Become a Real Devotee
Anybody can become a real devotee of the Lord and sport with Him eternally
in the spiritual world, provided they are sincere at heart. There are no
impassable obstacles preventing anyone from becoming a real devotee.
Everyone, including people from all castes, color, gender, or whatever
status of life one is in; everyone can become a real devotee of the Lord. A
real devotee is best defined as a person who only lives for Lord Krsna, who
doesn’t spend even a moment on anything else. A real devotee is a servant of
the Lord twenty four hours a day, seven days a week; and is always alert to
keep from committing offenses against other devotees, including devotees who
may be more advanced than them in some way, and devotees not as learned.
Because always in the forefront of a conscientious devotee’s mind is the
spiritual axiom ‘that committing offenses against a real devotee is like
unleashing a mad elephant to trample on the delicate creeper of purity they
have obtained from performing devotional service.’
The Padma Purana mentions ten offenses to be avoided when chanting the holy
names of the Supreme Lord. The very first offense listed is, ‘to not
criticize a real devotee of the Lord dedicated to preaching His message.’
And a real devotee always keeps these rules in mind because he does not want
to lose any purity he had obtained, whereas showboat devotees speak of these
offenses but do not abide by them. For example, ISKCON leaders spread
indignities about us, all of which are not true, thus leading people away
from our preaching the Glories of their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Govindadeva.
Speaking against fake devotees is not considered criticism because they are
not real devotees. Externally fake devotees may appear like real devotees,
but they do not have the proper devotional mentality. We are speaking out
against these critics in defense of our position because they are impeding
our service of educating innocent seekers of the Supreme Lord from learning
the absolute truth. The Niti Sastra states, ANGARA SATA-DHAUTENA MALINAM NA
JAYATE. “Even if coal is washed hundreds of times its black color does not
diminish, nor can it become white by washing, whereas chalk does not need to
be washed to become white.” This statement is an analogy that compares
people who have grievously sinned to coal; and people whose upbringing was
Vedic to chalk. Hence, a coal-like person that tells a chalk-like person, ‘I
have adopted spiritual life and thus have become purer than you,’ is
illogical because coal cannot be turned white simply by washing, it is black
through and through. Similarly, it is practically impossible for a person
whose background is sinful and whose dynasty has been for generations but
who has adopted spiritual life and only performed questionable spiritual
practice for just a short period of time, to become purer than a devotee
whose entire life has been spiritual since birth and whose dynasty has been
pure Vedic for generations. Spiritual life isn’t like political bickering
where the best criticizer wins the election. Spiritual life is based on
Vedic evidence and devotional service. Spiritually blind people are compared
to Dhrtarastra (blind king) because they cannot identify fake devotees from
real devotees and thus think imposters to be real devotees. A real devotee
is never interested in occupying someone else’s position. We were never
interested in taking anyone else’s position nor do we have any interest to
do so now or in the future. We are declaring this because we strive to put
Vedic rules into practice and not to simply repeat them as lip service. Fake
devotees resent straightforward spiritual practice because they deal with
others in a roundabout way. Straightforwardness reveals deception. As stated
in Mahabharat:
Paropadesa samaye sistah sarve bhavanti vai
Vismarantiha sistatvam sva-karye samupasthite
Fake devotees teach others how to not commit offenses against a real devotee
who preaches about Lord Krsna to others, but when the time comes for them to
follow what they preach they forget what to do and wind up breaking
spiritual rules by speaking their concocted speculations, thus offending
spiritual preachers.”
Having been raised in a Vedic household we are surprised that a sane person
cannot detect a fake devotee from a real devotee. If a fake devotee is
discovered the person should immediately abandoned them; and there is no
offense on their part for doing so. According to the ancient Vedic
scriptures no one presently in ISKCON is qualified to function as Guru.
Therefore their giving spiritual initiation is not recognized by Lord Krsna
and thus does not connect one to the Lord. Therefore to discard such an
initiation and taking another bonafide spiritual initiation is a genuine
spiritual blessing, and only a very fortunate soul will recognize the
necessity of doing this.
It is really not OK to think that because we were born in Kaliyuga we are
destined to remain under his control, because by accepting spiritual
initiation from a Spiritual Master authorized by the ancient Vedic
scriptures we have already escaped Kaliyuga’s influence and have come under
Satsyayuga’s influence. Therefore a fortunate soul who received bonafide
spiritual initiation, if sincere, should have the vision of a person born in
Satyayuga and thus be able to detect right from wrong. For example, an
Indian householder living in the USA (initiated by an ISKCON Caucasian guru
who according to the ancient Vedic scriptures is not authorized to give
spiritual initiation) came to us in a challenging mood. Because he had not
escaped Kaliyuga’s influence he could not recognize us as qualified to be
Guru and thus challenged us based on lies he heard about us from his guru
and others. We told him not to even consider the mild offenses he had
accused us of; and told him that if we were to sleep with five hundred women
a day we would still be better than his guru. The Vedic scriptures declare
that a traditional Brahmana devotee, who may be a womanizer, can become
purified to function as a scripturally authentic Guru (Vilvamangala Thakur
is an ideal example). Whereas a person who knowingly drank wine and/or ever
ate cow’s meat could never become purified enough in this life to function
as Guru for anyone in any circumstance. According to the Vedic scriptures,
dog-eaters, winos/drunkards, and many other kinds of sinners can become pure
devotees if they sincerely follow spiritual life, but a cow-eater cannot
become purified enough to function as Guru in any circumstance because Lord
Krsna loves cows very dearly. Upon hearing this, with Vedic references, the
challenging Indian man became silent.
Presently there is no one in ISKCON able to become authorized by the ancient
Vedic scriptures to function as Guru because everyone in ISKCON is either a
Sudra devotee, or they have at least once knowingly drank wine. Lord Krsna
loves everyone, but He has a special place in His heart for cows and
traditional pure Brahmanas and He loves them very dearly. That is why Lord
Krsna is called ‘brahmanyadeva’ and ‘gau brahmana hitaya,’ meaning Lord
Krsna does not live even for a moment without loving cows and traditional
pure Brahmanas. All sincere devotees should be very cautious while dealing
with these two things while practicing devotional service, whereas fake
devotees openly go against Vedic rules. As stated in the Niti Sastra:
Pathakah pathakas caiva ye canye sastra-cintakah
Sarve vyasanino murkhah yah kriyavan sa panditah
“Those who study the Vedic scriptures, those who have learnt them and teach
them to others, and those who contemplate what they have read in them, are
all considered not yet educated. But those who apply what they have read in
the Vedic scriptures in their own life by putting those instructions into
practice are considered to be truly learned and perfect.”
Speaking, referencing the ancient scriptures is considered to be speaking
the real truth because it leads to liberation, whereas worldly truths are
not considered beneficial because they are unable to award liberation. But
unfortunately it is very difficult to find a speaker of the Vedic scriptural
truth that is straightforward in the age of Kaliyuga; and it is even more
difficult to find someone interested in listening to the Vedic scriptural
truth because Kaliyuga tries very hard to keep people from becoming pure. As
stated in the Valmiki Ramayana:
Sulabha purusah rajan satatah priya-vadinah
Apriyasya ca satyas ca srota-vakta ca durlabhah
“O King, it is very easy to find people who always speak soft sweet charming
words, but it is very difficult to find a devotee who straightforwardly
speaks the Vedic truth. And although his words may not be appreciated, they
are the only way to receive liberation. Those who appreciate such spiritual
direction are even more difficult to find because such words may be
difficult to tolerate, but they reward liberation.”
Lord Brahma once asked Lord Krsna about how to recognize a real devotee,
because no one’s forehead is stamped indicating that he/she is a pure
devotee. In answer Lord Krsna replied:
Kitesu koti-janmasu manusatvam
Tatrapi koti-janmasu brahmanatvam
Tatrapi koti-janmasu vaisnavatvam
Tatrapi koti-janmasu matparatvam
“After passing through millions of births in the lower species
a living entity takes birth as a human being; after passing through millions
of human births that living entity is given birth in the Brahmana tradition;
after passing through millions of births in the Brahmana tradition that
living entity takes birth as a Vaisnava; and after passing through millions
of Vaisnava births one develops the feeling that I (Krsna) am their sole
shelter and thus they become dearly loved by Me.”
Just as a token of information for sincere souls searching for the absolute
truth, we would like to inform them that our humble self was born in a
traditional Brahmana family in Vrindaban, India, who have been Vaisnavas for
ages. Our father was a Guru for many people in the Vraja area and his father
was also a Guru. In our memory we know of these two, but we didn’t have the
courage to ask about our other ancestors. We were brought up to live very
pure from birth and were taught Vedic scriptures from the beginning of our
life. Before we joined ISKCON we knew thirteen thousand verses from various
Vedic scriptures. Our father and his father did not work under anyone for
wages, but rather lived like Sandipani Muni and Dronacharya who taught
others for free and maintained themselves by whatever came by providence as
alms. Our father was very learned in the Vedic scriptures. He lived very
simply and his spiritual vigor was seen by many ISKCON followers who went to
see him either with us or without our company. When ISKCON started visiting
our father he was over ninety years old. We are not saying this with the
intent to boast about our self, but we thought it important to let our
readers know something about us first hand. Thank you. Jai Sri Radhe.
Dasanudasa,