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EDITORIAL September 18, 1999 VNN4751 Comment on this story Srila Prabhupada Recommends Direct Sanga With Pure Vaishnavas BY MADAN MOHAN DASA EDITORIAL, Sep 18 (VNN) — Srila Prabhupada instructs us unequivocally: ...The neophyte devotee must be protected by being surrounded by pure devotees...A so-called mature devotee, however, commits a great offense by giving up the company of pure devotees...By one's mental concoctions one falls down. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Madhya-lila 19.157, purport) "Since one cannot visually experience the presence of the Supersoul, He appears before us as a liberated devotee. Such a spiritual master is none other than Krsna Himself." Purport It is not possible for a conditioned soul to directly meet Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but if one becomes a sincere devotee and seriously engages in devotional service, Lord Krsna sends an instructing spiritual master to show him favor and invoke his dormant propensity for serving the Supreme. The preceptor appears before the external senses of the fortunate conditioned soul, and at the same time the devotee is guided from within by the caittya-guru, Krsna, who is seated as the spiritual master within the heart of the living entity. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila 1.58) It is indicated that to learn the transcendental science, it is imperative that one avoid the company of undesirable persons and always seek the company of saints and sages who are able to impart lessons of transcendental knowledge. The potent words of such realized souls penetrate the heart, thereby eradicating all misgivings accumulated by years of undesirable association. For a neophyte devotee there are two kinds of persons whose association is undesirable: (1) gross materialists who constantly engage in sense gratification and: (2) unbelievers who do not serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead but serve their senses and mental whims in terms of their speculative habits. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila 1.59, purport) The secret is that one must submissively listen to those who know perfectly the science of God, and one must begin the mode of service regulated by the preceptor...The expert spiritual master knows well how to engage his disciple's energy in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and thus he engages a devotee in a specific devotional service according to his special tendency. If one thinks that he is above consulting anyone else, including a spiritual master, he is at once an offender at the lotus feet of the Lord. Such an offender can never go back to Godhead. It is imperative that a serious person accept a bona fide spiritual master in terms of the sastric injunctions. Sri Jiva Gosvami advises that one not accept a spiritual master in terms of hereditary or customary social and ecclesiastical conventions. One should simply try to find a genuinely qualified spiritual master for actual advancement in spiritual understanding. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila 1.35, purport) A spiritual master is not an enjoyer of facilities offered by his disciples. He is like a parent. Without the attentive service of his parents, a child cannot grow to manhood, similarly without the care of the spiritual master one cannot rise to the plane of transcendental service. ...The bonafide spiritual master always engages in unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By this test he is known to be a direct manifestation of the Lord and a genuine representative of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Such a spiritual master is known as acaryadeva. Influenced by an envious temperament and dissatisfied because of an attitude of sense gratification, mundaners criticise a real acarya. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila 1.46, purport) While the bhakti-lata creeper is growing, the devotee must protect it by fencing it all around. The neophyte devotee must be protected by being surrounded by pure devotees...A so-called mature devotee, however, commits a great offense by giving up the company of pure devotees...By one's mental concoctions one falls down. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Madhya-lila 19.157, purport) The criterion is that a devotee must know what Krsna wants him to do. This can be achieved through the medium of the spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of Krsna...Without accepting a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession, one cannot find out the real purpose of devotional service. Therefore one has to accept the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and agree to be directed by him. (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Madhya-lila 19.167, purport) An uttama-adhikari is not interested in blaspheming others, his heart is completely clean, and he has attained the realized state of unalloyed Krishna consciousness. ...One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari. A neophyte Vaisnava or a Vaisnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that they cannot advance very well towards the ultimate goal of life under his insufficient guidance. Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master. (Nectar of Instruction Text Five, purport) Both the untenable policy of banning association with pure Vaishnavas and the sastrically unsupported "no living link is necessary" assertion of "ritvik" philosophy are exposed and comprehensively dismissed as disobedient speculation in the above crystal-clear instructions given by Srila Prabhupada in his perfect translations of Gaudiya Vedanta sastra and his fully authoritative purports. Maintaining the integrity of true Gaudiya Vaishnava siddhanta and maintaining the proper standard of Vaishnava sadacara on behalf of all our previous acaryas, while actually developing our love for Hari, Sri Guru and Vaishnavas constitutes our prime duty in serving the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The primary purpose of Srila Prabhupada's Iskcon is to provide unqualified persons with abundant opportunities to acquire sukrti (spiritual merit) by performing devotional services as prescribed throughout all his books, through the excellent facilities he provided. The ultimate fruit of sukrti is to be permitted entry into the sanga of pure Vaishnavas, whose direct personal sanga, instructions and mercy are the exclusive means by which entry into Sri Krishna's eternal abode is made possible, as conclusively confirmed through the infallible authority of guru, sadhu, sastra. Srila Prabhupada's books alone - if they constitute our only accepted authority - consistently reaffirm this simple, irrefutable truth. By sincere prayers and submission to Sri Krishna as caittya-guru in our hearts, He cannot but appear before us in the form of Sri Guru, the pure, uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas who will act as our siksa gurus and even as our diksa gurus to give us shelter and mercy in the form of their direct personal instructions to each of us individually, according to our acquired natures. To me, to avoid such direct sanga or not to be seeking out such sanga following the direct orders of Srila Prabhupada would indicate either: a) we have not read Srila Prabhupada's books, b) we have read but not understood Srila Prabhupada's instructions, c) we have read and understood Srila Prabhupada's teachings but have maintained a defiant mood of self-interest and non-surrender towards Sri Krishna (as opposed to a submissive mood of guru-seva for the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha-Govindaji), or d) we have not prayed sincerely to Sri Krishna in the form of caittya-guru to mercifully guide us to His divine lotus feet by appearing directly before our external senses in the form of Sri Guru. Please correct me if I have expressed any misunderstandings of Srila Prabhupada's teachings and feel free to contact me at any time, with sastric validation from Srila Prabhupada's books to support opposing viewpoints. Thank you. Your servant aspiring for the service of Sri Guru & Gauranga, Madan Mohan dasa. Please send any comments or responses to 106650.1421@compuserve.com Gaura Premanande! About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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