Your Discourses Wiil Not Yield Any Result

[Beggar]

Retirement in Puri

 

 

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura

 

 

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Today we are sitting inside a bhajana-kutir at Sri Purushottam Kshetra. Why are we are living in this faraway place, leaving the great city of Calcutta, which is full of people and learned communities? A long time ago when we published this magazine, sajjana-tosani, I had a desire in my heart. I thought that the more the pure Vaisnava religion is spread through this magazine, the more the people of the world would benefit. We began to work with a free mind. Many educated gosvamis and babajis of Bengal came and pledged to help us. Some learned impersonalists joined us, and being overwhelmed by the beauty of devotional service, they began to help spread pure Vaishnavism. After hearing nice instructions about Vaishnavism, materialists also became attracted. Professional singers and players floated in the waves of hari-kirtan and considered themselves fully satisfied. Gradually many assemblies for the chanting of the holy names of Hari were established in villages and cities. In this way the glories of pure Vaishnavism filled the hearts of the inhabitants of Bengal and overwhelmed everyone with their beauty and sweetness. On seeing such an unexpected response from the people of Bengal, we began to preach pure Vaishnavism with more and more enthusiasm.

Then by the influence of time a sudden change took place. The Glow-worm like superstitions that were hidden in the scorching heat of the sun of Vaishnavism suddenly took various forms and came from four directions. The demoniac religious principle in the form of Mayavada, which was immersed within the deepwater of forgetfulness for some time, again surfaced in the form of discourses, taking shelter in the boat of smarta teachers. At the same time some Indian and foreign yogis appeared as supporters of the smartas and created a revolution in the world of religion. Moreover some useless people, who were fond of sense gratification, took shelter of unauthorized religious practices and became to create a disturbance in society, identifying themselves as Sahajiyas and Bauls. Displaying the limit of their sinful propensity, a few worm-like people, who began to take pleasure in the stool of fame, began to advertise themselves as “the incarnation of the Lord” in the society of fools. Some people even accepted names befitting a Vaishnava, acted as acaryas and began to spread ideas that were opposed to Vaishnavism as if they were the religious principles of vaisnavas.

After seeing such unimaginable activities our hearts began to shatter. When we tried to search for the cause of such a change we suddenly remember the verse written by Srila Prabhodananda Saraswatipada:

The age of Kali is formidable and the

senses of the human beings are very powerful.

Now the path of devotional

service is full of many thorns. Where shall I go? What

shall I do? I am completely helpless without the mercy

of Gaurachandra.

While crying and speaking in this way, I went to the birthplace of the Lord at Sri Mayapura. Still my mind did not become peaceful. Thereafter I left my place in search of the Lord, and after arriving at Puri I began to role on the gold-like sand. At that time the Lord informed me in my heart, “O well wisher of the devotees may you attain peace. The nature that the living entities have developed, according to their respective karma from birth after birth, influences them to engage in fruitive activities. Until desires opposed to devotional service are destroyed in the heart no amount of good instruction can bring any auspiciousness. Such instructions will simply come out of the ear-holes and not enter the heart. No amount of preaching to them or discussing devotional service will produce a good result because of their bad karma. Your discourses and discussions will therefore not yield any result. My order to you is that you live at the place where I kept my dear Haridas and where I chanted the holy names of the Lord. You should constantly sing the glories of the holy names for the benefit of the fallen souls. As a result of the piety that people will achieve by hearing from you, and the faith they will develop, they will attain non-duplicitous faith in devotional service in future lifetime.”

Following these instructions of our beloved Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya, we built our bhajana-kutir in the tract of land surrounded by huge waves. (sajjana-tosani, “The Harmonist” 15.1)

From Touchstone Media and Bindu 142

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[Guest guest]

Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja:

You are very fortunate that you have either taken birth in a devotee family, or somehow Krsna has given you the intelligence to hear hari-katha. You will have to hear. What is the meaning of the word 'hear'?

Once an avadhuta (not Dattatreya) came to the assembly of King Vikramaditya and challenged the king's council members. He had been carrying a human skull, and now he put it on the table and asked, “Who can tell whether this person was very intelligent or foolish during his lifetime?” No one could answer, so he said, “I have wasted my time here. Everyone here is foolish, because nobody can answer.” King Vikramaditya said, “One of my counselors, Kalidasa, is coming in a few moments. He may answer you. Please don't be angry.” Kalidasa soon came, and that man again asked the question. Kalidasa picked up a coconut leaf straw. He put it in one ear of the skull and it came out the other. He then said, “Oh, he was foolish. If the straw would have gone in one ear and then down towards the heart, that would have indicated intelligence. ”

Don’t be foolish. Be intelligent. We should hear about the real nature of bhakti – not the kind of hearing in which the subject matter goes in one ear and out the other, but truly following and getting genuine realization. Full bhakti is so high that it is rare to find one who has realized it. We begin from the point of sraddha, where the first and smallest fraction of bhakti manifests. We must know what is sraddha, how it comes, and what are its effects. Keep this in your hearts and be determined to follow these teachings.

[Sridas]

Thanks for that post Beggar, it's a little sad but at the same time encouraging when we consider the up hill battle involved in trying to give the gift of Mahaprabhu that our well wishing guardians have giving to us, we know it is a rare soul who can push thru the mountains of adversity and misconception. Still some inroads are being made since the time of Srila bhaktivinode Thakur i can't imagine the wars he had to fight but i'm sure he would be happy with the progress succeeding generations are making, even tho it is sometimes 3 steps forward and 2 back.

Slowly but surely the holy names have touched down on many foreign shores that they had never previously visited and altho we may still be a long way from home the journey has started. We just have to humbly keep trying to extend to others whatever we have imbibed from our Guruvarga and the rest is in the hands of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurachandra.

Prabhupads whole life preparation didn't start to fructify untill his last ten years, and the treasures in other vaisnavas hearts take time to be recognized, there is still a lot of work to do but like slow release fertilizer it is seeping into the consciousness of the organic whole by the grace of the supreme designer.

[Guruvani]

It appears that Bhaktivinode experienced the age-old prejudice that "no man is a prophet in his own land".

India has for centuries been the greatest hodge-podge of religion and cults that to sort out the mess and find the truth is almost impossible.

 

When Srila Prabhupada brought Krishna consciousness out of that complex hogdge-podge of Hindu cults, it was like the Sun rising in the night of western darkness.

 

Personally, I feel that I must have had some previous contact with Krishna consciousness in my previous life, because the minute I saw The Nectar of Devotion, I could experience a nectarean sweetness and the book overtook me with a most powerful, undeniable, overwhelming charm.

 

I had been reading many of the other books of yogis and philosophers that were becoming polular in the early 70's, but when I came accross The Nectar of Devotion, it stood out as nectarine and brilliant, making all these other books on yoga as just dry philosophy.

 

So, the need for a well-orgnaized system for broadcasting Krishna consciousness in western countries is so important for the welfare of humanity and it was Srila Prabhupada's wish that ISKCON could fulfill that need.

 

That is why issues that affect the effectiveness and credibility of ISKCON are so serious when it comes to spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world.

 

Keeping ISKCON a viable and dynamic network for broadcastng Krishna consciousness is strategic for the welfare of all mankind.

 

Srila Prabhupada didn't just establish a temple or a Matha, he started a movement that has spread all over the world.

[Shakti-Fan]

 

Srila Prabhupada didn't just establish a temple or a Matha, he started a movement that has spread all over the world.

 

Gaudiya Math

 

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<!-- start content --> Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, founder-acharya of Gaudiya Math

 

 

Shortly after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura took the renounced order of Sanyasa in 1918, the Gaudiya Math was organized. Its purpose was to spread Gaudiya Vaishnavism throughout India through preaching and publishing work.

Eventually, sixty-four (64) branches of temples, ashrams, and mathas were established, with the Caitanya Gaudiya Math as the flagship math of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. An effort was made to preach to European countries by the Gaudiya Math in the 1930's, but only reaped a handful of longtime adherents, such as E.G.Schulze of Germany, who became Sadananda Swami, and later, Walther Eidlitz of Austria, who became Vamana dasa.

With Bhaktisiddhanta's death in 1937, the mathas and disciples lost the cohesiveness and unity that they once enjoyed during his life of preaching. The disciples of Bhaktisiddhanta founded their own mathas and organizations and became Acharyas.

The most famous organization created by a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta was ISKCON by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who spread Gaudiya Vaishnavism worldwide like no other. Other prominent Mathas are Sri Gaudiya Math whos acharya is Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission founded by Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Maharaj, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math founded by Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Maharaja and Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math founded by Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaja.

[Guest guest]

What's your Winkepedia point? Is it that Bhaktisiddhanta had 64 Branches of the Gaudiya Math? Sounds like it was quite a large organization with many "branches".

[Shakti-Fan]

Exactly, 64 Gaudiya Maths is not just a math or a temple. Also why not view Srila Prabhupada in the light of his Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada in the light of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. Krsna, Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Rupa Goswami and the entire guru varga all coming through Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who is Shaktyavesa avatara (specifically of Nityananda Prabhu).

[Guruvani]

But, we have to look at the Gaudiya Matha today and see if that organization has been able to even remotely live up to the vision and hope of Srila Saraswati Thakur.

 

It appears that the offshoots of Gaudiya Matha that have become favored by disciples of Srila Prabhupada have had much grander success in preaching the Krishna conciousness movement than did the mother institution - the Gaudiya Matha.

 

Another thing we might see in the future is the same development that offshoots of ISKCON actually accomplish more and acheive a better reputation than the GBC managed ISKCON.

However, there doesn't appear to be any specially powerful disciple of Srila Prabhupada that promises to break away from the quagmire and accomplish anything great like Srila Prabhupada did in breaking away from the Gaudiya Matha.

 

In the future, some obscure devotee might appear out of nowhere to become a charismatic leader in his own right, but as it appears right now there is no one in sight.

 

Some of the most transcendental disciples of Srila Prabhupada are relatively unknown in these days of GURU MANIA in ISKCON.

 

There are some advanced devotees among the disciples of Srila Prabhupada, but they are not necessarily sannyasis or ISKCON gurus.

 

The Problem with the ISKCON leaders is that they all live too comfortable and pampered lives to really attain the nirguna platform.

 

There is not enough austerity and sacrifice in their appoach to spiritual life and they are paying the price for luxury.

 

I guess that was the mystique of New Vrindaban, that it was so austere and disciplined. There were some great yogis living at New Vrindavan in the old days.

Sannyasis living in luxury and getting all kinds of preferential treatment effectivly stifles their spiritual advancement.

 

With the tortured life I have lived for the last 20 years, I have little fascination with the pampered sannyasis of ISKCON or the pampered sannyasis of any camp.

[Beggar]

 

... break away from the quagmire and accomplish anything

 

Quagmire! Did you say quagmire? That might as well be my middle name. Bhaktivinode Thakur wrote in Jaiva dharma that if one hears Hari katha from a suddha bhakta and develops the desire to renounce but then again returns to sense gratification, then his chanting is offensive. (tenth offense). Thats me boss and probably most of us, from what I can see. Oh, man, that means that Bhativinode retired from giving discourses to people like us because it wouldn't yield any result. The only hope is to keep on chanting Hare Krsna and hope against hope.

[Guest guest]

 

Quagmire! Did you say quagmire?

Quagmire! Did you say quagmire? Quagmire! Slowly I turned, krama, vikrama

step by step, inch by inch...

[Guruvani]

 

Quagmire! Did you say quagmire? That might as well be my middle name. Bhaktivinode Thakur wrote in Jaiva dharma that if one hears Hari katha from a suddha bhakta and develops the desire to renounce but then again returns to sense gratification, then his chanting is offensive. (tenth offense). Thats me boss and probably most of us, from what I can see. Oh, man, that means that Bhativinode retired from giving discourses to people like us because it wouldn't yield any result. The only hope is to keep on chanting Hare Krsna and hope against hope.

but, at least people like us are honest in that we don't present ourselves as great saints and religious leaders.

to be in the quagmire and acknolwedge it, is much more honest than the life of the showbottle spiritualist who has all the right clothes, haircut and markings of mud, but who lives a life of mediocre discipline while posing as leader and master.

 

Lingering in mediocredom is not a whole lot better than a life of common worldliness.

 

If a spiritualist can't give it his all and just lingers in the limbo of mediocre existence striving for the subtle forms of sense gratification, then he is not really all that much greater than people of common existence.

 

The desire for prestige and honor has been compared to the stool of a hog.

Dressing in the garb of a holy man and clinging to the desire for prestige and honor is really no better than a stool eating hog.

 

True saints are the most self-deprecating and self-sacrificing souls in the world. They certainly do not strive to climb the ladder of position in any organization for the sake of acheiving honor and prestige.

 

Generally, as they say...... the impuriities rise to the top of the ghee pot.

 

The pure ghee is not on the top of the pot.

[Guruvani]

 

Quagmire! Did you say quagmire? Quagmire! Slowly I turned, krama, vikrama

step by step, inch by inch...

 

Please, if you ever catch me posing as a sadhu or guru.......just shoot me.

 

Jagai and Madhai were saints compared to me.