How to Deal With Envious Devotees?
Our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, has ordered that those of his disciples who are strictly following his orders should become spiritual masters and initiate disciples all over the world for bringing the happy days of Bhagavat-dharma back to this planet. Unfortunately some of Srila Prabhupada's disciples and followers who have not been able to strictly follow Srila Prabhupada's instructions are envious and very critical of those who accepted this order of Srila Prabhupada as their sacred duty. They argue that none of Srila Prabhupada's disciples are qualified to be spiritual masters. They say that unless you are already back to Godhead you cannot take someone back to Godhead. They refuse to note that if someone is solidly situated on his way back to Godhead that he can take others along with him.
They say that only a liberated soul who is already seeing Krishna face to face can become a spiritual master. But Srila Prabhupada says, "Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord; but anyone who follows the principles of such ever liberated persons is as good as one in the above mentioned group." (from a letter to: Janardana -- New York 26 April, 1968) This instruction they do not want to hear.
How are we to deal with such envious devotees? Srila Prabhupada explains as follows in his purport to CC Madhya 1.206:
"If a Vaisnava, by the mercy of the Lord, is empowered by Him to distribute the Lord's holy name all over the world, other Vaisnavas become very joyful -- that is, if they are truly Vaisnavas. One who is envious of the success of a Vaisnava is certainly not a Vaisnava himself but is an ordinary, mundane man. Envy and jealousy are manifested by mundane people, not by Vaisnavas. Why should a Vaisnava be envious of another Vaisnava who is successful in spreading the holy name of the Lord? An actual Vaisnava is very pleased to accept another Vaisnava who is bestowing the Lord's mercy. A mundane person in the dress of a Vaisnava should not be respected but rejected. This is enjoined in the sastra (upeksa). The word upeksa means neglect. One should neglect an envious person. A preacher's duty is to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead, make friendships with Vaisnavas, show mercy to the innocent and reject or neglect those who are envious or jealous. There are many jealous people in the dress of Vaisnavas in this Krishna consciousness movement, and they should be completely neglected. There is no need to serve a jealous person who is in the dress of a Vaisnava."
We are thankful to Srila Prabhupada for giving us everything we need to know for becoming Krishna conscious and for making the entire world Krishna conscious.
Contributions gratefully accepted at:
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Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you and Srimati Gurumataji!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank You for accepting such a wretch as myself as Your disciple and for everything that You do for me.
While answering Lesson C93: "On the Boat", which is based on Bhagavad Gita As It Is chapter 4 text 36, I was reflecting on the verse that I have heard You quote, that for one who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna, the vast insurmountable ocean of this material world becomes reduced to the insignificant amount of water contained within the hoof print of a calf.
I was thinking that this means that once one is situated on the boat of transcendental knowledge, actually one no longer needs the boat and can leave it behind for rest of the suffering society. My question therefore was that once one is under the shelter of the spiritual master and trying to follow and serve Him as one's life and soul, should one allow the spiritual master to focus more attention on newcomers instead of plaguing him with many questions and usurping his association while physically present etc.?
On this consideration whenever I have questions I first try to find the proper understanding in Srila Prabhupada's books or from senior devotees in our Yatra before asking you directly. I do not want to inquire from you just for the sake of doing so, but only when I have a doubt which cannot be clarified by the aforementioned procedure.
Please instruct me as to whether this is the proper etiquette. Thank You.
Hare Krishna
Your insignificant servant
Syama Kunda das
In our Krishna consciousness process we have three sources of guidance: our spiritual master, the scriptures, and the senior devotees. You should use all three of these resources to cultivate a proper understanding of the science of bhakti. But whatever understanding you have derived from the scriptures and the senior devotees must all by confirmed by your spiritual master because he is your final authority. Sometimes a neophyte devotee may misunderstand what he reads in scripture and sometimes even senior devotees in ISKCON propagate bogus philosophy. Therefore your spiritual master's confirmation of your spiritual understanding is always necessary.
In this connection Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Bhagavad-gita 18.58:
"No conditioned soul actually knows what is to be done and what is not to be done, but a person who acts in Krishna consciousness is free to act because everything is prompted by Krishna from within and confirmed by the spiritual master. "
Since the spiritual master can leave this planet at any time by the arrangement of Krishna, the intelligent disciple will take advantage of his expert guidance as much as possible while the spiritual master is still here. This can be done by reading his writings, hearing his lectures, and by inquiring from him directly whenever there is need.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
They say that only a liberated soul who is already seeing Krishna face to face can become a spiritual master. But Srila Prabhupada says, "Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord; but anyone who follows the principles of such ever liberated persons is as good as one in the above mentioned group." (from a letter to: Janardana -- New York 26 April, 1968) This instruction they do not want to hear.
How are we to deal with such envious devotees? Srila Prabhupada explains as follows in his purport to CC Madhya 1.206:
"If a Vaisnava, by the mercy of the Lord, is empowered by Him to distribute the Lord's holy name all over the world, other Vaisnavas become very joyful -- that is, if they are truly Vaisnavas. One who is envious of the success of a Vaisnava is certainly not a Vaisnava himself but is an ordinary, mundane man. Envy and jealousy are manifested by mundane people, not by Vaisnavas. Why should a Vaisnava be envious of another Vaisnava who is successful in spreading the holy name of the Lord? An actual Vaisnava is very pleased to accept another Vaisnava who is bestowing the Lord's mercy. A mundane person in the dress of a Vaisnava should not be respected but rejected. This is enjoined in the sastra (upeksa). The word upeksa means neglect. One should neglect an envious person. A preacher's duty is to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead, make friendships with Vaisnavas, show mercy to the innocent and reject or neglect those who are envious or jealous. There are many jealous people in the dress of Vaisnavas in this Krishna consciousness movement, and they should be completely neglected. There is no need to serve a jealous person who is in the dress of a Vaisnava."
We are thankful to Srila Prabhupada for giving us everything we need to know for becoming Krishna conscious and for making the entire world Krishna conscious.
His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada-Spiritual Master of the Universe
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Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:
Question: Continue Inquiring from My Spiritual Master?
Dear Srila GurudevaPlease accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you and Srimati Gurumataji!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank You for accepting such a wretch as myself as Your disciple and for everything that You do for me.
While answering Lesson C93: "On the Boat", which is based on Bhagavad Gita As It Is chapter 4 text 36, I was reflecting on the verse that I have heard You quote, that for one who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna, the vast insurmountable ocean of this material world becomes reduced to the insignificant amount of water contained within the hoof print of a calf.
I was thinking that this means that once one is situated on the boat of transcendental knowledge, actually one no longer needs the boat and can leave it behind for rest of the suffering society. My question therefore was that once one is under the shelter of the spiritual master and trying to follow and serve Him as one's life and soul, should one allow the spiritual master to focus more attention on newcomers instead of plaguing him with many questions and usurping his association while physically present etc.?
On this consideration whenever I have questions I first try to find the proper understanding in Srila Prabhupada's books or from senior devotees in our Yatra before asking you directly. I do not want to inquire from you just for the sake of doing so, but only when I have a doubt which cannot be clarified by the aforementioned procedure.
Please instruct me as to whether this is the proper etiquette. Thank You.
Hare Krishna
Your insignificant servant
Syama Kunda das
Answer: Guru's Confirmation is Always Necessary
The boat is never left behind. Because the vast material ocean has shrunk to the size of the water contained in the hoof print of a calf, even though the boat of Krishna’s lotus feet becomes docked in the spiritual world, it is still also simultaneously docked in the material world so that all the conditioned souls of this material world can take shelter of it and be saved from the vicious cycle of birth and death. Therefore the devotee never for all of eternity abandons the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord Sri Krishna. That boat is his permanent shelter.In our Krishna consciousness process we have three sources of guidance: our spiritual master, the scriptures, and the senior devotees. You should use all three of these resources to cultivate a proper understanding of the science of bhakti. But whatever understanding you have derived from the scriptures and the senior devotees must all by confirmed by your spiritual master because he is your final authority. Sometimes a neophyte devotee may misunderstand what he reads in scripture and sometimes even senior devotees in ISKCON propagate bogus philosophy. Therefore your spiritual master's confirmation of your spiritual understanding is always necessary.
In this connection Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Bhagavad-gita 18.58:
"No conditioned soul actually knows what is to be done and what is not to be done, but a person who acts in Krishna consciousness is free to act because everything is prompted by Krishna from within and confirmed by the spiritual master. "
Since the spiritual master can leave this planet at any time by the arrangement of Krishna, the intelligent disciple will take advantage of his expert guidance as much as possible while the spiritual master is still here. This can be done by reading his writings, hearing his lectures, and by inquiring from him directly whenever there is need.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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