The Preaching Spirit and the Institution
Srila Prabhupada did not want to create another society of love friendship and socializing… A free hotel, a society of mutual admiration, a society of beaurocrats. Social parasites in the name of God and the Hindu religion. The world hates these religious institutions which have exploited them in the name of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and now Krishna, Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada.
Dear Das,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I was surprised to read how many people came to the Gaur Purnima celebrations.
Here in Cloverdale, at Jim’s house we have a program every Thursday night. Some of his students have become more serious about Chanting and following the principles. Recently another person, (Paula) who was also a teacher to Radharani, and a professional musician and voice (Singing) teacher approached us for taking part in the production of a CD of religious chants from around the world. So I started preaching to her, and now she is totally enlivened about being a devotee, chanting and reading Bhagavad-gita, telling all her friends about Krishna etc…
So following this method we find that one person awakens and tells those in their circle of associates, eventually someone else will be awakened, and they in turn will tell all their associates and one of them may also be awakened and go on to preach to their circle of friends. In this way the message of Prabhupada may actually be spread by the dynamic principle of exponential expansion. This I believe is the real purport of “You become Guru and tell everyone that you meet about Krishna”
These new awakened ones have no interest in the institutional world of ISKCON. They are simply interested in the Teachings of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna as they apply to their everyday life, therefore when they go on to explain Krishna to those in their orbit of life, it is very real, and effective. It is as effective as some friend telling another about a great new restaurant, or a great bargain to be had at some shopping center. The advertising by word of mouth is most effective. In the sixties the spread of LSD and other indulgences was done purely by word of mouth.
Conviction is infectious, and this is the platform Srila Prabhupada worked on. His conviction infected one person ( Hyagriva, Kirtananada …) they infected their friends, and so the virus spread, Mukunda was infected by Srila Prabhupada, he went to the west coast, there his friends were infected, Shyamasundar, Malati, Guru das and this is the real beginning of Krishna Consciousness in America. Every movement, political, social, or spiritual, begins from this point.
So this is going on, I am sure it will grow, and that growth will be substantial.
To join ISKCON, or to join Narayan’s camp or any other group is not the aim of Krishna Consciousness. A person must embrace the Teachings of Srila Prabhupada, apply them to life and become a leader, by actually following Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. Simply becoming a member or follower of a GROUP, or a CROWD will be useless and do no good for the individual, or for the crowd. The sectarian party spirit is the great enemy of progressive Krishna consciousness.
We see that Srila Prabhupada never joined the Gaudiya math, he never lived in the temple, and Srila Bhaktsiddhanta supported and protected him from his envious, jealous godbrothers.
The further you get away from any dealings of ISKCON or their controversies, the better. It is a pot ( an ocean ) of sour milk, therefore any fresh milk ( New comers ) that is poured into the sour milk pot, that also immediately becomes sour. No amount of Fresh milk can bring the sour milk back to being fresh. Forget this ISKCON, it is a fossil, a petrified forest, an antique of a by gone era. Very interesting, but no more practical value. Like a model T Ford automobile which has been well preserved and sometimes taken to antique auto shows, it is very interesting, but no more practical value, just an entertainment, an item of curiosity, something to muse and sentiment over, but it’s time , rather it’s inventor, the man of genius ( Henry Ford ) is gone, and other men of genius have taken the development further, like Honda or the Toyota, and Mitsubishi.
The only thing that has life is the words emanating from the lips of the pure devotee, everything else is a covering, a facade, a deception. New people do not need to be saddled with the stifling burden of an institutional ISKCON, they need your example by association, and they need to understand Prabhupada’s teachings in as much as they apply to solving their everyday problems of life. This is, I believe , is the purport of Lord Chaitanya’s meeting and teachings to the “Kuruma Brahmin.” When the Kuruma Brahmin expressed his frustration with material life, and request to join Lord Chitanya, The Lord replied, to him, “better to remain at home, read Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam, Chant Hare Krishna and in this way YOU become GURU and tell everyone that you meet to do the same.” But because we are ambitious for the prestige of being a holy man, we don’t want to do this, we want to have some designation, in some Institution, and have followers, money and comforts. But this was not Prabhupada’s aim. He was preaching to individuals: madmen, perverts, drug addicts. It became gradually a small group, some facility was necessary to accommodate them, and from there it grew, on the basis of individual preaching, one convinced devotee to another. The institution is a by-product of the preaching spirit. Now the preaching spirit is a by-product of the Institution. More correctly, preaching is just a show, or ritual done in an obligatory way to justify their “Eating and sleeping” in the temple. Actually they have converted the temple into their living quarters, like a man rents an apartment, where he eats and sleeps. They preach for maintaining the Institution, it is a show only, ritual a ploy for maintaining their bureaucracy.
The aim of their preaching is to recruit you into the crowd, the group, the party spirit.
But Srila Prabhupada preached for the love of Krishna and his Spiritual master, not for position, or followers. Actually we do not want followers, we want leaders. Prabhupada said he wanted to create a class of honest and pure men, Brahmins who could give advice to the whole society. He did not want to create another society of love friendship and socializing, a free hotel, a society of mutual admiration, a society of bureaucrats… Social parasites in the name of God and Hindu religion. The world hates these religious institutions which have exploited them in the name of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and now Krishna, Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada.
So I am going in that direction. Less intelligent people want to join something, real intelligent persons want to have the freedom and individual responsibility ( Independent thinkers ) that comes with actual knowledge and renunciation from being absorbed in the teachings and discipline of The Sampradaya Acharya, Spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.
Your servant,
Hansadutta das
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