Oct 26, 2016 — EUROPE (SUN) —
Those who are keen to make spiritual progress are surely alert and keen to avoid maya's illusions in the form of gross sex life, meat eating, gambling and intoxication. We may forget that there are those living in this material world who do the same... and they are not devotees of the Lord.
So following these four regulative principles is a necessity to practice bhakti, but it isn't bhakti in itself. Being initiated into Srila Prabhupada's movement doesn't entitle us automatically to boast with our status and achievements, especialy as we didn't achieve much yet.
Piety in itself, devoid of the preaching spirit of Lord Caitanya, was criticized by Srila Prabhupada and He called such "nice" people "religionists". Those who preach know well that it is often more difficult to convince a "religionist" than to inspire a person tormented by his karma, operating in the darkest modes of nature, desperate, but neverthless eager to find a solution to his problems.
And so there is a "nice" maya. Maya far more dangerous for a soft-hearted devotee than the one smiling at us with the face of a prostitute, or maya which offers us a good sausage and a glass of beer. That maya, advocating the mode of darkness, is easy to see. Once following her command, misery is almost instant.
But then there is the other maya, the "nice" one. Here are some of her credentials:
All-embracing
All-loving
All-faciliating
All-uniting
All-forgiving
All-inspiring
All......covering MAYA
Once embarrased by this "motherly" maya, one forgets easily the priority Srila Prabhupada established, the urgent need to return back home, back to Godhead, never forgetting that this body is a temporary housing. And so consequently:
Sannyasis turn into altruists
Grhastas turn into women collectors
Brahmacaries turn into cheap labour assets
and Vanaprasthas turn into anything tlse what cannot be defined
otherwise, becoming the "members of unknown cast".
It is this maya which perverts our original spiritual desires, turning them into material ones. As if devotees would forget what happened when Arjuna also wanted to "be nice" and follow a path later on glorified by a certain John Lennon in his song, "Let It Be".
Yes, we all want to "let it be" and become nice, kind and all-loving people. Srila Prabhupada had in this regard one message for us: "In this world? Not possible."
That doesn't mean that in the name of not being the body we can be ruthless and unkind any time we feel so. Once aware of the presence of the soul and Supersoul, how could we be. But Srila Prabhupada's uncompromising preaching establishes that all the attributes mentioned above can be only achieved on the spiritual platform, and not the material one.
It is most saddening to see a sannyasi crying over people's rotten bodies, opening hospitals and even worse, claiming that bodily care is an expression of Srila Prabhupada's mercy and herewith His mission. Even being Srila Prabhupada's disciple of lowest quality, I still protest strongly that my spiritual master is discredited and offended in this way. As if the words of Bhagavad-gita defining different kind of charities, including the one in the mode of ignorance, were not relevant anymore.
And so as "nice", altruistic and love-advocating as maya may be, finally powered by the indiscriminate mayavada doctrine, it is advocating the lowest modes of nature in the most diviant way.
As loving and accomodating as Srila Prabhupada was, His aim was always exclusivly Krsna Consciousness, and not bodily care. This text is inspired by the reacent exhibition of one of the most prominent of ISKCON sannyasis' entirely bodily concern for others. Regardless how many fools may follow his call for universal love and peace, in my little way I protest and feel offended when my spiritual master gets discredited in this way.
