Subala dasa and Krsnarcana devi dasi
yad yad acarati sresthas tat tad evetaro janah
sa yat pramanam kurute
lokas tad anuvartate
Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.
(Bhagavad-gita 3.21)
Dear Srila Romapada Swami,
Kindly accept my humble obeisances unto your lotus feet, which are the source of inspiration, guidance and all auspiciousness in my life. All glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ISKCON Founder-Acarya.
2016 marks the 50th year anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual institution — the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, ISKCON. Across the globe, the celebrations of this great historic achievement will take central-stage to propound the uniquely glorious position of ISKCON as the perfect vehicle for carrying “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sankirtana Mission” in every town and village of the world, and Srila Prabhupada as its Founder-Acarya.
As the fortunate recipients of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, it is important to fully understand and appreciate his unique role as the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON. In a statement from the GBC Executive Committee it is explained:
“Srila Prabhupada did not simply carry the message of Lord Caitanya and Lord Krsna to us. While that in itself is a glorious task, Srila Prabhupada, as our Founder-Acarya, created the very foundation, function and vision of ISKCON as a global community aiming for the “respiritualization of the entire human society. Srila Prabhupada’s role is ongoing. His presence is to be felt in the life of every ISKCON devotee today, and in the lives of devotees many centuries into the future.”
Srila Prabhupada is eternally present in his teachings and his institution, which cannot be separated from him. Thus serving Srila Prabhupada means serving his institution and following his teachings. He explains that the success of ISKCON is based on the principle of strict faith in the order of the spiritual master. As the Founder-Acarya, he set the perfect example in the service of his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, by establishing ISKCON, which followed to the letter the blueprint of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s vision for a worldwide Krsna conscious institution. Srila Prabhupada perfectly understood his spiritual master’s heart and mission, and the rest is history.
On the other hand, he warned us that the disciples who do not follow the order of the spiritual master are useless, because they have no authority. In the purports of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 1.2.9-10, Srila Prabhupada writes:
“When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas… Persons who strictly follow the orders of the spiritual master are useful in executing the will of the Supreme, whereas persons who deviate from the strict order of the spiritual master are useless.”
Dear Srila Romapada Swami, you are a perfect example of a faithful, chaste disciple, and thus you are a bona fide and authorized spiritual master in Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON. You have dedicated your life to the service of Srila Prabhupada’s mission with unflinching commitment to his instructions and his institution. You have a deep understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s heart, which is the fulfillment of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s mission of an institution that will spread Krsna consciousness all over the world. This is also the vision of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura andthe desire of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
As your disciples, we ought to follow your perfect example of dedication and commitment to the mission and instructions of Srila Prabhupada with a mature understanding of your personal mood. Service to Srila Prabhupada’s mission is your heart and soul, and thus it should be ours. In a lecture in 2004, Melbourne, Australia, His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami explained this principle in a wonderful manner:
“A disciple must try to understand that the spiritual master is a person who is functioning on a very elevated, exalted platform and that, therefore, the considerations of the spiritual master are taking place on a much more refined and elevated level than our own. Our own thinking is happening on the gross platform; our thinking takes place in different moods and modes.
So the sentiments of the spiritual master, the thoughts of the spiritual master, and the considerations of the spiritual master are of a much higher level of refinement than ours and, therefore, we should try as much as possible to capture and penetrate into the mood of the spiritual master. The mood of the spiritual master is that sum total of his way of thinking and his way of dealing. It is not just the way in which he says things but also how he says it and how he does it. One must not only hear the words, but one must also see how the spiritual master acts; this is very important!
So a disciple who is chaste tries to absorb the mood of the spiritual master and tries himself to act in a similar mood. He tries to take on this mood and not by imitating, but by trying to understand the nature of that mood and trying to understand how the spiritual master is expressing trnad api sunicena, how he is fully expressing humility, how he is expressing tolerance, how he gives respect to others, and how he manifests Vaisnava qualities. We can learn a lot from how someone manifests Vaisnava qualities.
So chastity of a disciple means that the instructions of the spiritual master are siromani, are like jewels on the head! They are carried like a jewel, like a great treasure. Whatever the spiritual master has said is siromani; it is not a casual thing at all. It is never to be taken as a light thing. It is always to be taken as something very important – everything that the spiritual master says! So every moment with the spiritual master is a precious moment, even if nothing much transpires, even if no big dramatic statements are made, still it is a precious moment. One has to contemplate, “Did I have the right attitude within this moment? Did I really take the proper position of a disciple?” and so on. These are is all symptoms of the chastity of the disciple who is really deeply thinking about what it means to be a disciple and to fully make himself available as the servant of the spiritual master. And that must be such a meditation…”
Dear Guru Maharaja, I wish to serve you in the same way you serve Srila Prabhupada. I wish to know your heart and become your suitable instrument. I wish to take all your instructions into my heart and follow them with faith, commitment and enthusiasm. In the beginning of this year, you gave my wife and I a very specific instruction to carry out here in Chicago, and you clearly highlighted its importance – you wanted us to be an example of cooperation for the community of devotees. In your teachings, you consider this principle of cooperation most meaningful, an essential part that will keep everything spiritually and materially together, and remind us of Srila Prabhupada’s final instruction — “The measure of how much you love me is how much you co-operate among each other.” In this regard, Srila Prabhupada said in 1968 in San Francisco:
“If you push on this movement of Krsna consciousness, then you’ll be performing the highest type of yoga. Don’t be misled by so-called yogas. This is yoga. Yoga means cooperation, cooperation with the Supreme. Bhakti is the yoga of cooperation. Of all spiritual societies in this world, the sankirtana movement most fully leads us into this transcendent cooperation. Since sankirtana is the yuga-dharma, in this age of quarrel, we will return to the kingdom of Krsna not as isolated individuals but all together. We will have another ISKCON there.”
I wish to fully understand and execute this instruction following your perfect example. Dear Srila
Romapada Swami, on this most auspicious celebration, kindly bless me with the fulfillment of these desires.
Your servant,
Subala dasa