Gaudiya Matha has nothing to do with deceitful pseudo-followers

(By Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda)

Some people think that they have been fully initiated in the Gauḍīya Maṭha when they have no, yet completed the initiation process. Such people then leave the Maṭha where they may fall down to some extent; even so, once their past karma has been used up, there is no impediment to their coming back and being engaged again in the service of the Maṭha. Anyone who has received even an inkling of the Maṭha’s basic mantra of exclusive devotion to the Lord can never really fall down. On the other hand, it is due to personal weakness that, they do not accept the Maṭha’s rules and regulations under the influence of some unresolved vaiṣṇava–aparādha, even while continuing to identify themselves as its disciples. If by the Lord s mercy, one’s propensity for service continues to increase progressively, there is no possibility of being misled by sinful tendencies. You should take care to help all these more or less fallen Individuals and work for their welfare. This is the characteristic of a true friend.

Some other ignorant people are unable to comprehend the munificent pastimes of the great devotees and ask how Mahāprabhu’s servant Kāla Kṛṣṇa Dāsa could possibly have been tempted by the women of the Bhattaharis And why Choṭa Haridāsa abandoned the standards set by Mahāprabhu to go his own way? And why did Rāmacandra Purī cease following his guru Mādhavendra Purī? And why did some of the so-called sons of Advaita Ācārya and a few of the so-called disciples of Vīrabhadra Prabhu take up an independent path? These foolish persons are unable to grasp the truth and so spread all kinds of doubts, polluting the understanding of kaniṣṭha and madhyama adhikārīs — the beginners and somewhat advanced devotees. Their teachings may be the object of veneration for some other inexperienced people, but in fact, when these people enter into the true meaning of the greatly beneficent activities of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the mahābhāgavata devotees, they will realize that Mahāprabhu said that the jiva is, in his essence, the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, and that this teaching was given to everyone, even the most unworthy and fallen, in order to give them the chance to take up the path of the supreme good. A devotees’ service attitude to Kṛṣṇa may be reversed and take on the appearance of indifference to the Lord when he is confronted with the possibility of sense enjoyment, and though this is a terrible thing which should be condemned, the verses of the Gītā which show an attitude of tolerance are considered to still be applicable:

api cet su-durācāro

bhajate mām ananya-bhāk

sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ

samyag vyavasito hi saḥ                                  (Bg. 9.30)

 “Even a confirmed sinner, if he worships Me with unwavering faith and devotion, must verily be considered as a good man for he has indeed taken the right resolve. Soon he will become righteous and attain to everlasting peace. O son of Kuntī! You may promise all on my behalf that no devotee of Mine shall ever perish.”

The devotee on the highest plane of realization knows that everyone is his guru. This is why he alone is the guru of the entire universe.

The Gauḍīya Maṭha’s philosophical conclusions are based on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Those who are inimical to the Bhagavata’s philosophy are naturally confounded in the application of a subtler sense of judgment and are therefore incapable of grasping its essential message. The result is that, as these people are under the influence of lust and the other deadly sins, their philosophical conclusions stand at the opposite end of the spectrum from those of the Gauḍīya Maṭha’s regulated sad-ācārī Vaiṣṇava. The philosophical conclusions of the sense gratifiers and followers of the path of religious ritual (karma-kāṇḍa) are diametrically opposed to those of the great souls who have taken refuge in the path of devotion.

Haridasa Ṭhākura said, “Until I have concluded my initiation in the form of taking the Holy Name, I cannot be engaged in sinful activity or activities which have the accumulation of piety as their purpose.” Similarly, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says,

tāvat karmāṇi kurvīta

na nirvidyeta yāvatā

mat-kathā-śravaṇādau vā

śraddhā yāvan na jāyate                            (ŚB 11.20.9)

“As long as one is not satiated by furtive activity and has not awakened his taste for devotional service by hearing and chanting about the Lord, he has to perform the duties of his caste and station in life.”

If inexperienced people continue to act counter to the principles of the Gauḍīya Maṭha or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on the basis of their limited education, then they become offenders. There is no gain or loss for the Gauḍīya Maṭha when they do so. Buried under a morass of sinful activity and suffering the punishments inflicted on them as the natural consequences of their acts, they become opposed to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and criticize the Gauḍīya Maṭha. That is what they are suited for. A fly has an enthusiastic preference for foul-smelling stools as a result of his incapacity for discerning relative values. Similarly, those with a hateful nature condemn the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the devotees of the Gauḍīya Maṭha who have taken shelter of this scripture, thus revealing their own abhorrent preferences.

Anyone who out of deceitful purpose professes adherence to the Gauḍīya Maṭha, harbouring an intention to misuse the divine, transcendental knowledge of initiation, cannot possibly have any relation to the Gauḍīya Maṭha, and indeed he has none. The relation of these people to the reality of the Gauḍīya Maṭha is the same as that of a group of actors to the reality they are representing in a play. Gilt cannot replace gold, nor can the pretence of devotion shown by these deceivers ever be seen on the same level as true, pure devotion.

The non- devotees conception is that the ultimate goal of life can be used in the service of lesser goals, such as religiosity, gain, sense enjoyment and liberation. Since the Gauḍīya Maṭha has undertaken to exclusively follow the devotional path, there is no place in it for those impostors who are misguided by a false understanding of what is in their own self-interest. Play-acting at taking initiation and attaining spiritual realization (divya-jñāna) are not at all the same thing. Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His sincere followers have taken up permanent residence in the Gauḍīya Maṭha. Those owl-like persons who are unable to see in the light, are nothing more than impersonalists. fruitive workers and self-willed, independent-minded materialists.

Gaura Hari Hari Bol