Many Societies and Associations of Pure Devotees
BY: BHAGAVAT DAS (ACBSP)
Jun 8, USA (SUN) — Nava Jauvana Prabhu wrote an article lamenting that throughout His books Srila Prabhupada emphasizes sadhu sangha but that within ISKCON, the society that Srila Prabhupada established for this purpose, there is no opportunity for Srila Prabhupada’s disciples to get real sadhu sangha because “the mood in these temples has become so mixed with self-promotion and institutional malaise that it is no longer a sanga for 99% of Srila Prabhupada's direct disciples.” ISKCON is not the only society that can provide real sadhu sangha. According to Srila Prabhupada there are many pure devotional societies that you can associate with:
"There are many societies and associations of pure devotees, and if someone with just a little faith begins to associate with such societies, his advancement to pure devotional service is rapid. The influence of a pure devotee is such that if someone comes to associate with him with a little faith, one gets the chance of hearing about the Lord from authoritative scriptures like Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam."
NOD Chapter 19
So these are the words of our Srila Prabhupada enshrined in His Original Unedited Nectar of Devotion from 1970. All Nava Jauvana Prabhu has to do is find one of the many other societies that Srila Prabhupada is talking about and associate with them to make advancement. Now of course if one does not accept the words of Srila Prabhupada and brings in some other statement of Srila Prabhupada’s to try and nullify this one, then one is just nullifying his spiritual master's own words. If, however, we accept the words of Srila Prabhupada AS IT IS then we MUST ACCEPT that there are societies and associations of pure devotees other than ISKCON and by taking their association we can make rapid advancement to the level of pure devotional service.
