No Question of Like BY: B.S. DAMODAR

No Question of Like

BY: B.S. DAMODAR

Jan 11, 2011 — INDIA (SUN) — HDG Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami did say many nice things about the Gaudiya Math too, as mentioned by Sankarshan das in his essay, ". His Divine Grace did also take Sanyassa and the blessings to preach in the west from his beloved senior godbrother, HDG Srila Bhakti Prajnan Kesav Goswami Maharaj, which is not false. He had the greatest respect for Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhara Maharaj as an exponent of the pure scripture, the Srimad Bhagavatam.

My point is you can't deny all these positive things and they are also truths spoken by your gurudeva, so that is what I mean by misinterpretation. There is no question of jumping over guru, but when one is confused on details like these, this is when the siksa of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur is necessary for a neophyte devotee, if he is unable to approach any other elevated devotee. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's first instruction before his departure was for all to cooperate under the dearest representative of Srimati Radhika (parama gurudeva) to spread the message of Rupa-Raghunath.

Sri Guru may mention many detailed instructions to protect the budding devotion of his disciples but these instructions may vary according to the time, place and circumstances for the different disciples. However, His principle instructions must definitely include the instruction of Sriman Mahaprabhu, that is to learn to chant the Holy Name purely without offences and to serve all the devotees of Lord Krishna.

You, George Smith, seem to be positive that that all our gurur varga are under the modes of passion and ignorance, maybe like your good self, but I have news for you, jiva jago jiva jago gauracandara bole, whatever maybe said they are not and that is the actual truth.

As far as I am concerned, many of the things you claim under the heading 'I am aware' is simply hearsay and never conducted by the majority of the elevated devotees who are the epitome of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls. My Gurudeva never crossed the ocean to preach nor did he canvas for disciples, but we begged for initiation and He awarded it out of kindness. The act of any single individual can never represent the whole so in this aspect, the latter part of your essay is simply a generalisation and unfortunately betrays your gross ignorance of the real Gaudiya Math.

You definitely represent 'the frog in the well', which Srila Prabhupada mentions in his satire. When another visitor invited him to come out of his small well and see the great expanse of the ocean outside and all the other different wells, his angry retort was, how dare anyone say that anything is greater than the well I live in?'

I have the greatest respect for HDG Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami and so I have heard of his elevated status from my Gurudeva. Well I as a fallen soul am hoping to plod in this difficult path of devotion with all their combined blessings. Hearing from you will never ever help my spiritual progress nor any other reader because it is narrow, bigoted and can never represent the magnanimity of the message of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Maybe you should take to writing novels. Hare Krishna!