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world, the country ofmlecchas and yavanas.The people there have
very low consciousness.
Vaishnava philosophy, Mahaprabhus philosophy,
is the highest, most sublime philosophy. Caitanya-caritmta is
post-graduate study. It is difficultfor Western people to
understand. Therefore,
Prabhupada stressed, You first chant hare ka.Let your
consciousness be purified. Hear the
transcendental sound vibration.
Buddhadeva is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu,
but he blasphemed the Vedas. He is the origin of
the Vedas, why will he speak like that? Because
at the time it was needed. The people were
indiscriminately killing animals for sacrifice. If you
would ask them, Why are you killing? tthey wouldsay, The Vedas
say we should. But they could
not understand the purport of the Vedas. They
were in the mode of ignorance. How could they
understand? Unless one comes to the level ofsattva-gua, mode of
goodness, one cannot understandwhat the Vedas say. At that time it
was needed for
Buddhadeva to teach people to stop following
the Vedas. He told them to give up indiscriminate
Prabhupada Laid the Foundation
Devotee: You were explaining how rma
in the mah-mantra refers to Krishna. But Srila
Prabhupada sometimes explained that rmain
the mah-mantrarefers to Balaram.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, Prabhupada saidthat. Balaram is
dvitya-deha, the second body of
Krishna. They have the same two-handed form.
vara-mtra-bheda Only there is a difference in
their complexion. Krishna is black and Balaram is
white. Everything else is the same. And Balaram is
always with Krishna. So Prabhupada said it in simple
way. It is not easy for everyone to understand why
Krishna is referred to as Rama. When Prabhupada
was asked by a particular devotee, he knew that
the devotee could not understand. Therefore
Prabhupada didnt say so at the time. But JivaGoswami has said
it; Bhaktivinode Thakur has said
it. All of our cryashave described why Krishna
is known as Rama.
Time Place and Circumstance
An crya like Srila Prabhupada teaches
according to time, place and circumstances.
People can understand only according to their
consciousness. Neophytes cannot comprehend
higher things, subtle philosophy. Just speak to
them according to their capacity and let themmake advancement.
When the time comes, then
all the subtle points will come out. cryateaches
like that. You should not think that there is some
hard and fast rule as to what they must explain
in the beginning. You should try to understand
Srila Prabhupadas purpose. Following the orders
of his revered spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati, our Prabhupada went to the Western
PrabhuPada's
Mission
Excerpted from chapters 12 and 13 ofSri Srimad Gour Govinda
Swami Maharajas
book, My Revered Spiritual Master
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2 Prabhupada's Missionkilling of animals. In that way they could
elevate
themselves to the mode of goodness. Then they
would be able to understand. At that time it was
needed. But Buddhas followers cannot understand
the real reason why he did so.
Work of an Acharya
Similarly, you cannot understand whyPrabhupada said what he did.
Tat-klika, at thattime it was needed. But not for all time. He
was
laying the foundation. Before building a mansion
you should lay the foundation, and the foundation
should be very strong. Then you will be able to
build a big mansion, skyscraper. If the foundation is
not strong the skyscraper will collapse. Prabhupada
laid the foundation. Then he left it for you: Now
you build a mansion. That time has now come.
Dont stay in the foundation only. Now a mansion
should be built. This is gradual development.Buddhadeva came and
did this thing. He
criticized the Vedas and the people became atheists.
Then when the Vedas were about to be lost, Lord
Narayan ordered Shivaji, who is mah-bla, verypowerful: Shiva,
you go and establish the Vedas.
Then Shivaji came in the form of Shankaracharya.
It is all mentioned in Caitanya-caritmta.Shankara was not at
fault. His master ordered him,
so he preached this myvdaphilosophy. It wasneeded at the time.
When you establish something,
you first start from the lower and then go to thehigher part.
You cannot all of a sudden establish
the higher part. Shankara established the lower
part of the Vedas, karma-ka, jna-kasection, which is gaua,
secondary. Shankaralaid the foundation. Therefore Mahaprabhu
has
accepted Shankara as cryabecause he did thework of an crya.
Mahaprabhu said, Shankarahas helped us. He has laid the foundation.
Now I
have to build the mansion. This was the need at
that particular time.
Fools Criticize
That is what an crya does, and in thesame way Srila Prabhupada
did the work of an
crya. Fools and rascals criticize him. I say theycannot
understand Srila Prabhupada. They cant
understand what he has done. He has done what
was needed at that particular time. He has laid the
foundation. Now the time has come, we have to
build the mansion. These fools cannot understand
Krishna. They are committing a great offense
at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada leaving
ISKCON, joining another camp and criticizing
ISKCONs teachings, Srila Prabhupadas teachings.
Nonsense! I get so much pain in my heart from this.
Such rascals will definitely go to hell. So I have
taken up this task: now the time has come well
teach all this higher philosophy. Prabhupada left itin a seed
form. Now that seed should be fructified,
and a big tree will come out. That is our duty.
Prabhupada was teaching Westerners, mlecchas
and yavanas, eating beef, and drinking liquor. They
were hippies mad fellows taking strong drugs,
LSD, and marijuana. What they can understand
of this philosophy? He did what was needed for
them at that particular time. He did a great job and
brought us to the path. Otherwise so many persons
would not have come here. But now the time has
come to understand this philosophy.
Dedication
You mention that many devotees are losing
faith in ISKCON and are leaving our society to
find shelter elsewhere. That is not good. They
should not leave ISKCON; that will never please
Srila Prabhupada. Develop patience and tolerance
and pray to Srila Prabhupada from the core of your
heart. How is it that he will not help you? (Letter,
18 December 1993)
There are three things that are very important to
me. One is that I want to preach to the preachers. It
causes me so much pain to see the devotees falling
down and going away. The second thing is that I
want to show how everything is in Prabhupadas
books. Those persons who are saying that Srila
Prabhupada only gave ABC, it causes me so much
pain in my heart. I want to make them silent. And
the third thing is that I want to show how everything
is in ISKCON and that devotees do not have to go
elsewhere for higher teachings. (Conversation with
devotees in New York City, July 1994:)
My opinion is that Srila Prabhupada will not be
happy with these senior devotees going outside of
ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada has said that everything
is in his books. If you try to understand this, then
by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada it will all be made
clear to you. It is a fact that if an elevated vaiava is
there, then one should go and take his association.
There is no harm in that. But in this case, there is
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Prabhupada's Mission 3
www.gopaljiu.org
Drawings by Anuradha Dasi
a danger that the discipline in our organization
will be affected adversely. If the leaders are going
outside of ISKCON, how will we be able to maintain
discipline? Srila Prabhupada has formed this society,
and this threat to his society will only cause him
pain. With this consideration, they should not go.
That will only lead to indiscipline in our society.
Two sides are there, philosophical andorganizational. On the
organizational side, this
practice is not good. Therefore we have this GBC
body, which makes so many rules to maintain the
discipline of the members of our society. But how
will we be able to keep discipline now? No one
will listen: If the leaders are going, why should
we listen? We will also go. This will create only
trouble. (Letter, 3 November 1994)
Devotee: You said we should always seek the
association of advanced devotees. When SrilaPrabhupada left the
planet, some of his disciples
took shelter of one of his godbrothers.
Gour Govinda Swami: Thereby they committed
a mistake. For the clarification of some philosophical
doubt or to accept ik, one may go to anothervaiava, but why
leave?
Devotee: Some people took shelter of this
maharaja, and naturally, because he was giving
some instruction, they became attached to him
and accepted him as ik-guru. Because of this, in
some cases, it seems that our society rejected themrather than
they rejected our society.
Gour Govinda Swami: Let me be excused
at the feet of a vaiava. This Maharaja is a great
vaiava. I pay my obeisance to him. He is my guru.
He is the godbrother of my guru. But he should
have taught these ISKCON devotees, Dont leave
ISKCON. Take ikfrom me if you have some
doubts. I am prepared to clarify them. But dont
leave ISKCON. Why didnt he teach this thing?
Devotee: So its all right for Srila Prabhupadas
disciples to accept another ik-guru, but theyshould not leave
ISKCON?
Gour Govinda Maharaja: Why should they
leave ISKCON?
Devotee: I spoke to one devotee who had
taken shelter of a maharaja outside of ISKCON
and he said that his life was made very difficult
within ISKCON and he could no longer preach.
He was so restricted. Therefore, in order to
preach, he left ISKCON.
Gour Govinda Swami: What difficulty is
there in preaching the message of Gauranga
Mahaprabhu? Mahaprabhu says, I will help you.
Youll never be affected bymy. If you haveno faith in Mahaprabhu,
then you will be put into
difficulties. Dont be afraid of problems. Krishna is
there. His representative, the guru, is there. They are
always with you. They are always prepared to help you. These
dangers, these problems, difficulties
will help you to become fixed. They are welcome.
Therefore Kuntidevi says, vipada santu t avattatra tatra
jagad-guro I wish that all thosecalamities would happen again and
again. WWhy
did she say like that?
Devotee: Because by those troubles she was
always able to remember Krishna.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. Difficulties,
dangers, and problems help one to be more
attached to Krishna. Unless there are difficulties,one will not
turn his face towards Krishna. Thereby
he is in a fools paradise, thinking, I am OK. But
he is in danger. He cannot understand it. So all
of these difficulties, problems, and dangers, they
are kp, mercy in disguise. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Prabhupada Maharaja said, Accept all the
sufferings in this material world as the mercy of the
Supreme Lord. (Evening darshan, Bhubaneswar,
20 November 1989)
Devotee: You have to give us your blessings,
Maharaja.
Gour Govinda Swami: I have this blessing,
Get the blessings of myguru-mahrja, SrimadA. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupadji Maharaja.
Be a member of ISKCON, the society he founded
worldwide. Serve him. Remain in the society. Serve
guru and Gauranga. This is my blessing. Nothing
else. This is everything. Thank you. (Darshan, South
London, 29 September 1991)
