Sri Guru-Vaisnava-Bhagavan can never become a convict of my material judgment

Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that— “Logical interpretation cannot stand in the way of that Absolute Truth.”

The speeches and writings of our pure Gauḍīya guru-varga like Śrīla Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta and his true followers are absolute and beyond human comprehension. Aprākṛta - śabda-brahma is always a self-manifesting object. Śrīla Prabhupāda told that— “miyate ānaya iti māyā… that which can be measured is called māyā.” The living entities in this world are constantly engaged in measuring each and everything.

Śrīla Sadananda Svami wrote in one of his articles— “So long as we carry on to look on things, starting from a rose in a garden up to God Himself with the tendency to weigh, how far and to what extent the rose or He Himself can help us to make us happier, we are bound to be disappointed. This tendency is called māyā, because such measuring distorts reality and we see and experience a world as it is not in reality.”

It was Galileo who once said— “Measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not.”

Such is our poor condition that always we are busy to measure guru-Vaiṣṇavas by the help of our assumption or estimation scale. By watching those material factors like how much opulence a Vaiṣṇava have, how much popularity he is enjoying or how much knowledge or proficiency he has etc. we can never realize a real sādhu, rather we can get cheated automatically. Because guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavan (or His nāma-līlā-dhāma etc.) can reserve the right of not being exposed to our sense organs, they are all self-manifesting objects.

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: Gauḍīya 15.342; Nadia Prakash, 12.276.1127)

The Prabhupāda also very often used to say that— “We just cannot allow the judgment about who is Vaiṣṇava and who is not to go into the hand of those demons.” Because they are bound to express partiality due to their dirty self-interest. Many times, Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— “We must hear from a genuine source, not from anywhere or everywhere.” But who can realise in true sense about what is genuine source?  Because this is the age of advertisement of popularity.  That is why The Prabhupāda used to say that— “Try to understand the basic difference between bhaktivinod dhara and non-bhaktivinod dhara, then in that case you need not get your name registered in the book of those cheaters (or forgers) to learn something else in the name of śuddha- bhakti (or bhaktivinod dhara or hari-bhajan).”

Somebody wanted to put a question in front of Śrīla Prabhupāda that— “Are genuine saints (sādhus) respected in this world?”. The answer by Śrīla Prabhupāda was that— “In such a world which is full of duplicity only duplicitous persons are honoured. Genuine saints (sādhus), who don’t lead the masses along the wrong path, are not respected in this world. In modern times people are simply getting cheated by those who mislead the masses throughout a pretentious form of spiritual discourse has somehow emerged as the religion of the age (yuga-dharma). And because the true saints (sādhus) wish to expose wicked and unholy persons (asādhus) those same unholy cheaters bewilder the masses by condemning the true saints (sādhus) as unholy, duplicitous and thieves themselves in a plot to secure their escape. The illusory potency of the Lord, Māyā, never allows the jīvās to be sincere (niṣkapaṭa) and to that end she has been depriving the jīvās of the association of genuine saints (sādhus).”

A sādhu can only be known by his tremendous Sat-Guru-niṣṭhā and sampradāya-niṣṭhā. Many such āsuras can preach all over the world, but the authenticity of their preaching can only be justified by the standard set by Śrī Śrīla Svarūpa Gosāi. Massive approval of common mass is not the symptom of a successful preacher.

We know the following śloka from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—

vittam eva kalau nṝṇāṁ

janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ

dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyāṁ

kāraṇaṁ balam eva hi                                     (ŚB 12.2.2)

In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man’s good birth, proper behaviour and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one’s power.

We know from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, where it is written that—

aprākṛta vastu nahe prākṛta-gocara

veda-purāṇete ei kahe nirantara                                          (Cc Madhya 9.194)

“Spiritual substance is never within the jurisdiction of the material conception. This is always the verdict of the Vedas and Purāṇas.”

And also, we know that—

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi

na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ

sevonmukhe hi jihvādau

svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ                                                 (Cc Madhya 17.136)

“Therefore, material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṇa really is.”

This material world is the plane of exploitation, here each and everyone wants to dominate others to prove his own supremacy. In this relative world—whatever situation in which we are put into—we always feeling dissatisfaction, because we always want to avoid pūrṇa vastu Bhagavan or even we like to enjoy or utilise Bhagavan for our dirty selfish end—which is really very dangerous. Countless lucrative offers are there in this material world arranged by Māyādevi for us, but we can choose that particular thing which can match with our taste. So naturally our fanciful mood always getting priority in our life, even in the case of hearing hari-kathā-kīrtana or doing hari-bhajana. The Prabhupāda very often used to say that— “At present in the name of hari-kathā-kīrtana or hari-bhajana those who are cheating (or misguiding) the whole world, to become cheated by them—this has become the yuga-dharma (tendency) of the age.” They want to become cheated, so they become cheated. Without being cheated by those cheaters—they do not feel happy (this is the poor condition of the whole Vaiṣṇava-samāja). In this material world most of us honour and accept those speeches or writings which are pleasing to our material mind. That is why we like to avoid those big big exalted sādhus like Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, Śrīla Gaura Kisore Das Babaji Maharaj, Śrīla Vamsi das Babaji Maharaj or Śrīla Bhakti Pragyan Kesava Maharaj etc., because they are not speaking according to our taste. So, we don’t like them because of their strict representation of the Absolute Truth in front of us which seems to be very very uncivilized or improper. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has given a statement in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about those aversive material people, those who are leading their lives with enjoying mood just like demons—that:

śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ

saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ

na yat-karṇa-pathopeto

jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ                                      (ŚB 2.3.19)

Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils.

Śrīla Prabhupāda also has written about our material pratiṣṭhā as the stool of a pig in his writing “Vaiṣṇava ke”. Again, we can find that Śrīla Raghunath das Gosvāmī has written the following śloka in his “Manaḥ Śikṣā”—

pratiṣṭhāśa dhṛṣṭā śvapaca-ramaṇī me hṛdi naṭet

kathaṁ sādhu premā spṛśati śucir etan nanu manaḥ

sadā tvaṁ sevasva prabhu-dayita-sāmantam atulaṁ

yathā tvāṁ niṣkāśya tvaritam iha taṁ veśayati saḥ                (Manaḥ Śikṣā – Verse 7)

(“O mind! How can the highest and purest prema ever touch my heart while the desire for prestige dances there like a shameless dog-eating outcaste-woman? You must constantly serve those unparalleled generals of the army of the Lord who are most dear to Him. They can quickly expel that woman and allow prema to enter the heart.”)

Somebody wanted to put a question in front of The Prabhupāda that— “Why at present there is a famine of hari-kathā-kīrtana (pure)?

Then the answer by Śrīla Prabhupāda was— “Because of dishonour shown to our guru-varga, at present it has become a famine of hari-kathā. Present kīrtana means—material kīrtana, kīrtana as a mode of business, kīrtana to collect kanaka-kāminī-pratiṣṭhā, to seek the way of satisfaction of material sense organs, surely this is not for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa or for the satisfaction of Hari. Śrīman Mahāprabhu wanted to indicate those acting shows or bad habits: but if done in favour of hari-sevā, then this can become the topmost way of bhajana.”

(Excerpt from Sarasvatī Jaya Śrī)

Śrīla Prabhupāda also used to say that— “If we are failure to protect and preserve the flame of that sankīrtana yajña agni which was originally enlightened by Śrīman Mahāprabhu at Śrīvas Angan then in that case those dust particles or stone particles etc. can cover up our ceto-darpaṇa (heart) in different forms like mutual distrust, mutual competition for pratiṣṭhā or infighting etc. to throw us away from hari-bhajana.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda himself told that— “I am narrating only the topics of the limitless, unmeasurable Vaikuṇṭha world. I am not responsible for the good and bad effects of these narrations. So, in remuneration, I am not asking for mundane criticism or glorification.”

Gaura Hari Hari Bol