Articles
In Śrīla Prabhupāda's movement, there are and there were the most amazing devotees who served His Divine Grace with every breath given to them. You will not find their pictures anywhere on the altar, you may have never heard a lecture from them, and surely you would never be able to find them within the official ISKCON leadership.
It is not customary on this website to relate to particular incidents of the past and present, containing specific names or places. Why?
Those who have gotten a glimpse of the unending depth of knowledge in Srila Prabhupada’s books constantly face the question: how many can embrace this unique opportunity to change their destiny, move ahead, and possibly reach the highest goal—returning back home, back to Godhead?
In times where the word "guru" has even been incorporated into the vocabulary of mainstream society entertainers, it is even more important to understand who a guru is and what our relationship with such a spiritual master may be.
Once, many years ago, I heard one of my godbrothers, after his sannyāsa acceptance ceremony, commenting in an introspective way:
"Now I am a sannyāsī. Now I am in trouble—nobody will tell me when I am wrong anymore."
With Śrīla Prabhupāda's arrival in the West, a spiritual revolution was set in motion. As is the destiny of all revolutions, the initial revolutionary spirit can turn into a more comfortable and established regime of maintenance at best, or an opportunistic lifestyle where the exploits of the original pioneers are turned into playgrounds for politically minded individuals. Sometimes, revolutionaries themselves turn out to be the enjoyers of the conquered territories, acting more in a colonizing rather than a cultivating spirit.
Engulfed in a frenzy centred around ideas of being all one and the same, eliminating any form of judgement, the critics of those who voice their doubts about such sentimental ideas have even entered the ranks of devotees, trying to make us believe that any form of criticism constitutes an offence. Indeed, the threat of being guilty of vaiṣṇava aparādha is a heavy one. Even Lord Caitanya, the most merciful incarnation of the Lord, so liberally offering everybody the chance to become a devotee, can also be misunderstood as entirely dismissing any form of criticism.
Those who follow the path of bhakti yoga, devotional service to the Lord, see impersonalism, Mayavada, a doctrine declaring this world to be an illusory manifestation without any personal origin, as a daily challenge. They explore to what degree this "poison," as Srila Prabhupada used to call it, still affects our lives.
While distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, I never bothered with this kind of question. Book distribution was Srila Prabhupada’s topmost ecstasy, and that was good enough for me to keep going. Like spreading seeds of bhakti, a gardener has no control over which ones will fructify. But he knows that, by Supreme Will, when the right time and circumstances arrive, any potent seed can suddenly turn into a plant. He also knows that weeds are always present, ready to choke any valuable plant, so he is vigilant to keep them away.
As we learn from the Srimad Bhagavatam, seniority is highly valued in Vedic culture. Senior members of society can serve the younger ones with valuable practical advice not only on how to return back home, back to Godhead, but also on how to survive in this intricate material world governed by the law of karma.
