Then if you are, any man is conscious, deliberate, then, if you try to implement and practice in your life.... Sthāne sthitāḥ. First of all hearing. Unless you hear.... Just like Kṛṣṇa is speaking. You have to hear.
gata-saṅgasya muktasya
jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ
yajñāyācarataḥ karma
samagraṁ pravilīyate
jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ
yajñāyācarataḥ karma
samagraṁ pravilīyate
So in this way, hearing, hearing, you become jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. You don't require to go to the college and school.
This is also.... They simply hear. Even in college and school, there is percentage of attendance, hearing. All of you know that unless one has attended class of the professor seventy-five percent, he is not allowed for the examination. So hearing is so important.
And that is also in the case of spiritual. You hear from.... Hear from whom? Hear from whom? That tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] "Hear from guru." Who is guru? Guru. Brahma-niṣṭham. Brahma-niṣṭham. Gurumeans who knows God and fully engaged in His service. That is guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet, samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. And he has also heard from his guru. This is both, hearing. Therefore Vedas are known as śruti. Formerly it was learned simply by hearing. There was no books. And there was no need of noting down. The merit was so perfect that simply by hearing from guru, he would understand everything.
But in the Kali-yuga because gradually we are losing the potency of our brain, therefore we require in writing books. Vyāsadeva was very kind. He knew that in the Kali-yuga there will be no sharpened brain. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10]. They are made by nature; by the influence of Kali-yuga, they are all mandaḥ, very slow or very bad, mandaḥ. Sumanda-matayaḥ, and they have got, manufactured some ideas, sumanda-matayaḥ, which is not standard to the Vedic ideas. Manda-bhāgyāḥ, and unfortunately, they cannot accept. Manda-bhāgyāḥ.
Kṛṣṇa is accepted the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all the śāstras. Vyāsadeva, He writes, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. In the Brahma-saṁhitā, Brahmā writes, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. Kṛṣṇa personally says,mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat [Bg. 7.7]. Arjuna, who heard Bhagavad-gītā, he accepts. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg. 10.12]. The ācāryas, Śaṅkarācārya, Mādhvācārya, Rāma..., they accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was.... Then what evidence want you more? What is your knowledge? You do not accept so many authorities? You are so proud? That is our misfortune. Manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ, and disturbed condition of life. That is our misfortune.
This is the position. Otherwise where is the difficulty of understanding God? "God is dead. There is no God. I am God, you are God." So many theories. Why? Here is God. God personally comes to show you what is the position of God, and He has shown what is the meaning of God. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya balasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ. What is the meaning of Bhagavān, He has shown. Still, we are so unfortunate, we cannot accept. Because we are not free from the contamination.Yeṣām. One can understand. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām. Otherwise,
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
[Bg. 7.3]
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
[Bg. 7.3]
So the best thing is that we should be submissive. We should not be proud. That will not help us. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. The so-called speculative knowledge should be given up. Jñāne prayāsam, namanta eva. Just be submissive. Namanta eva. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. San-mukharitām, those who are perfectly saint.... Just like Vyāsadeva, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, san-mukharitām. They have accepted.... Caitanya Mahāprabhu.... San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. In this way we can understand, we can take the lesson, everything is clear.
Now this formula, that gata-saṅgasya muktasya... So gata-saṅga, how gata-saṅga, to be free from the contamination of the material nature? That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate: [Bg.14.26] "Anyone who is engaged according to the principles, rules and regulations in bhakti-yoga..."
Just these boys are being trained up all over the world to rise early in the morning, to perform maṅgala-ārātrika, to chant the holy name, to read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then take some prasādam, then go to preach, distribute books.... When we go to distribute books, we are doing this very organizedly all over the world, and it has become very successful, very successful.
So why not in India? Why you are neglecting this process? Why you are manufacturing something nonsense? That will not help you.
Comments
Srila Prabhupada had no written authorization to be guru, but was sent by his spiritual master alone to the West with a few books, to preach in English.
“All my disciples will take the legacy. If you want, you can also take it. Sacrifice everything. I, one, may soon pass away. But they are hundreds, and this movement will increase. It is not that I give an order, ‘Here is the next leader.’ Anyone who follows the previous leadership is the leader…. All of my disciples are leaders, as much as they follow purely. If you want to follow, you can also lead. But you don’t want to follow. Leader means one who is a first class disciple. Evam param parapraptam. One who is following is perfect.”
(Srila Prabhupada, Back to Godhead magazine, Vol. 13, No. 1-2)
So, authorization in general is there, in the case of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples.
Perhaps also the Lord in the heart directly gives some persons instructions, in regards to acting as diksa-providing spiritual master, we do not know externally, except by the symptoms of purity of the empowered servitor. Begging then, to disagree in general, with the notion of a legalistic signed paper etc. I cant recall any of our recent acaryas having such a thing in their possession?
In general, sastra indicates that diksa from a particular guru was often in itself authorization in future to represent one’s guru, if the disciple came up to par, and that the Lord would make this arrangement. For example Mrgrari the Hunter, after reform by Narada Muni, also spoke nicely to his neighbors, acting as their siksa guru, also the young prostitute who obtained Haridasa Thakura’s mercy positively influenced others.
Diksa gurus such as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura did not have written authorization, but rather the approval in general of his spiritual master and the Vaisnavas. Is this correct, please, or am i not aware of the facts in this regard? Ultimately, we are only interested in Srila Prabhupada’s specific orders to us, of course, as this is our authority, not the practices of others.
Anyway, yes, we don’t have to worry, as we are certain of our spiritual master’s empowerment, obviously. Others not quite so much…
PS; New GBC moniker; Globalist Bankster Co-operators. lol!
Obeisances. Hare Krishna