The Great Free Service for the Whole World on Behalf of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha

The Great Free Service for the Whole World on Behalf of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha

Honour or Dishonour – All Is the Same for Pure Gauḍīya Devotees By Śyāma Dāsa Bābājī

Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Jagadguru told that a pure sādhu cannot get honour and respect nowadays. The common people today cannot understand a pure sādhu. Almost everybody tries to avoid a pure sādhu. This is like the case of Śaṅkara Bhagavān, whom most people may misunderstand due to his external appearance. They cannot understand that he is the topmost Vaiṣṇava. Regarding Śaṅkara Bhagavān, it is written in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

nimna-gānāṁ yathā gaṅgā devānām acyuto yathā vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ purāṇānām idam tathā (ŚB 12.13.16)

Just as the Gaṅgā is the greatest among all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities, and Lord Śambhu [Śiva] the greatest of Vaiṣṇavas, so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the greatest of all Purāṇas.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we can see that the highest honour is given to Śaṅkara Bhagavān as a Vaiṣṇava, but we all know in what a wrong way Prajāpati Dakṣa wanted to insult and ignore him. He wanted to speak all rubbish about vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ—the great personality—but still, no reaction was found inside the heart of Śrī Śaṅkara Bhagavān because he is a pure devotee. Later on, Prajāpati Dakṣa arranged a big yajña festival (Bṛhaspati-utsava), but he did not think it necessary to invite Śaṅkara Bhagavān, whereas the whole fourteen worlds were invited.

We all know that ultimately, the whole festival was in danger because of ignoring the great Śaṅkara Bhagavān. It is a fact that without pure hari-kathā (from a pure guru and Vaiṣṇava), any function or festival can come to an unsuccessful end. It matters little in how majestic a way the festival was organized. Some dry philosophy, some so-called prasādam, some external ‘jay’—all of these are not symptoms that prove the success of the function. By avoiding the pure guru-vaiṣṇava, one can only create a material function, nothing else.

Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say, “Preaching without a proper background can be called karma (mundane activities).” Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān can never be satisfied by this kind of function or preaching. The society where a pure guru-vaiṣṇava gets no honour is surely running towards destruction. This can be declared in the name of Prabhupāda.

The Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha never cares about the likes and dislikes of common people, because the absolute duty of the Gauḍīya Maṭha is to guide people towards the absolute truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda told, “Though material people like to avoid and ignore the guru-vaiṣṇava, still each and every member of our Gauḍīya society must be ready to spend gallons of blood for the emancipation of the common people of this society.”

That is like a charitable service on behalf of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha, because we Gauḍīyas have no expectation at all in return. This is a privilege that can be accepted by the common people of the society, or they can avoid taking that kind of divine help. But still, we Gauḍīya Devotees (Gauḍīya Maṭha devotees) must carry on our duty to distribute the absolute message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu to each and every person with an even more enthusiastic attitude.

One example is fitting here in this respect. It is seen that lifeguards take risks to deliver someone who is drowning, and sometimes the lifeguard may get kicked by the drowning man, but still, the lifeguard is not going to stop his effort to deliver that person. Also, sometimes we can see a psychotic person kick the doctor, but still, the doctor is not going to stop his effort to heal the patient from the painful situation. You can think the same about the devotees of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, those who are dedicated unto the Lotus Feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu for the absolute sevā of Caitanya-vāṇī.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “In the name of hari-kathā-kīrtana (hari-bhajana), there are those who are going to misguide common people. We common people want to be cheated by them, so we are cheated. To be cheated by them—this has become a usual fashion of the day.” Nowadays our society has taken such an ugly turn that people like to avoid the pure guru-vaiṣṇava and their hari-kathā. Externally, they may exhibit some love and respect for our exalted guru-varga like Śrīla Prabhupāda or Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, etc., but internally they are with empty bhāva.

In front of a pure guru-vaiṣṇava and their hari-kathā, they can discover their naked picture. That is why they like to avoid it. On behalf of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha, Śrīla Prabhupāda and his mission were always ready to cut and throw out chala-dharma (false dharma) and upa-siddhānta (wrong conclusions). Śrīla Prabhupāda always used to say that a fraud sādhu and his false preaching should be brought into the light (brought to the notice of the public).

Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that the actual meaning of the ‘tṛṇād api sunīcena‘ bhāva is to establish the honour and interest of the Gauḍīya guru-varga and to ignore personal lābha-pūjā-pratiṣṭhā (personal interest). Usually, those who are always trying to protect and preserve the interest of the Gauḍīya guru-paramparā are not going to be honoured by jealous people or so-called devotees; this way, the whole system is going to collapse. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say, “Because we like to ignore the pure guru-vaiṣṇava, the present situation is so dangerous that there is a scarcity of hari-kathā prevailing everywhere.”

Even in this world, in any country, the ruling government also usually gives honour to those who are showing some special qualities. Such exclusive qualities should be brought into the light. If we are not going to have that kind of open heart, then those exclusive personalities will be automatically ignored. For the overall development of human society, this kind of tolerance should be there.

For pure devotees, the only aim is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. Pure devotees feel no reaction to honour or dishonour. As our Sadananda Prabhu, the eternal associate of Śrīla Prabhupāda, used to say: “A bhakta’s life and activity in the world takes place in the fulfillment of his nature to serve Kṛṣṇa, and is not intended to delight or offend, to enlighten or mislead people regulated by law.

The life of the bhakta has its center in Kṛṣṇa, and the fact that, here and there, there may be a person who by His grace becomes free from himself, is only a side effect. The bhakta may extol Bhagavān and make His līlā known so that it seems that he was endeavoring for the sake of humanity.—How little this is the case follows from the fact that the realized bhakta may extol and make Bhagavān and His līlā known even where there is not one single person ready to receive it, because the only meaningful use of his faculty of language is to speak of Kṛṣṇa and sing His Name.”