Intolerance of Another's Unhappiness Leads to the Real ISKCON
BY: YUGA AVATAR DAS
Nov 09, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (SUN) — To Kurma das, not the chef and Jagabandu das, please accept my humble obeisances. Firstly Kurma das, not the pandit, obviously you misquote His Divine Grace Tamal Krishna Goswami in your attempts to create dissension, chaos and confusion. I was personally present in the late 1970's and early 1980's and was involved many times with His Divine Grace Tamal Krishna Goswami. I never heard him refer to himself as a Ritvik guru.
In fact, he called his devotees 'his devotees', and being present at his initiation ceremonies, I heard him chastise, encourage and discipline his devotees. He never called them Srila Prabhupada's disciples. I once heard him say to his female disciple, and I quote, 'If you refuse to do this, you are no longer 'my' disciple". By the way, I have never been to any ISKCON initiating ceremony where the guru mentions initiating Ritvik style, because this is considered sahijya-ism, apa-sampradaya. I have been present in possibly twenty or thirty ceremonies in my 29 years since initiation.
According to Jiva Goswami, Krishna, the Supreme Enjoyer, is intolerant of another's "unhappiness," which can be divided into the protection for the surrendered souls and the" well wisher of the devotees.' Which means those non-enviously providing some service to facilitate those full-time devotees. There is no protection for non-devotees because they are inimical and fall within the species of the demoniac.
Jiva Goswami comments they have "no particular protection," free to be fully immersed in their individual destiny and karma. However, what is truly unique about A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's preaching mood was the extremely bold, aggressive, invasion like mood which was characterised by the term "demons and devotees". This all-inclusive preaching mentality means by the combined mercy of Guru and Krishna, even the demoniac can become blessed by his servants. These individuals being "inspired" would develop very intense moods when preaching, to try and invoke Krishna to save the next recipient of his mercy, in the form of Srila Prabhupada's books or paraphernalia laxmi collection. Many times a "hook or by crook" mentality characterised the mood, imported from the early USA temples, which was indeed necessary for the ignorant Kali Yuga innocent at the time.
This single-pointed mood, epitomised by "tasmat akena manasa,bhagavan satvatam patih,srotavyah kirtatavyas ca,dhyas ca nitya da", 1st canto, Srimad Bhagavatam verse, that the humble Sankirtan devotee should single-pointedly glorify and invoke the mercy of the Supreme Lord, Krishna, the well wisher and benefactor of his devotee. So Srila Prabhupada, a pure Vaisnava, had a very strong desire that even the demons should be delivered. This was being preached, instilling within his servants an empathy, to be "extremely intolerant of another's suffering," since many times the non-devotees are unaware of their truly dire situation.
Covered by the illusionary energy, it is the sublime desire of Guru and Krishna that these humble devotees reintroduce the innocent to devotional service. Such benefactors of the non-devotees become extremely non-envious and as a result, they become eligible to please Guru very intimately. Consequently they understand naturally his concerns and strong intentions to follow in the footsteps of the previous Acaryas, therefore appreciating what the guru wants done, many times before all others.
Though it appears mysterious to kanisthas, it is self-evident to the sincere soul, intuitively. Why? Because the surrendered servant is directed by the supersoul. This particular mood or flavour of preaching is unique to the followers of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the ISKCON society. Hence, we have a singular preaching culture which many times enables certain temples to flourish while others perish, usually lacking such Sankirtan spirit and devotees.
Many times it became quite exclusive and regimented, especially amongst front line preachers in major city centers. This mood as a consequence is not necessarily admissible to devotees like Narayana Maharaja or Sridhara Swami and their followers. Hence it is extremely important who one associates with, who one listens to. Our siddhanta, unique to "our Prabhupada", is that we are ultimately not interested in our own spiritual salvation. Our sole concern is meant to be the deliverance of others. We are meant to be like soldiers, regimented in our hearing and chanting. What was self-evident to myself and other Sankirtan devotees appeared mysterious to these like Narayana Maharaja and Sridhara Swami and their different groups. One can easily appreciate this difference by reading the article of Jagabandu das, "It's Too Late?" or Kurma das's article, "Counteracting the Great Guru Hoax." These are two different moods, both not loyal to or consistent with the proper ISKCON preaching of siddhanta'. This is because there is a sublime, mystical, self-evident path of devotional preaching, to be initialized by only those qualified followers of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the ISKCON way.
Those fully immersed in the front line Sankirtan became proficient in huge temple rentals, huge book distribution, huge debt, lots of Krishna's women's Sankirtan, along with the men's. Book and paraphernalia marathons, twenty-two hours a day collecting in pubs, hotels and brothels, etc. Unbelievable austerity, novel 'yukta vairagava' applications, temple construction and wonderful sweet, personal reciprocation with their own Guru.
While associating with such advanced devotees in my younger days, one witnessed a natural collective mood, a singular purpose, an almost complete dedication to the order of Guru and Krishna. Although these devotees had many different gurus, they were "united in purpose," success then was a natural ornament of the preaching movement. So "intolerance of another's unhappiness" is extremely conducive for purification. Next the purification of the heart leads to a non-envious spirit, and preaching then becomes gradually ones life's mission and one becomes blessed, accepted into Lord Caitanya's "present day" Sankirtan association.
This is the real ISKCON society, those risking everything, interacting with and fighting maya -- Not sitting in the dharma, criticising and finding fault from a safe distance.
May all the non-envious be happy with this humble recollection. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
Your humble servant,
Yuga Avatar das
