Our insincere attitude always keeping us away from the absolute teachings shown by The Prabhupada – Part 5

All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga

Our insincere attitude always keeping us away from the absolute teachings shown by The Prabhupāda – Part 5

(We have to accept The Prabhupāda as the absolute Idealism to attain the final Goal of our life which is known as Kṛṣṇa prema)

By Baba Śrī Shyam Das

Date—27.04.2025

tvaṁ naḥ sandarśito dhātrā

dustaraṁ nistitīrṣatām

kaliṁ sattva-haraṁ puṁsāṁ

karṇa-dhāra ivārṇavam

We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence, just so that we may accept you as captain of the ship for those who desire to cross the difficult ocean of Kali, which always going to destroy all the good qualities of a human being.

In the same way as the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya accepted Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī as the perfect captain of the ship to cross over this fearful and dangerous material ocean (because he was a Mahābhāgavata bhakta), so we also wanted to say that all sincere seekers of that Absolute Truth must accept The Prabhupāda—Gaudiya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Paramaṁsa Jagad Guru as the absolute captain in our life to attain the final goal of life which is called Kṛṣṇa prema.

Gaudiya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that— “We will fearlessly tell everyone the truth, without deceiving anyone. We have to speak the kind of truth that is truly beneficial for the living being, even if it is unpleasant. This is not the same as creating anxiety for others. We have to search for reality. We have to think about the good of all people in the world. With great determination, we have to do what is beneficial for ourselves and others. Unless we speak the truth boldly we cannot please guru and Gaurāṅga. The more determined one is in devotional service, the bolder and more courageous he will be as a preacher. If I fail to speak the impartial truth because I might become unpopular, I have certainly abandoned the path of my disciplic succession and accepted an unauthorized path. In the end I will either find myself cheated or will become an atheist.” (from Śrīla Prabhupāder Upadeśāmṛta)

Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev Gosvāmī Mahārāja said that— “Just as in the ocean, when nothing else can be seen, the compass is the only guide, so in the world of the infinite, our only guide are the footsteps of those great souls who have already travelled on the path of faith. The way has been marked by the footsteps of those great souls who have gone to the highest quarter. That should be our only hope.” Aho! What a great treasure is waiting for us to be discovered, but we never try to realize it deeply from the bottom of our heart. Bhakti Siddhānta Vāṇī is not such a cheap thing which is available on each and every marketplace. Especially in the present age where Kali has stolen all our good qualities, it is really very difficult to get the actual thing (śuddha bhakti) and not some kind of imitation or diluted versions of bhakti which are available everywhere at present.

Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— “Many people think that the path of bhakti is covered with a soft bed of flowers. Blind faith, indiscipline, whimsical behaviour, indiscrimination, sentimentalism, and emotional outbursts are all counted by them as being means of performing bhakti. But from śāstra and from the words of the ācāryas it is understood that, although the authorized path of bhakti is the only means of attaining the ultimate goal of life, it is full of thorns. Especially in this Age of Kali, the age of argumentation and quarrel, it is covered with millions of thorns.”

Also many times he used to say that— “Do not try to discover the nature of truth by the experience of your imagination. Do not endeavor to attain the truth through experience of the world. Do not 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 (from heart). 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…”

Śrīla B.G. Narasiṁha Mahārāja also used to say that— “This is the world we live in today, my friends. Transgressions have become the norm! People want to throw everything away and lower the standard just to get people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. If you don’t have a philosophical mind then you will think, “Yes, we should do that!” Then why follow the four regulative principles? Serve a little wine at the Sunday feast and get everyone to chant! If there are filters on the cigarettes, then what is the harm in sucking in a little smoke? Once you start to lower the principles, where do you stop? You will find out that there is no stopping...”

Very often Śrīla Paramahaṁsa Jagad Guru Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Puri Gosvāmī used to declare painfully that— "There is a wave of sahajiyaism coming to the Western world and you must preach against this misconception." He would also say that— “The standards for preaching and bhajana have already been established for this movement by Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, and we should take inspiration from Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and do the needful.” Again he said that— “Gaudiya Maṭh is synonymous to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and we must engage in worship according to these conclusions. Then they will understand. Everyone is trying to deviate from the truth in different ways. They try to deviate others and make them fall down from the path of devotional life.” He also very often used to say that— “To realise what is actual śuddha bhakti, it takes many lifetimes.”

At present we find that there is a great confusion regarding the actual teachings given by The Prabhupāda. It is such a dangerous situation where almost everybody tries to avoid The Prabhupāda in true sense. In the same way just like all the jewellers don’t have the same level of proficiency or character to differentiate between real jewels & imitation jewels according to realise the actual value of the jewel concerned, only those pure Vaiṣṇavas they can differentiate between actual Bhaktivinoda Dhara and Non-Bhaktivinoda dhara.

Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Gaudiya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura appeared in this world with the only aim of establishing Viśuddha Chaitanya Vāṇī in its purest form. But most of the time both of them had to spend gallons of blood to protect the pure siddhānta vāṇī vaibhava from all kind of dangerous negative forces which are always trying to pollute the absolutely pure flow of Bhaktivinoda Dhara. As Lord Śiva jī has drunk all the poison of the milk ocean, also these two great personalities appeared in this world to swallow all the poison derived from the churning of the appasiddhānta sāgara (ocean). Time to time this kind of problems happen all the time.

Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to say that— “Pure items are rare and not easily attainable, and so are not much appreciated. Similarly, there is no respect for those who do not misguide people but are busy trying through saṅkīrtana and Hari-kathā to turn them toward the Lord. At present it is fashionable to be cheated by those who in the name of dharma misguide people. Real devotees do not speak to satisfy their audiences. They do not cheat people. Rather, pure devotees reveal the defects of cheaters who love to compromise. Only fortunate persons learn to be cautious after hearing the words of saints. Although the words of genuine devotees may appear to contradict our present taste and experience, nonetheless they are most auspicious for us.”

To make the picture more and more clear in front of you all, about what is the dangerous position of our devotional field at present, we like to give one example which is just fitting in this case to realize the fact. Just around 10 to 15 years back there was one of the biggest ecological problems in the world, which took place in the Gulf of Mexico. It was considered as one of the greatest man-made disasters in the history of America. At that time newspapers and TV channels continuously reported about that great disaster. There was a huge leakage under the sea from where oil started coming out. Tens and thousands of gallons of oil would flow daily into the ocean. Many experts tried to fix that hole, but all their efforts came out failure. The oil company said that the hole is too deep around 1 mile underwater, so it is extremely difficult to fix. All those Geologists started saying that it may take hundreds of years to recover that area again, to bring back the normal condition of the natural atmosphere.

Surely most of us can feel that what a great loss and disaster caused to Mother Nature in this way, and what kind of far-reaching consequences this incident (accident) can bring in the way of ecological balance. We can only feel something when we have some relation with Śrī Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān etc. For easy understanding the following example will be very useful—Once there was a widow who alone used to take care of her son. Because of too much pressure on her due to heavy engagement to run her family life smoothly with a baby, she ultimately took the decision to take help of a fostering mother, so that she can earn some money for their livelihood. After some time she came back and wanted to get back her child, but that fostering mother now started demanding that this is my child, I cannot give you. That entire incident happened in a rural area so naturally there was no evidence about who was the actual mother. So those two women started fighting with each other, and finally both of them took the decision to approach the king to get justice in this regard. The king was very clever to solve this problem very easily and started saying that, since both of you having demand on the child, so the best way how I can solve the problem, is to cut the boy into two pieces to give one piece to both of you. Then immediately the original mother started to cry—no no give the boy to her. So in this way the king understood who is the original mother. The original mother has some deep affection and relation with the boy that’s why she can feel like this, which is surely not possible for the duplicate mother.

So in the same way those who have a relationship with Gaudiya Maṭh they can feel the pain about the situation in which our whole Gaudiya Sampradāya is put at present, but those who have no relation with Gaudiya Maṭh how they can feel? How can we feel if the divine ocean of Bhakti Siddhānta Vāṇī Vaibhava can become polluted like the case that happened at the ocean in New Mexico?

The divine aprākṛta vāṇī which has been manifested through the holy Lotus mouth of Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda can’t be compared with the words of any person in this world. And all those (our Gaudiya Guruvārga) who truly have drunk and digested that divine transcendental Vāṇī, they can never even deviate as much as an inch from the lotus feet of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. That’s why we can only imagine how those pure devotees must feel by watching the present painful situation in our Gaudiya devotional field.

As it seemed apparently as a most sinful act of Hanumān jī to burn whole Laṅkā down to ashes just to protect the interest of Lord Rāmacandra, also the fierce aprākṛta Harikathā of Pure Guru-Vaiṣṇavas appears apparently to be the most violent, but their only aim and goal is to protect and preserve Chaitanya Vāṇī. That’s why in the same way as the act of Hanumān jī was counted as the topmost seva by the Lord Himself, also all those guardians of Chaitanya Vāṇī have the full approval of Lord Chaitanya Himself, Who Himself claims it to be the topmost seva to protect and preserve Chaitanya Vāṇī in an intact way. It is only us that we misunderstand Guru-Vaiṣṇava when they speak heavily to rectify the situation.

That’s why we all must sincerely pray to the Lord and especially to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, so that they out of their causeless kripa save us from misunderstanding pure Sarasvat Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava siddhānta and pure Sarasvat Gaudiya Guru-Vaiṣṇava. Otherwise, we all can go to hell.

"Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh cannot have and actually does not have anything in common with those, who duplicitously join Gauḍīya Maṭh with a motive to misuse Divine Knowledge for the service of their own selfish ends. Feigned Dīkṣā and obtainment of Divine Knowledge are never one and the same. Śrī Caitanya and His sincere Devotees are eternally present in Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh. All those owlish persons who are incapable of seeing the light are called māyāvādīs, karmīs and wayward nondevotees." (from the letter by Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī October 20, 1928)

Gaura Harī Harī Bol