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Reply by Tamohara dasa, Bh.S., MS. on May 21, 2015 at 19:57

"Otherwise, management, everything, should be done locally by local men. Accounts must be kept, things must be in order and lawfully done, but that should be each temple's concern, not yours. Krishna Consciousness Movement is for training men to be independently thoughtful and competent in all types of departments of knowledge and action, not for making bureaucracy. Once there is bureaucracy the whole thing will be spoiled. There must be always individual striving and work and responsibility, competitive spirit, not that one shall dominate and distribute benefits to the others....   "

My Godbrothers have no life for preaching work. All are satisfied with a place for residence in the name of a temple, they engage disciples to get foodstuff by transcendental devices and eat and sleep. They have no idea or brain how to broacast the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Tirupati 28 April, 1974

Washington D.C.

My dear Rupanuga Maharaja

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Initiations, diksha, Prabhupada.


Back To Prabhupada, Issue 56, Summer 2017

Recently, GBC-elected guru HH Trivikrama Swami wrote to us, arguing that the July 9th, 1977 directive mentioned in the previous article was not a "final order" on initiations for ISKCON. Instead, he claims that on October 18th, 1977, Srila Prabhupada gave his actual "Final Order" to HH Jayapataka Swami ("JPS") and others "to begin initiating their own disciples." (Email sent to us on 11/8/17). Other ISKCON GBC gurus have also made the same argument. However, there are at least 7 proofs that this was not a final order for JPS to become a diksa guru (emphases added):

1) Srila Prabhupada states that JPS is to act according to a "list" of names of "deputies" he had given:

Srila Prabhupada: "So, deputies, Jayapataka's name was there? [...] This initiation. I have deputed the... my disciples. [...] You have got the list of the names?"
Tamala Krsna: "Yes, Srila Prabhupada."
(Room Conversation, 18/10/77)

However, the only time Srila Prabhupada had eve

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1. Here at spi, we consider ourselves simply the modern followers of HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, as he taught and set the perfect examples. There is no such thing as "ritvik philosophy", per se,  as we are simply following Prabhupada's philosophy.

Srila Prabhupada ;

" From now on unless I order you do something change or in addition, go on with the usual standard way. "

 "Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not mean one-sided. Kṛṣṇa as all-pervading, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement also should be all-pervading. It should touch everything, even politics, sociology, everything, if required. That is the aim. Because Kṛṣṇa’s mission is: yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata [Bg. 4.7], paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8]."

"Make your own field... and continue to be Ritvik... and act on my behalf." - Śrīla Prabhupāda: July 31, 1977.

Srila Prabhupada: Only Lord Chaitanya can take my place. He will take care of my movement.

-(Conv. 2.11.77)

Quote from ISKCON’s C

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Sreedham Navadvip, a group of nine islands representing the nine methods of devotional practices . . . .
1.Hearing(Simantadvip),
2.Chanting(Godrumdvip),
3.Meditating(Madhyadvip),
4.Serving-Lord's Lotus Feet(Koladvip),
5.Worshipping(Ritudvip),
6.Greeting(Jahnudvip),
7.Serving as servent(Modadrumdvip),
8.Friendship(Rudradvip),
9.Self-surrender(Antardvip, the whorl of the Lotus).,

Without complete resignation to the Lotus Feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the eight other devotional ptactices are doomed to failure .
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Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [On leadership in his ISKCON society]

"...after you, who will take the leadership?" And "Everyone will take, all my disciples. If you want, you can take also. (laughter) But if you follow. They are prepared to sacrifice everything, so they'll take the leadership. I may, one, go away, but there will be hundreds, and they'll preach. If you want, you can also become a leader. We have no such thing, that 'Here is leader.' Anyone who follows the previous leadership, he's a leader. 'Indian,' we have no such distinction, 'Indian,' 'European.' "

Brahmānanda: They wanted an Indian to be the leader?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) "Everyone, all my disciples, they are leaders. As purely as they follow, they become leader. If you want to follow, you can become a leader. You are Indian. But you don't want." I told them that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, they probably wanted to propose somebody who would take over our movement.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Leaders. All nonsense. Leader means one who ha

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Now, from this we may take the lesson that in our fight with māyā we should not be in a position in which our strength, enthusiasm and senses will be unable to fight vigorously. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has actually declared war against the illusory energy, in which all the living entities are rotting in a false understanding of civilization. The soldiers in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement must always possess physical strength, enthusiasm and sensual power. To keep themselves fit, they must therefore place themselves in a normal condition of life. What constitutes a normal condition will not be the same for everyone, and therefore there are divisions of varṇāśrama—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Especially in this age, Kali-yuga, it is advised that no one take sannyāsa.

aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ
sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam
devareṇa sutotpattiṁ
kalau pañca vivarjayet
[Cc. Ādi 17.164]

(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa)

From this we can underst

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VICE CANNOT CONQUER VIRTUE

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Aniha Das

VICE CANNOT CONQUER VIRTUE
The sufferings of the Pāṇḍavas were never due to their past deeds. The Lord had to execute the plan of establishing the kingdom of virtue, and therefore His own devotees suffered temporarily in order to establish the conquest of virtue. Bhīṣmadeva was certainly satisfied by seeing the triumph of virtue, and he was glad to see King Yudhiṣṭhira on the throne, although he himself fought against him. Even a great fighter like Bhīṣma could not win the Battle of Kurukṣetra because the Lord wanted to show that vice cannot conquer virtue, regardless of who tries to execute it. Bhīṣmadeva was a great devotee of the Lord, but he chose to fight against the Pāṇḍavas by the will of the Lord because the Lord wanted to show that a fighter like Bhīṣma cannot win on the wrong side.

From Srila Prabhupada's purport, Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.9.16

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Andrej Kazancev I saw that many times, kirtan being performed for many other reasons than the satisfaction of Sri Hari and spiritual progress of the atman. Same with japa, some devotees encourage to chant japa on behalf of someone who is sick to get better. This type of encouragement is born out of ignorance. Instead of trying to realize that the Holy Names are none different from the Lord, some engage this process for material satisfaction. This way we cause offences towards the Holy Names (Nama-Aparadha) 8) To consider chanting of Hare Krsna one of the auspicious ritualistic activities offered in the Vedas as fruitive activities (karma-kanda). The art of sankirtana is not chasing after a good feeling in any circumstance. That is the case only for the neophytes. For the madyam adhikari sankirtana helps to connect to Sri Bhagavan, so they can become purified and try to surrender to His lotus feet in service. What to speak of the uttama adhikari who are confidential sevants of Sri Bhag
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All persons are accustomed to worship the beautiful feet of God. But the conception that God is to supply our comforts and conveniences in exchange for worship is worthy of a shop-keeper. Contemplating which things we shall receive in exchange for our worship is not the way devotees of God think. If one seeks to worship like a shop-keeper, one will never understand the nature of service to Kṛṣṇa. 

God is full of the highest well-being. To pray to God for the gratification of one’s senses instead of the highest good shows one’s lack of good judgement. It is the duty of all persons to follow the line of thought that seeks to discover how Kṛṣṇa is to be served.

We do not find God in this world. The devotees, who serve God, show themselves to us out of mercy. We should follow their conduct and teaching. It is the only path to our well-being. 

Due to our meagre education and shallow experience, for most of us, the ideas and ways of thinking that the devotees of God expre

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Fallen Soul seeks steady engagement in Goloka, Spiritual Sky ; " I can do lawn care, sweep and polish marble decks, water Tulsi, pick flowers and fruits, make jokes, sweep the ashrama, prepare sandalwood and plates, bring fresh Ganga water, wash clothes, cook some, bring prasadam, kayak, drum, dance, sing laugh and engage in intoxicating fun pastimes. Great companion for travel and kirtan. Looking for full time engagement in Goloka and Mayapura, and sometimes Puri districts. No wages required, just a spot under a tree at night and steady service. Call Tamohara dasa anytime. "

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Nothing else matters so much ! Lord Krsna has unlimited opulences, He lacks nothing, Atmarama, yet even He is running like a madman after bhakti rasa ! ... so we can conclude it is the only really valuable thing.

Everything else is for engagement in service of that Prema. Sri Radhe is Mahabhava Personified, and we all aspire for service of the grass at Her Divine Footsteps.

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Easy Travel to Other Times

‘Never was there a time in which I did not exist, nor you, Arjuna, nor all these kings, ( before us at the battlefield of Kurukshetra), nor in the future shall any of us cease to be’ - Sri Krsna, from Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's ; Bhagavad Gita As It Is.

Herein Lord Krsna reveals His Eternal Being, beyond the gates of time. He speaks of past, present, and future as aspects of one supreme reality, in which God and the souls exist as distinct, eternally. Indeed, He says, ‘Time I am’, indicating that He is the origin and the maintainer of the flow of events that we call time, and He is the Supreme Controller of that time element.

Those seeking happiness and freedom from the crushing wheels of death must ask themselves whether all the fuss and botheration of struggling hard to try to create a position of happiness here, and to keep it going, are of any value. Time destroys all things; in the form of oxidation, aging, homeostasis and equilibrium, violent destruction, gradual d

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SB 5.1.40, Translation and Purport

"To stop the quarreling among different peoples, Mahārāja Priyavrata marked boundaries at rivers and at the edges of mountains and forests so that no one would trespass upon another's property."

The example set by Mahārāja Priyavrata in marking off different states is still followed. As indicated here, different classes of men are destined to live in different areas, and therefore the boundaries of various tracts of land, which are described here as islands, should be defined by different rivers, forests and hills. This is also mentioned in relation to Mahārāja Pṛthu, who was born from the dead body of his father by the manipulation of great sages. Mahārāja Pṛthu's father was very sinful, and therefore a black man called Niṣāda was first born from his dead body. The Naiṣāda race was given a place in the forest because by nature they are thieves and rogues. As animals are given places in various forests and h

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Human society is continuously progressing in education, economic devolopment, material comforts, etc, but is seriously lacking in universal peace and brotherhood. They quarrel on large scale even over meagre issues. This disparity is mainly due to lack of principles in Godless civilization . . . .

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Hanumān: Excuse me; I have a lot of questions. I would like to ask you why we are so fortunate to have such a nice, genuine spiritual master as you, and some other have bogus spiritual master. Is it something of karma, or is this the pure mercy of yourself?

Prabhupāda: No, that you can think—your spiritual master is nice, others bogus—but they do not think like that. (laughter) They will think their spiritual master is good, your spiritual master is bogus. But... there is standard who is spiritual master. Spiritual master means who is the best servant of God. One who does not agree the existence of spiritual ma..., ah God, he is bogus because he's not bona fide. Mūḍhā. One who does not accept the existence of God, he is mūḍhā. He's a rascal. He cannot... A rascal cannot become spiritual master.

Hanumān: How come we come to you?

Prabhupāda: That is another thing, but first of all we have to know who is spiritual master. The spiritual master is he, samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (M

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9468806893?profile=originalPrabhupāda: (laughs) Krodha bhakta-dveṣi-jane. That is Narottama Ṭhākura's instruction. You must be very angry, those who are against God and devotee, very angry. Utilize your anger for them. Krodha bhakta-dveṣi-jane. That anger is service. Kṛṣṇa-sebā kāmārpaṇe. For Kṛṣṇa's service one should be mad. Kāma-krodha should be given up, but a bhakta does not give up. Utilize it. A bhakta should be very much for kamut(?) serving Kṛṣṇa. And he must utilize his anger for the bhakta-dveṣi, those who are not devotee.

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Baba Ram Dass, spiritual guru and LSD pioneer, dies at 88

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FILE - In this Oct. 21, 1998 file photo, Ram Dass, best known for the 1971 bestseller "Be Here Now," smiles during an interview at his San Anselmo, Calif., home. The 1960s counterculture spiritual leader and early LSD proponent died, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019 at his home in Maui, Hawaii. He was 88. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan, File)

HONOLULU (AP) — Baba Ram Dass, the 1960s counterculture spiritual leader who experimented with LSD and traveled to India to find enlightenment, returning to share it with Americans, has died. He was 88.

Dass’ foundation, Love Serve Remember, announced late Sunday that the author and spiritual leader died peacefully at his home earlier in the day. No cause of death was given.

He had suffered a severe stroke in 1997 that left him paralyzed on the right side and, for a time, unable to speak. More recently, he underwent hip surgery after he was injured in a fall in November 2008, according to his website.

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