Unity in Diversity

It was the Sixties, a time I and few others may remember still. It was a time of global awakening, when calls for unity and revolt against the main stream "establishment" could be heard everywhere, the time of calls for „coming together",
(as advocated by Mr.John Lenon:-) and opose what was told to us,ask unpleasant questions and LIVE an alternative life.

But first, with the arrival of Srila Prabhupada, the word "unity" got a tangible definition.
It was he who brought the truly revolutionary idea that unity can only be achieved outside of our inherent selfishness, based on our bodily understanding of life, which is the main reason for our being here in this material world. The flower-power hippie movement had already disintegrated in his presence, and those who escaped the drug consumption and unrestricted sex it advertised became yuppies, entering the mediocrity of family life under the direction of their more "pragmatic" hippie wives and their newly born needy offspring:-).

It didn't take long for the revolution to be reduced to a mediocre existence of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending of any kind. Disunited by our selfish desire for sense gratification, and even more subtle forms of it in the form of speculative pseudo-intellectuality, we had to watch as society reverted to the same mediocre lifestyle, this time promoted by the most sophisticated means humans have ever had: massive and global digital cyberspace propaganda.

Some may argue that the internet, where even this text appears, can be used in a more productive way and not as a mere sense-gratification-providing medium. That is true. But it requires a principle-minded human being to abstain from the cheap temptations this media is offering and use it in a productive way. A programme for filtering the stupidity found in the wild cyberspace of the internet has not yet been developed :-). It's a sad sight to see a young boy wasting his time in front of a blinking screen, playing pointless and harmless killing-others games while downing energy drinks after energy drinks.

In Vedic times, only brahminically qualified people were allowed to broadcast relevant messages; everyone else was simply following the brahminical command. With this culture being entirely lost, any "fertile brain" speculator or any cunning person of demoniac nature has the possibility to invade and modify the minds of so many others. When we turn on our laptop, we enter a dangerous field, and Srila Prabhupadas' warning, "What is the use of so much talking, simply making enemies?" is more relevant than ever.

NEVER trust anything presented by the internet unless it has been verified by a pure devotee who is free of the selfish nature of the conditioned soul. It is only on this level, listening to a pure devotee, that we can unite.

Unification has a price that not many are ready to pay. It is the price of regulated or rejected mental expectations based on deep-rooted material desires, the price of being reflected by others, and the price of being forced to become introspective.
Sure, introspection is advocated by the most arrogant, love by the most cruel, and unity by the most anarchists; all of this hypocrisy can be accumulated along the way.
As two dogs run a web page, one says to the other, "I hope nobody will notice. We are dogs." :-), the anonymity the internet provides is most deceiving.

We should always ask who is talking before quoting what is said. This was the formula Srila Prabhupada brought to us, and this is the way not to be deceived.
Only on this platform can we evoke and build trust, which may lead to unity.
Where there is no shared faith and trust, as there is in our case based on guru-sastra and sadhu, there will be no unity. Sooner or later, it becomes obvious that once again some "selfish man" will take advantage of the trust of others being invested in him. Such is the corrupting power of maya, Krishna's divine energy, which has the ability to disunite everyone at any time.

Unity is possible on a platform of shared PRINCIPLES. The principles to be followed are clearly defined by Srila Prabhupada. Anybody trying to modify or change them as we see them today is the greatest mischievous anarchist, destroying the legacy Srila Prabhupada left behind. Spiritual life is a walk on a razor's edge, and so the place we can meet is not very large. Despite Srila Prabhupada's magnificent offer, which presented a wide range of opportunities to join his movement, the final stage where we can meet is not very great. The goal, the spiritual realm, is endlessly great, but the path to walk along towards that destination is very narrow. Not many are ready to walk it, but many try to bulldoze it into an unrecognisable place of chaotic construction, declaring the "highway" they are building an act of mercy. But, lost in this speculative construction side, completely disunited (one speculator hardly agrees with another), the preachers of "new unity" vanish, butchered by time and quickly forgotten... as new preachers of "unity" appear on the scene.

Indeed, the call for unity is most urgent. The demoniac policy of creating fear and anxiety and then entering the chaotic stage by offering a "formula of unity" is a common strategy of demons, applied again and again in various forms in the history of mankind. I grew up in a communist country where the "attack of the western imperialists was imminent." Then, being young men, our family immigrated to the West, where the "attack of the communists by dint of an atomic war was imminent."
Then the "attack of the terrorists" was imminent. Finally, following the fall of the Iron Curtain that separated East and West, the "attack of the big virus" that would kill us all seemed imminent, leaving us fearful, face-covered, isolated, and suspecting our neighbour to be our most infected enemy. So, by repeatedly instilling fear in the hearts of sense-gratification-addicted, conditioned souls, the demoniac class of leaders controlled others by threatening them with the loss of what was dear and near to them.

Unity can be achieved only by dint of regulating tapasya, austerity. It is austerity to live with others at close range, and as we are all individuals with individual perceptions, modifying this perception into an organised scheme is never easy.
Strong leadership is required—the kind of transparent, principled leadership that even a simple man can follow. Simple doesn't mean primitive, as we were taught in school; simple can be genius.
It was this genius idea of unity that Srila Prabhupada brought to us, but it didn't come without a price. The price was as high as any amount of money could be; the price was to give up one's own ideas and accept the ideas of the Supreme Lord as presented by his pure devotee. As a result, people like me, who were born as pseudo-artistic introverts, found ourselves living on the street day and night, distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, joining others in public hare nama, and offering whatever we received from Srila Prabhupada to others with no expectation of name, fame, or glory.

Regardless of how small our band was or how many extraordinary eccentric people joined this movement at the time, we found ourselves united in our effort to please His Divine Grace.
Such blessed unity can only be broken by the selfish desires of the individual devotees, starting with the leadership. Any preacher is unique. However, if he takes pleasure in his uniqueness, he may be carried away by the flattery of his followers, who turn his guru worship into a personal cult worship of himself.

This temptation awaits anyone who has forgotten Lord Caitanya's statement, in which he rejected any number of cheap followers (being a sannyasi), any number of sentimental women (and men too:-), and any riches offered to him along the way.
Unity commands total rejection of these temptations offered to us once again by Maya, and even though any leader has his charisma and will be followed by an enthusiastic crowd eventually, he must never become conditioned by it, living his own spiritual life and standing on the ground offered to him by his guru.

After all, it is not the number of his followers that defines his status, but his undeterred faith in the words of his guru, which is the basis of his service. As one illusionary godbrother of mine was asked by another godbrother, "Prabhu, I heard that you are advocating yourself as a pure devotee? Is that true?"
The answer came in a shockingly instant way: "Of course I am a pure devotee; don't you see how many are following me?"

This is the maya that deludes such a narcistic guru; this is how a guru becomes a prostitute in the name of increased followership, and as he and his sentimental worshippers are entranced by their "mental version of Krsna consciousness," the more sober class of devotees, feeling repulsed, turn to the roots, from which all unity can be generated, the roots of Lord Caitanya's tree, where one of the most powerful branches is the movement Srila Prabhupada started. One cannot be united by taking shelter under a tree with rotten roots. Such a tree will be soon uprooted by the mayas incoming storms, burying all those who took shelter there under it.The history of mankind is filled with such rotten-tree examples.

It is the most pressing need for those who are purely motivated to seek the company of others who are similarly motivated and to oppose the mainstream illusions that are being offered to us through practical alternatives. My personal hope is in the young generations of devotees who have the impetus to strive for a return to the roots of what Srila Prabhupada has planted, to learn from the mistakes that have been made, and to build a new shelter for those who seek reality and desire to avoid ilusion. The credit Srila Prabhupada gave is blocked and partially wasted. Now, starting with an empty account, those who preach have to gain new credibility in the ocean of frustration and suspicion that was left behind. Challenged by questions like "Can we trust somebody at all?" the new generation of preachers should embrace the basic principles Srila Prabhupada offered to us and unite on a level that facilitates "unity in diversity" without becoming populistic and compromised by public call.

Such a united movement will be very small. ISKCON was never a large movement for those who strictly followed the principles established by Srila Prabhupada. It was always conducted and spread by a few wholeheartedly dedicated souls. When we were on sankirtan in the 1970s and 1980s, we were frequently subjected to the hysterical warnings of the concerned mainstream media, which labelled us as a "dangerous sect."
When asking people on the street how many members they think the "dangerous sect" has, nobody guessed less than fifty thousand. Amused, we returned to our Sankirtan vans, ten boys and ten girls who had mysteriously multiplied into fifty thousand in the eyes of the public due to our constant traveling. One can do so much with twenty dedicated devotees. Srila Prabhupada said, "We need only one good man in each country, then success is guaranteed. Look at me, I came alone, one single man".

Many will come, but many will leave—or, worse, many will try to change the movement's original purpose to suit their own needs. But those who really try to follow in the most chaste manner may be few. Enough to change the world. This is what Srila Prabhupada showed us. When those few unite, the impact of the message they carry will be felt. The populist policy of "many disciples, many gurus, many fools" will only exacerbate the chaos and anarchy. There is no unity in ignorance, however great it may be.

Only unity blessed by the guru parampara and the Supreme Lord will prevail.

In desperate search after unity, Manidhara das

P.S. Alternative questions:

Q: But so many chant today, far more than ever before!

A: Any sahajiya can chant the Holy Name. Too often, the chanters forget what chanting truly means. It is a prayer for HIGHTEN ENGAGEMENT IN DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. Surely, any sort of chanting is beneficial.
But chanting while still maintaining material expectations is offensive, and it may take a lifetime before we can come to a pure state of chanting. The statement that chanting the Holy Name even once results in Godehad's love is true, but it only applies to pure, senseless chanting and does not specify WHEN that moment occurs.
As we know, there are three stages of chanting in regards to its purity, and coming to offenseless chanting may take some time depending on the sincerity of the chanter.
What is the result of our chanting? Return to mediocre eating, sleeping, mating, and defending lifestyles? Such pious activities as eating, sleeping, mating, and defending comprise the human form of life, but we cannot expect the same result as chanting done in a desperate mood in terms of becoming a useful tool within the mission Srila Prabhupada entrusted to us.
Still, ANY kind of chanting is beneficial.

Q: There are those who inspire so many to chant and initiate so many into the Srila Prabhupadesa movement.

A: Are they? So, what is the purpose of the Srila Prabhupadas movement?
The real value of initiation has to be manifested by a change of heart in those who are initiated. No change of heart indicates that the connection between the initiator and the initiated is invalid. In terms of numbers of followers, there have been demons throughout history who have achieved far greater success than any guru in ISKCON. And what kind of followers did they get? followers who were ready to march towards Stalingrad and die there for their leader. :-(
This level of devotion is becoming increasingly rare in the ISKCON world.
It is easy to change one's name by dint of initiation. However, changing one's heart takes a lifetime of effort. The result will speak for itself, not the number of followers.

As seen in the lives of those who got initiated by Srila Prabhupada, their hearts changed completely, their ways of acting changed completely, and their motives changed completely. Of course, under the influence of Maya, this process can be reversed, and even though the service is never in vain, the initiated one can be covered by his false ego and inherent vanity again, becoming asara, useless.
However, the principle itself remains unchanged. Initiation means a change. Guru is not a piece of one's household inventory, a framed image hanging on the wall, a karma collector's waste basket of one's ongoing sinful deeds, or a social visit card. Through initiation, one can become more pious. Such benefits can be gained in any kind of religious institution. What makes the initiation into Srila Prabhupada's movement different and unique is that one's heart is changing. Changing to the point where we are becoming useful tools in the context of the mission he has entrusted to us. A pious, noble life can be found within the framework of varnasrama Dharma, even outside of Srila Prabhupada's movement. However, true bliss and ecstasy can be found only when one is engaged in direct preaching of his legacy, delivered to us in the form of book distribution, public hare nama, and public prasadam distribution, along with the propagation of the Holy Name on any level possible.
Once these communities are established, a varnarsrama dharma-based life style, like devotees living exemplary lives, is preaching in and of itself.

But all this can be done only when the basis of preaching, as mentioned above, is not neglected. In vedic society, there is varnasrama dharma followed even by demons, and there is daivi varnasrama dharma advocated by pure devotees with the goal of directly pleasing the Lord, which in our case means accepting the preaching mood of Srila Prabhupadas movement. Preaching is the essence, not simply a pious life.