All Glories to Śrī Gurū and Gaurāṅga
My Mission 10-12
Śrī gurū charaṇa-kamalebhyo namaḥ
Our mission is to spread the knowledge of how to practice spiritual life rightly. This rare human life was not given just for eating sleeping and enjoying material things, but is given as an instrument to use for spiritual practice to reach the spiritual world. Every material thing and situation is predestined for a living being, which is why those things are gotten with little endeavor. As stated in the Sārvabhauma Dharma:
āyuḥ karmaṁ ca vittaṁ ca vidyā nidhanam eva ca
pañcaitāny api sṛjyante garbhasyaiva dehinaḥ
"The five things, duration of one’s existence in this world; the kinds of, and the amount of material work performed; the amount of, and the duration of one wealth; the quality and degree of education; and how one will die are decided in the womb before one’s birth."
One may wonder, if these five things are predestined and regardless of what anyone does their fate cannot be changed, what is the use of endeavoring for anything extra in life? The quality and quantity of work is woven into a person’s destiny, therefore a person is compelled to action and inaction according to their karma (previous deeds). Just as a bird flies to a destination using its wings, similarly a person obtains and exists in a particular body and experiences things propelled by their karma. If a person endeavors, it doesn’t matter how much they try, they will only obtain whatever their pious merits allow, including people they connect with and their dealings with them. Therefore a person shouldn’t worry much about their situation in life because it is beyond their control, but should endeavor for what is not controlled by destiny, which is worship of the Supreme Lord. The first step to break the bonds of destiny is to humbly pray for quality spiritual life. Astrology may predict what propensity a person would best serve in if they choose the spiritual path, but spiritual life and liberation are not predestined by destiny. Therefore a person has to work harder to live spiritually, because it’s like swimming against the current, whereas destiny is like going with the current. Just as a person doesn’t have to endeavor to get sick because disease comes by its own accord, similarly material pleasures and miseries come automatically, therefore there is no reason to be in anxiety over them. A person should only be anxious and endeavor to find out how to receive the Supreme Lord’s blessings. As stated in the Mukundamālā Stotra:
nāsthā dharme na vastunicaye naiva kāmopabhoge
yad bhāvyaṁ tad bhavatu bhagavan ! pūrva-karmānurūpam
etat prārthyaṁ mama bahu-mataṁ janma-janmāntare ’pi
tvat pādāmbhoruhaṁ gata niścalā bhaktir astu
"I have no desire to perform any religious duties because I have no faith in them. I have no wealth and have no desire for wealth. I don’t hanker for material sense gratification nor do I hanker for things I don’t possess because I know if those things are predestined for me, they will all come. O Lord, I don’t pray to You for anything material. I don’t seek liberation from the repetition of birth and death, I am not concerned if rebirth and death continue for me. O Lord, I only seek through my prayers, according to my karma that whatever kind of birth is awarded me, I would like unshakable devotion to Your lotus feet. O Lord, please bless me to never forget them."
Anything a person experiences in life in this world is prone to change because this is a world of dualities. Loss and gain; heat and cold; victory and defeat; pleasure and pain; fame and infamy; and to be welcomed or discarded is the nature of this world. One day a person is praised, but could be replaced or discarded the next. Whereas duality doesn’t exist in service to the Lord, which is why the Lord states in Bhagavad Gītā, sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhya ca, "Always fix your mind and intelligence on Me and perform your prescribed duties." It is the law of nature that everyone has to do something while existing in this world, therefore the Lord said, "Do things while having your thoughts fixed on Me." Whatever karma (action) is predestined for a person, that kind of action they will engage in. If a person’s fate is to fight in battle, they will like to join the military and experience battle. If loss of wealth is written in a person’s destiny, they will be compelled from within to act in a certain way neglecting good advice and lose their wealth. Egotistical people usually don’t take good advice, but it is of little matter because every material connection in this world is predestined. The only thing that matters in this world is what is not written in one’s destiny and that is developing a connection with a Spiritual Master who is authorized by the ancient Vedic scriptures. A person should pray for this opportunity. One may wonder what about a person who prays for a Spiritual Master but winds up following a heretic? This happens because the person was predestined to be misled, thus this fate came easily to them. Therefore it is recommended for people in this predicament to scrutinize the scriptures where they will learn the quality of a real Gurū and that they should immediately relinquish the heretic and find and follow a real Gurū, thus avoiding destiny. That is why Lord Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad Gītā, tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarva-bhāvena, "One should utterly surrender unto Me, the Supreme Lord, without caring about experiencing any circumstances." In other words, the Lord recommends doing the right thing rightly even if the person has to sacrifice something or a relationship with someone they like or the path they have become attached to. Here the Lord recommends that if a person finds that they are following the right path under the wrong person, they should relinquish that spiritual guide. Even if a scripturally authentic guide’s dealings are excessive and the dealings of a heretic are agreeable, still following the rough guidance of an authorized person is highly recommended in the ancient scriptures. Following quality spiritual life is a very delicate matter and informing sincere seekers of the truth about this point is part of our mission.
When a person takes up spiritual life, whichever deity form of the Lord they favor as their loving object of worship, that deity reciprocates with that dedicated devotee. When that favorite deity is satisfied that that devotee is wholeheartedly, unconditionally and uninterruptedly engaged serving Him, that deity keeps that devotee satisfied in every way. For example, long ago the king of Orissa (a state in India), whose loving object of worship and household deity was Lord Jagannātha, would daily go to the temple in Puri, India, and sweep the temple floor. One time the king saw the neighboring king of Āndhra (another state in India) had come to the temple with his family to visit Lord Jagannātha. And while they were beholding the deity of Lord Jagannātha, the Orissa king became attracted to the king of Āndhra’s youthful daughter and wanted to marry her. But, when the king of Āndhra became aware of this he exclaimed, "No sweeper is going to marry my only daughter." Hearing this and feeling insulted, the king of Orissa attacked the Āndhra kingdom but was defeated. Feeling morose, the king of Orissa took shelter of Lord Jagannātha, who sympathized with him and taking Lord Balarām with Him, garbed as humans, fought and defeated the king of Āndhra and brought the princess to the king of Orissa, who married her. If the Lord will reward His dedicated devotee such a desired material situation, He would certainly fulfill His devotee’s spiritual desires. To develop such a relationship with the Lord one must be His honest devotee following the right path rightly; and the Lord will surely reciprocate.
In this world practically every devotee of the Lord is motivated in one way or another. It is best to not have any hidden motive while worshipping the Lord, but this doesn’t mean people with a motive shouldn’t worship the Lord, but they should gradually try to diminish their motives because unmotivated worship of the Lord reaps a higher reward. There are four principle desires people have. As stated in the Durgā Saptasatī, rūpaṁ dehi, dhanaṁ dehi, yaśo dehi dviṣāṁ jahi, "The main desires people have are good health and nice family; wealth; good reputation; and eradication of enemies." But in all circumstances, whether with material desires or no material desires, one should solemnly worship Lord Śri Kṛṣṇa. As stated in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, akāmaḥ sarva-kāmovā mokṣa-kāmaḥ, "Either one has no material desires or is filled with unlimited material desires or just desires liberation from this material world," and, tibreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṁ param, "One should only worship the Supreme Lord following the path of unalloyed devotional service." Now one may wonder about how to worship. The Lord is worshipped by chanting mantras; He doesn’t accept anything without mantras being chanted first. Spiritual mantras start with a seed word such as om and end with its fruit word such as svāhāḥ, svadhā or namaḥ; and if spiritual mantras are revealed by a scripturally authentic Spiritual Master they surely bear result. If the right mantras are received from the right source and chanted rightly following the right path and the right rules, they surely please the Lord, of this there is no doubt.
The Lord is hungry for the feelings of His devotees. He isn’t concerned with their offerings, but cares about the attitude they have while making offerings. If the devotee’s Spiritual Master is authorized by the ancient scriptures, the disciple is connected to the Lord and thus the Lord seated as Supersoul in their heart helps the devotee develop the right spiritual attitude. Thus their behavior and attitude improves to perfection in due course. Sometimes egotistical disciples may embarrass the Spiritual Master who has to use hard tactics to change the disciple’s attitude to disenchant them, and in the end the disciple usually makes the right decisions because they have a genuine Gurū connected to the Lord. Supersoul seated in the heart of an egotistical disciple makes them think seriously about correcting their behavior, so that they don’t humiliate their Spiritual Master again. The spiritual power transmitted to the disciple at the time of spiritual initiation by a scripturally authentic Spiritual Master works quickly on a humble student, whereas it works slower on the heart of an egotistic disciple. Contrary to this, people who take initiation from a heretic Gurū (a person not authorized by the ancient Vedic scriptures), even though they are lead to and follow the right path, their attitude never changes because the Lord doesn’t acknowledge the nectar of a devotee’s service mixed with the poisonous deception of a heretic. The fate in store for such people who take spiritual initiation from a Gurū not authorized by the ancient Vedic scriptures is likened to being bitten by a cobra. This bite is so poisonous that it results in spiritual death, even though the person may be chanting spiritual mantras and following the Vedic rules; unless they are treated quickly by taking another spiritual initiation from a scripturally authentic Spiritual Master. As we have repeatedly said, a right path must be followed rightly to reap the right result. And informing people of this is part of our mission.
People argue that if a person is trained and follows brahminical doctrines to the word, they should be authorized to perform Vedic fire sacrifices. This seems practical, but according to the ancient Vedic scriptures they are not able to transfer the Lord’s blessings to the practitioner because of their sinful past life, as illustrated by the following episode that happened to us just a few months ago. One afternoon a Polish born female devotee claiming to be a disciple of Trivikram Swāmī, one of our American born godbrothers, visited our place in Vrindāban. The temple worship had been completed, the alter was closed and the Lord was taking rest. Presumably one would think an initiated person would be respectful of the Lord taking rest, but she came through our gate practically screaming in English, which none of the devotees present understood, so they brought her to us. She sat down before us and we asked her where she was from and whose disciple she was. She replied, "My spiritual name is Āshā and I am a disciple of His Holiness Śrīla Trivikram Swāmī. I was born in Poland and I collect funds for my Gurū by doing Saṅkīrtan in Hawaii in the USA." Then this young lady loudly proclaimed, "How can you say that only Brāhmaṇas can become Gurūs if everyone in Kaliyuga is born a Śūdra?" And she quoted the following Sanskrit and gave us her translation of it, kalau śūdra sambhavāḥ, "Everyone is born Śūdra in Kaliyuga." (This is the wrong translation of the Sanskrit text). Then she immediately said, "Why do you say that only Brāhmaṇas can initiate? Tell me why!" Then we presented the correct translation of the Sanskrit text, “Practically everyone is born Śūdra in Kaliyuga,” hearing which she shouted, "You are wrong, you are wrong!" and quickly ran towards us, climbed on the Vyāsāsana where we were sitting and put her right foot on our head and pressed down on our head with at least three kilos of pressure and said, "Now answer me!" The devotees witnessing this event were stunned by her actions and held her hand and pulled her down from the Vyāsāsana. She screamed aloud, which echoed all over our Āshram, "You are wrong, you are wrong!" and then spit on us. Presently there aren’t any female devotees living in our Āshram and the Brahmachārīs present did not speak any English and didn’t know how to deal with a berserk female, but somehow they got her off the grounds. This episode happened in about ten minutes and all the while we simply smiled and prevented our disciples from hurting her. We then realized how offensive the disciples unqualified and inauthentic Gurūs produce. This is only one incident of many where inauthentic Gurūs use their disciples as combatants against us. Later we obtained a copy of her immigration registration paper that stated her name is Joanna Mafgorzata Kucharska. One of our associate members contacted her Gurū, Srila Trivikram Swāmī, about the incident, who lied saying he knew her but she wasn’t his disciple. In other words, he distanced himself from that young lady to avoid incrimination, but she collects funds for him and personally serves him. Why else would he lie and contradict what she had told us as well as what the manager of the Āshram where she resided three months in Vrindāban prior to coming to our place told us, unless he was afraid of being exposed as a conspirator against us? We have neither added nor subtracted anything from this episode; what we stated is all-true, just as it happened. We wonder why these so called devotees are still so much against us. We aren’t supposed to be like politicians who fight one another; we are all supposed to be and act like devotees. Intelligent people can identify real devotion. We have not taken anything belonging to them or done anything against them. They had accused us of being with a woman but when we asked to see our accuser in their kangaroo court they said they wouldn’t bring her before us because they feared we would turn her into a frog. And Śrīla Trivikram Swāmī, the Polish lady’s Gurū, was one of the people that presided over this court. Only the Lord knows what such delusional people will say and do. Even Hiraṇyakaśipu and Rāvaṇa didn’t exhibit this degree of delusion. Anyone that believes such people must also be deranged. Only people as spiritually blind as Dhrtarastra, who knew his son Duryodhana was deceitful and the Pandavas were worthy of the throne but still supported his son, will follow such people. This class of people couldn’t be corrected even if Lord Brahma came down to console them, just like Srila Vyasadeva wasn’t able to correct Dhrtarastra using consoling statements and good advice. Such people are unlucky. As stated in the Niti Sastra:
durjano nārjavaṁ yāti sevyamāno’pi nityaśaḥ
svedanābhyañjanopāyaiḥ sva-puccham iva nāmitam
"People who knowingly act blindly, who are wicked by nature, are likened to the curve in a dog’s tail that cannot be straightened even if it is washed, cleaned, massaged with oils or soaked in water for a long time. Similarly it doesn’t matter who advises a wicked person their best course of action, they cannot change their wicked nature, but may act even worse."
The Panchatantra states:
durjanasya ca sarpasya varaṁ sarpo na durjanaḥ
sarpo daṁśati kālena durjanas tu pade pade
"If given the choice, it is better to live with snake than with a wicked person, because a snake will only bite if it is disturbed or if it is time for the person to die; whereas a wicked person will continually create trouble for the person at every step, causing them hellish suffering while alive. Therefore it is better to keep the company of a snake than a wicked person."
The Skanda Purana states:
khalānāṁ kaṇṭakānāṁ ca dvividhaiva pratikriyā
upānānmukha-bhaṅgo vā dūrato vā visarjanam
"There are only two ways to treat wicked evil-minded people and thorns—they should either be broken or kept at a distance—to mitigate misery arising from them."
durjanaḥ priyavādī ca naitad visvāsa kāraṇam
madhu tiṣṭhati jihvāgre hṛdaye tu halāhalam
"Wicked people, who are evil by nature, speak sweet, charmingly and psychologically agreeable and top that with common sense, but they should never be trusted because even though their tongue may appear to have a little honey on it, their heart is filled with untreatable poison and they have treacherous motives behind their every move."
Just envision this, Jarāsandha, who respected Brāhmanas and supplied their every need keeping them happy is called a demon in Vedic scriptures, so search your mind and try to discern what these people, who hatefully offend scripturally authentic Brāhmaṇa devotees are called?
We have not taken Sanyasa because it is considered the highest spiritual order, but have taken this order because we have decided to fully devote our life to the Supreme Lord without any condition; because we have come to the stage where we don’t want any diversion from our decided path. This is not to say that a person can’t reach the spiritual world as a householder as well, but it is a great burden to convince the family to be as determined as they are in devoting themselves to the Lord. For example, householders like Vasudeva and Devakī saw the Lord face to face, but with the desire that they wanted to have the Lord as their son, and therefore had to perform many austerities to obtain Him. These days people aren’t as austere. Real Sanyāsis forgo all conditions and thus have no reason or motivation to mislead others and we humbly suggest our godbrothers, like Śrīla Trivikram Swāmī, to look within before taking Sanyāsa and misleading people like Joanna Mafgorzata Kucharska, alias Āshā devī, to commit grievous offenses. When people against us, unaware such grievous offenses were perpetrated against us find out about them, they rejoice we were treated in this way. As happened when some of them were commissioned to burglarize our room in the Philippines taking our passport, U.S. Permanent Resident Card and other personal effects. We learned upon a confession by one of the perpetrators that our legal documents were burned in a kind of ceremonial fire while the perpetrators and their friends rejoiced, thus stranding us in the Philippines for three months. These people should know such feelings are contrary to divine feelings and can be used as a gauge to determine how little they have progressed or how much they have regressed on the spiritual path following their current teachers.
Our mission is to put everything Vedic right and also train devotees who want to learn how to do the right things rightly so they can attain the spiritual world. And anyone who makes a connection with them will also have an avenue to reach the spiritual world. Doing the right things rightly surely leads one to the spiritual world and anything else is just a waste of valuable time and one’s life.
Usually a politician is badly treated by the opposing party, but we are not politicians nor do we have any interest in competing with any of our godbrothers or anyone else in any way. We simply want to execute devotional service as instructed by our Spiritual Master and live aloof from them. We don’t want to go to any area they consider under their control nor speak with anyone who follows them unless they come to us. Considering everything that they have done, both to us as well as others, its difficult to comprehend how anyone could identify them as devotees just because they dress like and claim to be devotees. If they were sincere they would cherish being initiated into spiritual life by our Gurū instead of acting obnoxiously. They wear devotional clothes, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, take Kṛṣṇa prasādam, sing and dance before the deities, but they also do the worse thing that even most demons wouldn’t do, ‘Offend devotees whose only interest is spreading Vedic knowledge around the world.’ They are very offensive and instruct their disciples to act offensively as well, which is why the scriptures give such people the title ‘heretics’ and condemn their way of spiritual life. We could have made a big fuss about their transgressions, but a devotee should be tolerant and should not create social trouble for others, which is why we and our devotees remained quiet during their transgressions. One may wonder why we have now put this episode in writing. It is to let innocent people know the difference between real devotees and their disciples (who wholeheartedly avoid such unforgivable offenses in all circumstances) and heretics and their disciples who misguide people in the name of devotion. The scriptures state that if a person has knowingly eaten meat or drank wine even once they cannot act as spiritual Gurū for others, but should purify themselves and follow spiritual life properly to reach the spiritual world. Impure people don’t have sufficient spiritual potency to take charge of taking others to the spiritual world. Serious sincere devotees follow scriptural evidence in their quest to reach the spiritual world. One of the scriptural reasons we left these people’s association is found in the Niti Sastra as follows:
hasti-hasta-sahaśreṇa śata-hastena vājinaḥ
daśa-hastena śṛṅgiṇāṁ sthāna-tyāgena durjanaḥ
"One should stay one thousand cubit feet away from a wild elephant; one hundred cubit feet away from a wild horse; ten cubit feet away from a horned wild animal; and should all together leave that place where wicked, mischievous, duplicitous hypocrites and evil people gather."
The logic of the Nyāya Śāstra states, "A person may tolerate heat upon their uncovered head, but they cannot tolerate heat on the bear soles of their feet." Similarly devotees may tolerate insults and harm to themselves, but the Lord is watching every action of heretics and one day will come down harshly on them. This is why it is our duty to our godbrothers to warn them to be careful in dealing with devotees and to try their best to not commit the first offense against chanting the holy name. What is the use of chanting the holy name of the Lord if the person disregards the first rule of chanting?
Lord Kṛṣṇa loved Sudāmā Vipra, as stated in Srimad Bhagavatam, and even worshipped that poor Brāhmaṇa. Reading his history and giving lectures on such spiritual episodes but not heeding their meaning is very offensive. Whatever wrongdoing our godbrothers think we have committed shouldn’t concern them because we had left their association long ago and have no interest in them in any way. Our duty is to disseminate the knowledge as stated in the scriptures and not compromise them in any way, but we will not tolerate anyone who refutes the scriptures or imposes their speculation directly before us. If that happens we will speak strongly in defense of the scriptures, otherwise we don’t acknowledge any opposition. Our godbrothers may be serious about following the devotional path, but because they are incorrectly following the right path their spiritual demise is assured in the end. If they doubt this statement they can personally consult us.
Five hundred years ago when Lord Chaitanya Mahāprabhū excavated Vrindāban it was a jungle and no human being lived there at that time. He later commissioned Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī and Sanātana Goswāmī to go to Vrindāban and promote it. They wrote books and preached outside Vrindāban and convinced a mogul emperor to give them agricultural land, who donated thousands of acres in the area and many rich kings also helped by building temples and bathing ghats along the Yamunā River. For regular worship and other spiritual functions in the temples the Goswāmīs invited Brāhmaṇas and other social classes from different parts of India to reside in Vrindāban. They offered them residences and gave them agricultural land in return for their services. Many other Goswāmīs and Āchāryas followed in their footsteps and constructed temples in Vrindāban as well. And even though all the residents of Vrindāban have come from different parts of India, they are all addressed as Vrajavāsīs because they are born and raised in Vrindāban and our family is one of those invited Brāhmaṇa families. After Vrindāban became known to most Indians, the Goswāmīs traveled all over Vraja and identified and mapped the places described in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other Purāṇas. They established three hundred sixty villages, twelve forests, excavated lakes and ponds and named them according to the guidelines found in the ancient Scriptures. Only three original things exist in Vraja from the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa; they are Govardhana Hill, the Yamunā River and the dust of Vraja. Everything but these three things in Vrindāban was founded by either Lord Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhū or by His direct disciples, the Goswāmīs. Even so, many people born outside of Vrindāban that come there are envious and criticize Vrajavāsīs in many ways. To such people Prabodhānanada Saraswatī writes in his Vrindāban Śatakam, para-dhana para-dāra dveṣa mātsaya lobha, "Even if a Vrajavāsī is a looter, a womanizer, envious, greedy or a hoodlum, they are still to be honored." People who ate meat, drank wine or did other obnoxious things in their life before adopting spiritual life should be very careful dealing with Vrajavāsīs and should reform their nasty behavior for their own good. Everything in this world ends in due course, so what’s the use of defying the Vedic standard, if doing so is detrimental? The reaction to a person’s deeds are rewarded by a higher authority and is beyond the control of anyone on earth, which is why the scriptures state it is best to do the right things rightly in life to received the Supreme Lord’s blessings.
We originally planned to produce this Canto in twenty-one volumes, but due to a lack of funds we had to shorten the work into twelve volumes. We planned to publish Lord Brahmā’s prayers in one volume; the song of the flute in one volume; the Lord’s Rāsalīlā pastimes in five volumes; and the prayers of the Vedas in one volume, to spread the treasury of spiritual philosophy a little further, but the situation is what it is. We aren’t perfect, but we follow the perfect, our Spiritual Master, and the unbroken chain of disciplic succession, therefore what we present in our writing is also pure and perfect. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is so pure that even if sinners who have the wrong attitude, who are envious of devotees, who burn with uncontrollable anger, who are wicked by nature, arrogant, liars, violent, immoral, have a deceiving nature, are duplicitous, lusty or those who mislead others read or listen to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, they will become purified provided they desire to. The Padma Purāṇa says to consider Śrīmad Bhāgavatam to be equal to the personal body of the Supreme Lord and one should hear it only from a real devotee of the Lord. The kind of Vaiṣṇava a person should heed Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from is stated in the Skanda Purāṇa thus:
vaktāraṁ vaiṣṇavaṁ vipraṁ viśuddhobhaya vaṁśajam
svordhva-puṇḍraṁ suśīlaṁ ca kuryāt-kṛṣṇa-jana priyam
"The speaker of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam should be born into an unbroken Brāhmaṇa dynasty connected to the Lord and they should be initiated by a devotee Spiritual Master coming in an unbroken chain of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. He must have the flame-like holy mark of Tilak on his forehead. If such a devotee is found, one should listen to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from him because such a devotee is very dear to the Lord and the listener receives blessings from the Lord for hearing from such a devotee."
Canto Ten of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam ends here and as in every volume, many sincere devotees participated in many different ways to bring the volume out. Our dear disciple Nanda Kumār dās edited this volume and our dear friend Śrīman Kavirāja Prabhū and Mrs. Vicki Knowles proof read this volume. Many other disciples around the world also helped in one way or another giving input for this volume. May the Supreme Lord, whom we earnestly pray with single pointed intelligence bless all these devotees and fulfill their ultimate desire of life. Jai Śrī Rādhe.
Dāsānudāsa
Kṛṣṇa Balarām Swāmī
Kārtikī Pūrṇimā, November, 02, 2009
Baltimore, Maryland, USA