A Consideration of Purpose #1 of ISKCON
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2020
Chapters
Systematic versus unsystematic spiritual propagation
Okay, so the first question today would be Shiva Prabhupada stresses the systematic propagation of spiritual knowledge.
Would you like to speak a little bit about the difference between systematic and non-systematic propagation? And this could also have historical aspects, how it was done in the past and how it was Śrīla Prabhupāda.
It's a difficult question because uh you know we uh cannot say everything uh with exactness about this question because we have to suggest something. But uh nevertheless, let me try uh to say something in this regard.
Unsystematic propagation, you know, so many people propagating spiritual knowledge, some sort of spiritual knowledge.
But usually the spiritual knowledge which uh which is being propagated by different people, different societies, different groups, even of Indian origin, they are quite unsystematic in a sense, they are not structured.
Śrīla Prabhupāda movement and he based his teachings firmly on the scriptures. Śrīla Prabhupāda very emphatic that it is based on the scriptures in a progressive manner.
There is Bhagavad-gītā, then there is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ultimately there is Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And the basis, the foundation of everything is Bhagavad-gītā.
And Bhagavad-gītā, Prabhupāda gave a very clear structure to the whole book so that everyone can really understand it and apply it to life.
So systematic versus unsystematic, in my humble opinion, means to have a very clear structure, to have the understanding of the whole picture.
Because people do have in different religions and in different uh societies, people have some partial knowledge which may not be completely connected with each other. Different parts of it.
But Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us the complete whole and every part of it fits so nicely. So if we understand the whole system of spiritual knowledge then we will be able to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge.
And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda of course also introduced a very important element to it, that is ISKCON, society also quite structured and quite organized.
Importance of an organized institution
I mean for us uh inside the movement we may think it's not so organized, but for the people outside of the movement it's probably too organized. Actually, this is the second question I wanted to ask.
I put it uh on the banner here. Um sorry this other one. What's the importance of an organization for systematically spreading spiritual knowledge?
See one person can you know charismatic person, person which has some charisma, some spiritual power, he can distribute spiritual knowledge definitely.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda showed in his own example, personal example, how one person can do this. But when we have organization, then first of all we have the whole apparatus to do it.
We also have definitely manpower, and we have different levels of people who will distribute this knowledge again on a different level for different categories of people.
Because systematic means to understand who needs what and how to, you know, how to start practicing this knowledge. From which point.
You know, spiritual knowledge it's a very vast thing. It comes from the ABC, which means you're not this body, and it goes to you know rāsa-līlā. And this is all included into this spiritual knowledge.
This is and definitely this spiritual knowledge is necessary. But uh it's necessary for different people, different aspects of spiritual knowledge is more uh more necessary.
So systematic also means the organization means that there will be different people who will propagate this knowledge to different layers and stratus of the society. So maybe also in different styles.
Yeah, in different styles, definitely. Different styles in different languages. Because mentality of people are different. Yes. And next question, like a follow-up question.
What to say if someone likes Krishna consciousness, the philosophy, the theology, the idea. But doesn't like organized religion for whatever reason, for whatever past experience. What to say to them? Well, what can we say?
If they don't like, they don't like, but one thing we can say that this is Śrīla Prabhupāda's desire.
And that's definitely not just whimsical desire, that's his vision, because he understands that Krishna consciousness will only be viable and will only survive if there is a vehicle which carries out this mission.
And organization is very much necessary uh to continue this mission.
Otherwise we see that you know a charismatic leader appears, he makes a splash and then he goes back home or on whatever destination he goes, and then the whole spiritual movement is more or less finished because it's only based on him.
Śrīla Prabhupāda specifically placed an emphasis on organization. So if we want to be Prabhupada-anugas, the followers of Srila Prabhupada, we should respect organization.
And moreover, I would say that organization in this sense, it's the extension of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And if we want to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda personally, we are deprived of this opportunity at this moment, but we still can serve him personally understanding that ISKCON and organization is his extension, is his energy.
You know, we know this principle: the energy and energetic are non-different from each other. ISKCON is the energy of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He put his energy, placed his energy in this ISKCON and now this energy is existing.
And we can understand Śrīla Prabhupāda by serving his energy, his extension, which is ISKCON organization.
So whoever chooses whatever way he wants, but ultimately if we want to be the followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda. We should put importance to organization. Take Mars. Very profound.
Now let's go back to the text of the first purpose.
Position of devotees in larger society
Śrīla Prabhupāda starts by saying to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large. And I would like to invite you to reflect and share on this concept of society at large.
What are the best ways for ISKCON members to see themselves vis-à-vis the larger society.
Because the bodies could have different moods. One could be a confrontational mood, the society's way are out there, we are just uh to to to to preach to it and then come back to our own basis uh or we could uh even run the risk of becoming completely merged almost uh undistinguishable from the large society or maybe a healthy level of tension and differentiation, maintaining our identity but obviously collaborating and being part of society or even completely isolating ourselves in self-sufficient communities.
So you have a lot of experience dealing uh with uh both uh society at large and with the devotees and the attitudes. So I would like to to ask you this. What's the best way?
What would you advise for practicing devotees to how to see society at large and its connection with the society at large, first of all if we uh take the confrontational attitude towards the society of large we will be uh completely uh contrary to the mood of this first purpose of ISKCON, which says that to achieve real unity and peace in the world, if we become just a confrontational force within the society, creating even more chaos in the society, uh creating one uh polarity more contradictions in the society, it doesn't work.
And of course, merging uh doesn't help either. So definitely obviously, from the uh from your question, the only the third option is a viable option. We have to maintain our distinct identity as a devotee.
Otherwise, we will not be able to give anything substantial to the society.
But at the same time, we have to understand, and this is a very important part of the whole purpose because Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks about spiritual techniques, techniques of spiritual life.
But one of the important concepts which has the practical application is to understand that the whole society is one unit. We're all connected. The whole society, human society is one living organism.
And every human being in the society is a very important part of this whole organism. And if we start con uh confrontational, you know, uh way uh then it it's not help. It's not going to help.
Uh we have to understand that we're all connected, and by helping others, we are helping ourselves, we are helping society in general. And basically, we have to understand that we are responsible.
If we understand that we are all so tightly connected with everyone, and this is a very important teaching of Bhagavad-gītā, that everyone is connected with everyone else, then we have to understand that you know we have to take the greater responsibility, responsibility for people.
So definitely the third option which you suggested is the ideal. We have to maintain our identity, not necessarily with the tension. The healthy tension will be there. I agree. It's a good formula, healthy tension.
But healthy tension means I understand that I am a part of this society at large, and uh I am a very responsible part of this society, and I am trying or striving to improve this society which I am a part of.
Not just I am an isolated an ivory tower or something like this. brāhmaṇa as ideally uh the head of society, so obviously the head is part of the body of the society. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's very interesting.
I remember Gopi Parandana Prabhu once gave a lecture on Varnashrama, and he said that the duty of spiritual people or Brahmanas is to help other people to become more mature.
So this is the very important and essential duty of the more responsible, the more knowledge you have, the more responsibility is on you.
And what is this responsibility to help people to become more mature, to help people to grow up. For that, you have to have connection with the people.
Like brāhmaṇas were very tightly connected with the rest of the society. They were not isolated.
Role of compassion in bhakti yoga
Thank you. Now in this first purpose we see a lot of stress on, as you were saying, taking responsibility for the elevation of others. Why is it so important for a bhakti-yogi to propagate the message?
I mean traditionally we see traditionally we see many uh spiritual paths especially in India where people are more concerned just with their own uh elevation personal advance
why for a follower of Śrīla Prabhupāda this notion of propagating, spreading Krishna consciousness, giving it to others in a systematic way. Why is it so important?
Even in Bhagavad-gītā, in the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, where uh Krishna is speaking about classical yoga, Ashtanga yoga or meditational yoga, he says that the best of the yogis,
the yogis who are supposed to sit in Himalayas and keep their spine straight and meditate on Brahman or whatever, on the Supersoul and the heart.
It is said that the best of the yogi is one who, by comparison with himself, sees others' suffering and others' enjoyment.
In other words, he is not callous to the suffering of other people, he takes them to heart, he feels them. And we know that the definition of a Vaishnava, he is a paradukhaduki. The other sufferings is his suffering.
So compassion is a very important part of Bhakti because even Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he says a very interesting thing, he says that compassion is the same emotion as love of God.
But when this emotion is addressed to God, it becomes premā. When the same, exactly the same emotion or the same state of consciousness is addressed or how to say this, directed towards the human being, it becomes compassion.
So compassion is no different from love of God. The same way you love God, uh in the same way you should feel for the suffering of other people.
So and if we don't feel for the suffering of other people, it means that we don't love God. And the same.
And Prabhupada, therefore, he was so emphatic, he knew that you know this is a very important for those who already achieved this level of love of God, they will naturally be very compassionate.
For those who are striving to achieve this level, the compassion will be sādhanā.
So it's the same, you know, in in Bhakti Yoga, there is no difference between the goal uh and the purpose to achieve the goal, the means to achieve the goal. Yeah, and therefore our goal is to achieve love of Godhead and we are practicing living as if we have love of God.
So in the same way the, goal is to become compassionate, because it's the same,
it's tantamount to say that we are uh we have love of God, but uh how we do it by practicing compassion, by uh by trying to take responsibility for other people.
And it's based, firmly based on the spiritual knowledge, on the on this very important principle of spiritual knowledge, that we're all connected. And if we are mature, we understand that we are connected.
You know, the less people are mature, the more they are isolated. Śrīla Prabhupāda translates this pṛthag-bhāva. Pṛthag-bhāva he translates as separatist, separatist mentality.
Separatist mentality is the mentality of a person who is engrossed in the lower modes of nature, and who is immature, basically immature as a human being.
The more mature he becomes, the less he is influenced by the lower modes of nature, his consciousness will become more expanded and with this broader uh consciousness, he will take responsibility for other people. And compassion uh will be also a part of his spiritual practice.
Meaning of techniques of spiritual life
Thank you, Maharaj. Thank you. So the the purpose also the first purpose also speaks about educating old peoples in the techniques of spiritual life. Would you like to elaborate on what techniques of spiritual life means?
What it indicates exactly thank you very much I I think this is the most important question when we're uh thinking about this um purpose and I would like to uh uh to give uh two other formulations of the same purpose.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was thinking about this mission very deeply, starting from early 50s, or probably even before. So in 53, when he established the League of Devotees, he wrote a prospectus, a very interesting document which is there in folio you can find it. And in the League of Devotees, he basically speaks about the same purposes in a more elaborate way. There are more points there around 20 different points, not seven.
But the first point is more or less the same, and I would like to quote first of all this prospectus of this League of Devotees and then quote another document which is more recent and more close to the seven purposes. From this, we will uh very clearly understand what it means.
So in the prospectus for the League of Devotees the the same purpose uh sounds in a little awkward way but uh in a very beautiful way too to propagate spiritual knowledge systematically for checking the imbalance of life to the whole race of India and the whole world with a view to educate the people in general in the techniques of spiritual life as the basis for balanced psychic and biological development of the human race and thereby achieve real unity and peace of the contending elements of the present world.
So it's a very very inspiring formulation. And there is another very important document which is which was found in Prabhupada's diary just before ISKCON was incorporated.
As far as I could understand, this was the idea of Śrīla Prabhupāda to make it as a ISKCON constitution. It's called Constitution of Association. But somehow or other, this larger document became seven purposes.
Nevertheless, it's interesting because this first purpose is formulated slightly differently and more close to this prospectus of the League of Devotees.
To educate the greater human society in the techniques of spiritual life as the basis for balanced psychic and psychological development, biological development, psychic and biological development, and thereby achieve for the first time in human society a real peace and unity among the contending forces in the world today.
So it's a very global sort of goal for the whole society.
And what I would like to emphasize is that in both documents, in the Constitution of Association and in League of Devotees, the prospectus of the League Śrīla Prabhupāda not only used the phrase spiritual techniques that's common for all three formulations of this goal, but he also mentions the biological level and psychic level.
So, in my humble opinion, I was thinking very deeply what it really means, spiritual techniques for people in general.
In my humble opinion, what Prabhupada means here, he means the idea or the understanding, and Prabhupada is very clear, he says that this is the idea which can unite all people.
So obviously, by spiritual techniques, he does not mean some unique spiritual technique which would divide people. Unique to a particular religion or to a particular creed of people or to particular culture.
It's something which is very scientific and unifying.
And, in my humble opinion, what it means, it means the paradigm that there is body, biological development, there is this material body, there is mind, psychic development, and there is spirit-soul.
We know this is a very clear Vedic paradigm which is very clearly presented by Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā. So this understanding, first of all, it's scientific. And we can very scientifically try to prove it by all means, you know, by the means of even modern science. So it's not sectarian.
Second of all, if we understand this concept that the human body is not just physical body, it's not even the complex of mind-body, as some more advanced people suggest, some esoteric people, but it's the combination of the soul, mind, and body, and this combination is specifically meant for the soul.
The soul is the prime principle, and mind and body are secondary principles. So if we propagate this idea, which is very again, very scientific and very unifying for all the people, then the balance can be
established because the imbalance in the society is because people emphasize bodily development, biological development, the needs of the body, and therefore by stressing or emphasizing the needs of the body, the competition is there, there is always some sort of mentality, scarcity mentality, you know, I need more for my body.
And there is always strife in the society. But if there is very clearly established this beautiful idea and simple idea that the most important element is the soul. The body and the mind are the instruments of the soul.
If this concept is established, this is in my opinion, what Śrīla Prabhupāda means spiritual techniques, or rather, not the concept itself as the technique, but the practical application of this concept in different areas of life.
This is what Śrīla Prabhupāda means by technique.
You know, you have this very clear and beautiful and simple concept that you're not this body, you're not this mind, you are the spirit soul which uses the body and the mind for your purposes.
And then you see how this concept is applied in the area of relationship, family life, in the area of social life, and so on and so forth.
So in this way, it becomes spiritual technique, uh, when you are emphasizing the importance or the primeval importance of the soul over the body and the mind. Thank you. Thank you Maharaj.
Restoring spiritual balance and values
Very very deep elaboration on the techniques of spiritual life.
Now, Śrīla Prabhupāda also said that these techniques of spiritual life uh will uh will check the imbalance of values in life uh so would you like to elaborate uh um let me just see one minute uh um here okay yes so the the next question would be what kind of imbalance of values are we trying to check?
Maybe an example of values we wish to establish in society and ways of introducing them into society.
As I said, if we take this concept, very clear and simple concept: that we have this body, but definitely this body in a certain sense. We have biological needs, we have emotional needs which are there in our mind.
It's very clear we have so many emotional needs. But we also have spiritual needs.
And if we harmonize this system, there is biological body or physical body with its needs, over it, there is emotional needs of the mind, uh, the mind needs some friendship, relationship, society, so on so forth, and over need over it is uh is the needs of the soul.
So if this complex which we are hierarchically very clear, the physical physical level is the lowest level, over it is the mind, psychic level, over it is the spiritual level.
So the imbalance is that when we stress physical needs over mental needs over spiritual needs.
And there is so much problem and so much strife in the society, so much conflict in the society because people are crazy after fulfilling their spiritual uh spiritual sorry physical needs, forgetting the spiritual needs.
So the first value is to value the spiritual aspect of our being.
You know, to create a harmonious value system, we have to understand that the most important, the most valuable part of our society, of our being of our life is the spirit soul.
If we understand this, the importance of the spirit soul, uh and then the body and mind they're uh secondary to the spirit soul, then already we have the value system. The spiritual values are more important than uh the you know uh emotional values and uh more important than the physical values. So that's the first uh first thing.
And then uh definitely uh basically what it means to put soul again in the proper place.
That we are spiritual beings which are using physical body and subtle mental body for our purposes, but we're essentially spiritual, not physical and not mental beings. So that's what it means.
And if we're talking about the example of the values. You know, the most valuable thing for people, like people are crazy after food, and they think that they should live to eat.
Then the purpose of life, the food becomes a huge value in them. Or sex. Sex becomes in modern society, it has become the value in itself. It doesn't really serve the purpose.
It's just something which is totally completely valuable for people. But if we look from the different perspective, from the perspective of soul,
we will understand that sex has its value, and this is the relative value of the sex. This is the relative relative value of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But what do I need?
The greatest value and the greatest need which I have is the need of love. I ultimately want to love. Uh, and Prabhupada stresses, of course, that love means service.
So to check or to improve the value system, we have to put these spiritual values on the top, and the highest spiritual value for the human society is the value of service, selfless service, which is synonym of love.
I want to love. Love is the greatest need of the soul. If this is the greatest need of the soul, how do I achieve this purpose? I can achieve this purpose if I serve others.
And if I serve God by chanting his name and so on and so forth. So, this is how Śrīla Prabhupāda is speaking here.
He is, of course, speaking in a very broad way, so that many, many other things can be included into this, but this is in my opinion how it should be understood that we should place the spiritual values over the mental, emotional values, and physical values and
Achieving global peace and unity
stress these spiritual values, primarily the value of service. Thank you so the first purpose talks about propagating spiritual knowledge, educating in the spiritual techniques, to check
the imbalance of values, and then there is this final sentence to achieve real unity and peace in the world. Now, is this largely utopian or say inspirational or is it something to strive for?
I mean the international society for Krishna consciousness should realistically aim at influencing this planet so much to create unity and peace.
What's your take on it well as I said in other formulations of the same purpose, Śrīla Prabhupāda is even more emphatic on this point. He says: for the first time in human society, a real peace and unity among the contending forces in the world today.
So obviously we should not interpret it as a just utopia or just you know I don't know how. Śrīla Prabhupāda is definitely very serious about it.
It's not by chance he's saying this for the first time in human society: real peace and unity among the contending forces. He did want it.
We should uh while speaking about this, we should definitely start. This is the starting point. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted it. How he wanted it, how it will be achieved, that's the big question, which we should think.
But we should not dismiss it.
We should not think that this is some utopia or some inspirational thing, you know just you know make some big goal and then which will you will never achieve because you know that this is too big to achieve. No.
He wants it. And in my opinion, I mean we should, as followers of Srila Prabhupada, we should understand that it is possible. It is possible. How is it possible?
Again, the strife in the society, the people, they become competitors with each other, they are entering into war because they think they are this body.
And this concept, this material concept, materialism, is a very dividing concept. The quarrel and the problems in the world today is because people are primarily and mostly at large, they are materialists.
And because they think they are the body, there will always be this scarcity mentality, I need more resources, and therefore they will neglect this Ishavasyam principle, Ishavasyam Edom Sarvan.
Whereas when they understand that I'm spirit soul, it means that there is God who created me. I'm sorry. Who allocated uh what I need, what uh what is there, he's taking care of it, I don't have to worry about it.
I'm too emphatic about it. I just really want to say that Prabhupada is not joking here. He really wants it. So, and it is achievable. How is it achievable?
It is achievable if this simple concept is widely propagated, because all the, you know, all the conflicts in the society is because of this misunderstanding, this materialistic understanding of life.
And therefore, people will always struggle for the influence, for power, and so on and so forth. But if I understand that I am the spirit soul and I am the servant and I start to serve,
If I put the service as the highest value, and I will try to achieve this service mood as my goal in life, then there is no point of quarreling.
So if this concept or if this understanding is propagated widely, then there will be peace. There is no doubt about it. But first of course we have to make peace in our own society.
What I can see sometimes, you know, it's very hilarious: we're speaking about this very great purpose, but we have so much strife and so much contradictions in our society.
And again, in my humble opinion, why it is so, because people don't understand the ABC of spiritual knowledge.
Because they want to dominate over other people with their ideas and because of the pride, you know, when we understand that we're spirit souls, we become humble. And when we become humble, most of the problems are solved.
All the problems are because we are proud. Because we are so proud, then there's so much problem in the society and in our society.
So if we place in relationship to our society, in relationship to the devotees, if we're talking about the values, correcting the value system, then we have to place this value of service and it means the value of humility on the top.
The influence, the power in the society, the position in the society, to become recognized as a savior of the society, to become recognized as a very true follower of Srila Prabhupada. This is all secondary in comparison to this basic value of humility and service.
If I value this, I will strive for this, I will not try to dominate over other people and quarrel with other people and say you don't know anything, only I know, only I'm the true follower of Śrīla Prabhupāda. If you are the true follower of Srila Prabhupada, follow him. It means serve others and create the unity within our little society.
If we create the unity within our little society, then we will be able to propagate it there. Otherwise, we're hypocritical.
Śrīla Prabhupāda definitely means it, but uh it also means a very important message, and I think this is one of the most important messages of uh Śrīla Bhakti Charumaraj, who just left us.
His whole life he was striving to unify our society, ISKCON society. And Prabhupāda, this is his last instruction: why don't you cooperate with each other?
And the very fact that the cooperation is not there, that the value of cooperation is not established in our society so firmly is because we ourselves didn't understand this spiritual concept, this spiritual paradigm.
The paradigm of service, the paradigm of love. The most important need of the soul is to love and to love means to serve. So and to serve means to become humble.
So if this understanding is established then uh then this ideal will be also fulfilled. Otherwise it will become it will remain a utopia. Yeah. People will just, you know, they will say, yeah, yeah, very nice, very nice.
But we have our business to do. Let's let's prove that we are right and everyone else is wrong
Fostering harmony within ISKCON society
Yeah, in fact, when you were when you were talking especially about the the broader aspect of unity and peace in the world, uh we received uh Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sāgara Mahārāja who was asking the same thing again you already answered uh but if you like to add a few words what can help different devotees to achieve unity and peace among themselves to show a good example to the world.
Yes, you answered in fact Mahārāja is thanking you, thank you for the answer.
But if you want to add a couple of uh a couple of uh uh words and by the way Mahārāja we also have another couple of uh questions online if you like take them we have a few minutes more yeah I definitely.
Thank you very much for this question. Yeah, I can definitely add something to this.
When we deal with other devotees, the most important principle upon which our interaction with other devotees should be based is the presumption of their devotion.
As much as there is this how you call it the presumption of. in. in. Of innocence. The presumption of innocence is there, it's the foundation of the judicial system.
So in the same way, when we deal with other people, with other devotees, there should be presumption of devotion. They are devotees. And it means that they also want to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda.
It means that they are important for us. It means that we should uh try to understand their point of view not necessarily uh without even listening to them uh declare
that they're demons and chelas and uh asuras from the lower planetary system who came to destroy ISKCON and this and that. You know, unless it's proven. First we have to prove.
But uh usually people they start from this point. This is the presumption. There are demons.
Everyone else is a demon, only I'm a devotee, and uh everyone else is destroying ISKCON, and everyone else is just not following Śrīla Prabhupāda, only I'm following Śrīla Prabhupāda.
So if this presumption of devotion is firmly established in our dealings and interaction in the society, then we will be able to understand other people, their point of view. It's valuable.
Usually, when I hear contending parties within our society, they have some valuable things to say, but they cannot hear what others want to say. It's not difficult to synthesize their points of view.
They're usually not contradictory. They bring them, you know, and try to how to say this? Collide against each other, but actually they are not contradictory.
They are from different angles of vision and they can be synthesized very nicely.
So I think this listening, when we listen to other people, try to understand what they want to say, and when we have this initial understanding that these people also want to say something important, they have very important understanding of how to improve our society, then we will be able to establish unity within our society and spread this unity.
You know, and uh again, uh this unity uh will be spread in our society if this paradigm is established.
I'm spirit soul, uh what is the need? What is the prime need of the spirit soul? The prime need of the spirit soul is to serve, not to establish my supremacy or superiority over others. But uh I'm the servant of the servant.
Thank you, Maharaj. We do uh have uh eight nine minutes um to the hour. Uh of course if you like to go over it's up to you uh where we stop at the hour.
Preaching in orthodox Christian regions
We have a couple of questions from our online viewers. Would you like to take them, Mahārāja? Sure, sure. Sure. Okay. So we have a question from uh Shilfa Karini from Belgrade, Serbia.
If she's asking if Barash can say a few words about preaching in a country where Orthodox Church is very strong and trying to present ISKCON like a sect or like they say also in English, like a cult.
So both uh both um of course Russia and Serbia, the Christian Orthodox Church is the predominant church. So if you you have a lot of experience in that field.
If you like to say a few words, how to how to deal with the fact that a very prominent church is trying to present the movement as a sect, as a danger sect, as a cult.
So therefore you know to counteract this propaganda which is definitely very strong in uh such societies. We should stop being the sect. We should become what we are supposed to be scientific spiritual science.
We're propagating spiritual science and rational people will understand this.
That's why I say that this paradigm which is presented in this first purpose of ISKCON, especially in the more elaborate versions of the seven purposes of ISKCON, like this constitution of association or prospectus for the Leg of Devotees.
It's a very interesting you know material or documents for meditation or for thinking about the vision of Srila Prabhupada.
So basically, Srila Prabhupada is very emphatic in establishing universal principles which are scientific, which are not sectarian by nature.
Like this principle you know that there is body, there is mind, and there is soul, and the soul, the need of the soul is to serve.
Srila Prabhupada didn't even use uh very often the word love because love is such a misunderstood notion. It's a very misunderstood and misused term. He used service.
So if we propagate this scientific understanding as a basis of our preaching, and Prabhupada said that you know if you take this, then you can use it within your religion, you can apply it within your religion.
This is, there are some scientific principles. You know this body and it means this, this, and that. You know this body and it means in the area of relationship, it means this, this, this and that.
So if we scientifically preach, then rational people will understand this. Irrational people, uh, you know, there's no use to waste our energy and time with the irrational people.
But rational people will be able to appreciate.
And I know quite a few, I mean not so many, but a few orthodox priests who are in their leisure time under the blanket read Prabhupāda's books and appreciate Prabhupāda's books very much because they see that there is a universal spiritual science.
So we have to learn how to present Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not as a sectarian religion, which will always, which will always create some sort of opposition, but as the spiritual science.
And this initial, very basic paradigm: that there is a soul which uses the body and uses the body either to destroy the world and to enjoy, to exploit everything, to exploit nature, or uses the same body and the same mind in the service of God and uh subsequently
in the service of the society, that will be appreciated by rational people. They will not they will not mind. Thank you Maharaj.
And you can always point out that there is spiritual the uh the elements of spiritual science are there in orthodox Christianity everywhere. They're they're basically the same.
Personal service despite institutional flaws
It's just Prabhupāda gave it in a very clear structured way so that it could be systematically understood and rationally understood. Now the last questions we have from our listeners
from our viewers is from Raja Vanita Dasi. It's in two parts. Basically, it refers to when you were talking about ISKCON as an expansion of the energy of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And she was saying that uh uh this statement could be corrupted for the representative of the institution who can take it on his own account and invest in his own interests.
So my understanding is that she is saying yeah we could say that uh ISKCON is uh uh expansion of energy but uh some officer, some person who has some. Can misuse it, yes. Could also could also misuse it. Yeah.
This danger is always there. The danger of misuse, you know, we're we're living in this material world and everything basically can be misused. Even simple things can be misused.
The knife is a very nice thing, but it can be misused and it will become very dangerous thing. Even though it's a common stuff. What to speak about spiritual philosophy?
Spiritual philosophy can be misused and can be very can become a very uh you know Machiavellian instrument for exploitation. There's no doubt about it. And we have seen it, unfortunately.
Even within our short history, you know, some people do it. And of course, this understanding on this concept that this con is the extension of PowerPoint and which should serve this con can also be misused.
But first of all, we have to understand that even if somebody, let's say hypothetically, there is a leader who is misusing it for his own aggrandizement, his own benefits, so on and so forth, and uh and you happen to be working under him.
Uh still, you know, if you're doing it uh with a very sincere soul, there is no there's no harm.
You're serving Prabhupada's society, you're serving through this to Srila Prabhupada, and Prabhupada knows that you're serving him. It's very interesting.
Prabhupada was not so much concerned about the potential misuse of this because he knew that ultimately if people are sincere and if they are serving it will not go in vain. I have seen it.
Yes, some leader may become little deviated, he may become, you know, he may develop exploitive exploitative spirit. But if you sincerely serve what is the point? What is the loss? What is the loss?
You're developing your serving propensities, your devotional propensities. Srila Prabhupada knows your sincerity. Krishna knows your sincerity. He accepts your service.
And if somebody misuses your service for his own benefits, it's his problem. It's not your problem, really. And of course, you know, we as a devotee, as devotees, we should not allow other people to exploit us.
We should be careful about this. We should not be naive. But at the same time, we should not be overly paranoid about this.
You know, I've been in different situations and uh you know I but I I I was in different temples uh and I was happy in all the temples when I where I was.
And I was happily serving Srila Prabhupada, I was serving the ISKCON Society, and I saw some deviations here and there, but generally, still, nevertheless, you know, I don't think we should be overly paranoid about this.
But of course, we should be we should be mature, we should uh If somebody is misusing it, we should uh make the necessary steps to stop it if we can. But otherwise we can just continue serving.
Krishna sees the purity of our purpose. I I don't think we should be you know I I I don't see the point. And uh if if this mood is established, then you know it will be very difficult to misuse this.
If everyone is serving, like when we uh even even if a simple person, a simple bhakta somewhere, if he has very sincere service attitude, it's purifying to everyone.
It's purifying to himself, and it's purifying to the whole atmosphere, and everyone sees it, and everyone appreciates this.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda established such a firm spiritual values in his books, then that even if somebody is misusing it, sooner or later it will be revealed.
It will be it rather sooner it will be revealed, it will be clear, it will become clear and it will be corrected by one means or another.
So that's my that's my uh not uh maybe not so politically correct answer to this question. Thank you Maharaj, thank you so much.
Presenting a non sectarian global alternative
So m we are at the uh one hour mark and we have completed uh the questions now if you like to give a final message uh or you focus especially on the first purpose of this coach.
If you like to give a final message about the importance of this incorporation day festival or seven purposes in our life.
I remember once I was in the Vladivostok uh in the and they were uh reciting the seven purposes every morning after maṅgala-ārātika.
Like really part of the spiritual program So I say if you like to say a couple of words uh uh if you have time. Um otherwise we could stop here.
But if you like to have a l last uh message to our viewers for those online now and those who will uh see Thank you very much, Kontei Prabhu, for this opportunity which you gave to me.
What I would like to say that uh it's definitely you asked this question, but I want to re-emphasize this, re-emphasize this again: is that it's not just utopia, it's a very real thing.
And we should, if we are true followers of Srila Prabhupada, we should take it seriously. And even though we may not understand how to do it, but we should definitely make it a point that this is our purpose.
This is not the purpose of Srila Prabhupada. We are his followers, so it's our purpose, it's our mission.
And Prabhupada gave such a beautiful spiritual science which is not sectarian, which can be propagated far and wide in different areas of life, which is completely practical. And you know, people when they come, when they just become devotees, they are totally overwhelmed. They say that, uh, you know, I I knew a little bit here, a little bit there, but here I see the whole complete picture. He gives the complete picture, which is very practical, applicable in different areas of life.
And this first purpose of ISKCON, in my opinion, is the aṅga and the other purposes of ISKCON are aṅgas. They are parts, and this is the whole.
It's not by chance that Prabhupāda put this in the first place in all three documents which I cited. This is the most important thing which should become spiritual scientists.
We should become true followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
That means that we should not become cult members, sect members, you know, the in a broader sense means the followers of big sect, or the sect members, or little sect within this big sect, or whatever it is.
We should really try to purify ourselves from this tendency to become sectarian. Because unfortunately, this sectarian tendency is within everyone.
And sectarian means to take part for the whole. That's what literally the word sect means. When you don't see the whole picture, but you take a part and you try to present this part as a whole.
You take the part of the teachings and try to pass or to propagate this little part which you have understood or which is in resonance, in sync with your own mentality, your own understanding. And you try to push and promote it as the whole.
No, to become non sectarian, to become spiritual scientists, we have to strive Prabhupāda, to have a very harmonious and systematic and wholesome vision Prabhupada, to have a very harmonious and systematic and wholesome vision of the spiritual science, practice it in a proper way, and propagate this.
We will not be able to propagate it to the peoples.
Śrīla Prabhupāda used not the word people, but peoples, peoples of the world. You know so it means basically globally we will not be able to propagate it unless uh we ourselves become non-sectarian and non-sectarian means we understand the whole.
We try to understand teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, non-sectarian teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, which is non-sectarian, and practice it in a non-sectarian way and develop a very broad and rational mentality, scientific mentality, not sectarian mentality.
Anyway, it's a very important day and it's our purpose. It's my purpose. And especially now because the whole world is in turmoil.
The whole world uh actually what happens, every man now in the world more or less is hoping that it will be over and we will continue the same way. But it's not going to be the same.
But unfortunately, there is a minority of people who understand that there is that there should be some alternative way of living, but they don't know the alternative way of living, unfortunately.
You know, most of the people they just want to continue the same way. And the nature will not allow this. It's just we are imposed. The whole civilization is in impasse. It's a very critical hour.
There is quite a few people who think that the uh who think about the change, but nobody has the complete picture.
We, as a society or as followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda, should come together, should put our minds together and try to figure out what is the real model, practical model for the whole world.
Because now there's no alternative model. And unfortunately, ISKCON does not provide alternative model either.
But at least we should try to think about it or at least try to preach to those people who are capable of creating alternative model for the world to live because the world needs an alternative.
And ISKCON can provide the alternative. Definitely. And Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that ISKCON would provide the alternative.
He said that the historians of the future will speak about ISKCON that ISKCON saved the human society when it was the most needed. So this hour has come. And we should understand this.
Otherwise, the destruction is impending. I'm not alarmist myself, I'm not a Domesday Siktary sect member. I don't want to create some sort of agitation.
But it is serious and it means that we should take responsibility globally for our own life, for our own society, to improve our own society for the sake of Śrīla Prabhupāda and for the sake of the whole world, we should try to do it.
Otherwise, what is the use of being an ISKCON member? Paraphrasing Śrīla Prabhupāda. He used to say, what is the use of being American if you don't think big?
So, what is the use of being an ISKCON member if we don't think globally, if we don't take responsibility for the whole world, if we just satisfied with our petty little achievements and with our petty little quarrels when we become victorious over other people.
So that's what I wanted to say.
Maraj many many many thanks for the the depth of insights, the information, the knowledge, your energy. Decades meditating on this purposes were transmitted to us. So we are very very grateful that you could participate and you could be
the first speaker on the first purpose uh of ESCO. We also thank all those uh who watched like and those who will watch this video later and uh we have a whole series
on reaffirming the seven purposes of ISKCON in connection to this uh incorporation day coming up on the 14th and uh you can go to our to
our website or you can go to our Facebook page facebook.com slash gdcsp and click on the events and you have all the other speakers for all the other purposes with all the timings.
So Maharaja, many, many, many thanks for your participation. We're extremely grateful. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you, Govinda Prabhu. Thank you very much for everyone. Thank you.
Please accept my humble obeisances. Śrīla Prabhupāda-kī jaya!