Evil Never Comes Alone, and Neither Does the Blessing

It is customary, when looking at the history of mankind, to see good or evil embodied in particular individuals, heroes and culprits of various kinds.

How convenient it is for all those who collaborated at a particular time with the schemes these individuals personified. Seemingly, we are the victims or we are the shareholders of success.

Reality is somewhat different.

Apart from God, who is Atmarama, or self-sufficient, nobody can demonstrate anything substantial in this world without the help of others. And so the personality cults created by cowardly masses of followers are just a myth which, in a karmic sense, involves us all, either actively or passively, in creating our destiny. No Napoleon, no Hitler, no Mussolini, no Lenin, no Stalin, no Gandhi or Martin Luther King—to give just a few examples—would have achieved anything without their followers and collaborators. As a matter of fact, it is customary in these Kali Yuga days for the illusory directors of what is performed on the public stage to be hidden behind the scenes, acting as puppeteers and using the great puppets we see performing in front of us in service of their schemes.

In a spiritual sense, there is no difference in principle. A spiritual leader, a guru, always sees himself as part of a guru parampara, a disciplic succession team, without whose blessings he would not be able to achieve anything. Those who act like self-manifested deities are only pitiful manifestations of their envy of God, even though they present themselves as servants of humanity. So great is their vanity and narcissism that the stupefied masses of followers they attract see them as successful embodiments of their own desire to become exceptional and great. Like rock stars, these fellows shine on the temporarily constructed stages, illuminated by spotlights... before they vanish again.

A real leader sees himself simply as a construction leader commissioned with the task of leading the work assigned to him. Even endowed with great decision-making power, he never acts alone, always acting according to the resources given to him by God, manifested through his supporters. And so he is always open to taking references from sastra and his guru and those who collaborate with the MISSION of guru parampara. Nobody can be a leader without being a follower; that is a spiritual principle.

When Bharat was installed as king, he placed the shoes of Lord Rama, his brother, on the king’s seat, considering himself only the servant of these shoes, acting on behalf of Lord Rama’s authority. Whoever violates this principle is instantly a thief and doomed to suffer the consequences.

Unfortunately, the history of ISKCON can provide such examples of servants trying to become the owners of the heritage entrusted to them. One should be cautious not to become part of such theft and avoid such fellows. They present themselves as servants, but the immediate question should be whom they really serve. If they are serving their own vanity by using others as decoration material, not serving the mission of the Founder-Acharya, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, but using it as a stage for their own self-promotion, one should abstain from association with such thieves.

Srila Prabhupada created a most amazing movement from notorious speculators at best and unpredictable eccentric drug addicts at worst. He collected helpless renegades from the streets of Kali Yuga cities and entrusted them with spreading the highest culture available to humans all over the globe. Those who are blessed by him never forget that. Nobody before him had done such a thing; even the greatest acharyas in our sampradaya never left India. So great is Srila Prabhupada’s personality, but he never took any credit other than for being a faithful follower, rejecting any attempt to mystify him.

Those who try to follow in his footsteps never stop being amazed at how vast his footprints are. As one disciple exclaimed:

“Srila Prabhupada, I always want to take shelter of your lotus feet!”

Srila Prabhupada’s answer was humorous, but realistic:

“That will be difficult; my feet are moving very fast.”

And so real followers of Srila Prabhupada are always moving on, disregarding the praises and comforts being offered to them by those who tend to justify their desire for comfort by offering them the same. Yes, a materialistically motivated disciple can ruin the guru’s legacy... but that is another article to follow.