I Thought I Was God Until...

I thought I was God until I realized that I am dog. In other words, in this material world each of us has the tendency to think, "I am the center of the universe. Everything revolves around me." Again and again we fail to realize that we are tiny insignificant specks in the vast creation of the Lord. It is often thought that the formula for happiness is to inflate one's pride to the greatest possible extent. But nothing could be further from the truth. The real formula for happiness is engage oneself as the humble servant of the Supreme Lord. In this way the insignificant fragmental part of parcel of the Supreme Lord becomes supremely significant in the eyes of the Supreme Lord. This is why Krishna says:

sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ
sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham
mad-anyat te na jānanti
nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api

"The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know anyone else but them."
--Srimad Bhagavatam 9.4.68

Teaching Pure Bhakti in Vrindavan
10 March 2010

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Why Don't Godheads Challenge the Demons?

Dear Sir,

I thank you for your regular mails. I would like to know why is it those who are fully Krishna conscious people do not come into social life. Why aren't they contesting against the existing leaders who are destroying the creation?

I see most of these "godheads" living to themselves confined to their group. Why is that that when someone totally surrenders and believes in Krishna they do not have the courage to challenge the demons?

I live in India and I see that most of these "godheads" are living on their own with large number of devotees pouring in donations. At some stage they are almost like big businessmen. They even get into the association with dirty politicians who are in power.

Most of these "godheads" advise us not to have ego while they have the biggest egos on the earth. As long as you trust them blindly and don't ask question they are fine. I still have many more questions with no answers, but for the moment let me stop here.

Thanks for your patience.

Kumaran

Answer: They are Birds of the Same Feather

The "godheads" you are describing are the pseudo gurus. They are not the persons who are fully Krishna conscious. They are not at all surrendered to Krishna. The fact is that they are just the opposite. They are fully surrendered instead to the material energy. They cannot challenge the demons because they are birds of the same feather.

Those who are fully Krishna conscious absorb themselves purely in following the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita and like Arjuna they fight very vehemently against the atrocities being committed every day by the so-called leaders of the world society.

The so-called "godheads" that you refer to are the greatest enemies of the human society. My spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada describes them as follows:

"The ignorant pseudo religionists and the manufacturers of so-called incarnations who directly violate the Vedic injunctions are liable to enter into the darkest region of the universe because they mislead those who follow them. These impersonalists generally pose themselves as incarnations of God to foolish persons who have no knowledge of Vedic wisdom. If such foolish men have any knowledge at all, it is more dangerous in their hands than ignorance itself."

A bona fide spiritual master will never present himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or tolerate his followers presenting him as such. Those who do so are committing the greatest act of terrorism upon the human society. It is only due to a lack of Krishna conscious government that they are going unpunished for their heinous crimes against humanity. The bona fide spiritual master simply presents himself as the humble servant of God and teaches his disciples how to also be humble servants of God.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari