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Sannyasa

· JAGABANDHU DASA, c.e.

Mahaprabhu was initially opposed to the idea of sannyasa in Kali-yuga because of the unfortunately prominent tendency for souls to exploit their apparent positions of spiritual priory in this dark age to maintain an egotistically false renunciation and priesthood which does little but take advantage of the innocent while masquerading as true renunciation from sense enjoyment. Later in His Divine lila, Mahaprabhu changed His mind when He saw that His own taking of sannyasa was the only way He could influence Nabadwip's academic intelligentsia to take Him seriously in His preaching.

In this regard, it may be interesting to note that our own Srila Prabhupada himself was of a similar mind in the early 50s when he was developing the League of Devotees. He had seen many instances in his lifetime in preparation of persons who were less than qualified as formal renunciants take vows of sannyasa which they eventually were unable to successfully maintain thereby causing a great disturbance to spiritual society. Number two on his handwritten articles of incorporation from that time was "There can be no sannyasa in Kali-yuga." Of course later, as we know he had a dream of Srila Saraswati Thakur demanding that he take sannyasa (which compelled him to change his mind on the order of his guru).

There are transcriptions of His Divine Grace from 1977 wherein he expresses chagrin and disgust about how unsuccessful his own "sannyasi" disciples were in maintaining their sacred vows of renunciation. This caused him again to re-iterate his initial conclusion (especially regarding Westerners) that sannyasa should again remain forbidden.

In Kali-yuga it's extremely rare that a soul may actually genuinely withdraw their senses from the sense objects and successfully maintain this position with true devotion and without ego or pretense. And yet by the Grace of Guru-Gauranga we still have fine examples of perfect renunciants chastely following their sannyasa vows in the face of profound illusion. Srila Saraswati Thakur is himself the pre-eminent pragmatic demonstration of practical detachment from all worldliness. And he had disciples like Srila Sridhar Maharaj and our own Srila Prabhupada who are equally flawless in this way. These days I really know very little of ISKCON, but in Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (Srila Sridhar Maharaj's mission) we have the fine example of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's successor Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj along with his assistants like Sripad Bhakti Kanai Giri Maharaj.

It's important to consider Srila Saraswati Thakur emphasized more than mere renunciation as demonstrated by mayavada sannyasa. Rather he encouraged the pragmatic detachment (yukta-vairagya) through real devotion as taught by Srila Rupa Goswami wherein superior renunciation is considered to be when all things possible are not renounced when they may be engaged in the service of the Supreme Divinity of Absolute Affection.

Wrath of God

· JAGABANDHU DASA, c.e.

Apr 9, FORT WHITE, FLORIDA (Sampradaya Sun) — Lord Nityananda's preaching of Nama Sankirtan was done in a mood of Utmost Humility and Mercy, approaching even Jaghai and Madhai with straw between His teeth. His mood remained unchanged even after their assault upon Him. As we know, Mahaprabhu became infuriated at this offense and wished for Angry Obliteration of the offenders. Yet Sri Nityananda nonetheless implored the Lord, reasoning that if His Holy Fury annihilated the two miscreants who were merely representative of the Kali-yuga populace, He should not stop there but must also Eliminate the remainder of the world's miscreant masses. But this was not Mahaprabhu's True Purpose in His Merciful Dispensation of Love Divine.

How is the present circumstance of hellish turmoil any different? Or shall the Wrath of God be called down to relieve the Earth of her thankless burden, tolerating the scourge of modern so-called humanity? Are we really prepared for such an apocalypse? And are we so confident in our own ostensible position of righteous stability to the degree that we believe ourselves blameless and thereby exempt from the inevitable consequential fallout? If so, then never mind about the petty violent protests of tiny humans, whether as individuals or collectives.
God Himself is Infinitely more capable of violently wiping the slate completely clean, after which the Earth will doubtlessly sigh in grateful relief to be rescued from her useless, ungrateful burden who appear so completely devoid of Mercy. So be it. Bring it on and good riddance to bad rubbish. In the meantime, until His Holy Fury cleanses the Earth, may God kindly protect us from His "followers." And is this Divine violence of ultimate retributive devastation more contemporarily pertinent than Lord Nityananda's Merciful straw between the teeth? You be the judge. And be Judged. If you dare.

In Service of the Lord

BY: JAGABANDHU DASA, c.e
Apr 10, FORT WHITE, FLORIDA (Sampradaya Sun) —

ksiram yatha dadhi vikara-visesha-yogat
sanjayate na hi tatah prthag asti hetoh
yah shambutam api tatha samupaiti karyad
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

From the Extremely Gorgeous Teachings of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada I have learned nearly everything of what little I know. Without Srila Prabhupada's Inexhaustible Flawless Lessons I would have little knowledge of God Himself, His Cosmology and His servants the Devas of whom he personally held in such high esteem that he named his much beloved ISKCON Detroit temple "Devasadhan Mandir," that is, "the temple where the Devas perform Devotional Service to the Supreme Lord."

Srila Prabhupada also advises in this context in his Superexcellent commentary on Sri Chaitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 7, Verse 157: "We must offer proper respects to all the demigods. If one can offer respects to even an ant, why not to the demigods? One must always know, however, that no demigod is equal to or above the Supreme Lord."

Within Sri Brahma-samhita we find special mention of the Lord's great celestial servants Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, Lord Surya, Goddess Durga and Lord Ganesha who perform cosmic menialities in order that their Lord Govinda may be left to His Own Enjoyment without disturbance. Sri Chaitanya-caritamrta shows Mahaprabhu Himself paying His special respects at Lord Shiva's temple in order to demonstrate to all people for all time proper regard for the Supreme Lord's inter-planetary assistants.

No doubt it is considered inappropriate to consider the servants on the same level as their Master, the Supreme Lord Govinda, yet throughout the scriptures we are enjoined to always give respect to the Lord's servants who are devoted to Him for the purpose of administrating the material creation, the Devas, foremost of whom are Lord Shambu, Goddess Durga and Lord Ganesha, who is himself such an intimate associate and servant of the Lord that he receives his power for removing obstacles and impediments because his tusks are always touching the Lord's Lotus Feet. We can hardly conceive of what kind of being Lord Ganesha must be to have such immediately tangible constant proximous confluence with the Lotus Feet of Lord Govinda. To disrespect His close servants cannot be pleasing to the Supreme Lord or to His perfect representative Srila Prabhupada who the scriptures enjoin us to accept as the chief of all the demigods. If my rudeness is displeasing to the Supreme Lord and His servants, how can I make any real spiritual progress on my hopeful journey to Divine Love?

In our contemporary world much devastation abounds and abides causing ever-exacerbating cataclysmic catastrophe resulting in the greatly intensified suffering of countless living entities both humanly embodied and otherwise. Have we considered that the word "devastation" is a fusion of Sanskrit and Latin meaning that the status/station/position of the Devas who are in fact celestial servants of the Supreme Lord have not been properly regarded thereby resulting in near apocalyptic ruination to be brought down upon us all? And even under more terrestrial circumstances there is never an excuse for the impertinence displayed by bad manners.

The Frog in the Cesspool

BY: JAGABANDHU DASA, c.e
April 13, 2008

One of the great fringe benefits of being a construction worker is being allowed to use the wonderful portable chemical toilets, which are often less than sanitary and having to dodge the throngs of biting stool flies while trying to find momentary relief in the release of bodily emulsions.

Recently, before having the pleasure of using one such commode I noticed what appeared to be a piece of "humanure" animatedly swimming about in the tank of blue antiseptic liquid below the toilet seat. Closer examination found it to be a tree frog who by circumstance was bound to suffer a prolonged nasty death which I would not wish upon any living entity. Without hesitation because of his immediate emergency and also not finding time to ponder how he happened to fall into such an unfortunate despicable position I found a broken piece of wood which I then used to reach down into the foul depths of the portable toilet and rescue him from his desperate situation.

In a soft tonal way, I chanted, "Hari! Hari!" over and over to him as I brought him to a nearby water spigot trying to rinse the chemicals and stool stain from his tormented body before gently placing him in the wet grass. Over the next few hours I returned many times to again softly chant "Hari! Hari!" to him and also unsuccessfully attempt to rinse the harsh chemicals and stool stain from his small frail form. Eventually, regardless of my best efforts he expired nonetheless.

In my feeble attempt at effecting his rescue I did not consider how he came to be in his unfortunate position, but only rather what a terrible way it would be for any of God's creatures to meet their unfortunate demise. On his part, he also didn't think to inquire who I was initiated by or what my personal religious philosophy might be in our brief communion of soul to soul. In the intense suffering and emergency of the moment, Mercy and God's Holy Name became the only concern.

· Sri Prasada-seva ·

BY: JAGABANDHU DASA, c.e
Originally printed in the Sampradaya Sun

"O Lord! This material body is a lump of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths leading to death. Somehow or other, we have fallen into the ocean of material sense enjoyment, and of all the senses the tongue is most voracious and uncontrollable. It is very difficult to control the tongue in this world, but You, Dear Krishna, are very kind to us. You have sent us this nice prasada to help us conquer the tongue; therefore, let us honor this prasada with complete joy and Glorify Your Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krishna and, in Love, call for the Help of Lord Chaitanya and Prabhu Nityananda." (Prasada-sevaya ---Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur)

"It is called prasada-seva, not 'prasada-enjoyment.' Seva means giving service." Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

"Yes, preaching is more important than managing. Just because you are preaching nicely and distributing so much prasadam, the management will follow like a shadow and Krishna will send you no end of help." (Srila Prabhupada letter to Satsvarupa Maharaj, 11-21-71)

"Yes, I fully agree that, 'What is the use of a temple if there is no prasadam distribution?' Prasadam distribution on a large scale must be resumed. Such a temple where there is no such distribution has no value, I agree." (Srila Prabhupada letter to Tamala Krishna Maharaj 1-11-74)

"Please accept my blessings. Now you must arrange in each temple there must be sufficient stock of prasadam for distribution. You can keep first-class cooks, two or three, and they should always be engaged. Whenever any guest comes, he must get prasada. This arrangement must be made, that the cooks prepare ten-twenty servings at a time, of puris and sabji, and you can add halavah and pakoras, and the visitors must be supplied immediately. Whenever a gentleman comes, he must be served. As the twenty servings are being distributed, immediately the cooks prepare another twenty servings and store it. At the end of the day, if no one comes, our own men will take, so there is no loss. You cannot say, 'It is finished. It is not cooked yet. There is no supply for cooking, etc.' This must be enforced rigidly. The temple is managed by Srimati Radharani, Laksmiji; so why should there be want? Our philosophy is, if anyone comes, let him take prasada, chant Hare Krishna and be happy. Everything is being supplied by Krishna, Krishna is not poor, so why should we deny them? This should be done at any cost. There is no difficulty, it simply requires nice management. At the end of the day you may sell or give away. If we believe that Krishna is providing and maintaining everyone, then why should we be misers? This means losing faith in Krishna and thinking that we are the doers and suppliers. We are confident Krishna will supply! Let the whole world come, we can feed them. So, please, do this nicely, begin at once." (Srila Prabhupada letter to all ISKCON, 1-18-1977)

Real leaders in a movement consumed by prasadam distribution will be factually representative of the true temple manager, Srimati Radharani, and therefore cannot be legislated or rubber-stamped, just as contemporary popularity does not automatically signify quality (or integrity). If we make a careful study of history, vox populi (the voice of the people); and vox dei (the Divine Voice) are seldom in agreement. Even the founding fathers of America recognized that the masses were less than qualified to 'choose' their leaders and so the electoral college was created in order that supposedly representative regional delegates 'voted' for the President.

Real leaders also are not overly anxious to accrue followers (or earn money!). In fact, real leaders do not even require the endorsement of apparent followers to validate their own natural imperative. Or followers of any kind, whatsoever, at all. And of course they are most certainly not philosophical tyrants, institutional bureaucrats and 'spiritual' xenophobes. And yet there are those disposed to consider that a 'good' management system can automatically create by itself, good governance and true leadership. And real followers.

It might prove useful to consider that Srila Saraswati Thakur thought of each of his followers as a matha, or temple. May we consider that his successors must have also thought of their followers in the same manner.

There has been much trouble and scandal within the ranks and leadership of the Krishna Consciousness Movement over the past quarter century. All of this can be harmonized if each follower 'became' a temple, but not only a temple, but a veritable fountain of Divine Mercy, erupting like a golden volcano of Prasadam, suffusing the atmosphere with Mercy, showering all the land with a profuse and soothing rain of Mercy, inundating one and all with a Divine Sweetness that melts even the hardest hearts, causing them to beat in harmony as one great heart, while the sky resounds in all directions with the Holy vibration of Hari! Hari! Hari!

                                                          O Ocean of Divine Mercy
                                                          Flood of Divine Love
                                                          Kindly Deluge us
                                                          From the Land Above