Traps in our way back to Godhead

The third part of my book Traps in our path back to Godhead. How the 13 apasampradayas are resurging in our times and how to prevent that.

Dec 01, 2024

In his Vaishnava Ke, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gives a list of three prominent qualities of apasampradayas: anitya-vaibhava (hankering for material success), kaminira-kama (illicit sexual affairs) and mayavada (philosophical speculation).

Many of the groups we studied may seem to be too exotic to be relevant in our current day and age, but it’s important to notice how their mistakes can be repeated even in our times. These are not just isolated historical examples, but different spiritual diseases we carry inside, which may manifest in different ways at different times and circumstances.

If we look around in the modern world, we may find many different groups that manifest characteristics of different apasampradayas. Hippies, for example, had much in common with the baulas and daraveshas, while much of the new age movement is based on sahajiya ideas. Tantric sex is prominent in many philosophies, just like with the Neda-Nidi, and the tendency to use spiritual practices to attain power and dominance, like in the case of the ativadis, is certainly common. It’s also not difficult to see in practice the tendency of blindly following religious leaders like the kartabhaja.

However, as our movement grows, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to the introduction of similar ideas. Since our movement is becoming bigger, there is a general tendency to make things more liberal and accommodating. At the same time, with so many devotees, the leaders can’t be aware of everything that is going on. Also, the need to keep growing starts to conflict with the idea of maintaining purity. Srila Prabhupada alerts us to this tendency of diluting things with the excuse of reaching more people in many passages.

Chapter 3: Traps in our way back to Godhead

“So far the Road Show and the Yoga Village are concerned, these things should be stopped. Simply perform our kirtan. If we divert our attention in this way, the whole thing will gradually deteriorate. He is going far away. All these things are nonsense inventions. Such inventing spirit will ruin our this movement. People may come to see, some will become devotees, but such devotees will not stay because they are attracted by some show and not by the real thing or spiritual life according to the standard of Lord Caitanya. Our standard is to have Kirtan, start temples. What is this ‘Road Show’ and ‘Yoga Village?’ It will be another hippie edition. Gradually the Krsna consciousness idea will evaporate: another change, another change, every day another change. Stop all this. Simply have kirtan, nothing else. Don’t manufacture ideas.” (Srila Prabhupada, letter to Sudama, 05 November 1972)

Sometimes, sahajiya tendencies may appear. Two factors that are prominent in such sangas are a pervasive mood of enjoyment and the presence of illicit relationships and sexual affairs between the members. These are two prominent characteristics of the sahajiyas. A third factor is an aversion to authority.

A sahajiya sees himself as the center and therefore he chants and does other activities with the purpose of enjoying, while a devotee sees Krsna as the center, and therefore conducts his activities with the purpose of giving pleasure to Him. A sahajiya sings a kirtana to enjoy the rhythms and melodies, while the devotee sings to give pleasure to the Lord, with a devotional attitude. In other words, the sahajiya sings to satisfy his own senses, while the devotee sings to satisfy Krsna’s senses. The result is that the sahajiya gets material satisfaction, while the devotee gets transcendental bliss. The kirtana of the devotee awakens devotion in the heart, while the sahajiya kirtana awakens material lust.

A second problem with this enjoying mentality is that it makes one likely to execute only some aspects of the process while dismissing others. One can be thus attracted to kirtanas and to discussions about confidential activities of Krsna with the gopis for example, but not very much into following the four principles, or in maintaining a proper sadhana. Because of this, not only the quality of the spiritual activities are lower (since the mentality is inappropriate), but the practice also becomes seriously unbalanced. This in turn makes it very hard for one to control his senses, which leads to the second problem: illicit connections with members of the opposite sex (or even with members of the same sex). One thing leads to the next.

A consequence of these two problems is an aversion to authority. One who understands that he has problems and needs to improve will be naturally propense to hear superior persons, and by following their instructions he will be able to advance. One contaminated by a sahajiya mentality, on the other hand, will see himself as someone already very advanced and thus belittle others. Because his ego will remain too big, he will not be able to surrender to proper authorities, being thus unable to advance. He will follow similar fools, or try to become a leader himself.

Another characteristic is to mistake material emotions for spiritual development. Material emotions are just on the mental platform, someone can laugh or cry, but that doesn't mean much: professional actors can do both without difficulty. Real spiritual realization comes as a result of sacrificing our life to serve Krsna. Most traps in our path come exactly from trying to find shortcuts in this process.

“One thing, if we are not very careful to always stick to the point of regulative principles and purest standards of high living, then everything will spoil very quickly and the whole show will be a farce. So impress this point in your preaching for training the younger devotees, they will follow your example in all respects.” (Srila Prabhupada, letter to Rebatinandana, 02 February 1972)

In other groups, one may find materialistic tendencies. It usually starts with the infiltration of materialistic and humanistic values in the practice of devotional service and results in a growing deviation in the direction of pious life, material development, material relationships, and sense gratification. The idea of gradually becoming free from all material contamination is thus replaced by the idea of using spiritual life as a means to be happy in this world, to have a prosperous life, and so on. The center is shifted from Krsna to material prosperity and social life and the idea of preaching changes from giving people Krsna consciousness to material welfare activities, and the meditation is shifted from our previous acaryas to pious persons like Gandhi or Mother Teresa, who dedicated their lives to help others, but ended being restricted to material philanthropy due to a lack of pure spiritual knowledge.

“Those who imitate an uttama-adhikari by flaunting a sense of oneness or fellowship but who behave on the bodily platform are actually false philanthropists. The conception of universal brotherhood must be learned from an uttama-adhikari and not from a foolish person who does not properly understand the individual soul or the Supreme Lord's Supersoul expansion, who dwells everywhere.” (Isopanisad, mantra 6, purport)

Naturally, one who is not prepared to become a pure devotee instantly may combine material development with the practice of devotional service (Krsna Himself recommends this in the Bhagavad-Gita), but there is a difference in combining material development and spiritual practice as a means to attain a higher platform in the future and consider this level of mixed devotional service as a goal in itself.

Naturally, to help others, even if in a purely material sense, is good, and someone who dedicates his life to philanthropy is surely a pious person, but as the saying goes, "the good is the enemy of the best." Different from ordinary teachers and religious reformists, our acaryas did not come to just make people more pious, but to give the unalloyed path of pure devotional service, that can bring one straight back to Godhead. The main difference of Vaishnavism to other, more mundane religious paths, is that the goal of our process is not merely to make us happy in this world by adopting a pious life, but to transfer us back to Godhead, away from any kind of material contamination.

Similarly, our goal when helping people is not to simply make them comfortable in this material world but to make them gradually understand that they are not this body, giving them spiritual knowledge and engaging them in devotional service as much as possible. Sometimes, we do this directly, by distributing books, performing kirtana, organizing public programs, distributing prasadam, etc., and sometimes we may use indirect ways, using different artifices to make the public interested, and then ministering spiritual knowledge in homeopathic doses. In both cases, be it by spreading spiritual knowledge directly or indirectly, the goal must be the same. As Srila Prabhupada brilliantly defines in his purport to SB 1.4.1:

“The original purpose of the text must be maintained. No obscure meaning should be screwed out of it, yet it should be presented in an interesting manner for the understanding of the audience. This is called realization.”

If however, at some point, the goal becomes to just help people be comfortable in this world, instead of getting free from it, then we fall down into a mundane philanthropic level, that actually gives little real benefit to the people we are trying to help. In this case, we may commit the same mistake as Gandhi, who wanted to help people, but due to imperfect spiritual knowledge, ended up actually doing more harm than good, disseminating incorrect concepts, like the “daridra Narayana”, and directing people's attention towards political change, instead of spiritual cultivation. These were points opposed by both Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, as can be observed in SB 6.19.9 purport, the Vyasa-puja lecture from 17 August 1968, and many other references.

In other words, we get off-track when the object starts being the body and not the soul. This tendency may grow to the point that one gets interested in simply leading a pious life, doing rituals to improve his material situation, and accumulating pious credits, instead of obtaining love of Godhead or achieving liberation. In this case, one falls down to the level of a caste brahmana.

Naturally, there is nothing wrong in making money and using it for Krsna, or in trying to help people in poor material conditions. However, if one falls into the idea of just taking religion as a means to live a pious life and thus improve his standard of material prosperity and sense gratification, or simply do material philanthropy without spiritual support, it can become a serious obstacle in his spiritual path. It becomes worse if one starts to create some new philosophy based on that and starts to try to spread it to others. In this case, it becomes some kind of new apasampradaya.

Sahajiya and Mayavada

Sahajiyism and most other philosophical discrepancies walk hand in hand with mayavada, not necessarily in the sense of impersonalism, but in the sense of mental speculation.

One of the most notable characteristics of the mayavadis is their talent for twisting the meaning of the scriptures to milk out the desired conclusion. Instead of studying the scriptures to find the real conclusion, they start with the conclusion that they want and twist the meaning of the scriptures to fit it.

Similarly, we may have the tendency to twist the philosophy and even statements from Srila Prabhupada to sustain our own speculations. In the past, this gave birth to the ritvik philosophy and other adventures, and in the present, it continues to give birth to new philosophies, groups, and movements. Frequently, the leaders of such cults target weak yatras to recruit new members, and thus such groups prosper at the cost of the lack of philosophical understanding of many of our devotees. This lack of understanding of the essential points of our philosophy is one of the greatest dangers for the future of our movement.

One of the main characteristics of any bonafide acarya is consistency. By studying and understanding a good portion of Srila Prabhupada’s writings, one will notice that all the basic points of the philosophy are repeated in many different passages and adjusted to different contexts. The basic message is consistent. Once one understands this basic message, he will be able to easily spot dissonant ideas and passages taken out of context, and thus identify speculation.

As a rule, bogus philosophies are based on indirect interpretations or isolated passages taken out of context. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains:

“Baba! The Vedas have no shoreline and are unsurpassed. Their precise meaning can only be understood by studying each and every sloka of the Upanisads separately, and by deriving the meaning from all of them combined. If one singles out a particular sentence, he may always be diverted by some misinterpretation.” (Jaiva Dharma ch. 18)

Frequently, devotees enter into battles of quotes but, as explained, just isolated quotes don’t necessarily lead to the right conclusion (frequently the opposite happens). It’s common that devotees would do a search in Vedabase, collect quotes that sustain their idea (ignoring other quotes that may suggest otherwise), and in this way try to use Srila Prabhupada as a hammer to try to impose their ideas on others. The mistake here is to start with the conclusion and then try to find quotes that support it, instead of trying to understand what is the real instruction, by studying Srila Prabhupada’s teachings as a whole. This comes from raja-guna, the desire for conquest. It’s not the proper approach to spiritual knowledge.

Even the mayavada philosophy is supported like that by its partisans: by using twisted logic and quotes taken out of context. To reach the right conclusions, one needs to have a deeper understanding of the philosophy and put things in the proper context. This comes after years of study and realization.

As stated in the Laghu Bhagavatamrta (5.327), “When contradictions are found in the Vedic scripture, it is not that one statement is wrong. Rather both statements should be seen in such a way that there is no contradiction.”

There are different statements from Srila Prabhupada spoken in different contexts and even cases of statements that may appear contradictory. If one goes deeper, however, it will be revealed that they are just applications of different principles in different contexts.

One should be able to understand and harmonize different quotes from Srila Prabhupada. It’s not about making a search in the Vedabase and counting the quotes that say “yes” and ones that say “no”.

There was a case when Srila Prabhupada authorized a disciple to divorce, answering a letter. The servant became confused, How could Srila Prabhupada give him an instruction that contradicts his general stance? He voiced his question and Prabhupada answered that he would divorce anyway, therefore he was authorizing him, so he would, at least, not be guilty of disobeying his spiritual master.

We can see that in this example there is a conflict of two principles: a) to not divorce, b) to not disobey the orders of the spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada adjusted, and gave the instruction that was more beneficial to the disciple, according to the situation. One who would try to apply this letter in a different situation, using it to sustain that Srila Prabhupada authorized us to divorce would commit a serious mistake.

One should first try to understand the principles and then the details. If one tries to apply the details without understanding the principles or tries to apply instructions outside of their context (especially instructions from the letters, which are mostly answers to particular situations, and thus often not applicable outside of that specific context), one will certainly commit serious mistakes.

The example of the “Gopi-bhava club”

In the second volume of “A Transcendental Diary”, HG Hari-sauri Prabhu narrates in detail the reaction of Srila Prabhupada to the appearance of the “The Gopi Bhava Club” in 1976, which is considered the first sahajiya movement within ISKCON.

It was very mild compared to many things one may see today, but still, Srila Prabhupada saw it as a great danger to our movement and dealt very swiftly and strongly with all those involved. This episode serves as an example of how subtle the sahajiya influence can be, and how dangerous it is, not only to ourselves but to our movement as a whole.

“Prabhupada had just sat down in the middle room for breakfast when Pradyumna came in, obviously quite disturbed. Prabhupada allowed him to come up to his small table, already set out with his silver thali of cut fruits, puffed rice and fried cashews. Pradyumna began to complain about the study group Radhaballabha mentioned yesterday. He told Prabhupada one devotee was reported to have said that the Gita was too bodily conscious and "external" and that he became inspired only by reading about Krsna's confidential, internal dealings, especially those of the gopis in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.
Srila Prabhupada was so disturbed by this news that the piece of fruit he held in his hand never made it into his mouth. Abandoning breakfast, he went back into his darsana room and called for all GBC men and sannyasis, as well as for several members of the study group. He demanded to know who was involved”...
“By this time the men were in his room and for almost three quarters of an hour he strongly rebuked the group, angrily refuting its reasoning. He compared their exclusive focus on the gopis to "jumping like monkeys."
Puranjana said their intention was to simply scrutinize the activities of the gopis and develop the same aspirations because this was recommended by Lord Caitanya.
Prabhupada got even angrier. He was in no mood for being mollified. "You want to scrutinizingly study Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instructions, but why just the parts about the gopis? Why don't you scrutinizingly study where Caitanya Mahaprabhu says guru more murkha dekhi' karila sasana, that His guru found Him to be a fool and told Him he was not fit for anything but chanting Hare Krsna? Why don't you scrutinize that part? First become a fool like Caitanya Mahaprabhu before jumping over like monkey!"
Puranjana tried to reassure him that they were not attempting to imitate the gopis' love of Krsna; they were simply studying the descriptions so that they could develop such desires.
Prabhupada flushed, his top lip quivering. "First deserve, then desire! There is no question of desire unless one is actually liberated. Until that point you simply do whatever service you are given. So long as there is any pinch of material desire there is no question of desiring on the spiritual platform!"
He said the intimate gopi-lilas were discussed by Lord Caitanya only among His three most confidential associates—Svarupa Damodara, Ramananda Raya, and Sikhi Mahiti. Siddha-deha is for liberated souls—no one else.
Sulocana said that they had thought it was all right because it was in Prabhupada's books, and they were only reading his books. Prabhupada told them that just because a drug store has every type of drug it does not mean that one can get them without prescription. The doctor prescribes according to the disease. He said that from the beginning stages of devotional service up to the highest rasas, everything is there in his books, but they are not all to be immediately studied.
He ordered them not to hold any more meetings and to disband the "club." He directly linked this sahajiya tendency to devotees meeting with the babajis in Vrndavana, and he strongly criticized Jagannatha dasa (although he is not one of the study group) for even leaving his ears unblocked while the man spoke to him about so-called siddha-deha.
After sending them out duly chastened, Prabhupada explained to us that this sahajiya philosophy means the preaching will be finished. "So try to save them," he advised the GBC men. "In Vrndavana many sahajiyas would ask, 'Oh Svamiji, why are you bothering to preach? Why not just be content to stay in Vrndavana and do your bhajana?'”. (A Transcendental Diary, vol. 2. Hari Sauri Prabhu)

On the next day, Srila Prabhupada continued discussing the issue during his morning walk:

"Going out in the car for his morning walk Prabhupada gave further warnings to Tamal Krishna and Ramesvara Maharajas on the dangers of the sahajiya tendency spreading in ISKCON. Tamal Krishna is returning to New York a little early because he is concerned that it might be spreading there also. Pradyumna prabhu's ongoing investigation has discovered that the gopi-bhava group have been transmitting their ideas to other temple communities by some sort of unofficial newsletter.
Tamal Krishna told Prabhupada that one of the symptoms he has noticed about these people is that they don't go out on sankirtana.
As soon as he said that Srila Prabhupada cut in. "Then everything will be finished. Preaching will be finished. In this sahajiya party, then preaching will be finished." Declaring the siddha-pranali process as nonsense, Prabhupada told us where the whole thing was coming from. "They have learned it from these Radha-kunda babajis."
"From Radha-kunda babajis?" Tamal Krishna asked.
"Babajis, yes," Prabhupada reasserted. "After all, they're fool, rascals, so whatever they say..."
Ramesvara said he felt that the danger lay in their use of Prabhupada's own books for authority. But Prabhupada told him it was all right that they are taking some authority, the problem is that they are not taking all the instructions in his books. "That I've already explained. Why these rascals do not take the lessons of Caitanya Mahaprabhu that we are all rascals, fools? No. That they will not take. They'll take the Radharani's bhava. What Caitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching by His practical life, that we have to take."
Ramesvara repeated one of the statements from their newsletter. "Regarding service in a reverential mood; so they have found some quote, that reverential devotional service is an impediment toward developing pure love."
Tamal Krishna added another. "They quote that regulative principles are a hindrance on the path. There's a statement somewhere in one of your books that when one attains the highest platform..."
"Then where is that highest platform?" Prabhupada interrupted.
"One must go through stages," Ramesvara said. "You gave the example of trying to get an M.A. degree."
"Yes," Prabhupada agreed. "One has to come to that highest stage. It is not forbidden. That may be ideal, but not for the neophytes. One who does not know ABCD, what he will know about M.A. degrees? That they do not know. They think that they have already passed M.A. degree. That is their fault."
Tamal Krishna Maharaja brought up another item from the newsletter. "There's another statement, I saw them, where it says, it's a quote, that you can treat Krsna as your lover and Krsna will reciprocate."
"And they underlined the two words 'you can' treat Krsna as your lover," I added. "In this way they're taking your quotes out of context."
"This is one of the main ideas in their philosophy, that the living entity can desire to have any relationship he wants with Krsna," Ramesvara said.
"That's all right," Prabhupada told us, "he can desire. I already explained: first deserve, then desire. You are rascal, how you can desire? You have no qualification, you desire to be High Court judge. What is this nonsense?"
Ramesvara was keen to get Srila Prabhupada's response to every possible argument. "But then they have an answer."
Prabhupada obliged him. "What is that answer?"
"Let me just try it anyway, to keep my mind thinking..."
"How you can try it?" Prabhupada challenged. "First of all, be qualified, a big lawyer, then you become High Court judge. Where is that qualification? You are after illicit sex and bidi, and you want to be associated with the gopis."
"They say that 'In ISKCON, we do not...'"
"Let them say all nonsense," Prabhupada replied. "They are disqualified. Sahajiya babajis, that's all." (A Transcendental Diary, vol. 2. Hari Sauri Prabhu)

Later, it was revealed that some members of the group were not properly following the four principles. There were cases of unmarried ladies getting pregnant and even one case of abortion. To this, Srila Prabhupada answered: "That is their fault. They want to utilize the love affairs of Krsna and gopis for their debauchery. That is a support for their debauchery. That is sahajiya."

These views are also expressed in a letter to Visvambhara (14 December 1972):

"So far your question about the gopis, in the beginning there is no such question. In the beginning we have to follow the principles of devotional service rigidly, like chanting 16 rounds, regularly following the instructions of the Spiritual Master, which includes study, temple worship, sankirtan, like that.”
“Going to girls and making them pregnant, then talking of gopis, that is going on, that is nonsense. Without coming to the perfectional stage, if anyone tries to understand the gopis he becomes a sahajiya."

Apart from breaking the principles, one more symptom of the members that was described was a lack of interest in preaching activities. This is another symptom of a sensual mentality since material consciousness leads to selfishness. At the time, Srila Prabhupada warned that if these ideas would spread inside ISKCON, our preaching would be finished. As he mentioned in another occasion: “Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he said that ‘When our men will be sahajiya, oh, they'll be more dangerous.’” (Room Conversation, 24 January 1977)

In his purport in SB 4.24.45-46, Srila Prabhupada further elaborates, making the point that without following the principles of pancaratrika-vidhi, it’s not possible for a neophyte to make advancement. It’s true that, due to intimacy, on a pure platform there is no question of offense in service, but to get there we need to first treat our disease of material lust and enviousness of Krsna, which is done by serving Him according to the rules and regulations:

“Without serving Krsna according to the vidhi-marga regulative principles of the pancaratrika-vidhi, unscrupulous persons want to jump immediately to the raga-marga principles. Such persons are called sahajiya. There are also demons who enjoy depicting Krsna and His pastimes with the gopis, taking advantage of Krsna by their licentious character. These demons who print books and write lyrics on the raga-marga principles are surely on the way to hell. Unfortunately, they lead others down with them. Devotees in Krsna consciousness should be very careful to avoid such demons. One should strictly follow the vidhi-marga regulative principles in the worship of Laksmi-Narayana, although the Lord is present in the temple as Radha-Krsna. Radha-Krsna includes Laksmi-Narayana; therefore when one worships the Lord according to the regulative principles, the Lord accepts the service in the role of Laksmi-Narayana. In The Nectar of Devotion full instructions are given about the vidhi-marga worship of Radha-Krsna, or Laksmi-Narayana. Although there are sixty-four kinds of offenses one can commit in vidhi-marga worship, in raga-marga worship there is no consideration of such offenses because the devotees on that platform are very much elevated, and there is no question of offense. But if we do not follow the regulative principles on the vidhi-marga platform and keep our eyes trained to spot offenses, we will not make progress.” (SB 4.24.45-46 purport)

Being sincere

Only a few of us are completely pure, perfect devotees. This means that most of us have some particular problems or deficiencies. These may go from relatively minor transgressions, like eating food cooked by non-devotees, television, etc. to much more serious problems. This doesn’t disqualify one as a devotee: if we keep following the spiritual process and praying, Krsna will eventually help us to leave these bad habits behind. He even ensures in BG 9.30-31 that: “Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination. He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace.”

In chapter nine of the Sri Gitamrta (translation of HH Purnachandra Goswami) this point is explained in detail:

“Arjuna: You deliver only Your devotees and bring them to You, not the non-devotees. Does this mean that You also have attachment and aversion?
Krishna: No, I'm not partial, but My devotees are in Me, and I am in them. Actually I am in everything, and everything is in Me. My devotees are attached to Me, but others, have no dealings with Me. Practically speaking, for them I do not exist. Actually there are so many living entities and I maintain everyone therefore I am equal like rain. But some trees watered by the rain give sweet fruit and others give bitter fruit. That is not a defect of the rain. It is their nature, it is not My attachment and aversion. I am rewarding equally, but My devotee gets special treatment, so much so, that even if he commits the most abominable action --- if he's still determined to serve Me --- I do not reject him. Rather, he is still to be considered saintly.
Arjuna: Yes, I accept that he is a sadhu when he's worshipping You, but if he's doing nonsense, then he is not a sadhu.
Krishna: No Arjuna, in every regard he's a sadhu because he's properly resolved to serve Me. He's thinking that, "I am unable to give up this sinful activity and I'll probably go to hell, but I'll never give up devotional service to Krishna." Therefore I consider him a sadhu.
Arjuna: But how do You accept the service of such an irreligious man whose heart is polluted by lust, anger and greed? Aren't his offerings contaminated by these things?
Krishna: He very quickly becomes righteous and I accept him because he laments, remembering Me again and again. And because of lamentation his heart burns and he thinks, "Alas, Alas! there's no other devotee lower than me. I'm a black spot for devotees". Again and again he curses himself, and becomes purified due to this repentance. Or you can take it in this way, Arjuna. Such a person even when committing sins, his righteousness existed in him in a subtle form. He's taking the medicine of devotion although the fever remains. He is not afraid, for he knows that the fever of improper activities will go away by the power of devotion. The sinful acts are like snakes with the fangs removed. Thus he obtains eternal peace, for his lust will go away and never return.”

Devotees who are serious just keep a humble position. They just think: “Ok, I have this problem, I’m not strong enough, please Krsna, help me, I want to leave this behind”. When someone has this mentality, it’s just a matter of time, since his sincerity is the ticket for his advancement.

Someone who is not so sincere may become a finger-pointer, putting the blame for his faults on the shoulders of others, as if they were forcing him. Persons who are even less sincere will not admit that it is a problem, and they may go far enough to create a whole new philosophy to justify and defend their position. Finally, someone who is crooked, will not be satisfied with just doing wrong, putting the blame on others, or even creating a new philosophy. He will also want to spread it to others, to create his club, so he can have company. That’s how apasampradayas are started.

"There are many so-called followers of the Vaisnava cult in the line of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who do not scrupulously follow the conclusions of the sastras, and therefore they are considered to be apa-sampradaya, which means outside of the sampradaya." (CC Adi 7.48 Purport)

“Time, place and circumstance”

As devotees, we should be very careful about not changing the philosophy and standards of our movement when teaching. We may explain the philosophy in our own words, create new ways of spreading Krsna Consciousnes according to our particular talents and the interests of the public, and allow people to follow and evolve at their own pace, but we need to be careful to not change the philosophy in the process. In other words, the presentation may change according to the circumstances, but the message must always be preserved. Srila Prabhupada emphasizes this point in his purport to SB 1.4.1, where he summarizes the qualities of a spiritual teacher:

“Personal realization does not mean that one should, out of vanity, attempt to show one’s own learning by trying to surpass the previous acarya. He must have full confidence in the previous acarya, and at the same time he must realize the subject matter so nicely that he can present the matter for the particular circumstances in a suitable manner. The original purpose of the text must be maintained. No obscure meaning should be screwed out of it, yet it should be presented in an interesting manner for the understanding of the audience. This is called realization.”

A similar idea is given in his purport to CC Adi 7.31-32, where he explains that an acarya, an especially empowered preacher, must find the ways and means by which Krsna consciousness can be expressed, without fitting in trends or stereotypes. Being empowered by Krsna, an acarya may frequently break the established tradition and find new and revolutionary ways to spread Krsna consciousness:

“Here is an important point. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to invent a way to capture the Mayavadis and others who did not take interest in the Krsna consciousness movement. This is the symptom of an acarya. An acarya who comes for the service of the Lord cannot be expected to conform to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means by which Krsna consciousness may be spread. Sometimes jealous persons criticize the Krsna consciousness movement because it engages equally both boys and girls in distributing love of Godhead. Not knowing that boys and girls in countries like Europe and America mix very freely, these fools and rascals criticize the boys and girls in Krsna consciousness for intermingling. But these rascals should consider that one cannot suddenly change a community's social customs. However, since both the boys and the girls are being trained to become preachers, those girls are not ordinary girls but are as good as their brothers who are preaching Krsna consciousness. Therefore, to engage both boys and girls in fully transcendental activities is a policy intended to spread the Krsna consciousness movement. These jealous fools who criticize the intermingling of boys and girls will simply have to be satisfied with their own foolishness because they cannot think of how to spread Krsna consciousness by adopting ways and means that are favorable for this purpose. Their stereotyped methods will never help spread Krsna consciousness. Therefore, what we are doing is perfect by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, for it is He who proposed to invent a way to capture those who strayed from Krsna consciousness.” (CC Adi 7.31-32)

On the one hand, we should be able to adapt our presentation according to the culture and mentality of the people we are trying to teach, but on the other hand, we must be able to do it without changing the message. That is actually the main principle.

While empowered acaryas may frequently institute reforms with the purpose of steering the mission back on the right track, ordinary teachers should be much more careful in introducing changes, since it’s due to the changes instituted by ordinary teachers over time that empowered acaryas have to come from time to time to straighten things out.

Inexperienced devotees can create havoc by changing or diluting things with the excuse of trying to reach more people.

One particular thing that I started to understand only after many years of spiritual practice is that our particular notions about Krsna consciousness frequently have very little to do with what Krsna consciousness really is. Only a self-realized soul can understand Krsna consciousness in its totality. As conditioned souls, we are frequently just like the blind fellows trying to understand what an elephant is. One was touching the leg and came to the conclusion that the elephant is just like a pillar, the other was touching the tail and concluded that the elephant is just like a rope, another one was touching the ears and concluded that the elephant is just like a fan.

Similarly, someone could think that Krsna consciousness is all about following rules and doing different rituals, another may think that it’s all about being clean, dressing in a specific way and putting nice tilaka, another that it’s all about doing austerities, another that it’s all about doing festivals and having fun, another that it is all about being celibate and not having wife and children, while another could think the opposite, that it is all about family life.

That’s why it's injuncted that only an acarya can change the practices of spiritual life, adjusting standards according to time, place, and circumstances. As neophytes, we tend to corrupt the process, by adjusting the standards to suit our limited views.

Lord Caitanya is so merciful that despite our limitations He ordered us to spread Krsna Consciousnes, but we should be careful, humbly understanding our limitations. Most of the time we do good to ourselves and others by following the instructions and precedents set by Srila Prabhupada and the previous acaryas, instead of trying to concoct new things based on our limited understanding of spiritual life.

Another point is that we need to be careful to really understand the reasons why we do different things in our spiritual lives. We need to understand why we dress in a particular way, why we worship the deity and the reason different standards of cleanliness and worship exist, why we grow Tulasis, what is the significance of the different items offered in pujas, why we use particular melodies for the different aratis of the day, why we use tilaka, why we adopt different cultural aspects of Vedic culture and so on. Everything that we do in our spiritual practice has a meaning and such meaning must be understood. We should not do things just because others do, but because we understand their reason and importance. When we don’t understand the reason we follow different rules and rituals we will tend to change them over time.

Some say that people are driven away because of devotees using dhotis, saris, tilaka, worshiping the deity, and so on, but in reality, the problems are not in the clothes or the practices, but in the fact that frequently we fail in presenting them in the proper way, and explaining to people what they mean. If we don’t know why we are doing certain things we will fail to make people appreciate them.

Other times we may preserve something in a superficial or external way, but twist the meaning, creating some corrupted practice. For example, sometimes ladies dress in saris in ways that show most of their bodies, failing to understand that the main purpose of the sari is to make a lady look chaste and elegant. If at one point this would become the norm, new ladies would learn that to dress in sari means to dress in a sensual way, and thus the essence would be lost.

“I have seen your advertisements as shown to me by Shyamasundar, and I think you have made the thing less important. This kind of ad is not good, it is not grave. Our process is to show Krsna consciousness as it is, not as others want to see it. By showing Krsna consciousness in this way, you are making the thing less important. It is not that we should change to accommodate the public, but that we should change the public to accommodate us.” ...
“These books are the best advertising, they are better than advertising. If we simply present Krsna consciousness in a serious and attractive way, without need to resort to fashionable slogans or tricks, that is sufficient. Our unique asset is our purity. No one anywhere can match it. That will be noticed eventually and appreciated, as long as we do not diminish or neglect the highest standard of purity in performing our routine work, not that we require to display or announce ourselves in very clever ways to get attention. No, our pure standard is enough. Let us stand on that basis.” (Srila Prabhupada, letter to Yogesvara, 28 December 1971)

When we start to do things without understanding their meaning, two problems quickly appear. One is that we inadvertently start making changes. Another is that we start to do things in a corrupted way, that looks strange and without purpose. We start to look increasingly strange in the eyes of the public, looking more and more like a cult. Then, when we eventually start to realize this, we tend to lose confidence in our own practices and culture and merge back into the dominating materialistic culture.

For example, in Brazil there is a group of Christians where the ladies dress in a particular type of skirt, that is very tight, made from jeans and that goes only to the knees. This type of skirt is far from being chaste and doesn’t look very elegant, but still, almost all ladies of this group use it, as if it's a symbol of their faith. There is a passage in the Bible that says that ladies shouldn’t wear men's clothes (which is usually taken in the sense that they should wear dresses and skirts), but nowhere is it said that they need to use tight and short skirts made from jeans. Someone created this idea at some point and then all the ladies started using it, without questioning why. Such cultural fetishes can start at some point and then become standard practices in the group for many generations, up to the point that nobody understands why it’s done, or why such standards were established in the first place. It’s simply human nature to follow the particular cultural traces of the group, even without understanding them.

There is a description of an experiment on monkeys about conditioning that illustrates this point. It may be or it may not be real (there is indication it may be just an urban mith) but still, this description gives us an important lesson. Certainly, we can observe this pattern of behavior in practice, if not in monkeys, at least in human beings.

There was a cage with a group of monkeys, where the researchers would put a bunch of bananas on top of a ladder. When one of the monkeys would try to go up the ladder to take it, the experimenter would knock him down with a stream of cold water and then proceed to splash all the other monkeys. After this was repeated a few times, the monkeys started to hold and beat up the ones that would try to catch the bananas, until finally none of the monkeys would dare to try to get the bananas. Then, one of the old monkeys was removed and a new monkey was put in the cage. The new monkey quickly tried to get the bananas, but he was held and beaten by the others. When a second monkey was changed by a new one, this first new monkey helped the others to beat him when he tried to grab the bananas. Then, one by one, all the old monkeys were removed, until only new monkeys remained. None of these new monkeys had ever been splashed by the cold water, but still, when a new monkey would be put in the cage, they would all jump and beat him up when he tried to grab the bananas, even without knowing why. It had become a tradition.

As devotees, we are supposed to be the most intelligent class, higher even than brahmanas. We need to understand the reason and purpose behind all the aspects of our spiritual practices, otherwise, we risk becoming just some sect, blindly following some kind of corrupted version of the Vaishnava culture.