THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION
Compiled by Padmapani dasa
One Should Take Shelter of a Great Soul
(Click on photo to see a larger image of Srila Prabhupada and devotees)
“Because the common man is unable to control the senses and the mind, it is his duty to seek the shelter of a great soul or a great devotee of the Lord and just try to please him. That will make his life perfect. A common man cannot rise to the topmost stage of spiritual perfection simply by following the rituals and religious principles. He has to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and work under his direction faithfully and sincerely; then he becomes perfect, without a doubt.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.22.6, Purport)
“The summary is that one has to, first of all, seek the association of pure devotees who not only are learned in the Vedanta but are self-realized souls and unalloyed devotees of Lord Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead. In that association, the neophyte devotees must render loving service physically and mentally without reservation. This service attitude will induce the great souls to be more favorable in bestowing their mercy, which injects the neophyte with all the transcendental qualities of the pure devotees.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.34, Purport)
“The parampara system of disciplic succession is very important as a means of spiritual success. One becomes a mahat by the grace of his mahat spiritual master. If one takes shelter of the lotus feet of a great soul, there is every possibility of one’s also becoming a great soul.“
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.22.6, Purport)
Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. No doubt that we must seek a great soul like Srila Prabhupada to be able to get out of the ocean of death that is this material world. But this will not happen if we do not follow the main reasons for which Srila Prabhupada founded ISKCON. He did so, so we may have all inclusive istagosthi (good communications,) unity and cooperation among his disciples and followers, for the spiritual aim of trust and love among all of us. But since we are passionate and think ourselves very intelligent, we have opted to rush in a spirit of self promotion and competition. Srila Prabhupada says that competition is very good, but better than competition is istagosthi or good communications. Without istagosthi, anger starts to rise, and now we have sectarian groups non of which follow the orders of Srila Prabhupada for good relations and cooperation despite disagreements. On top of this, we have had some leaders, make efforts to stop Prabhupadanugas who are trying to promote communication and better relations among the contending groups! So there is actual opposition for well meaning, proper and just service to Srila Prabhupada by a few that trying to stop the offense against Srila Prabhupada.
This is actually natural, because spiritually, we are no more than worms in the stool of worms, covered by millions of years of material conditioning. But if we do not change these ways, then we are committing Vaisnava and guru aparadha, making for more millions of years of death in this material world, on top of much suffering to us and our families! As “I” write this, there are 40 million Russian in radiation bunkers, due to threat of world wide nuclear war. So as Srila Prabhupada talked about, there is a good chance that we may face the most horrible experience of nuclear effects. You an search about how that would effect countries like USA and India.
It is time to change and care for the dear most property of Srila Prabhupada, his disicples and followers and for Srila Prabhupada’s desires that we be united, cooperate and build trust and love each other. Doing this is so powerful, that it will with no doubt save us from any danger. Lets forget about position, “intelligence” (we are a bunch of foolish worms in the stool of the worms) and any other thing that is not what Srila Prabhupada wants, such as competition and efforts to dominate. Srila Prabhupada does not want sectarian groups at odds with one another. We urgently need all inclusive istagosthi, so united, we can cooperate to assist each other at the current nuclear threat times that we live in. The leaders should lead this, since if not, they are taking an incredible risk that many of us suffer tremendously or die prematurely. So it is not enough to identify the pure devotee as is Srila Prabhupada, we must follow his orders that we care for each other and cooperate. If not, it’s guru aparadha and our whole garden of devotion will be annihilated. Srila Prabhupada ki jai!! Sincerely, Mahatma Das