"I have built the skyscraper skeleton, now you all intelligent American and European boys and girls fill in the spaces nicely in good taste. Do not deviate from our high standard. That will mean great dishonor to me. Push on in your preaching work as I have shown you, remain pure, enthusiastic, and optimistic, and Krishna will favor you with all good results and benedictions."
Srila Prabhupada Letter Bombay 22 December, 1971
Comments
Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [Regarding how the kaniṣṭha adhikāra devotee goes to the Temple for their personal interest]
So it is the duty of the spiritual master to promote the devotees from the kaniṣṭha-adhikāra to the madhyama-adhikāra. Not to keep them. My Guru Mahārāja, sometimes he used to lament because so many disciples he had, but nobody was coming out very nice preacher. He was lamenting, "So only kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs, we are keeping simply people in the kaniṣṭha-adhikāra and engaging them in the arcana-mārga." So that is not required.
They should not... A kaniṣṭha-adhikārī does not know who is a devotee, na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu, what is the duty to others. He is very busy in temple worship for his personal interest. That is also good.
But one has to promote further to become a madhyama-adhikārī and then analyze who is God, who is devotee, who is innocent, who is nondevotee, and behave in that way. So their business is to make friendship with devotee, to love Kṛṣṇa, and to the innocent, preach, to enlighten them in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
[Nectar of Devotion - Lectures: Vṛndāvan 4 Nov 1972]
I have no idea as to how many Itsacon corps temples there are. Nowadays, I am more directly interested in how many ritvik devotees there are! So far the itsacon corps cults, I would prefer they just vanished. lol? Or as above, to become madhyama adhikaris. Then, the phony gooroos and bogus hierarchies and abusive systems of exploitation for personal gain may be eliminated also.
The extent of our effectiveness may be measured in varied ways. For example, the words karma and Krsna are now well known throughout the world, whereas before our Movement, no one knew except the exceptional few, so one can say billions have been liberated, initial stages. With the devotees waking up to practical realities, I am hopeful that this wisdom will spread, no temples needed, though Lord knows we could use a few million to open same.
The struggle to free the world is much greater than the struggle to free self in terms of what needs to be done practically. The devotees who take up the task have unlimited service to do, oftentimes unrecognized or even we are ridiculed and attacked, they try to kill us, the demons. This has hardenned out attitudes, such that there is no compromise at all, it is hard care and we will not stop nor be intimidated nor brushed aside. The Western-born devotees are pushing up against a behemoth that would rather see us gone, and this also even at the micro-social level, devotees are excluded, prejudiced against in terms of work and marriage, etc. We have become revolutionary visionary outcastes, but accept that as our toll for walking this road of faith.
"Similarly, there are two kinds of living entities: nitya-baddha, nitya-mukta, eternally liberated and eternally conditioned. You see? So for the conditioned… They will never agree to abide by God. Therefore, for them, this material world, the external energy: “All right, you do whatever you like. You do according to…” But still, there is canvassing work. Oh, God sends His son to canvass, “Oh, this is not your right engagement. Please come back to home, back to Godhead.” Kṛṣṇa comes. God Himself comes. He sends His devotees. He comes as a devotee just to again reclaim, but they are so stubborn, they will not give up this habit. Even in their so-called spiritual cultivation they are thinking that “I am God..." Srila Prabhupada on March 5, 1969