Jasomatinandan Prabhu on Srila Prabhupada and Bhagavat Saptaha

[Guest guest]

> One day I asked Shrila Prabhupada in Bombay,what did

> he think about Dongare maharaj,the most famous Bhagavat saptah speaker in

> India.I said he cries while speaking and makes the public also cry.

> SP said I don't know.What does he say?I said eventhogh he glorifies

> Krsna,he also says one should chant the mantra for whoever is his

> ishtadev.In other worda Lord Shiva's devotee should chant Om namah Shivaya

> and mother Durga's or Ganesha devotee should chant their mantras.So SP

> laughed and said,"That means he is not Dongare.He is Dhongare(Dhonga means

> pretender).I said he is a good speaker so he bewilders the masses.Then SP

> said,"so why don't you speak?".I was little puzzled because I always heard

> and read that SP was against Saptaha ,so I said "Bhagavat saptaha?".He

> said,"Yes. if people want to hear saptaha ,we can tell them the right

> thing.He is misleading them.so you speak and tell them the right

> philosophy."

> That is one thing I should have started long time ago as it was directly

> told to me by SP.But I always felt the speaker should be free from

> material desires.So I always felt unqualified to do so.On the other

> hand,if I speak like a postman and simply repeat from Sp's books,I should

> be OK. Some of my friends like Shridhar maharaj has been pushing me to do

> so.I hope one of these days I will gather enough energy to do that.

> I don't think SP gave a blanket endorsement for Bhagavat Saptaha by the

> above conversation,but as usual he was pragmatic.Praeching is the essence

> and utility is the principle.I do agree with some of Danavir maharaja's

> points,namely it shouldn't be an Ok or in thing for ISKCON devotees but if

> one can preach and attract outsiders in the name of Bhagavat saptaha,it

> can be done.Then again who is to judge?So it would be hard to legislate.

> Individual temple can form its policy based on discrimination,which is the

> better part of valour.it would be better for Maharaj to address the issue

> to the temples or authorities who he thinks needs to be enlightened in

> this regards rather than involving the whole GBC and make a law.

> When SP speaks against the Saptaha hearing he is speaking against the idea

> of ritualistic hearing.Some people think that simply by mechanically

> sitting in a Bhagavat saptaha as a ritual, one can be liberated.Another

> point is that the spaeker tries to fly over the topics to cover the whole

> Bhagavatam in seven days.Some times the speaker doesn't even touch the

> original Bhagavatam but simply tells his own version of the stories in a

> palatable way.Obviously SP was aginst such professional saptaha

> reciters.That is all wrong.Since ninety nine percent saptaha reciters are

> professional speakers ,SP codemns the whole idea , otherwise how can it be

> wrong to preach the right philosophy either for 7 minutes or seven days or

> one hour or seven hours?Any preaching for any time limit is auspicious if

> it is bonafide.