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Our mission is to serve bhakta-visesa and live with devotees. Not that you take the place of the guru. That is nonsense, very dangerous

Conversations and Morning Walks

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Our mission is to serve bhakta-viśeṣa and live with devotees. Not that you take the place of the guru. That is nonsense, very dangerous. Then everything will be spoiled. As soon as you become ambitious to take the place of guru-guruṣu nara-matiḥ. That is the material disease.
Conversation with Patita-pavana -- April 20, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They are taking from this point of view, that India's culture has been so nicely spread that people are taking serious con... That is their appreciation. We have got differences of opinion, philosophy. That is our... But India's culture is being accepted through the world. That they are appreciating.

Girirāja: During the New York case, one of the leading men in the Arya Samaj wrote a very personal letter in support of us, not a standard letter, but in his own words he was glorifying your work like anything, and especially from this point of view.

Patita-pāvana: Even this Arkasomayaji, his iṣṭa-devatā is Kanaka Durgā from the Kabur district of the Godāvarī in Andhra, and he's a Māyāvādī. I told him, "We have some difference, but please shelve your differences and simply follow our point of view." He said, "That's all right, but I think your guru is the Divine walking the earth, and I must serve him." (laughs) So I said, "Very good. Please come and help."

Prabhupāda: So arrange to receive them. Give them very kindly... If Acarya agrees, that will be great success.

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So both you and Mahadevia together supply... This friend of Mahadevia...

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: This facility, the space is the same. Mutual arrangement. And he gets the advantage of the roof.

Girirāja: Mrs. Warrior wants to move up.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Girirāja: Mrs. Warrior wants to shift to a higher...

Prabhupāda: So he is in the downstairs?

Girirāja: She is on the ground floor.

Prabhupāda: Then it is... If she moves, that is also good. But that space is bigger.

Girirāja: Yes, Acarya's is much nicer place.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Girirāja: So we will try that.

Prabhupāda: So Warrior... What is...? Warrior?

Girirāja: Warrior.

Prabhupāda: Mrs...?

Girirāja: She met you, the widow.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She's the one that was coming...

Prabhupāda: Yes. So the Acarya's place and her space bigger?

Girirāja: No, Acarya's is much bigger.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Double nearly. Nearly double the space.

Prabhupāda: Then how you can accommodate?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, he's suggesting that she can also, in her own house... I think you're suggesting, aren't you?

Girirāja: Well, she wants more space than what she has. She'll... I think we can avoid this. Otherwise, some special cases, we can use the Chand Society.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Girirāja: For the time being, once in a while we can use what we have.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Chand Society.

Girirāja: And then, when the building is ready...

Prabhupāda: That's very good. Make some arrangement...

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: He is recommending, they are very good scholar. We have to simply present Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it is. That's all. Whether it is right, wrong, we are not concerned. Sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). This is our position. You know this verse?

Patita-pāvana: This verse I don't know. I don't know this verse. Sarva...?

Prabhupāda: Find out. Sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). Find out. Bhagavad-gītā.

Girirāja: "Whatever You say, I accept in toto."

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Patita-pāvana: Oh, that's from Arjuna speaking.

Prabhupāda: This is our position. That is very easy for us. We haven't got to manufacture. To manufacture idea is troublesome. Why should we take trouble? And as soon as you want to manufacture something to my..., that is dangerous. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya, āra nā kariha mane āśā **. This is... You are singing every day, "What our guru has said, that is our life and soul. We do not want..." āra nā kariha mane āśā **. And your guru's article, you have given. Do you think is all right? We are reading every day, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. As soon as this poison will come—"Suppress guru and I become Brahman"—everything finished. Spiritual life is finished. Gauḍīya Maṭha finished, that..., violated the orders of Guru Mahārāja.

Patita-pāvana: In that press release that we gave the paper we wrote a great deal about the work of Your Divine Grace in the West and how...

Prabhupāda: So how you get it that "Here is only prominent, Surabhī Swami"?

Patita-pāvana: One thing is, he's a Christian.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be...

Patita-pāvana: I guess so. It's true.

Prabhupāda: He has nothing to do...

Patita-pāvana: But we have emphasized that several times in the talk.

Prabhupāda: Hm. What is that?

Girirāja:

sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye
yan māṁ vadasi keśava
na hi te bhagavan vyaktiṁ
vidur devā na dānavāḥ
(BG 10.14)

Sarvam—all; etat—these; ṛtam—truth; manye—accept; yat—which; mām—unto me; vadasi—You tell; keśava—Kṛṣṇa. Translation: "O Kṛṣṇa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the gods nor demons, O Lord, know Thy personality."

Prabhupāda: So it is easy for us. What Kṛṣṇa says and Vyāsadeva says, that's all. We haven't got to manufacture. And as soon as you manufacture, fall down. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayaḥ... (BG 4.2). This manufacturing idea is very, very dangerous in spiritual life. Whatever little success is there for me, I did not manufacture any idea.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Neither you take any credit.

Prabhupāda: No. Why shall I take?

tāṅdera caraṇa-sevī-bhakta-sane vāsa
janame janame haya ei abhilāṣa

Our mission is to serve bhakta-viśeṣa and live with devotees. Not that you take the place of the guru. That is nonsense, very dangerous. Then everything will be spoiled. As soon as you become ambitious to take the place of guru-guruṣu nara-matiḥ. That is the material disease. The article clearly says that it is everything, "your city," "his city." That is clearly intimated that "You have dropped from the sky to give this city to the world." That is the sum and substance. Is it not? What is this nonsense? So do the needful.

Patita-pāvana: All right, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Page Title:Our mission is to serve bhakta-visesa and live with devotees. Not that you take the place of the guru. That is nonsense, very dangerous
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:06 of Dec, 2009
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1