Our insincere attitude always keeping us away from the absolute teachings shown by The Prabhupada - Part 4

All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga

Date—04.05.2024

Our insincere attitude always keeping us away from the absolute teachings shown by The Prabhupāda - Part 4

Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that— "Do not try to discover the nature of truth by the exercise of your imagination. Do not endeavour to attain the truth through experience of this world. Do not try to manufacture truth in order to satisfy your erring inclinations, or hastily accept anything for the reason that it satisfies such inclinations. Do not regard as truth anything that has been "built up" or has the support of a majority of people like yourself, nor as untruth anything that is rejected by the overwhelming majority. According to the scriptures there will be found hardly one in a crore of human beings who really worships the truth. What is proclaimed by the united voices of all the people of this world as truth may turn out to be false. Therefore, cease to confront the truth in a challenging mood. The truth is not brought into existence by such arrogance. One has to approach the truth in the spirit of absolute submission. It is necessary to listen to truth. Truth is self-revealing, and only when it is pleased to reveal itself can its actual nature be known to us, and not otherwise."

(Lecture, 1926: Gaudiya 15.342; Nadia Prakash, 12.276.1127)

Śrīla Prabhupāda also many times told that— “If I seek the path leading to that ultimate good then I must ignore the countless voices of popular wisdom and listen only to that of the realized soul.”

In his divine hari-kathā Śrīla Baba Maharaj warning us many times that— “Bhajana life is not a matter of joke; it is the question of the survival of our real self.” The only question what we need to ask, whether we have realized those words of Śrīla Baba Maharaj or not.  Why most of us are not able to realise the dangerous situation at present prevailing everywhere in the form of massive miss preaching. In the name of actual Gauḍīya bhajana we all are misled. The only reason behind this is our insincerity to follow the exact teachings of The Prabhupāda. We have no sincerity inside our heart that is why we are not feeling any pain for the negative situation prevailing in our devotional field. Those genuine sincere devotees they can surely get divine help of Śrīla Nityānanda-Balarāma. Śrīla Baba Maharaj used to say that— “Lack of sincerity can put us in the ocean of misery. Sincerity is the first and foremost important thing in our bhajana life.” Śrīla Prabhupāda also used to say that— “Whether one is Brahmā, Śiva, Vāyu, or Vāruṇa, whether one is a great religious preacher or religious leader, if he deviates even an inch from Śrī Caitanyadeva’s teachings, he will find himself in trouble.”

Śrīla Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Gosvāmī Maharaj used to give one nice example regarding sincerity which we would like to quote here—

Only a sincere student is qualified to assess the qualification of his teacher

Suppose we come across two individuals: one is a praṇayi-bhakta, and the other is only claiming to be a praṇayi-bhakta. We may observe that the person pretending to be a praṇayi-bhakta is externally exhibiting all the symptoms of a praṇayi-bhakta and is forcing us to accept him as such, while the actual praṇayi-bhakta makes no endeavour to prove his position to others. If we are unqualified, insincere and not adequately intelligent or well-versed in the śāstras, how we will be able to differentiate between the two?

A student in eighth standard was assigned a tutor by his parents. The tutor was highly qualified and possessed a PhD degree. However, after receiving lessons for some time, the student complained to his parents, “I am unsatisfied with this tutor; he is unable to teach me properly. It would be better if you could arrange for a new tutor.”

Because of the student’s sincerity in his studies, he was easily able to realize that the tutor was not teaching him properly. Similarly, we will only be able to identify a praṇayi-bhakta if we too are completely sincere. If we are not sincere at heart, we will simply cheat ourselves, whether we happen to meet with a praṇayi-bhakta or a pretender.

(Taken from the book ‘Viśuddha Caitanya-vāṇī’, by Śrīla Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Gosvāmī Maharaj)

Sometimes we hear from some so-called devotees that, “Who can follow the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura?” or “That is very high” or most of them speaking— “We have no adhikāra up to that level” or “How we can run our temple by following Śrīla Prabhupāda’s strict rules and regulations?” Whatever may be their understanding, but in reality, we can see that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to give fitting answer to those who used to consider his teachings as too much, that— “Instead of coming down to your level, it is better if you all can come up to my level, which is more practical.” So in this way we only can come to the conclusion that it is our own insincerity.

Śrīla Baba Maharaj many times used to say that— “If you follow strict rules and regulations (the yardstick set by Śrīla Prabhupāda) from the very beginning and can try to get habituated, then in future it will be very easy for you all to maintain all the Vaiṣṇava etiquette perfectly. Never try to lose your standard, rather try to maintain the standard set by The Prabhupāda. Because Śrīla Prabhupāda very often used to say that— “We Gauḍīyas always have some speciality.” Speciality regarding pure siddhānta vichar and ācaraṇa, that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to mean.

If we love Śrīla Prabhupāda then surely, we cannot say that Prabhupāda is too strict. Because love cannot accept any compromise. Even in this material world, I can give one example, there was one girl who was from a very rich family, but she fell in love with one poor motor mechanic. Then the father of the girl was bound to say, “I cannot accept you as my daughter if you marry that guy.” Then that girl said, “Love is love. I cannot throw him away simply because he is poor. I can leave you and go away if the situation demands so.” Then she went away even leaving her father. She was never habituated to live in poverty but still it was possible for her to make adjustment with her husband. Why? Simply because she was in love with her husband. Also, most of our guru-varga came from high family but still when they could feel the nectar coming from Śrīla Prabhupāda continuously, then they were ready to give up everything for him. The unique and absolute love affair of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī was so strong that no amount of impediment could stand in the way of Her love for Krsna. That is the mystery of great love affair.

So if our goal of life is to attain śuddha bhakti, then there can be no other way open except the way already shown by The Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— "Most of my time was spent in cutting the 'jungles' of māyāvāda, sahajiyā-vāda, sakhī-bheki and all other non-devotional ideas. If there is a māyāvāda jungle, the seeds of bhakti cannot sprout. I therefore had to cut so many jungles, and still there are so many jungles left throughout the world. Most of my time was spent in clarifying philosophical points."

It was the only desire of Śrīla Prabhupāda to bring us up to the highest level of devotional platform by uprooting all the thorns on the pathway of śuddha bhakti, that is why he also used to say that— “I have given anxiety to you all to engage you all in unalloyed hari-bhajana, I was bound to do so. Someday some birth you can understand this point”.

So, it is our request to those sincere seekers of that Absolute— “That please they learn from their past mistakes.”

At least at present, we can keep hope that we can get the exact teachings of Śrīman Mahaprabhu through our guru-parampara like Śrīla Saccidananada Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīla Śrīdhar Dev Gosvāmī Maharaj, Śrīla Bhakti Pragyan Kesava Gosvāmī Maharaj, Śrīla Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Maharaj or Śrīla Shyam das Baba, because that is the exact utility of our guru-parampara.

Also Śrīla Baba Maharaj many times used to say in his hari-kathā— “That all those who are unwilling to listen Bhakti Siddhānta Vāṇī, must have some secondary interest, other than śuddha bhakti. For those who pretend to sleep we can do nothing, but for those sincere seekers of the Absolute truth— This much we can say that ‘śuddha bhakti siddhānta vāṇī’  is just like earthquake which can crash down everything negative to help us attain pure devotion.” He also wants to say that— “I like to save you all from imminent danger (maya), that’s why I can expect only kick from you in return, nothing else. I have no expectation from you at all, that is why I like to open your eyes forcefully, because actual Harikatha is just like a heavy operation, so naturally a patient is not ready to undergo such heavy treatment. That is why so much agitation developing at present regarding pure Harikatha-Kirtan.    

Even it is more dangerous - if somebody pretending to sleep, because surely they are less interested to understand the importance of Bhakti Siddhānta Vāṇī seva. But due to their weakness most of them are not even ready to confess this fact. In this way history always repeating itself. Many of them can try to stop such pure and divine hari-kathā like fire which all are coming out of the lotus mouth of Śrīla Baba Maharaj. They cannot bear the honest effort of Srila Baba Maharaj, because they have anyabilasa inside their heart. 

We know the following śloka  by Śrīla Raghunath Das Gosvāmī Das Prabhupāda that—

are cetaḥ prodyat-kapaṭa-kuṭināṭī-bhara-khara-

kṣaran-mūtre snātvā dahasi kathām ātmānam api mām

sadā tvaṁ gāndharvā-giridhara-pada-prema-vilasat-

sudhāmbhodhau snātvā tvam api nitarāṁ māṁ ca sukhaya (Manaḥ Śikṣā – Verse 6)

O mind, why are you bathing in the caustic urine of the great donkey of full-blown deceit and hypocrisy? By doing so, you are burning both you and me! Instead, you should constantly bathe in the ambrosial ocean of prema emanating from the feet of Gāndharvā-Giridhārī which will thoroughly delight both of us.

They just cannot bear all those honest efforts by Śrīla Baba Maharaj. Many times we can see that some so-called devotees are always trying to destroy the weak faith of those innocent devotees those who are at least trying to follow Baba from heart. We know it for sure that such conspiracy under the spell of maya can never be tolerated by Śrīman Nityānanda prabhu, today or tomorrow surely they can get their result of their mischievous activities, so we like to pray unto the Lotus Feet of Sriman Nityānanda Prabhu to change their heart, so that at least they can understand the honest mood of Śrīla Baba Maharaj.

So kindly you all try to reach such a point of sincerity level so that never-nothing can distract you from the actual teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda is our main milestone in the way of Gauḍīya bhajana.

Many came to Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda with some ulterior motives, and he also was ready to fulfil their respective desires. This way they were all deprived by Srila Prabhupada. Some of them gathered money, some gathered worldly education, some of them arranged big big buildings and properties etc., yet some others collected name and fame as so-called preachers or Acharyas. But in this way only they were deceived by Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. In true sense he was eternally very kind to us all. The Prabhupāda can surely save those who are weak, but cannot help those who are kapat.

Thanks a lot

Truly yours in the service of Guru Gaurāṅga and Go-Mata

Under the divine guidance of Śrīla Baba Maharaj

All the sincere followers of Bhakti Siddhānta Vāṇī