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I wrote:

> >> After some time it gets hard to keep track on which devotee is >> still

> >> bonafide, and which devotee who is not bona fide.

> >

 

Someone answered:

> >It is not so hard. We just have to see if the words of a devotee >are in

> >line with guru, sadhu, and sastra. If a devotee speaks >according to

> >guru, sadhu, and sastra, he is bona fide. If he

> >deviates from guru, sadhu, and sastra, he is not bona fide. It is >as

> >simple as that.

>

 

Caitanya Candrodaya answered:

> Good point. On the contrary the guru-sadhu-sastra can be replaced by

> guru-(his)followers-(his)instructions where all three are dependent on the

> first. That is sentimental. When guru appears to have problems (or seems

> to) one can back up to sadhus and sasras. And yes one has to be personal,

> and has to be truthfull and honest, but to reflect and relay on relaible.

 

What I originally meant can be exemplified by:

 

Let's say you want to play a lecture on your tape record.

You find a nice tape from a lecture by Swami Sastrananda,

which he gave 10 years ago. The problem is that you have to

figure out if that swami is still in good standing or not,

before figuring out if the tape is nectar or poison. What if

swami has recently made something wrong, and is under

secret investigation, and that he will actually fail the

"swami" investigation. Then the nectar tape is actually

posion without your knowing.

 

Maybe the standard has changed, and a good lecture

is good lecture even if the lecturer later fell down from

his position. Then the determining factor is whether

the lecturer was fallen at the time of giving lecture or

not. Or maybe each listener has to decide to himself

whether the swami is actually bona fide or not.

 

What I meant is the complicated process to figure

out if swami Sastranandas tapes are bonafide or

not, before listening to them.

 

(I hope that there is no real swami called "sastrananda".

In that case, I really did not intend to point him out)

 

your servant Prsnigarbha das