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Who can I trust?

• Subject: Who can I trust?
• From: Bhakta Chip
• Date: Wed Jan 17 11:42:09 1996
• Message-Id: id699

Dear Bhakta Chip

Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

You are doing the right thing in reading Srila Prabhupada's books and chanting
Hare Krishna, but there are not three million of them!!! Only about 80 or so [plus

all his lectures, morning walks and letters]. This probably comes out to about
150-200 400 page books.

There may be three million Vedic scriptures [I don't know, I have never heard that
before] but we are not interested in them all. Veda means knowledge so all
knowledge can be found in the Vedas -- there are so many Vedic texts dealing with
material things as well (medicine, warfare, astronomy and astrology, building
airplanes, etc..) There are also many Vedic texts describing mundane religiosity,
the process of approaching God for material benefits in the form of money and
sense gratification. It is only when one becomes frustrated in the pursuit of
money and sense gratification that he searches for moksa, or liberation. But even
that search for liberation is not Krishna consciousness. It is still based on
sense gratification. He has realized the material world is a place of suffering
and he wants to get out.

Krishna consciousness is realizing our eternal position as a servant of Krishna an
engaging in that service for the pleasure of Krishna, not for our own pleasure.
That is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam particularly and the Sri-Caitanya-
caritamrta is the teachings of Lord Caitanya and it is based on the Bhagavatam. It
describes the highest spiritual ecstasies in even more detail than the Srimad-
Bhagavatam.

The author of all the Vedic scriptures is Srila Vyasadeva. He wrote down all the
Vedic texts around 5,000 years ago. It is not that it was a new creation, the
Vedas has always existed. It was revealed by Krishna to Lord Brahma [the first
living entity within the universe] at the beginning of the creation and it was
taught by Lord Brahma to his sons including the great sage Narada Muni. Narada
Muni is a transcendental space-man. He can travel anywhere within the universe and
everywhere he goes he plays on his Vina [a stringed musical instrument] and chants
and glorifies the holy name of Krishna.

Vyasadeva learnt all the Vedas from Narada and he could understand with the
advancement of Kali-yuga [the age of quarrel] men would become less intelligent,
their life spans would be reduced [in Satya-yuga people lived for 100,000 years,
Treta-yuga 10,000 years and Dvarpara-yuga 1,000 years -- now it is not even
possible to live for 100 years for most of us] and their intelligence and memory
would become reduced therefore he could see the need to record the Vedas in
written form. Prior to that time the Vedas had been handed from self realized
spiritual masters to their disciples and in that time many people had perfect
memories, once heard from the spiritual master they would remember it without a
fault -- so there was no need for books.

So Vyasadeva recorded all the Vedic scriptures in written form. When he had
finished, however, he was not very satisfied, he knew there was something missing.
So while he was in this state of lamentation his spiritual master, Narada Muni,
appeared there and asked him why he was lamenting. So he told Narada Muni although
he had written so many books he was not satisfied. Narada could understand the
problem, he told Vyasadeva his lamentation was due to his neglect of glorifying
the name, fame and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri
Krishna. He had presented so much philosophy and so much practical knowledge, but
very little about Krishna. Narada Muni said he shouldn't have spent so much energy
describing all the ritualistic principles in the Veda because he knew in the
future people would become very attached to the rituals but not care for Krishna.
So Narada Muni advised Srila Vyasadeva to write the Srimad Bhagavatam.

"Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated,
this Bhagavata Purana propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by
those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality
distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the
threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage
Vyasadeva (in his maturity), is sufficient in itself for God realization. WHAT IS
THE NEED OF ANY OTHER SCRIPTURE? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of the Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is
established within his heart." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.2)

"Srimad-Bhagavatam is the spotless Purana. It is most dear to the Vaisnavas."

You say you have read all the books as if once you have read them that's the
finish of it. It's like that with an ordinary mundane book, once you have read it
you know the plot and there's not much joy in reading it again. But Srila

Prabhupada's books are not like that at all. The spiritual nature is anandam
buddhi vardhanam, ever-increasing spiritual bliss, so Srila Prabhupada's books are
completely transcendental, you can read them over and over again and always find
new inspiration and realization in them. Personally I have read all Srila
Prabhupada's books many, many times, but still now I am spending at least 3-4
hours a day reading. It's transcendental bliss, it's spiritual recreation. I have
read everything many times before, but still it is always new and fresh.

Three books you should always be reading are Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Nectar of
Devotion and Krsna Book. You can read one chapter a day of each book and just
start again at the beginning when you finish. It doesn't get boring, it gets more
and more ecstatic. Try it and see. Also reading aloud is much more effective than
silent reading. We have to hear and chant the message, it is the hearing and
chanting that is the most important, not the intelectual process going on in the
brain. It's the transcendental sound that purifies our consciousness and
Prabhupada's books are nothing but his chanting of the transcendental name, fame
and pastimes of Krishna recorded in book form.

If you have read all the small books and Bhagavad-gita then you should read
Srimad-Bhagavatam next. Bhagavad-gita is the A-B-C of spiritual life, Srimad-
Bhagavatam is the university education and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta is the post-
graduate study.

So you don't need any books other than Srila Prabhupada's. It is a very serious
disease in ISKCON at the moment. So many devotees are looking for the "higher
knowledge" elsewhere. But there is no higher knowledge. Srila Prabhupada has given
us everything in his books. There is no need to go to anyone else. Of course you
have read the Brahma Samhita by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, that is a
special case, but we don't need to read any books other than Srila Prabhupada's.
If we do, even if they are the books of Bhaktivinoda or Bhaktsiddhanta, it may
cause difficulties in our spiritual advancement as they sometimes describe things
slightly differently to Srila Prabhupada and it may create some problems in our
minds. Everything we need is in Srila Prabhupada's books. I can't say it enough.
We certainly should never read Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers books or ever
associate with them or visit their temples. That has been strictly forbidden by
Srila Prabhupada. [Still many ISKCON devotees do it and Krishna Culture sells all
their books...]

I also sent a copy of your letter about the PADA www site to one other devotee and
this was her response.

>After reading the letter you sent, I feel sorry for Bhakta Chip and all the
>other Bhakta Chips out there. While Puranjana Prabhu believes it is his
>mission to expose the corruption in ISKCON and generate enough concern and
>rage amongst devotees and well-wishers of the movement to effect a
>take-over or clean-up, I am afraid that reading PADA has the effect of
>leaving one feeling disillusioned, helpless and apathetic. Especially
>persons whose faith is fledgling will become bitterly disgusted and decide
>to stay away from the Hare Krishna movement altogether. Is this what we
>want? Srila Prabhupada has said that a thing must be judged by its result.
>I personally do not recommend anyone to read PADA. Rather, I find that
>Hansadutta's essays in Srila Prabhupada, His Movement and You--particularly
>"ISKCON is Like the Ganges" and the first chapter, "Srila Prabhupada, the
>Brahma Sampradaya Acharya" address the controversy in clear, poignant
>language, but more importantly offer a positive alternative, a conclusive
>solution to the ISKCON problem which any person can act upon as an
>individual. PADA causes faith to expire; we want our faith to be inspired.
>ISKCON is cheating, but so is PADA, because Puranjana is so caught up with
>pointing out the faults of ISKCON that he fails to direct us to the one
>viable alternative, Srila Prabhupada. Would it not be better to steer
>others away from the controversy and encourage them to focus instead on the
>heart of the matter, which is to study the teachings of Srila Prabhupada
>and put them to practice in one's own life--never mind what the rest of the
>world might be doing? For a time we also were caught up in the controversy
>and spirit of quarrel with ISKCON, but we found that the innocent public
>were  so very much put off by the scandals and in-house fighting that they
>wanted nothing to do with the Hare Krishna movement--either ISKCON or
>Rittvik. We have also to admit that we are also not pure devotees, not yet
>free from anarthas, and in no better position to take others back to
>Godhead than the ISKCON "gurus."  Instead of wrestling with other neophyte
>devotees, we had better wrestle with our own demons and repose all our
>faith, time and energy in the service of Srila Prabhupada and let Krishna
>do with us (and with ISKCON) as He likes.
>
>ISKCON is like a cancer, but PADA is like the proverbial cure whose side
>effects are more lethal than the disease. I don't mean anything personal
>against Puranjana Prabhu. He means well, no doubt, and we all know that he
>is after all only presenting the unhappy facts and genuine grievances of
>the devotees.

So I would also encourage you to read what Hansadutta Prabhu has to say as well.
He is one of the original 11 "Zonal Acaryas" but is now no longer preaching within
ISKCON. He has a home-page at:

        http://www.geopages/Tokyo/1148/

So keep chanting Hare Krishna, read Srila Prabhupada's books incessantly [don't
worry about the 2,999,800 others!], follow the four regulative principles and
preach as much as you can. Lord Caitanya's philosophy is whoever you meet you
should tell them something about Krishna. It is a very good policy to follow.

I have also sent you some "snail-mail", a magazine called "Back To Prabhupada" by
a group of devotees outside ISKCON. Most Hare Krishna's are outside ISKCON these
days, and from this magazine you will see many of them are still very seriously
practising Krishna consciousness, preaching and serving Srila Prabhupada. Once one
has a little taste for Krishna consciousness there is no giving it up. The
material "pleasures" loose their attractiveness. Devotees may sometimes fall from
the proper standard but they can never forget Krishna or Srila Prabhupada.

Looking forward to hearing from you again. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

Your servant

Madhudvisa dasa

>Hare Krsna Prabhu. Please accept my fallen obeisances.  All glories to Srila
>Prabhupada!
>
>Thank you for your letter.  It is very dissapointing.  But I will always chant
>Hare Krsna and read Prabhupada's books, not ot worry.
>
>Right now I am reading Sri-Brahma-Samhita by bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. After
>that I think I will read either Srimad Bhagavatam or Sri Caitanya Caritamrta.
>I've read every small and medium book and also Bhagavad Gita. So I think now it
>is time to tackle those books (all three million of them!).
>
>Thank you so much for your honesty... all glories to Krsna's pure devotees!
>
>Hari bol,
>b.chip
>

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