Stick to the Path

Sometimes along the pathway of spiritual perfection the neophyte devotee becomes attracted by side paths that appear very appealing but which divert him from reaching the ultimate goal of pure devotion. Especially if the neophyte is weak in regards to following the standard disciplines of bhakti yoga, he will often find the side paths to be very appealing. But all that glitters is not gold. Any path that takes us somewhere besides complete surrender to Krishna is a diversion. Therefore we are advised to always carefully stick to the pathway of the previous acharyas.

mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ

"Stick to the trail tread by the previous acharyas."

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Status of a Mother

I do not know what is said about the status of a Mother in the Srimad Bhagavatam, or Bhagavad-gita or the Vedas. But I think I've heard somewhere it is said that the status of a Mother is even greater than that of God, and that those who do not respect and love their Mother, even God does not care about them. Is this true?

My second question is, is it OK for someone to leave their Mother and Father because they think the love of their parents my come in the way of their becoming Krishna Conscious? In other words, how would Krishna look upon such devotees who are really devoted to him, but have deeply hurt the feelings of their parents to become Krishna conscious?

Thanks very much.

Hare Krishna

Ritu

Answer: She is Meant to Liberate Us

According to the Srimad Bhagavatam no one should become a mother, a father, a guru, or a leader unless they can deliver their dependents from the cycle of birth and death.

So although we always, a matter of etiquette, offer our respectful obeisances to our parents, we must also see the difference between parents who are properly guiding us how to escape the cycle of birth and those parents who are misguiding us to try to enjoy this temporary material world.

If our parents are opposed to our becoming Krishna conscious and they forbid us to practice Krishna consciousness, we will have no choice but to respectfully neglect their instructions. We have had thousands of parents in thousands of lifetimes. If we do not take seriously to the pathway of self-realization we will remain entangled in the miserable cycle of birth and death. Our first duty is to get out of this material world. Once we are situated solidly on the pathway of Krishna bhakti, we can then reach out and extend the mercy of Krishna to everyone: our parents, our children, our friends, and society in general.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari