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“One whose body is fully surrendered takes shelter at the holy place where Krsna had His pastimes (Vrndavan), and he prays to the Lord: ‘My Lord, I am yours’. Understanding this within his mind, he enjoys spiritual bliss. “When a devotee thus fully surrenders unto Krsna’s lotus feet, Krsna accepts him as one of His confidential associates. (The word tat-kale in this sloka means ‘immediately’. He doesn’t wait. Neophytes (prakrta bhaktas) are not seen to be having this degree of firm faith. When by associating with pure devotees (second class or first class) one receives scientific knowledge of Krsna, his conviction in Krsna consciousness becomes solidified enabling him to cross the threshold of (second class Vaisnavism) devotional service in practice by taking the vaisnava diksha from Krsna’s bona fide representative. At that time, the disciples ‘fixed up’ surrendered approach (‘from this day on, I am yours’) is recognized by Krsna who not only accepts him as His ward but munificently accepts him as one of His confidential associates (devotees) gradually revealing to him all the innermost secrets of His heart. Sincere association with Krsna through the medium of pure devotional service is both the means and the ends. This is confirmed elsewhere in Caitanya Caritamrita: ‘At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krsna accepts him to be as good as Himself.’ (C.C. Antya 4.192) ‘An associate of the Lord is one whose body is fully engaged in the service of the Lord’. (C.C. Antya 4.197 p.p.) However as Mahaprabhu instructs Srila Rupa Goswami, ‘If one is infected with the desire for material enjoyment or material liberation (indicating his basic lack of sraddha), he cannot rise to the platform of pure loving service onto the Lord, even though he may superficially reader devotional service according to the routine regulative principles.” (Show bottle devotion, for “preaching” prabhus; put on your sankirtana smile!) “Krsna says, ‘If one engages in My transcendental loving service but at the same time wants the opulence of material enjoyment, he is very very foolish. Indeed he is just like a person who gives up ambrosia to drink poison.” Finally Lord Caitanya cites the following Bhagavatam verse to summarize the principles of sambandha, abhideya and prayojana.). “The living entity who is subjected to birth and death attains immortality when he gives up all material activities, dedicates his life to the execution of My order, (the results of sambandha tattva jnana) and acts according My directions, (bhakti abhideya). In this way he becomes fit to enjoy the spiritual bliss derived from exchanging loving mellows with me (prayojana siddhi).”(C.C.) Krsna consciousness is simple for the simple. Godhead is light; nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead there is no nescience. The sunlight is there, but we prefer to continue to *in our * caves. By desire we come to this material world and by desire we get out. It is we who prolong our ignorance and suffering by the habitual misuse of our independence. Jiva jago, jiva jago... enechi ausadhi maya nasibaro lagi hari-nama maha-mantra lao tumi magi. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! We hear the message but we don’t really hear, even after so many years, so many lifetimes. It is we who postpone our happiness, our progress to perfection; our surrender even. It is our irresponsibility. We procrastinate; put off till tomorrow. More important items on the agenda; places to go, people to meet, wars to win, books to write (for preaching prabhus!); but do we know who we are? Did we learn to love Krsna? Did we even once taste the nectar of the holy name (suddha nama)? Books are the basis, futility is the principle, purity is a force, and preaching is the excuse We’ve climbed ISKCON social ladder, corporate ladder; We’ve got our mitts on the men and the money (for preaching prabhus!). We’ve learned how to say “Jai Prabhupada, Jai Prabhupada!”, but have we genuinely learned the menial service attitude, what it really means to be a disciple, a representative of this great disciplic succession, an unbroken chain of fully self realized spiritual masters? “Better they bring me my shoes.“ (S.P.) Do you think bringing Prabhupada his shoes is such a simple thing? Krsna consciousness is simple for the simple, simply wonderful! Simply we have to surrender, that’s all. It’s a “gradual” process. As “gradual” as you want to make it. “Can’t means won’t.” (S.P.) If we had the desire, if we really wanted, we could surrender in a moment, like Katvanga Maharaja, couldn’t we? We can’t officially rubberstamp paramahamsas; nor can we ear mark who will get guru and Krsna’s mercy, ultimately. Guru and Krsna are not bound by any dogmatic, stereotypical religious or institutional convention. They can by their own sweet will accept anyone at anytime. Their mercy is ever progressive and unpredictable. They can make the insignificant become magnificent and the great become totally unimportant and puny. That decision is in their hands. They and their ways are inconceivable, achintya. Things are not always the way we expect them to be. Things don’t always happen the way we expect them to happen. A pig in Vrndavana is greater than a Lord Brahma. The ants get to go back to Godhead. One dust grain of Vrndavana contains all the material and spiritual worlds. One dust grain can give you love of Godhead. A lame man can cross mountains. Blind man can see the firmament. Dumb man can recite eloquent poetry and sweetly sing the holy names. Hell becomes better than vaikuntha. Vaikuntha appears to be like hell. Human reason fails to fathom the extent of Lord Caitanya’s benevolence. Even an insignificant dirty ol’ skunk like me can hope to cross the ocean of material existence and obtain the mercy of Krsna. Simply by remembering Lord Caitanya, the most difficult things become extremely easy and by forgetting Lord Caitanya, even the easiest things become extremely difficult. Once Srila Prabhupada was asked, “How can I become sincere?” Prabhupada answered, “By being sincere”. It’s simply a matter of understanding the fact, accepting the fact and acting in that capacity. Starting now. Be sincere. Surrender. Yare dekhe tare kaha krsna upadesh. It doesn’t matter who he is, (important or unimportant)What he is (grihastha or sannyasi), how he is (wealthy, poor, old, young, happy or sad), where hi is (Vrindavana or hell); “If a devotee follows the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he lives in the company of the Lord. Wherever he lives, he converts that place into Vrndavana and Navadwipa. This means that materialism cannot touch him. This is the secret of success fur one advancing in Krsna consciousness.” (S.P. C.C.) “That materialism cannot touch him” means to be free from the influence of maya. Just see. As long as he faithfully follows the Lord’s instructions, under the guidance of His representative and chants the Hare-Krsna mantra teaching everyone as far as possible the same principle, he’s free; he remains in the liberated position as an associate of the Lord. Pure Krsna consciousness can only manifest from the see-bed of humility. We must always be very careful about false pride. There is a difference between pure spiritual pride and false pride which we won’t venture to discuss for fear of increasing the volume of this book. False pride can be so subtle that what to speak of neophytes, sadhakas, and devotees who in their sadhaka deha have been elevated to the stage of svarupa siddhi, even those who have achieved vastu siddhi in the bhauma lilas of Krsna are enjoined to be very careful not to allow false pride to overtake them. “The gopis, however, soon began to feel very proud, thinking themselves to be the most fortunate women in the universe being favored by the company of Krsna. Lord Krsna who is known as Kesava, could immediately understand their pride caused by their good fortune of enjoying Him personally, and in order to show them His causeless mercy and to curb their false pride, He immediately disappeared from the scene, exhibiting His opulence of renunciation.” “Krsna does not like His devotees to be proud of their service to Him. He accepts everyone’s service, but He does not like one devotee to be prouder than others. If sometimes there are such feelings, Krsna ends them by changing His attitude toward the devotee.” (S.P. Krsnas Book) The preachers of the Krsna consciousness movement should never allow themselves to become proud of their association with the Lord and His various services. Even sometimes ot is seen that a devotee ironically becomes proud of his humbled position. False pride is so devilish. If we don’t want Krsna to renounce us, if we want to remain always fixed up in the company of the Lord and His devotees, through the loving service connection, then we must ever be mindful to cultivate pure devotional humility. We have to refine our thinking and our conduct. Humility doesn’t so much mean to think less of oneself as to think of oneself less. *self-aggrandizement and self-belittlement stem from an egocentric sense of self importance. Real humility means to salute the superior qualities in others by always absorbing one’s words, mind and deeds in selfless glorification and service. Therefore, kirtania sadahari. Krsna kirtana is the ultimate expression of the humble soul. That glorification of the Lord and His devotees is exploited in various ways for one’s personal aggrandizement is most diabolical and lamentable in that it seriously undermines the very basis of genuinely progressive pure devotional experience. Such clamoring of muskrats may serve to pad one’s pockets or increase one’s bile secretion but it will never help one to taste the ambrosial mellowness of Krsna prema. It is not at all becoming of a vaisnava to artificially think or claim himself to be a highly elevated nitya-siddha devotee of the Lord. This type of thinking should be completely avoided. Nor should we expect the godbrothers to even be slightly interested in exalting each other as such. Still, with all humility, I beg to submit that all of this and the following, practically demonstrates how Srila Prabhupada uses the word nitya siddha variously for our broader understanding. vidhi-bhaktye nitya-siddha parisada-`dasa' `sakha' `guru' `kanta-gana',-cari-vidha prakasa “By executing regulative devotional service, one is elevated to the platform of an eternally perfect associate - such as a servant, friend, superior or beloved woman. These are of four varieties.” (C.C. Mad. 24.289) It is evident in the sloka that Mahaprabhu in this explanation of the atmärama verse means to say that by the application of the regulative principles of devotional service (vaidhi bhakti), one attains eternal perfection as an associate of the Lord on account of one’s sadhana siddhi. One becomes eternally perfect (nitya siddha). Usually the word nitya-siddha is used to categorically distinguish ever-liberated jivas who have never tasted the service of maha maya from the sadhana siddhas and kripa siddhas who have come up from the status of conditional life. Here we can clearly see a variant application of the term. Just as in the case of almost any Sanskrit word, it would not be surprising to find a number of meanings. To argue over semantics is not as important as to see whether or not the siddhanta is being served. For example, some of the so called “babajis” want to denigrate our Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur for his supposed misuse of certain words in the Gaudiya vocabulary such as for example the words nitya-baddha and nitya-mukta living entities. They assert that according to the original Gaudiya understanding, nitha, in this context, can only mean without beginning or end in eternal time. As such a nitya baddha living entity must always categorically remain as nitya baddha; and the same for nitya-muktas. They say that nitya muktas are expansions of Krsna’s svarupa shakti who are eternally svatantra or independently free (mukta) to act on their won accord in the Lord’s service. The nitya baddhas are never free in that sense. Rather they are eternally baddha or bound to either serve under the shelter of the external energy or serve under the protection of Daivim prakriti, the internal energy. In other words the nitya baddhas are eternally subservient to the nitya muktas like Radha, lalita, Nanda-Yasoda, Subal, etc. Without being bound (baddha) to Their (the nitya mukta’s) service, the nitya baddhas can never get the power to serve the Lord. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur Prabhupada however has wonderfully applied these terms in a totally different way. He takes the word baddha to mean material bondage and mukta to mean freedom from material bondage. That the conditioned soul, by taking shelter of daivim prakriti can change his status from nitya baddha to the status of a mukta jiva, obviously necessitates a change in the contextual implication of the term “nitya”. “Nitya” now connotes the sense of being “apparently eternal”, since time immemorial, “anadi (beginingless)” or “continuously”, as long as one willfully chooses to remain in one condition or the other. Karanam guna sangasya sad asad janma yonisu; that as long as he associates himself with the material modes through his determined attachment to vikarma, karma and jnana, he remains continuously bound (nitya baddha) to conditional existance; but as soon as he, by divine grace, surrenders himself to Krsna (mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te), he easily gets free from the influence of mahamaya. He becomes a mukta jiva, even in this life time (jivan mukta). He is empowered by superior agency (bhakti shakti) as long as he willfully attaches himself to the service of Krsna’s Daivim prakriti. If we tool the word “nitya” in this context to mean “without beginning or end in eternal time”, then we might conjecture that the baddha jiva could never yet free from conditional life which would not at all be in keeping with the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. We should be able to see therefore that in spite of the variant semantical applications of the terminology, the actual siddhanta basically remains intact; so why nit-pick and squable over the semantecs. This is obviously a kind of shallow-mindedness. Similarly, the word “nitya” can also take on the connotation of meaning regularly, daily, continuously (“from this day on”) or incessantly (as in nitya-seva, nitya-kriya, nitya-lila, nitya-nit-picking etc.); and the word siddha can be applied to the principle of perfection regardless of the consideration as to how, when, where or why one has achieved whatever one’s perfectional status. As long as one is situated in a perfect position, either by choice or by grace, one remains continuously perfect unless he either somehow loses grace or chooses to depart from his perfectional status by misuse of his free will. Even when one will go to the spiritual world, the marginal potentiality to misuse ones minute independence continues to exist; but because one willfully
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Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura says, nitya-siddha kari mane. One should not think that because Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was personally present five hundred years ago, only His associates were liberated. Rather Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says that anyone is a nitya-siddha if he acts on behalf of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by spreading the glories of the holy name of the Lord. We should respect those devotees preaching the glories of the Lord as nitya-siddha and not consider them conditioned. mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate (Bg 14.26) One who has transcended the material modes of nature is supposed to be on the Brahman platform. That is also the platform of nitya-siddha. The nitya-siddha not only stays on the Brahman platform but also works on that platform. Simply by accepting the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahaprbhu as nitya-siddha, one can very easily go back home, back to Godhead.” (S.P. C.C. Mad. 11.89 p.p.) Again: “Because the temple of Lord Jagannatha is situated at Jagannatha Puri, many devotees from all parts of the world came to perform sankirtana in glorification of the Lord. All these devotees were certainly seen and heard by Maharaja Prataparudra, but he here admits that the kirtana performed by the associates of the Lord was unique. He had never before heard such sankirtan nor seen such attractive features manifest by the devotees. The members of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness should go to India during the birthday ceremony of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Mayapur and perform sankirtan congregationally. This will offer himself up to the service of the Lord under the protection of His svarupa shakti, he ever remains in his perfect constitutional position. Whether sadhana siddha, kripa siddha, nitya siddha or whatever; once siddha, always siddha (nitya-siddha). Perhaps we should allow Srila Prabhupada to further elucidate the subject: “Narottama dasa Thakura, honoring the personal associates of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has sung as follows (Prarthana 13): gaurangera sangi-gane, nitya-siddha kari' mane, se yaya vrajendra-suta pasa One who is intelligent understands that all the personal associates and devotees of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are ever liverated. This means that they do not belong to this material world because they are always engaged in the devotioanl service of the Lord. One who is engaged in the Lord’s devotional service twenty-four hours daily and never forgets the Lord is called nitya-siddha. Srila Rupa Goswami also confirms this statement: iha yasya harer dasye karmana manasa gira nikhilasv apy avasthasu jivan-muktah sa ucyate “A person acting in the service of Krsna with body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.187) A devotee is always thinking of how better to serve Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and how to broadcast His name, fame and qualities throughout the world. One who is nitya-siddha has no business other than broadcasting the glories of the Lord all over the world according to his ability. Such people are already associates of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
attract the attention of all the important personalities in India, just as the beauty, bodily luster and sankirtan performance by the associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu attracted the attention of Maharaja Prataparudra. The associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu were unlimited during the Lord’s presence on the planet, but anyone who is pure in life and devoted to the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is to be understood as a nitya-siddha associate of the Lord.” (S.P., Cc. Mad. 11.96 p.p) Still further: “Anyone who becomes exhilarated by hearing of the pastimes of Lord Krsna when He was present on this earth with His associates is to be understood as nitya-siddha, eternally perfect.” (S.P., N.O.D) One might argue at this point that statements such as these require some qualification and honestly speaking I would tend to agree. A madhyama adhikari vaisnava is one who is very seriously endeavoring to be elevated to the perfectional stage. Having pulled up the anchor of material attachments, there is every hope and expectation that he will actually get somewhere. Where we will not see such earnestness of heart, words and actions, we could hardly see any more than a neophyte (prakrta bhakta) grounded by attachment to various anarthas. Although for purposes of encouragement we give them the benefit of the doubt that there must be some sincerity, in truth their sraddha and sense of absolute self surrender is rather paltry. yesam tv anta-gatam papam jananam punya-karmanam te dvandva-moha-nirmukta bhajante mam drdha-vratah
“Unless one is a firs-class devotee, he cannot be a preacher. A preacher is generally a topmost devotee...” (Cc. Mad 8.44 pp) If we are actually devoted to the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, if we are claiming to be preachers of prema dharma, then it should behoove us, to set whatever we have to aside, and, do practically whatever is required, to at least come to the stage of bhava (budha bhava samanvitah). Bhava means stai bhava or the internal realization of one’s permanent mellow of devotional ecstasy in one of the five primary rasas exchanged with the Lord. Especially for one who has accepted the painstaking order of sannyasa, it is very necessary to be fixed-up in internally relishing the ever-fresh sweetness of realizing the eternal identity of one’s constitutional relationship with Krsna lest he chances to unfortunately become bewildered and fall victim to impure renaissances of his previous life of sense gratification on account of his ever-so-slight attachment to the gross and subtle bodily conceptions under the influence of the material modes of nature in the course of his so-called preaching. We should always remember that for a sannyasi to fall down to any sort of material sense gratification, especially sexual attraction, is a great embarrassment to the spiritual master and the whole devotional society, and should never be taken lightly. Anyone who shoots for the Rhino is glorious, but it would help to have a high caliber rifle instead of a f.f. gun. We actually need a spiritual body for expressing transcendental emotions (pure compassion); A “gold box”... at least a “gold plated box” (Brahmarpanam brahmhivir brahmagnam brahmanahutam,,, by full contribution of spiritual activities). “At the time of initiation (mind you), a devotee gives up all his material conceptions. Therefore, being in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is situated on the transcendental platform. Thus having attained knowledge (sambandha tattva jnana) and the spiritual platform, he always engages in the service of the spiritual body of Krsna (arca vigraha). When one is freed from material connections in this way, his body immediately becomes spiritual, and Krsna accepts his service.” (S.P. Cc. Antya 4.194 pp) The body of a karmi is called
material because the karmi, being too absorbed in material activities, is always eager to enjoy material facilities, but the body of a devotee who tries his best to work very hard for the satisfaction of Krsna by fully engaging in the Lord’s service must be accepted as transcendental.” (Bhaktisiddhanta, Cc. 4.173 pp) The example is that of an iron rod becoming red hot by contact with fire. If we want to always remain “fire up” on the spiritual platform, then we have to intelligently apply our energies (physically, mentally etc) to the suddha satvic medium of authoritatively directed pure devotional practice of bhakti yoga. Initiation means to take sankalpa for determined application of this principle only, understanding the intentions of the pure vaisnava Guru; not for making excuses for our maintaining material attachments even after supposedly understanding, or in other words misunderstanding so many instructions son this matter. Such kind of pretentious, cheap, sentimental so-called initiation is farcical and can never bear the fruit of prema bhakti in a million years. No one is telling anyone to maintain the material bodily concept of life. No one is telling us to continue to carry our boulder, the heavy burden of material encumbrances. Throw down the boulder and you can dance and chant in ecstasy. No one is telling us that we have to remain a mudha. But no, punah punah carvitah carvananam, chewing the chewed on the pretext of devotion, and claim to be disciples to enhance our self-esteem and false prestige in the society of devotees. We have to command respect, not demand respect; not that one big muskrat is glorified by an assembly of mice. No one is telling us not to have complete faith in the congregational chanting of the Holy name of Krsna. One who has strong faith that the holy name of Krsna is nondifferent from Krsna is considered to be a pure devotee even in the neophyte stage before undergoing the process of diksa. So what are we waiting for?! Don’t make Krsna wait. “Krsna wants His sense gratification and He demands it” (S.P) So come on! Let’s get it together! Cheap imitative so-called devotees who are not properly engaged (“fared up”) according to the authorized processes of pure devotional service, falsely imagine that their materially absorbed (cold iron) gross and subtle bodies are spiritual bodies (sarvam khalv idam brahma) and thus pretentiously claim to be the Lord’s associates like Radha, Lalita etc incarnate, or as great saints whom they presume to be similarly materially engrossed. Due to lacking the sambandha tattva jnana which would enable them to carefully distinguish between selfish material thinking feeling, willing, and behavior and that of the selfless spiritual order, they pave the way to perpetual ruination and in truth, never rise above the corporeal platform. Many times it is similarly seen that in order to instill “faith” in his disciples, a neophyte, prakrta bhakta shows himself to be a * elevated rupanuga vaisnava guru by either outwardly feining or even pretending to be suppressing “ecstasies” he doesn’t really have. (* that simply by taking the position of guru, his body has become as worshipable as God, he is satisfied to receive the sentimental and even rather romantic glorifications of his starry-eyed groupie fan club and, of course, the daksina (for Krsna, right?) Even he goes so far as to convince his disciples that the reason why they never see any signs of him experiencing transcendental ecstatic emotions (which he never has anyway) is because of his expertise in hiding them! In various ways, the vested interests of various classes of cheap immitationists are served by those with insufficiently developed spiritual intelligence. No one wants a * for a guru, so it is very necessary to somehow convince the disciples that guruji is something wonderful, something special; a display of powers, opulence or fame; a display of charismatic handsomeness, esoteric knowledge or eve anything and everything in the name of yukta vairagya, or if none of these are within reach, guruji should at least make a dramatic exhibition of extreme humility. All such phony boloney bafoonery stems from the simple fact that in reality, the genuine ecstatic transformations and transcendental opulences are naturally very prominently visible on the person of genuine highly elevated uttama adhikari spiritual masters. Even if they try to suppress them, such vikara sometimes forcefully manifest as was many times evident in the person of our own guru, Srila Prabhupada, There’s no meaning to the word imitation if there isn’t something real to be imitated. For want of genuine spiritual advancement, sometimes due to a frustrated inferiority complex, ignorance or just sheer foolishness or stupidity; less intelligent people fraudulently resort to such pathetically nefarious tactics. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur skillfully answers such spiritual ineptitude in this way: “If I think I am a Vaisnava, I shall look forward to receiving respect from others. And if the desire for fame and reputation pollutes my heart, certainly I shall go to hell. By giving others the remnants of my food, I shall consider myself superior and shall be burdened with the weight of false pride. Therefore, always remaining your surrendered disciple, I shall not accept worship from anyone else.” (Kalyana-kalpa-taru) Some devotees say that the greatest austerity is in living amongst such as our fledgling society of neophytes; to stick it out through thick and through thin. I say the greatest austerity is living with myself. I’m not at all a Vaisnava. I’m a dacoit. I haven’t the humility to beg. Nor am I able to borrow as I haven’t any credit in the marketplace. I fell rather embarrassed to admit it, but truthfully speaking, although you’ll probably hate me for it, demeaning as it is, I have to confess that I’m a thief. I have to steal the nectar of the holy name as I hardly see anyone who is willing to give or even capable of sharing the thing. Hardly anyone is chanting purely. This movement could take over the world in eighteen days if we members would relinquish our petty gross and subtle (non)sense gratificatory attachments and actually co-operate to do the needful. What is actually needed is to increase our sraddha, our faith in, taste for and attachment to the pure chanting of the holy name. We cannot spread this Krsna consciousness movement by our material calculations. Our real work is already cut out for us. Sankirtan yajna, this congregational dancing and chanting is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It is our real wealth, our strength, and our happiness, both individually and collectively. Our society has seriously neglected this point. How can we expect to awaken a taste for something we hardly ever do. We make so many excuses why we shouldn’t have to be expected to join the sankirtan party. “I’m a big timer now; a guru, a G.B.C., a T.P., a sannyasi, a vantasi, a father, a mother, a used car salesman; so many pressing and depressing problems to solve, solutions to find. What? Sankirtan?! Be practical! Where’s that money! People gotta eat ya know! That’s for the smalltimers, the new bhaktas, the frustrated brahmacaris, the sentimental useless good-for-nothings, the nas-beens. Anybody can do that.” Yes. That’s what I say: Anybody would do it; somebody should do it; everybody would do it; but we have no taste; so whobody is going to get the job done if nobody takes it very seriously?! Taste or no taste, there’s no substitute for Krsna consciousness. “Sankirtan and Krsna Consciousness go well together.” (S.P.), because such performance of yajna greatly facilitates the formation of the pure, selfless, sacrificial attitude on which prema bhakti is based. There is no substitute for prema nama. “Take shelter of the holy names your only business... There is nothing but the name to be had in the fourteen worlds.” (Bhaktivinode Thakur) If most of us were to stand alone on our own merits, we would likely be seen to be as so many zeroes. It’s the “1” of Krsna consciousness which makes us appear to be of any value. Krsna consciousness on any level is only the benignant benediction of guru and Krsna. No one should be envious of the blessings bestowed upon another Vaisnava. We should always remember that as soon as we become materially puffed-up, we immediately fall down. “This Krsna consciousness movement is meant for the parmahamsas who are completely free from all jealousy (paramam nirmatsaranam)... As soon as anyone becomes envious, he falls from the platform of paramahamsa.” (S.P. N.O.I.) Atmendriya-priti-vancha-tare bali kama. Kama is the antithesis of prema. Prema is like fire lying dormant within the wood of our hearts. Notya-siddha krsna prema... To ignite or bring out the fire of Krsna prema, certain favorable conditions are required. We must be purposely connected with a powerful agent of prema bhakti shakti, the “fire-up”, potent spiritual master, and the qualified disciple must be intelligent enough to keep the wood of his heart dry or free from lusty preoccupations. Not that we pour the water of material sense gratification on the wood and expect to get “fire-up” or any such folly. So anyway Prabhus, lets cut the cop. You ain’t no good and I ain’t no good. But if we chant Hare Krsna together and give up our false egoistical dealings with each other, we might get better in spite of ourselves. It’s not that we should be preaching “I’m O.K.; you’re O.K.; you’re not O.K.” I would rather suggest that it would be the safer position for a sadhaka to preach, “I may not be very O.K. and you may not be very O.K., but we can hope to get better if we will follow in the footsteps of the mahajanas who are O.K.” I don’t know anyone amongst us who couldn’t stand to improve his quality of Krsna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada has said, “Human life is meant for thoughtfulness. I beg all of you to please keep it on the platform of simple living and high thinking. How dare anyone suggest to others that someone is a sahajiya when he hasn’t even bothered to get to know the person. I think “anyone” owes “ someone” an apology for all this nonsense, if “anyone” thinks he’s man enough to look “ someone” square in the eyes. To hell with gopi-bhava; let’s first try to be as grown men. At any rate you should at least give me credit for having a good sense of humor. I don’t hold grudges. To err is human; to forgive, divine. A sahajiya is a spiritual moron who, by unreasonable comparison, deviously superimposes his perversely mundane, lusty conceptions based on carnal sensations as well as worldly sentiments and their attendant values pertaining to the partiva rasa and svargiya rasa known to this material sphere, upon the descriptions of the transcendental Vaikuntha rasa or adi-rasa exchanged between the supramundane entities of the spiritual realm. Atah sri Krsna namadi na bhaved grayam indriyaih. Mistaking gold to be like iron, he or she cheaply considers that which is spiritually experienceable only through purified senses (gold) to be equivalent to the iron of his preconceived abominable sensual and mental aberrations, and indulges in artificially induced, misleading, imitative expressions of pseudo-spiritualistic fantasies primarily aimed at exploiting the opposite sex or even otherwise for gross or subtle selfish sense gratifications in the name of spiritual advancement. To serve his nefarious purposes, he ostentatiously displays a towering edifice of “advanced” devotion beyond his actual degree of knowledge and faith. With all dye respect, I dare to inform you that neither privately (even in dreams) nor publicly do I ever reveal in such ignoble child-like antics. The question should not be “Is Aindra a sahajiya?” The real question is “Are you a nitya-siddha associate of the Lord; and if not - why not?!” It was asked “...what view of himself he (Aindra Dasa) currently holds.” My answer is that I see myself as spiritually impoverished, downtrodden and unnoticed by my beloved spiritual master and Krsna. I couldn’t do anything nice or noteworthy to assist Them in preaching this great prema-nama-sankirtan movement in the world. This may very likely be my last birth in the material world. My battered heart anguishes at the improbability of a miniscule microbe like me ever making a seriously substantial contribution in such a short life span. How big could I get anyway? At least I should not go away like the others; and carry on with my “shnick-shnick, ram-ram’s”. I certainly don’t see myself as belonging to any of the varnas, asramas, or any other mundane, extrinsically designated state of affairs. I’m not even one little bit this body, you know. Fortunately, by the grace of Srila Prabhupada’s tenderheartedness, in my better moments, when I’m allowed to try to just be myself without having to live up to everybody else’s expectations, I do rather prefer to see myself as a very poor insignificant servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the holy name of Krsna, the honeymoon faced Master of the Vraja gopis; a sold-out animal, useless as I may be. I’m meaner than the means of the mean, lower than the lowest of the low, and worser than the worsest of the worst. If you see me, you should immediately run and jump in the Yamuna with all your clothes on. If you hear me yodeling (trying to sing), you should grimace, loudly stomp your feet on the ground and with your brahmin threads wrapped three times around your thumbs, pointing your forefingers in the sky, repeatedly curse the creator for making you with ear holes that don’t automatically close. If you unfortunately say my name, wash your mouth out with Dettol soap. My heart is as hard and black as coal. Cleaning coal is hopeless. My only hope is that by the intense heat from the fire of ordeal combined with the intense pressure of the association of my watchdog-like-godbrothers, it may soon be transformed into a diamond which at least can be made to look a little good. The problem is that it’s still not so good to have a heart as hard as a diamond. Even still, there is this Hare Krsna mantra chanting.” It is so nice that even the most stonehearted man will be melted. Pasana means ‘stone’. It is so nice that even stone will melt.” (from Dhamali by Locan dasa, S.P. pp) hari hari! bifale janama gonainu manusya-janama paiya, radha krsna na bhajiya, janiya suniya bisa khainu goloker prema-dhana hari-nama sankirtana, rati na janmilo kene tay “O Lord Hari, Lord Hari! I’ve spent my life uselessly. Having obtained this rare human birth and having neglected to worship Radha and Krsna, I have knowingly drunk poison. The treasure of divine love in Goloka Vrindavan has descended as the congregational chanting of Lord Hari’s holy names. Why did my attraction for that chanting never come about?” (from Prarthana, Narottama dasa) “Krsna is easily visible, but He is only visible to those who are devoted to Him. For those who are envious, foolish or unintelligent He obscures Himself with His veil of maya: naham prakasah sarvasya yoga-maya-samavrtah mudho ’yam nabhijaanati loko mam ajam avyayam ‘I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency (maya); thus the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.’ (Bg 7.25) This eternal creative potency, or yoga-maya, which obscures Krsna to the unintelligent, is dissolved by love. This is the verdict of Brahma-samhita: premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti ‘One who has developed love for Krsna can see Him within his heart twenty-four hours a day.’ Those who thus see Krsna are not anxious because they know where they are going at death. One who has taken the gift of Krsna consciousness knows that he will not have to return to this material world to tale another material body but that he will go to Krsna. It is not possible to go to Krsna unless one attains a body like Krsna’s, a sac-cid-ananda-vigraga body, a body full of eternity, knowledge and bliss. One cannot enter into fire and not perish unless he himself becomes fire, and similarly one cannot enter into the spiritual realm in a body that is not spiritual. In a spiritual body one can dance with Krsna in the rasa dance like the gopis and the cowherd boys. This is not an ordinary dance, but the dance of eternity, in the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Only those who have become purified in their love for Krsna can participate in it. Therefore one should not take this process of Krsna consciousness as something cheap, but as a matchless gift bestowed upon suffering humanity by the Lord Himself. Simply by engaging in this process, all the anxieties and fears of one’s life, which in actuality revolve about the fear of death, are allayed.” (S.P., “Matchless Gifts”) Here Srila Prabhupada typically entreats us, enchants us, challenges us to go back home, back to Godhead. Krsna consciousness movement. “Movement” means not only to “move” all over the world to effect the progressive horizontal expansion of this “movement” in the physiological sense, but also and especially to individually and collectively (as far as possible) “move” towards the ultimate aim of this Krsna consciousness “movement”, “to approach Radha-Krsna and associate with the Supreme Lord in His sublime pleasure dance.” (Manah-siksa, S.P. pp) I know I’m not qualified! If I tried to enter the rasa dance in my present condition with my pot belly, sparking red whiskers, burning cinder-like eyes and smoking ears, I would probably scare everybody away. But I’ll never give up the hope of one day ultimately achieving that cherished goal of my life for the pleasure of my guru by his grace, even if it takes me millions of lifetimes. I challenge any of you to in any way even dare to refute, minimize, or dismiss my inimitable philosophical vantage point. Children shouldn’t play with matches; honest grown-ups will impartially recognize, appreciate, commend, bless and even embrace such transcendental ideological persuasion not fearing me any grudge. Thus I stand my ground. I’m not a cynic. I have great hope for the Hare Krsna Movement. I’m convinced that there are a few good men. Not everyone is a hypocrite. However, our Bhaktivinode Thakur warns that insincerity lurks as a highway robber just around the bend in the road to rob us of our sincerity, so we should be careful about hypocrisy. “My path is difficult. I am blind and my feet are slipping again and again. Therefore, may the saints help me by granting me the stick of their mercy as my support.” (Cc Antya 1.2) I hope I have given you a small glimpse into my philosophical outlooks and inlooks, for what its worth. If anyone had trouble understanding what I meant to say, please read it again or otherwise feel free to further discuss the philosophy with me in person next time you come to Srila Prabhupada’s home (and my home also), the beautiful land of Vraja. If I have hurt anyone’s feelings by my frank and verbose outpourings or if I have been impertinent, impudent, or inconsiderate in any way, please benevolently view it as a gleam of my intrinsic contrary nature and either forgive me or punish me according to your whims. Hoping this finds you blissfully pursuing your eternal relationship with Krsna.
Your reprehensible bum of a dirty low born scumbag, insignificant Aindra das Krpanacarya Svapnanandi Peapod
P.S. Really guy’s, I’m not just joshin’ ya this time. It’s real! P.P.S. Please don’t forget the cashew burfi, if anyone still “loves” me after all this (bhunkte bhojayate caiva) P.P.P.S. At lest be glad I didn’t say I was an eternal associate of Candravali!!! P.P.P.P.S. Krsna is beautiful... isn’t He? P.P.P.P.P.S.With your kind permission, I want to turn my attention back to my Kirtan service now. Hari nama eva kevalam. Om Tat Sat.
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