The Impersonalist is of the opinion that the absolute has no form & He appears in a particular type of form according to the whim of nonsense; The impersonalist presents any form nonsensical by his imagination & worships it as God. This accusation of the Lord is the greatest offense of the nonsense impersonalist. Such offender can never realize the transcendental form of the Lord & the Lord puts such nonsense into more & more darkness so that the dangerous impersonalist can never know the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I do not believe that Kirtanananda has gone to such an extent of ailing situation but if he does not rectify himself immediately his future is very dark. If he is sincere in his concept of impersonal Absolute he should enter into correspondence with me & I shall refute all his arguments; but I understand that he could not answer you even when you hit him with some questions. I shall request that you save this poor creature from impersonal calamity.
Great offense (Letters)
Expressions researched:
"great offense"
|"great offenses"
|"greatest dangerous offense"
|"greatest offense"
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
One of His disciples who accepted sannyasa was one day forcibly dragged by his wife. My Guru Maharaja lamented with tears in His eyes saying that He could not save the soul.) We should always, therefore, be careful in the matter of being attacked by Maya's influence and the only means of guarantee is to chant Hare Krishna offenselessly. The greatest offense is to defy the spiritual master and to act sinfully, thinking in the strength of chanting. If a man thinks that chanting will save him from all kinds of sinful reaction deliberately committee. by him, then he becomes the greatest offender. By chanting Hare Krishna certainly we become free from all sinful reactions, but that does not mean that we shall deliberately commit sins and counteract it by chanting. Your reference to Kirtanananda and Hayagriva is very nicely appreciated. We shall silently pray for them to Krishna and shed tears for them for our inability to save them. Let us honestly pray and go ahead with Krishna Consciousness. More when we meet.
1970 Correspondence
Regarding Deity worship: I am very much anxious to know how thing are going on, who is taking care of the Deities, whether regular performances are being executed etc. I hesitated to install the Deities when I was in Germany on this account. Anyway, when the Deities are now installed there cannot be any scope of neglecting Them; that will be a great offense. Please, therefore, consult with Tamala how to manage things and if possible get some more assistance from London.
I have not heard from Vasudeva, Sucandra or Visvanatha and his wife Kunti Devi. Please let me know how they are getting along in Krishna Consciousness, and offer them my blessings and to all other devotees there.
1971 Correspondence
That is all right. But simply for jobs sake, we cannot. To mix with them intimately is not good. So that should be avoided. Lord Caitanya never said stop mixing with nondevotees. He was preaching himself. How a preacher can stop? The whole world is nondevotees.
So far these plays are concerned, they are not meant for ordinary people and if they laugh, then that is a great offense. Just like in your play "Putana Killed" there was so much laughing. So these plays are not meant for the public showing unless they are very nicely done. The audience must give grave attention. If they laugh, that is the greatest offense. Lord Caitanya never played before ordinary men. Only before devotees. But for you to put on such plays for devotees only is not so practical. So plays of Krishna Lila should be avoided, unless it is very gravely performed.*
After all we are not this body so bodily disorders cannot hamper our advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So long the tongue is active we can chant. Even if the tongue is not active we can think of Krishna. Someway or other if we can keep in touch with Krishna that is our success of life.
Yes, taking meat was undoubtedly a great offense, so don't do it again consciousness or unconsciously. Krishna will excuse you for whatever you have done, but don't do it again.
1972 Correspondence
You have got your wife, so if you are sexually inclined therefore you should always be with your wife. You are repenting, so Krsna will excuse you. But never do this again. Rather you should stop sex-life altogether, make this your austerity. Do not eat nicely, chant always sixteen rounds, and pray to Krsna to excuse you for your great offense. You are one of the senior devotees, therefore if you behave like that then the whole Society will be at risk. By their nature, gestures, dress, women are lusty—that is their habit. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that when a woman comes to serve you, you must be very careful, especially for sannyasis and brahmacaries."
1973 Correspondence
Actually, everyone is trying to enjoy Laksmi without Narayana. Ultimately, the Mayavadi is envious of Krsna and wants to enjoy the original Laksmi, therefore they call each other "namo Narayana", they sit around and address each other as Narayana. This is the greatest offense, and they are actually unfortunate because they do not engage in devotional service. The Goddess of Fortune Laksmi is fickle towards the materialist, sometimes he is prince and sometimes he is pauper. But Laksmi cannot leave the side of Lord Narayana and wherever Lord Narayana is worshiped with care, good fortune and opulence is there. Therefore, the devotee is known as the most fortunate, and you American boys and girls are the most fortunate of all, now make everyone else fortunate by spreading this Krsna consciousness.
You mentioned about your Temple bus, and that is very nice. When I saw Rupanuga's bus in New Vrndavana I wanted that there be a whole fleet. But you should not take Radha-Krsna travelling, better you take Gaura-Nitai. For serving Gaura-Nitai there is no offense, but if Radha-Krsna is there and there is some discrepancy, then there is great offense and this should be avoided. Therefore, I gave the same advice to Visnujana when I was in Pittsburgh.
The idea of the Temple bus is to attract them aboard back to Krsna and the hippies and college students, anyone, will be very much attracted to the program. Now you have my full blessings, so go out and recruit some solid new devotees to help us push on this movement.
1974 Correspondence
You have no feeling what are the ideals of a temple. You should always consider that we have invited Lord Caitanya, Lord Jagannatha, and Radha Krsna, and if we close it, it is an insult. How can we call Them, and then say get out. We should always feel when we open a temple that the Deity is living and not dead stone or wood. It is a great offense. Before opening a temple it must be considered a hundred times, and after opening it cannot be closed. It must be maintained.
That is the devotional cult. If they are closed and it is impossible to re-open, then what can be done? If there is no Deity, then it doesn't matter. If possible re-open the Hamburg temple and transfer the Deity again and worship. A center without a Deity can be closed, but a center with a Deity if closed it is a great offense. The Deity is not an idol; it is Krsna. We cannot say to Krsna personally, now go away.
I am glad to hear about the Gita sales and the publishing of the new books. Therefore I have appointed you as BBT Trustee to publish the German editions of our books as much as possible. I quite appreciate that one main center may remain there and from there the preaching may go on, but no attempt may be made to open a new center without being confident that it will go on. Strictly this principle should be followed. Before opening a temple it has to be carefully considered, and once opened it cannot be closed.
So if there is simply agitation in the mind there is no fault. But if there is indulgence in sex fault, then there is big fault. If one engages in illicit sex life he has broken the promise to the spiritual master and that is a great offense.
In regards to your question about how the relationship between a sannyasi and the temple president should be, my hope is that you will all be able to cooperate together. The temple president is in charge and the sannyasi should not contradict the instructions. Although if he does see something wrong or if he sees a fault or defect he should bring it out directly to the temple president. And then work it out in a Krsna Conscious way. Not that he will try to over-ride the temple president's authority. I want that you all work together cooperatively.
1975 Correspondence
It is great offense to change dress now that you have taken babaji dress you must continue. You are all so restless and take everything as farce. Now, take more rest and go on with your program of chanting and that will be good for you.
I have introduced this system to the mlecchas, the yavanas and the lowest and the fallen, but still it is successful. I think that you are doing nicely.
As soon as one thinks that he is greater than his spiritual master that is the greatest offense. Krsna will give one everything, but to these offenders everything is lost. I thank you very much. You know how to dress and how to worship and I am very much pleased. It is a question of heart how to please Krsna. One simply has to agree to be trained up how to do it. You have done very nicely. I am very much pleased. And now you should teach others how to do it. This is very important business, Deity worship. The more the Deity is decorated, the more your heart will be decorated with Krsna consciousness. This is the way for the neophyte devotee how to absorb his mind in Krsna consciousness.
| Page Title: | Great offense (Letters) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 19 of Jul, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=13 |
| No. of Quotes: | 13 |