Again Taking Shelter Of Srila Prabhupada

[Guest guest]

Again Taking Shelter Of Srila Prabhupada

------

BY MAHANANDA DASA

 

Dear respected Vaisnavas. Please accept my humble obeisances. In the

beginning when we first came to Krsna consciousness 30 years ago, there was a

clear-cut distinction between what was material life, maya, or illusion, and

what wasn't. Maya was seen as everything in our lives up to that point-- our

many sinful habits, our ignorance and bodily consciousness, our unending

longings for a variety of sense enjoyment, and , of course, our determined

forgetfulness of God. What wasn't maya was the temple, devotional service,

Sankirtan, prasadam, hearing and chanting, reading the Bhagavad-gita and

describing the glories of Krsna, associating with our beloved godbrothers,

and, of course, following in the footsteps and instructions of a genuine pure

devotee. This distinction seemed like black and white.

 

But as the years passed, these obvious distinctions faded into subtleties that

were much more difficult to discern. As the more obvious influence of passion

and ignorance slowly diminish because of the strength of our devotional

service, the influence of maya became more subtle. The distress of our long,

ignorant life of passion and longings had caused great pain and had been more

that enough reason to surrender to our new life of devotional service. That

was also true of the indolence and lethargy of ignorance. The miseries

produced by the influence of these two modes was certainly a clear-cut impetus

for taking shelter of Krsna in our regulated devotional service and seeking

protection from the many miserable reactions to our sinful lives. But the

further we progressed in devotional service, the more subtle became the

illusory allurements.

 

When I first joined Srila Prabhupada in 1969, it was very easy to engage in

Krsna consciousness. All you had to do was be at the temple. 24 hours a day

there were devotional activities going on and all you needed to do was join

in. We understood from Srila Prabhupada that Krsna consciousness was like a

light. When you engaged in hearing or chanting the light of Krsna

consciousness was on, like when you come into a room and flick on the switch.

But when you stopped chanting or hearing then immediately maya would rush in

filling the void just as darkness rushes in filling the room when the light

switch is again turned off. So we were always trying to fill up our whole day

with regulative devotional service, while all the time chanting continuously.

All the devotees carried schedules outlining every minute of their days and

were constantly trying to find the time to fit in another hour of reading,

etc.

 

We were convinced that a devotee, even a neophyte, can engage 24 hours a day

in transcendental activities. This was shown by Srila Prabhupada when he

organized the temples in America and implemented the regulative devotional

principles to be followed by his disciples within the temples . We rose at 4

AM. and immediately after offering obeisances to Lord Krsna and Srila

Prabhupada, we would clean our body because we were going to visit the

Deities. Therefore, our showering was for the purpose of pleasing Krsna and

during our bathe we would chanting the Holy Name. After the bathe, we would

apply telok all over our body, a regulative principle, and while doing so

would chant the different names of Krsna. Then we would dress ourselves nicely

in clean devotional dress, wanting to satisfy the deities by a sincere efforts

to please them by appearing before them without dirty clothing This devotional

attitude and following of different regulative principles helped the neophyte

devotee keep his mind on Krsna. Next, the devotee would travel to the temple

for the purpose of worshipping the Lord and , upon arriving, would offer his

humble obeisances to his guru, to Krsna, and to all of the assembled Vaisnavas

there. When the curtains would open, the devotee would bow down and recite

various prayers to please Krsna and to beg His mercy. During aroti, the

devotee would look at the Deity and dance for Him and watch the different

things being offered to the Lord by the pujari. All these activities fixed his

mind on Krsna for the whole duration of the aroti, and after aroti there were

more devotional prayers and there was Tulasi worship. This was all performed

under the direction of the devotional regulative principles, and all these

activities were purifying for the bhakta. Between these different activities

there would sometimes be a slight pause, and the devotee would chant the holy

Name constantly to keep his mind fixed on Krsna. After Tulasi puja, there were

more prayers and worship, followed by two hours of japa, or the chanting of

the Holy Name. During this time, there was no socializing with other and the

devotee attentively concetrated his mind on chanting and training the mind to

stay fixed on the transcendental sound vibration.

 

And this was just the beginning of the day. It hadn't even become daylight

yet. The whole day was like that---every minute filled with devotional

activities with no time for maya. All the devotees had a single purpose .

Everyone just wanted to help Srila Prabhupada push on this movement( well,

looking back, some may say differently). But nowadays it is not so easy. There

are so many factions fighting relentlessly and there is corruption in much of

the leadership. Some older devotees are claiming our books are sexists or

contain teachings that are based on quaint traditions and outdated principles,

which causes much confusion. In much of the communication between the

devotees, especially on the Internet, The ideals of Vaisnava respect and

etiquette are fading into obscurity, Most of the day the temples are empty,

and the glories of spending our days on sankirtan is virtually unknown by new

bhaktas.

 

Without so many things to inspire us to engage in devotional service, our idle

minds become furtile ground into which maya can sneak. As it becomes more

difficult for us to recognize the more subtle forms of maya we again can fall

prey to material consciousness. Again there is becoming only one hope for us

to be spared the ravages of more repetitions of birth and death. Again we must

renew our determination to take complete shelter of Krsna--- so that He can

kindly come down and rescue us from the vast ocean of the material nature.

 

If we gradually fall asleep again and forget about this proposal of surrender

to Krsna, the Supreme Personality, by complete surrender, humility, and

submissiveness to the bona fide pure devotee, and remain on the mental

platform then we will again be subjected to birth, death , disease, and the

awful miseries of growing old. If we foolishly abandon the shelter of Srila

Prabhupada and again rely on our own abilities of speculative analysis for

gaining "knowledge", and the false renunciations of impersonalism , or seek

shelter of non-devotional processes of counseling, relationship training,

etc., then we are going to gradually disqualify our selves from achieving our

goal of love of God.

 

Affectionately Mahananda dasa

mahananda1 (AT) aol (DOT) com