Do not torture your spiritual master.--16 Sept 2024

Thought For the Day

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Do Not Torture Your Spiritual Master

Since the spiritual master suffers for the sins of his disciples they should be very careful to follow their initiations vows. If they do not do so they are torturing their spiritual master. I have just now been informed that of one my married initiated disciples is having an illicit love affair outside of marriage. I am requesting this disciple and anyone else who is breaking their initiation vows to kindly stop this because the pain I am presently going through is it making it very difficult for me to execute the duty given to me by Srila Prabhupada to push forward this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Srila Prabhupada is Kind

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Questions and Answers

Hare Krishna!
Dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Since the moment I received the news that your trip to Europe was cancelled I have tried several times to write to you, but I could not and still cannot find the words. Because I know from my own experience that other people's words and attitudes can help to ease unpleasant emotional experiences, but when I am in physical pain, other people's words can do little. My spiritual teacher is in pain and I cannot help him. It is an unpleasant and distressing feeling.

It is past midnight in Latvia, but I am still sitting at my computer, thinking about you, about the more than 50 years you have selflessly given to the mission of Srila Prabhupada, about your 20 years in my life, about traveling with you in Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, about visiting you in Austin, about how, despite the pain, you came to mangalarati every morning, then exercised regularly and finally your determination prevailed.

My understanding is that your consciousness has conquered the limitations of your body by definition. It is only outwardly so that you have had to make concessions to the limitations of the body. Neither your body nor this material world has any power over your Krishna consciousness or your determination to serve Srila Prabhupada's mission any longer.

In the introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita, Prabhupāda writes:
"One who wants to become free, who wants to become liberated, must first of all learn that he is not this material body. Mukti, or liberation, means freedom from material consciousness. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also the definition of liberation is given. Muktir hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: mukti means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this material world and situation in pure consciousness."

You have not simply learned what is said here, you have realized it. But that doesn't mean that you are not in pain. And the thought that you have been in pain for a long time and that there is nothing I can do to help is depressing. At the same time, your unbreakable determination to preach despite the pain is inspiring and exemplary. Thank you for that!

Dear Gurudev, may you also conquer the pain on the material level and go to Vrindavan!

Your humble disciple,
Guru das

Answer

From: ISKCON Austin, Texas USA

My Dear Son Guru das,,

Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

My heart melts upon reading your letter. Your loving feeling is soothing balm to help reduce my pain.

We have tried rebooking our trip to depart on 23 Sept and have tried very aggressively to get this herniated-disc-pinched-nerve pain under control so that we can depart on that date.

This reschedule will give us time to go to Bulgarian and Mauritius. If I not able to travel on 23 September another option is to depart on 3 October stopping only in Mauritius. If this is not possible another third option is to depart Austin on 14 October going only to Vrindavan. The bottom line is pain or no pain I am coming to Vrindavan. I am very eager to see all of my disciples there.

I am walking regularly around the block with a walker. I am doing daily suggested exercises. The devotees have a put of
piece of plywood in my bed to make it a solid surface to help my back. I have gotten an inversion table to take pressure
off of the nerve. I am going regularly to a chiropractor. Plus I am going to go to pain relief clinic. Plus my disciples all
over the world are praying for my recovery.

All of my disciples should pray for my recovery. Plus all of my disciples should be very careful to follow their initiation vows so that I do not have to suffer for their offenses. In this connection we find the following in the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita:

"In the morning Bhāgavatam class the devotees who lectured regularly discussed the subject as explained in Śrīla Prabhupāda's books: At the time of initiation Kṛṣṇa absolves the initiate of all karmic reactions due for past sinful acts. The spiritual master, however, as the representative of Kṛṣṇa, also shares in removing the disciple's karma. Kṛṣṇa, being infinite, can never be affected by such karma, whereas the spiritual master, although completely pure, is finite. The spiritual master, therefore, partially suffers the reactions for a disciple's sins, sometimes becoming ill. Jīva Gosvāmī warns that a spiritual master should not take too many disciples, because of the danger of accepting an overload of karma. Not only does the spiritual master accept the previous karma of the disciples, but if the disciples commit sins after initiation, then for those also the spiritual master may sometimes become ill."

I hope this meets you in the best of health.
Your ever well-wisher,

 
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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