"The Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Lord so that human society can be perfectly organized from all angles of vision — politically, socially, economically, philosophically and religiously."

Instructions of the Spiritual Master are being Neglected

From: Khadigar@wmconnect.com
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 17:35:54 EDT
Subject: Re:INSTRUCTIONS OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER ARE BEING NEGLECTED

Hari Bol, obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.

That was a very interesting article by Lew Rockwell, many of us have been saying the same thing for years. We all pretty much agree that America is going down the tubes, dragging much of the world down with it, the way America goes is the way the world goes.

Srila Prabhupada had a plan to save America and the world if we would simply assist him in doing so. I have heard this class or one similar to it before. Pragosh is right, what Prabhupada said is very haunting. But what to do is the problem? The institution seems to be lost, 9500 of our godbrothers/sisters are gone. The devotees that I know that still believe are struggling on their own trying to eke out a meager living, hoping that they can get some Social Security when they get old enough, IF there is any $$$$$ still left. They are doing what they can, chanting their rounds, following the regs, reading, preaching to a few people, neighbors, friends, co-workers etc., but it's not like the old days for sure.

I don't know if this is the right mentality, but it's the way I feel and many like me feel: I don't want to send anyone to a ISKCON temple, plain and simple. We do not want to subject them to that sort of treatment. So preaching has gotten a bit more complicated than it was in the 70's, with the takeover of Prabhupada's temples and the changing of his books, bogus gurus etc,etc,etc.

We know what the problem is, and we know what the solution is, but how to get from here to there is the challenge. In fact Srila Prabhupada said that the problem is this:

If anyone strictly follows the regulative principles of Krishna Consciousness then he will always remain enthusiastic and dynamic. So if there are any defects within our Society it is only a symptom that the instructions of the spiritual master are being neglected.[!!!!!!!] Follow my instructions strictly and always think for giving this gift of Krishna consciousness wherever you go and to whomever you meet, this is the advice of Lord Chaitanya. (letter to Karandhar, Melbourne, 10 February 10, 1973)

Pretty amazing. Are there any defects in ISKCON? Yes many. Why? Because the intructions of Srila Prabhupada are not being followed. Most particularly in the area of initiations and the book changes. Of course there are others also which we won't talk about now. Srila Prabhupada gives us a way to fix to the problem–which is pretty much of a 180 of what ISKCON is doing now.

"When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Krishna favorably, as Krishna desires."

PURPORT
This verse is also found in Srila Rupa Gosvami's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.1.11). As we can understand from the Bhagavad-gita (9.34 and 18.65), the Supreme Personality of Godhead wants everyone to think of Him always (man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah). Everyone should become His devotee, not the devotee of a demigod. Everyone should engage in His devotional service, including archana (Deity worship) in the temple. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru. Everyone should offer obeisances, from moment to moment, to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These are the desires of the Supreme Lord, and one who fulfills His desires favorably is actually a pure devotee. Krishna wants everyone to surrender unto Him, and devotional service means preaching this gospel all over the world. The Lord says openly in the Bhagavad-gita (18.69), na cha tasman manusyesu kaschin me priya-krttamah: One who preaches the gospel of the Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of all is most dear to Krishna. The Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Lord so that human society can be perfectly organized from all angles of vision — politically, socially, economically, philosophically and religiously. From any point of view, human society can be reformed by the Krishna consciousness movement; therefore one who spreads this philosophy of Krishna consciousness for the benefit of all conditioned souls in the universe is perfect in pure devotional service. The criterion is that a devotee must know what Krishna wants him to do. This understanding can be achieved through the medium of a spiritual master who is a BONAFIDE REPRESENTITIVE OF Krishna. Srila Rupa Gosvami advises, adau gurv-asrayam. One who is serious in wanting to render pure devotional service to the Lord must take shelter of a spiritual master who comes in the disciplic succession from Krishna. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. Without accepting a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession, one cannot find out the real purpose of devotional service. Therefore one has to accept the shelter of a bonafide spiritual master and AGREE TO BE DIRECTED BY HIM. The first business of a pure devotee is to satisfy his spiritual master, whose only business is to spread Krishna consciousness. And if one can satisfy the spiritual master, Krishna is automatically satisfied—yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah. This is the success of devotional service. This is the meaning of the word anukulyena—that is, favorable devotional service to the Lord. A pure devotee has no plans other than those for the Lord's service. He is not interested in attaining success in mundane activities. He simply wants success in the progress of devotional service. For a devotee, there cannot be worship of others or demigod worship. A pure devotee does not engage himself in such pseudo devotional service. He is interested only in satisfying Krishna. If one lives only for the satisfaction of Krishna, it does not matter whether he belongs to this order of life or that order of life. One's only business should be to satisfy Krishna. This process is COMPLETLY MANIFEST in the activities of the Krishna consciousness movment. It has been actually proved that the ENTIRE WORLD CAN ACCEPT devotional service without failure. ONE SIMPLY HAS TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF Krishna." (Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya-lila 7, Text 167)

The real sad part is that the whole world and all of her praja [citizens] are at stake here. This is suppose to be the golden age, but how to make it shine once again so that everyone all over the world can see the truth???

Your servant Varaha das