An example of fanaticism

Hare Krishna everyone!!

Our Krishna Consciousness movement (or Hare Krishna movement) is a completely scientific and authorized movement. Srila Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, always used to say: "Religion without philosophy is simply sentiment and philosophy without religion is mental speculation." This Krishna Consciousness movement is the pinnacle of religion with an invincible philosophical background. The philosophy is invincible because it is received from the most perfect source, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the line of disciplic succession of fully self-realized spiritual masters.

For the Hare Krishna movement, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the initiating spiritual master. But some of his disciples took up the role of the-next-in-line without the least qualification and authorization. A portion of the mass of disciples of these so called gurus understood that they were bogus. But the rest of them are just fanatic about their guru.

Sentimentalism is uncritical devotion and fanaticism is intense sentimentalism. So here I'll be explaining an incident which exemplifies fanaticism. Infact, to speak the truth, I myself was shocked to witness it.

One devotee (name withheld) came to our temple and in the course of conversation with our temple President Sundar Gopal Prabhu, he was asked why he worshipped Jayapataka Swami (a bogus guru), who cannot even chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra. Now, for those who are familiar with the movement, this is the most basic prerequisite to become a student. But here is a "GURU" who cannot chant the holy name.

His answer was breath taking: "He is so busy in spiritual duties that he has no time to chant 16 rounds." This means that the devotee is so obsessed with his "guru" that he goes to the extent of condoning his guru's inability of chanting Hare Krishna. This is fanaticism. He made this statement not once but repeated over and over again. Then he says, "He has no time to preach. He is so busy."

One who is even slightly educated in the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness will reject this so-called guru. What is he busy for? So in this way a lot of cheating is going on.

So we have to be very careful in practising our spiritual life. We have to accept three sources of authority to guide ourselves in the spiritual path. They are sadhu, sastra and guru. But sadhu and guru must be checked thoroughly by consulting sastra (as given to us by Srila Prabhupada). Guru and sadhu are, by definition, persons who never violate the injunctions of the sastra. So a so-called guru or sadhu talking or behaving against the injunctions of the sastra is not a guru or sadhu. He is nonsense.

So any way, we don't have to search for a pure devotee now. Srila Prabhupada has kindly spread his mercy all over the world. If everyone just surrenders to Srila Prabhupada by strictly following his instruction in cooperation with Vaisnavas, we will no more be subject to such gross illusion as above mentioned.

What is this page about?

Well, this is the first question one may ask upon coming to this page. Well here is the answer......

Krishna Consciousness is the essence of all religious scriptures. It is pure religion beyond all limitations of caste, creed, race, color, etc. It is even beyond the rubber-stamping religions like Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhism, etc. This Krishna Consciousness is the original consciousness of the living entity as being the eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

The Hare Krishna movement, as we are generally referred to, has as its authority, the vast Vedic scriptures. The essence of these scriptures are the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. These Vedic scriptures are flawless because they are not creations of a materially conditioned soul. They are compiled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, who is a completely perfect person. This is confirmed by Lord Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita: vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham [BG 15.15].

So in the Bhagavad Gita, it is said that pratyaksavagamam dharmyam meaning that one can perceive the progression of one's development in self-realization. It is not that you follow this process and you don't know whether you are progressing or not. It is not like that. You definitely know just as much as when you begin to eat, you know that your hunger is being satisfied.

Krishna Consciousness is so dynamic that at every step, one develops newer and newer understanding and realization. It gets fresher and fresher every moment. That is the nature of spiritual life. It is full of joy.

When devotees exchange their realizations and thus discuss Krishna-katha or topics concerning Krishna, they feel more and more bliss [BG 10.9]. In this way the happiness is ever-increasing.

So this page is dedicated to provide a platform where devotees, especially from Singapore, can publish their stories and realizations.

Srila Prabhupada, our spiritual master and the Founder-Acarya of the Hare Krishna movement, always encouraged devotees to write their realizations of Krishna Conscious philosophy.

But one should carefully note that the articles in this page do not supersede any of Srila Prabhupada's personal teachings in the form of his books, lectures, letters, conversations, etc. In fact these articles are an offering at the lotus feet of our beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada.

Hare Krishna!!

Your servant
Tattva Vit Das