Previous acaryas (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"past acaryas" |"previous acarya or guru" |"previous acarya" |"previous acaryas" |"previous authorities, acaryas" |"previous authorized acaryas" |"previous fighting acarya" |"previous great acaryas" |"previous guru and acarya" |"previous guru" |"previous gurus" |"previous incarnation or acarya" |"previous masters" |"previous spiritual masters"

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Malcolm -- July 18, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you have to take information. Similarly, guru, according to śāstra, who is guru, he must be confirmed by sādhu, saintly person, by śāstra. Then he's guru. Sadhu-śāstra, guru-vākya, tinete kariyā aikya.

Haṁsadūta: What's the difference between a sādhu and a guru? Sadhu means authorities like Vyāsa?

Prabhupāda: Guru... He must be a sādhu.

Haṁsadūta: It means the previous ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: A sādhu means titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ (SB 3.25.21). Everything, there is definition, who is sādhu, who is guru.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...throw him away, "Go away. I have now learned." Guru-mara-vidyā, to, the knowledge of how to kill guru. Guru-mara-vidyā. Their, the philosophy is that you cannot rise up. You take a ladder. But as soon as you rise, throw away the ladder. No more. No more needed. That is Māyāvāda philosophy. Our philosophy is dhyāyan stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyam.

Yaśomatīnandana: Three...

Prabhupāda: Eternally.

Yaśomatīnandana: Somebody told me, Prabhupāda, about Vallabhācārya, that he sometimes, he once went to Lord Caitanya and said that he wrote a better commentary than a previous ācārya, and Lord...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Śrīdhara Svāmī.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 23, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: According to our Vaiṣṇava principles, ādau gurvāśrayam, the first business is to accept a spiritual master. Sad-dharma-pṛcchā. Then one has to inquire about sad-dharma. Sādhu-mārgānugamanam. One should follow the footprints of the previous ācāryas. This is the process, one after another. So first thing is ādau gurvāśrayam, one has to accept a guru. So you may, you should, I mean to say, check whether he's guru or not. That is allowed. It is said for one year the śiṣya and the guru should meet together...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (1): Everything comes from the mother earth. We are in very short supply of things.

Prabhupāda: No, no. No shortage. That is everything supply. You have got the Vedic knowledge. You don't take care of that. You now manufacture your own knowledge. Now there is knowledge, this Bhagavad-gītā is perfect knowledge, but even a political leader like Gandhi, he says that I don't believe that there was anybody like Kṛṣṇa living. This is your leader. All the ācāryas, previous ācāryas, big, big ācāryas, Śaṅkarācārya, big, big, stalwart, learned, they have accepted Kṛṣṇa. Now Gandhi says, "I don't believe." Now you are guided by Gandhi, you are not guided by the ācāryas. That is your misfortune. You are not guided by Kṛṣṇa. You are guided by Dr. Radhakrishnan. That is the misfortune. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31), one blind man is being, is following another blind man. That is going on. That is going on all over the world, not only in India.

Evening Discussion -- May 6, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: Sometimes people ask where Swami Prabhupāda get his meanings for different words, because they would differ, they would disagree and pick some other word. But they don't know that you are simply taking the verse and the meaning of the words word for word, as the previous ācāryas have done.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says. You take that meaning. Where is the difficulty? You do not know, and neither you accept Kṛṣṇa's words. Therefore you remain foolish. You foolishly... First of all you do not know, you are imperfect. And one who knows, you do not take his words. Then you remain foolish. What can we do? What is the answer? You are foolish. So you have to know from others. When we say that you take from others who are perfect, then you will not take. And you are foolish, so remain foolish. What can we do? Hmm?

Paramahaṁsa: Sometimes people ask, though, they say, "Why is it that even among the ācāryas sometimes we find there is a difference of opinion?"

Prabhupāda: They are not ācāryas. They are not ācāryas. There is no difference of understanding between ācāryas. What Madhvācārya understands, we also understand. Suppose you are present also. So there is no difference. What Rāmānujācārya understands, we also understand. What Caitanya Mahāprabhu understand, we also understand. So where is the difference? Difference should be that the fact that he is not ācārya. As soon as he differs from the previous ācāryas, that means he is not ācārya. Otherwise there is full agreement between all the ācāryas. Just like Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person, all ācāryas agree.

Morning Walk -- May 13, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: Usually what happens is a person who gets, say, the Second or Third or Fourth Canto, if he reads that, then he will want to start from the beginning, and he'll buy the First Canto.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, even if he does not read the First Canto, wherever he will read, he will get benefit. Sugar candy you taste from anywhere it is sweet. (long silence)

Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I remember once I heard a tape where you told us that we should not try to read the books of previous ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Amogha: That we should not try to read Bhaktivinoda's books or earlier books of other, all ācāryas. So I was just wondering...

Prabhupāda: I never said that.

Amogha: You didn't say that? Oh.

Prabhupāda: How is that?

Amogha: I thought you said that we should not read the previous ācāryas' books.

Prabhupāda: No, you should read.

Morning Walk -- May 13, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: When the devotees went to India this year, they said that Acyutānanda Swami very..., chastised them that "You should never... If I catch any of you buying Bhaktisiddhānta's books from Gauḍīya Maṭha then I will take it away," something like this.

Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, that was, the reason was because of, he didn't want the devotees going to Gauḍīya Maṭha. But there's nothing wrong with the idea of studying the previous ācāryas' books.

Prabhupāda: No. Who said? That is wrong. We are following previous ācāryas. I never said that.

Paramahaṁsa: All of your commentaries are coming from the previous ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayadharma: But that wouldn't mean that we should keep all the previous ācāryas' books and only read them.

Prabhupāda: That is already there. You first of all assimilate what you have got. You simply pile up books and do not read—what is the use?

Jayadharma: First of all we must read all your books.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: Practically speaking, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are giving us the essence of all the previous ācāryas' books in your books.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. (break) "No, no, Jesus Christ is son of God. He was... (break) If you don't worship him, you will go to hell." So they enquired, "What is that hell?" He began to... "It is very dark and moist and so on, so on..." They did not reply because they are working in the mine.

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Kabhir is not in the sampradāya.

Dr. Copeland: No.

Prabhupāda: He is upstart. (Dr. Copeland laughs) He says mālāja pare śālā.(?) He is abusing a person who chants Hare Kṛṣṇa. He is such a rascal. Mālāja pare śālā. Śālā is abusive language. But he said mālāja pare śālā. All the Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas, they chant the beads, and he is speaking śālā, abusive language. How fallen he is! That is the difficulty, that our system is accepting the previous ācārya, authority. So anyone who does not follow this principle, he is upstart. He is not accepted as authority. So Kabhir is not an authority.

Morning Walk -- October 26, 1975, Mauritius:

Brahmānanda: In the book that Haṁsadūta published, of Christ, Kristos and Krishna, these things are there.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is in the Aquarian Gospel. (Break) Dr. Wolf has said that he cannot accept from Krishna to Krista. Then, by that word, he has proved himself another rascal, because he does not know the Sanskrit way of philology. Sanskrit, there are vargas—ka-varga, ca-varga, ṭa-varga, ta-varga and pa-varga—five vargas. So Kṛṣṇa is in the ṭa-varga. Ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa. So Kṛṣṇa, it can be replaced by ṭa also. (laughter) He does not know that, this rascal. That is the difficulty. These Western rascals, little knowledge, they think very good scholar. That is the difficulty.

Brahmānanda: He is very proud.

Prabhupāda: Because he has got that doctorate title, so he thinks that he has conquered all over the world. Sapari jala-matrena phora-phoraya. (?) You'll find some fish, a small-little water: (makes sound) "phrr, phrr, phrr, phrr, phrr, phrr."

Brahmānanda: Making big noise.

Prabhupāda: And a big fish, they'll remain in the middle, whale fish. And a small fish, (makes noise) "phrr, phrr, phrr, phrr, phrr." Sapari phora phoraya. So he is a small fish. He is thinking that he knows everything. What does he know about these five vargas? Does he know anything? Ka-varga, ca-varga, ṭa-varga. So ṭa-varga means ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa. So the ṇa is there. So it can be replaced by ṭa.

Harikeśa: I think he was also the same one who was saying the Aquarian Gospel was just somebody's dream.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but you are also dreaming. Why do you claim that your dream is all right; his dream is wrong? Dreaming is wrong. If his dream is wrong—you are also dreaming—you are also wrong. Why do you claim that your dream is all right? That is nonsense. Everyone thinks that he is right and everyone is wrong. We do not think like that. We take the words of the authority, that's all. Or we have no respect(?). This is our program. That is the way of paramparā. Not only we accept, but our previous ācāryas, all the big, big ācāryas, they have accepted.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So why do you write book?

Devotee (2): Yes, he is being guru. He is teaching them to do without a guru.

Prabhupāda: Let everyone become his guru. Why you write books?

Indian man: ...one book that one should not write a book without the permission of a spiritual master.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You'll find in today's tape that Prahlāda Mahārāja recommending, that "Spiritual life begins by guru-śuśruṣaḥ, by serving guru." (break) ...Gosvāmi said, ādau gurvāśrayam: "The first beginning is to take shelter of the bona fide spiritual master." Sad-dharma-pracchāt: "Then inquire from him about the spiritual path." Sādhu-mārgānugamanam: "Follow the previous ācāryas." These are the steps. Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna said, śiṣyas te 'ha śādhi mām: "Now I become Your disciple. Teach me." And these rascals are more than Arjuna—"There is no need of guru." Huh? He says, śiṣyas te 'ham (BG 2.7). Why? He was already friend. Why he should submit himself as disciple? That is the beginning of spiritual life.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Rāmānujācārya has given quotation from śruti for every verse of Bhagavad-gītā. (Someone enters and offers obeisances) You read from the...

Bhavānanda: It starts off in big print, "Ācāryadeva Tridandi Swami Śrīla Bhaktivilāsa Tīrtha Mahārāja. All learned men are aware that in the dark days of India when the Hindu religion was in great danger..."

Prabhupāda: (laughs) This is nonsense.

Bhavānanda: "...our Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was born at Śrī Māyāpur, destined to remove the dark clouds which had overshadowed true religious thinking by traveling alone on foot throughout the length and breadth of India. Preaching His gospel of love, He brought about a religious upheaval which put an end to all religious conflicts and suicidal vissiferous(?) tendencies. The benign influence of His love philosophy made the whole of India a spiritually united cultural domain. Soul-enrapturing kīrtana music was organized from one end of the country to another. A neo-humanism based on love regarded as the highest objective of human existence held sway. The difference between man and man was forgotten, and the fundamental unity of human nature and human destiny was stressed upon. But in the early nineteenth century, true religion was at a very low ebb due to lack of proper publicity of literature and also for want of great ācāryas to propagate the cults in their true aspect. It was a dark period for the Caitanya or Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism when it fell from its highest transcendentalism to the lowest possible degradation because of so many abuses and evil practices which crept into it through plenty of pseudo-followers. Vaiṣṇavism was almost abandoned by the educated section of people. Its literature was hardly read. Kīrtana was looked upon not as a form of prayer but as a means of gratification by people of loose morals. Most of the Vaiṣṇava followers of the period lost their high standard of morality, their loving aestheticism, their intellectual superiority and devotional fervor, which were the main characteristics of the previous masters. The influx of Western ideas came in, and English educated people fell into the hands of Christians. Fortunately, at that time, we got a great Vaiṣṇava savant and scholar, Ṭhākura Kedāranātha Bhaktivinoda, who wrote widely and successfully created an interest among the educated public in Vaiṣṇava religion and literature.

Interview with Newsweek -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Interviewer: I understand you sleep very little. You sleep three to four hours a night. Do you feel that this is what any person who is spiritually actualized will also realize?

Prabhupāda: Yes, we see from the behavior of the Gosvāmīs. They practically had no material necessities. This eating, sleeping, mating and defending, practically they had no such thing. They are simply engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business.

Interviewer: Engaged in Kṛṣṇa's...?

Rāmeśvara: Kṛṣṇa's business or God's service.

Bali-mardana: He's setting the example of the previous spiritual masters.

Interviewer: Well, what I was interested in is why... Has he found that three to four hours is the necessary time period to sleep?

Bali-mardana: She's asking why is three to four hours the amount that you sleep. How have you reached that standard?

Prabhupāda: That is not artificially. The more you are engaged in spiritual activities, the more you become free from material activities. That is the test.

Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Mike Robinson: So you never doubt any of this, anything at all.

Prabhupāda: We are sure.

Mike Robinson: That you have found the truth.

Prabhupāda: Utsāhān dhairyāt niścayād. Find out this verse.

Harikeśa:

utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt

tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt

saṅga-tyagāt sato vṛtteḥ

ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati

(Upadeśāmṛta 3)

"There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles (such as śravanaṁ kīrtanam viṣṇoḥ smaranam (SB 7.5.23)—hearing, chanting and remembering Kṛṣṇa), (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything is there.

Mike Robinson: And you are sure this is the truth.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Caraṇāravindam: Prabhupāda, you wrote in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that the Caitanya mahā-mantra, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda, there is no offense to that. And so therefore in the Kali-yuga it is actually more beneficial...

Prabhupāda: Offense is that what is spoken by the ācāryas, if you do not follow, that is offense. Guror avajñā. That is offense. To chant Gaura-Nitāi is no offense. But if our previous gurus have chanted śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita—why should we go beyond that? That is guror avajñā. Even there is no aparādha, because guru, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, has sung like that and my guru has sung, we should follow that. We should not make any deviation. That is guror avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. So it comes to be one of the items of the daśa-vidha-aparādha. Guror avajñā.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: "First point: To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to the residents and the visitors of Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi. Second point: To propagate the consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, as it is revealed in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and to propagate that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, as is revealed in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta and the Caitanya Bhāgavata. 3) To bring all the members of ā together nearer to Lord Caitanya and thus develop within humanity at large that each soul is a part and parcel of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. 4) To teach and encourage the saṅkīrtana movement of congregational chanting of the holy names of God given in the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. 5) To erect temples, schools, colleges, universities, institutes of higher studies, hospitals and other buildings with or for the advancement of the objects of the Trust and to maintain, alter and improve the same, including existing buildings, and to furnish and equip the same. 6) In keeping with the spirit of the previous ācārya's vision of Gauḍīya-Mādhva sampradāya, to cement relations with all the sister temples of Gauḍīya-Mādhva sampradāya under one banner, to solidify preaching the message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as desired by His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and Śrīla Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda and all the previous ācāryas in this line. 7) With a view to achieving the aforementioned purposes and to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, and other books and other items. 8) To do all such other things for the attainment of the objects of the Trust. 9) Trustee members are appointed lifetime. The members should always be seven. 10) A meeting once a year at Śrīdhāma Māyāpur during Gaura-Pūrṇimā. 11) There should be a chairman, a treasurer, and a secretary elected each year. 12) A quorum of at least five members." Finishes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So these are the points, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that we have... We expanded this. Your original simple point was to form a Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity for developing Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi. So we have expanded it into these points if they please Your Divine Grace. We took the ideas mostly from your original points in the..., when you formed the New York corporation, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We used those points and just changed them around a little bit. Today that Jagadish, I forget his name, that lawyer from Mathurā, he is coming, so I'm going to be meeting with him, and I'll give him these points and see if he can draft a document, proper document. I'd like to get a document done in time so that when we go to Māyāpur, and especially at Gaura-Pūrṇimā, we can have the first meeting. (break)

Bhavānanda: ...mantras nonstop, while he's preparing. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is Vrindavan? I spoke with him for about two hours this afternoon, going over all of the points again, and, er, I explained everything to him. He said that he personally has very bad luck, very unlucky person. He said, "My only possible hope is my father."

Prabhupāda: To guide him.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So why don't you have a restaurant?

Jayapatākā: That was supposed to be done this year, but then Bombay took all the funds. Prabhupāda sanctioned it already last year. It was a good idea. But Māyāpur has become very popular. This is all due to your effort, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Simply due to your efforts Māyāpur and Navadvīpa is becoming so much more famous and popular. We want to make the Māyāpur temple so beautiful and make the city so nice that not only the Queen of England and the President of United States, but even the Russian and Chinese leaders, they'll all have to come to see this. They can't avoid. Will that please Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura? If all the leaders, all these presidents and kings would come and visit the temple at Māyāpur, that would please Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seems like your activities, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are so much pleasing to the previous ācāryas.

Jayapatākā: This is the secret you are showing, working towards satisfying the desires of the previous ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: Tāṅdera caraṇa-sebi-bhakta-sane bās. So you are all bhaktas. To live with you, to serve the lotus feet of the ācāryas, that's good...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We've already become famous as spiritual United Nations.

Jayapatākā: You've given the secret for success. (break)

Prabhupāda: If possible, make some improvement in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's birthplace.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is your great mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you are allowing us to do a little helping to you in your service to the previous ācāryas. We are completely fallen, without any spiritual credit, but still, you are allowing us to help you in a little way.

Jayapatākā: Without your intervention we would have no hope.

Prabhupāda: Where is Jayapatākā's mother?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is Jayapatākā's mother?

Jayapatākā: She's in California. Citsukhānanda Prabhu said that... (to Citsukhānanda:) You said you saw her in Los Angeles? She is coming to the temple? My mother? What is she doing?

Citsukhānanda: She's coming now. There's another lady, Mrs. Forkash, and she has been working with Mrs. Forkash, and she's been attending the programs and also organizing for good publicity for the movement all over America. And she's been attending major functions that we do. Like we had a major function with all the important people of Los Angeles—movie stars, directors, politicians—and so she also assisted, and she was preaching, speaking about Kṛṣṇa consciousness.