The Iskcon as it is, by Haripada dasa
In The Iskcon as it is we understand and accept that Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the Jagad-Guru, the Guru of the Universe and he is the only person authorized by God or Krishna to take us back home to God or Krishna. The Iskcon as it is is made up of people who with great enthusiasm and determination have decided to use their words, actions and thoughts to please Srila Prabhupada. They have full faith and are very convinced that if they please Srila Prabhupada, then Krishna will be pleased with them, and his return home, his return to God will be more than guaranteed.
In The Iskcon as we want nectar, we are convinced that the truth will set you free, it will always be better to pray for others than to criticize, the only way to eliminate evil on a personal and collective level, is through kindness, that which He does not live to serve, he does not serve to live and peace and well.
Al Iskcon as he is does not like to criticize anyone, in relation to this, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Maharaja Prabhupada, said: “Let the others do what they want, it does not concern me, I already have a lot of work chanting Hare Krishna purifying my damned mind. ” The plant of Bhakti feeds on nectar, not on rare stories, gossip, etc. We have very definite spiritual ideals, try to follow all the instructions given in the books of Srila Prabhupada, and help each other do the same, by doing this we live with Srila Prabhupada and acquire his qualities. Our love and service is for Srila Prabhupada, and we have full faith that Srila Prabhupada is the authorized person who will take us back home, back to Krishna.
In The Iskcon as devotees relate to love and trust through these 6 transcendental activities: 1.- Offer gifts as charity, 2.- Accept charitable gifts, 3.- Reveal the mind confidentially, 4.- Ask confidentially, 5.- Accept prasada and 6.- Offer prasada. (Upadesamrita, verse 4)
The 10 philosophical points that the Iskcon accepts as it is are:
1 .- We are not interested in the opinions of an ordinary person, ordinary people have four types of defects, the first defect is that it tends to make mistakes, another defect is to be in illusion, the third defect is the propensity to cheat and finally our senses are imperfect. Any opinion that is not the revealed truth, lacks all value, the revealed truth means, the truth, or writing that comes from a reliable source, the chain of disciplic succession formed by genuine spiritual teachers is the reliable source; since these people are self-realized and pure souls, and are free from the four aforementioned defects.
2. God or Krishna, the beautiful reality, is the source of everything.
3. God or Krishna, The Supreme Attraction, is the master of all powers and energies.
4. – God or Krishna, is the ocean and the personification of all spiritual mellows; There are five kinds of transcendental mellows, one is the passive mellow, another is the mellow of service, the third mellow is friendship, the fourth is parental and maternal mellow and the last mellow is conjugal.
5. The spiritual soul, that is, we are not a direct part of God or Krishna, but separate parts of the Supreme Lord. Spiritual souls are the innumerable living entities, all infinitesimal spiritual sparks. Spiritual souls are of two kinds: a) Eternally conditioned and b) Eternally liberated, they populate both the material and the spiritual planets.
6. The sixth teaching notes how the conditioned spiritual soul falls in love with the dazzling illusory power of ignorance. She has forgotten God or Krishna and remains eternally bound in this phenomenal world, enjoying material existence.
7. The eternally liberated souls are eternal associates of God or Krishna, they reside in the spiritual world and enjoy spiritual love relationships with God or Krishna, the source of all pleasure.
8. Everything material or spiritual comes from God or Krishna. Spiritual souls and matter, both are transformations of the energy of God or Krishna. Everything is part of God or Krishna and has something in common with Him and something different from Him. This is inconceivable.
9. The only means to attain pure devotion to God or Krishna is devotional service. The nine members of devotional service are: 1) To hear the name and glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 2) Sing your glories. 3) Remember the Lord. 4) Serve at the feet of the Lord. 5) Worship the deity of the Lord. 6) Offer obeisances to the Lord. 7) Act as servant of the Lord. 8) Make friends with the Lord and 9) Surrender completely to the Lord. The chanting of the Holy Name is the most important devotional activity. The sacred writings have many volumes that describe the glories of the Holy Name.
10. The tenth teaching gives us the understanding that the supreme goal of life is divine love, pure love for God or Krishna. Sometimes people complain that there is a lot of crisis and I tell them that the only crisis there is is love for God, and people answer me: “you are absolutely right”.
The authoritative source of these ten philosophical points have been extracted from the Hari Nama Chintamani of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.
Everyone is welcome to the Iskcon as it is, only the crazy and the lazy have no place (a madman is a person who does not believe in God and a lazy person is a person who does not like to cook). Here there is no place for opportunists or to climb posts, here we are all friends and humble servants of each other, we are all friends and spiritual brothers and sisters, and the one with the greatest capacity to serve, we accept as a natural leader. Here we do not speculate and obey Srila Prabhupada’s order to initiate on his behalf, that way we do not deceive ourselves or others and Srila Prabhupada’s family expands. Here everyone chant their 16 rounds without offenses from the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, they all follow the 4 regulative principles very strictly, they all sing the three daily gayatris, they all follow the Ekadasis, the Chaturmasya, Kartika Vrata, the apparitions and disappearances of the Supreme Lord and Your devotees, all avoid bad association and are always happy and eager to associate with the serious and sincere devotees of Srila Prabhupada, they always carry the tilaka marks on their body, they always have Srila Prabhupada at the center of their lives and they help the people to put Srila Prabhupada at the center of their lives and every day read Srila Prabhupada’s books in the morning and evening, they only eat Krishna prasada, food offered to Srila Prabhupada, Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here everyone obeys the instructions given by Srila Prabhupada in his books on how we should use our hard earned wealth. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of Srila Rupa Goswami, when he withdrew from service to the Muslim government and surrendered himself at the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu divided his wealth into three parts. 1-50 percent gave it to the Brahmanas and Vaisnavas, 25 percent to their relatives and the other 25 percent to personal emergencies, by practicing this a transcendental atmosphere is created and selfishness is destroyed. Here nobody speculates, we understand and accept that a person is speculating, when he does things in a capricious way without relying on the Guru, Sadhu and Sastra. In the Iskcon as it is only the original books of Srila Prabhupada are used, we are totally against all the changes that they have made to the original books of Srila Prabhupada.
In the Iskcon as it is we have full faith that Srila Prabhupada is the way, the truth and the life, and if someone goes back home to God or Krishna, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada.