What do I need to know about joining a temple?

[Radhakunda_das]

As Prita'a points out moving into a temple can be tricky and one needs to take some precautions. Personally I have not yet succeded to move into the temple but I see that the real problem is me. I still have my vision of how I will like to see a temple run,how devotees should behave etc. In short I am not fully surrendered to Krishna and therefore misgivings are there.

One of the six items of surrender is that one should be convinced that only Krishna can give protection and that he will do so. Another thing to understand is that nothing happens without Krishna's sanction. If we understand this we can move into any temple and eventually everything will be all right. In the beginning Krishna will test you with some devotees really "disturbing" but if you persevere then everything will work out beautifully. Inspite the fact that many devotees left I think that those who fully trusted guru and Krishna remained and happily too. I know some of them. How can Krishna not keep His promise made to those who surrender to Him? So I think that if you fully trust in Krishna He will take charge and everything will be ok.So the only problem I see with devotees or anyone else having problems ANYWHERE is their degree of surrender.

Krishna is always in control. Do we accept it? That is the question!

[Guest guest]

 

so what you ask to the spiritual master? isn't it an important step in the spiritual life? haribol..

 

 

 

The spiritual master doesnt need to be asked permission when a student wants to fully surrender to Krishna. Ashrama life and its purification is what every guru wants for his disciple. Better point is, most have not picked a guru yet, so to pressure them to pick one before moving in is not the iskcon method.

 

Guru is not for purpose to ask eveyr little tihng. We are not to become overly dependent on guru, we are to learn how to think for ourselves, get stronger, and self reliant. Not a botheration.

 

[Guest guest]

The spiritual master doesnt need to be asked permission when a student wants to fully surrender to Krishna.

------the problem is to identify to surrender with going to the temple.. to surrender means to change the object of our efforts, our work, our thoughts, from maya to krsna. The external position of a devotee is not important, it is important if he have transformed his karma .. in karma bhakti yoga.

If one has the karma to be an employee or a sweeper the perfection is not that he goes to the temple.. but that he does his job for krishna and he chants hare krishna.

So this varna changing, caste changing from sudra, vaisya, ksatrya in the society to brahmana in the temple is a very difficult step and it is for very very very few people, and being extremely important and dangerous for our spiritual health it has to be done with the best care.

And for a devotee the best care is not acting whimsically, the best way to decide is to ask... whom? to the master.. the acharya.. he who teachs the behaviour (achara)

 

and moving to the temple is not an important change of behaviour? so let gurudeva teach us the behaviour! it is so strange?

 

 

Ashrama life and its purification is what every guru wants for his disciple.

-------no, guru wants us going back to godhead.... krsna wants to see arjuna fighting and killing millions of people not going to himalaya becaming a brahmin, sannyasi, vanaprasta stopping to be a ksatrya,a king.. so the perfection is to remain in our varna and to devote our activities to krsna... this is our most important book, bhagavad gita.

So going to live to the temple is a special thing, is for completely detached special people... so let us ask advices

 

Better point is, most have not picked a guru yet, so to pressure them to pick one before moving in is not the iskcon method.

-------so let's change the method.. we had so many problems for inviting any kind of people, fit and unfit, living in the temple (problems for them and for us) that it is the moment to make this thing a really serious thing.

So one has to begin to practice, becaming advanced, this includes to find a bona fide gaudya vaishnava spiritual master, and this spiritual master will be our shelter for all spiritual questions.... ashrama and varna changes included

 

Guru is not for purpose to ask eveyr little tihng.

-------and you call it a little thing? going to the temple? h a r i b o l

 

 

[Guest guest]

 

In Hyderabad, after a pandal lecture program, a teenage Indian boy spent the night with the devotees. The next morning he entered Srila Prabhupada's room along with the initiated devotees and sat down close to Prabhupada. As soon as Prabhupada saw the boy, he pointed to the door without saying a word. The boy also said nothing but got up and left. Srila Prabhupada then turned to one of the sannyasis and said, "First he must wash all the pots." He explained that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had always first tested the sincerity of someone who wanted to join by asking him to wash pots.

[Guest guest]

RULES FOR THE TEMPLE

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati

Prabhupada

 

We who have come to the Sri

Chaitanya Math are all

surrendered to Sri

Chaitanya Deva, therefore

we do not have any other

goal besides devotional

service to the Supreme Lord. If we lack in our

service, then our mentality will become like

that of a materialistic person and ultimately

devour us. In order to protect the math,

however, we have to abide by some rules.

1. It should be the duty of a sannyasis that

they should never use shoes, rather they

should go everywhere on foot.

2. They should never accept service from

anyone. Neither should they ever ask someone

to massage their body or feet with oil.

3. Eating nice food and eating separately

from other devotees is totally forbidden.

[Guest guest]

4. One should never go to a physician and

should never take medicine according to their

own wish. When a sannyasi needs something

then it should be the duty of residents of the

math to nicely take care of him. It is the duty

of a sannyasi to serve the ones who are not

sannyasis. The living entity invites difficulties

by criticizing others, scandalizing others, and

unnecessarily talking about others. One should

always desire auspiciousness. A devotee can

easily control his mind and destroy his desires

by steadfastly serving the holy name.

5. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri

Krishna is residing in every spirit soul,

therefore one should not consider himself

worshipable and that others should serve

him. When a sannyasi is free from false ego

then the residents of the math should

enthusiastically serve him, otherwise he

should go back home.

6. Excessive foppery [dressing in fancy,

extravagant clothes], excessive drinking of

milk, eating luxuriously like a big man, should

be totally given up. We don’t want gymnasts

(body builders) in our math. This is the place

for the devotees of the Lord.

7. Strengthening the senses by taking

excessive medicine and trying to spread one’s

domination in order to attract others’ wives

should be given up totally.

8. Sri Krishna is the only lord and enjoyer of

everybody and everything. One should

remember that all the time. One should serve

according to the degree of their devotion. There

cannot be any auspiciousness unless we become

free from the evil desire to use the devotees in

our service. The fire of lust that burns for

material sense gratification should be given up.

But that doesn’t mean one should speak

uncivilized language and dress in an uncivilized

way in order to mix with dignified society.

A bramacari should not desire to become a

sannyasi simply in order to have greater sense

gratification. The desire to dominate is

detrimental to devotional service. To consider

a sense enjoyer to be a sannyasi and wanting

to become a sannyasi with that ideal, should

be totally rejected. When one begins to enjoy

his senses and becomes deceptive he cannot

serve the Lord or His devotees.

One should be very careful that no mood of

foppery enters into Sri Chaitanya Math, as it will

 

ruin the sannyasis and bramacaris. The examples

we are having about should not be tolerated. The

householders also, like the sannyasis, should

overcome the urges of lust, anger and greed.

Everyone should consider himself to be very low

and serve the residents of the math and the other

vaiavas with all humility.

Those who are not residents of the math but

are staying in the math for some business or

for wanting some favor from the math should

always be willing to serve the residents of the

math and the math itself. The residents of the

math should never behave indecently with a

guest of the math.

The residents should reject the mentality that

the math is their personal property and that

the guests are merely objects of their mercy. A

guest should be treated with the highest honor

— actually everybody in this world should be

respected. Otherwise we may land up in the

same extreme distress the materialists are

suffering. A resident of the math should

remember all these things very carefully. One

should always serve Sri Krishna — there

shouldn’t be any mistake in that — and even

more indispensable is service to a vaisnava.

If a sannyasi must go to the shop or the

dispensary for some reason other than for

service to the math, then he should go on foot.

Let the car be sitting empty, but still they will

not get into it. What everybody else gets, they

should receive only that.

Never should they use any conveyance, but

with the excuse of going to the doctor they

take the car. They buy medicine and eat

luxurious food. If they again behave properly

for one year then their eligibility can be

considered. The math is not the place for

foppery or staying in a hospital. One should

not display his foppery. They can better

behave that way by staying at home. Instead

of saffron cloth they may be clad in white

with a tail and send them back home. The

ones who desire foppery, luxurious food, and

medicine, they can go back to their homes and

take care of their families. Then they won’t

have to identify themselves with the math.

Everybody should be reminded that cars,

horses, launches, and indeed men, are all meant

for the use of the math, not any individual’s

display of foppery. Luxurious eating should be

totally stopped. The sannyasis who do not

 

indulge in foppery should be recognized as

Gaudiya Matha sannyasis. The rest should be

sent back to their respective homes. If our

manpower decreases due to that, that is still

better. The ones who have taken shelter of the

math but are simply motivated by their bellies

and genitals, if they are driven away then the

expenses of the math will be reduced. The

pleasure loving, sense gratifying managers

should not be allowed to waste money, rather

everyone should earn for the math. It is

important to make a list of how much one

earns. It is not necessary to eat, buy medicine,

and display foppery more than one earns.

The ones who come to render devotional

service are bramacacaris, grhasthas, vanaprasthas

and sannyasis. To the ones who do not render

any devotional service, the math will not give

them shelter, because they do not deserve it.

One should never think: “I have rendered a

lot of service to the math, so I will use their

car.” This is the mentality of a materialist. One

who is serving the math should do that without

any expectation of return, because everyone

has come to serve the math. If anyone takes

anything in return of his service to the math,

or serves himself, he will become a sense

gratifier. When one is a guest, then he cannot

demand. He should eat according to the

wishes of the host. One who is busy seeking

sense gratification should be asked to leave.

Your ever well wisher,

 

Sri Siddhanta Saraswati. *****

 

[Guest guest]

Mental, mental - tearing apart every word.

 

Prabhupada has given us an easy process, we make it difficult. We think our process and our understanding is better.

 

First move in, that is his process. Moving in is the way he set it up. After that, someone can pick their guru.

 

Enjoy tearing this apart too.

[Guest guest]

be honest, you don't know the answers..

 

if you preach to the people you will have to answer to much more difficult questions

 

chant hare krishna.. and read some prabhupad's book

[aisharya]

I washed a lot of them in Berkeley and I enjoyed it. In fact, I was truly grateful for the offer to wash them. I did not feel worthy of cutting up vegetables. I will wash pots wherever I go. I enjoy cleaning.