Satata. Therefore we have to plan our life in such a way that we haven't got any other engagement than service of Krsna. This is required. Tesam satata-yuktanam. Satata means twenty-four hours. (750403CC.MAY) "Avyavahita means 'without cessation.' A pure devotee must engage in the service of the Lord twenty-four hours a day, without cessation; his life is so molded that at every minute and every second he engages in some sort of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (SB 3.29.11-12) "Trying to advance in spiritual life outside the disciplic succession is simply ludicrous. It is said, therefore, acaryavan puruso veda: one who follows the disciplic succession of acaryas knows things as they are (Chandogya Upanisad 6.14.2). Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet: in order to understand the transcendental science, one must approach the bona fide spiritual master (Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12). The word smrtya is very important in spiritual life. Smrtya means remembering Krsna always. Life should be molded in such a way that one cannot remain alone without thinking of Krsna. We should live in Krsna so that while eating, sleeping, walking and working we remain only in Krsna. Our Krsna consciousness society recommends that we arrange our living so that we can remember Krsna... The sastra recommends, smartavyah satatam visnuh: Lord Visnu should be remembered always, constantly. Vismartavyo na jatucit: Visnu should never be forgotten. That is the spiritual way of life. Smrtya. This remembrance of the Lord can be continued if we hear about Him constantly. It is therefore recommended in this verse: mukundacaritagrya-sidhuna. Sidhu means "nectar." To hear about Krsna from Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita or similar authentic literature is to live in Krsna consciousness. Such concentration in Krsna consciousness can be achieved by persons who are strictly following the rules and regulative principles. We have recommended in our Krsna consciousness movement that a devotee chant sixteen rounds on beads daily and follow the regulative principles. That will help the devotee be fixed in his spiritual advancement in life. (SB 4.22.24) "So we have to stick to these principles to keep ourselves on the transcendental platform, rising early in the morning, offer mangala arati, then gradually, one after another, attending class, guru-puja, and so on, so on. Up to till you go to bed, you should always be engaged. Then you will be above these three gunas. Just like this boy, Ajamila. He is attracted because all of a sudden he fell down on the platform of passion. There are three platforms: sattvic, rajasic, tamasic. So if you keep yourself on the sattvic platform, there is also chance to falling down on the passion and ignorance. But if you keep yourself in the suddha-sattva platform... So our these rules and regulation, restriction, means to keep one on the vasudeva platform. We should remember always that. And if you keep yourself on vasudeva platform, these things will not entice you. Otherwise we shall be enticed and fallen down. Agama hrc-chaya-vasam sahasaiva vimohitah." (750828SB.VRN) There's no difficulty in seeing who's a devotee [servant of Krishna] and who is a karmi [servant of the senses] if one simply reads Srila Prabhupada's books. "If one actually has the seed of transcendental emotion in his heart, the symptoms will be visible in his activities. That is the verdict of all revealed scriptures. "'When the seed of ecstatic emotion for Krsna fructifies, the following nine symptoms manifest in one's behavior: forgiveness, concern that time should not be wasted, detachment, absence of false prestige, hope, eagerness, a taste for chanting the holy name of the Lord, attachment to descriptions of the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and affection for those places where the Lord resides-that is, a temple or a holy place like Vrndavana. These are all called anubhava, subordinate signs of ecstatic emotion. They are visible in a person in whose heart the seed of love of God has begun to fructify.'" Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.3.25-26) The most obvious sign of a devotee is he likes chanting Hare Krishna, he is always chanting Hare Krishna because that's his life... He also relishes hearing Srimad Bhagavatam from pure devotees, living in the association of devotees, seeing the Deities, getting out of bed to see the Deities at Mangal-aroti... He is so pleased when people buy Srila Prabhupada's books as he knows distributing his books is the most pleasing thing to Srila Prabhupada. He also knows and has practically realized that Srila Prabhupada is living in his books and when the people read them they are directly associating with Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. "You have taken the right view of the importance of my books. Books will always remain. That was the view of my Guru Maharaja, and I also have taken it. Therefore I started my movement with my books. And we shall be able to maintain everything with the sales of the books. The temples will be maintained by the book sales, and if there are no more temples, then the books shall remain." (73-11-08 Letter: Hamsaduta:) So ISKCON have appointed so many "gurus" who do not even manifest the basic symptoms of a devotee who "has the seed of transcendental emotion in his heart." [forgiveness, concern that time should not be wasted, detachment, absence of false prestige, hope, eagerness, a taste for chanting the holy name of the Lord, attachment to descriptions of the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and affection for those places where the Lord resides.] These are not the qualities of a guru. Just an ordinary devotee. Of course the main qualification of a guru is he is a devotee... Sometimes people miss this basic point even. "The pseudo religionists have neither knowledge nor detachment from material affairs, for most of them want to live in the golden shackles of material bondage under the shadow of philanthropic activities disguised as religious principles. By a false display of religious sentiments, they present a show of devotional service while indulging in all sorts of immoral activities. In this way they pass as spiritual masters and devotees of God. Such violators of religious principles have no respect for the authoritative acaryas, the holy teachers in the strict disciplic succession. They ignore the Vedic injunction acaryopasana--"One must worship the acarya"--and Krsna's statement in the Bhagavad-gita (4.2) evam parampara-praptam, "This supreme science of God is received through the disciplic succession." Instead, to mislead the people in general they themselves become so-called acaryas, but they do not even follow the principles of the acaryas. "These rogues are the most dangerous elements in human society. Because there is no religious government, they escape punishment by the law of the state. They cannot, however, escape the law of the Supreme, who has clearly declared in the Bhagavad-gita that envious demons in the garb of religious propagandists shall be thrown into the darkest regions of hell (Bg. 16.19-20). Sri Isopanisad confirms that these pseudo religionists are heading toward the most obnoxious place in the universe after the completion of their spiritual master business, which they conduct simply for sense gratification." (Iso 12) Anyhow, thanks for reading this, don't be fooled into accepting a bogus guru by ISKCON. That will ruin your life as it has ruined the lives of thousands of devotees before you who were victims of ISKCON's bogus gurus. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! "If these leaders, including preachers and heads of state, do not perform this act of Vaisnavism--and instead place themselves artificially in the exalted position of Visnu, the supreme enjoyer--then they may indeed enjoy temporary gain, adoration, and mundane fame, and may delude their unfortunate followers from the right path by a false display of renunciation. But such materialistic, godless leaders will never be able to do any good for the ignorant souls who follow them like a flock of sheep to the slaughterhouse. By such leadership the leader himself is temporarily benefited, but the followers are put into the worst position. The leaders incite them toward false, illusory gain and thus engage them in various acts of sin. In temporarily benefiting themselves, such leaders sacrifice the real interest of their followers and destroy the followers." (MoG 2) "They are most dangerous. Most dangerous. They are opportunists. According to the customer, they give some teachings so he will be pleased. Such a person is not a guru; he's a servant. He wants to serve his so-called disciples so that they may be satisfied and pay him something. A real guru is not a servant of his disciples; he is their master. If one becomes a servant, if he wants to please the disciples by flattering them to get their money, then he is not a guru. A guru should also be a servant, yes--but a servant of the Supreme. The literal meaning of the word guru is 'heavy'--heavy with knowledge and authority, because his knowledge and authority come from Krsna. You cannot utilize the guru for satisfying your whims." (JSD 2.2) Your servant, Madhudvisa dasa About the Author | Other VNN Stories by this Author Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9901/ET14-2849.html
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