Navigating the pitfalls of a spiritual institution
Our movement has two aspects: the institution, a kind of impersonal entity, and the devotees, who are the personal side. One can deal with one side, with the other, or with a mixture of both.
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We all know that God is a person, Kṛṣṇa. However, at the same time, He has an impersonal aspect, the Brahmajyoti, that is worshiped by Brahmavadis and other types of impersonalists. As Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhagavad-Gita, one goes where his attention is focused; therefore, one who worships the impersonal Brahmajoti goes there, and one who worships Kṛṣṇa as a person goes to the spiritual planets.
One thing we may not notice, however, is that our movement also has two aspects: one side is the institution, a kind of impersonal entity. Another is the devotees, who are the personal side. One can deal with the impersonal entity, one can deal with the devotees, or some mixture of both, and, of course, our mileage will vary according to what we are relating to.
Śrila Prabhupada wanted to create a house where the whole world could live. We can have a few friends, and they can be very nice people, but without a big enough house, it will be difficult to live together with them. We are not yogis who can live in the forest. Similarly, we may have groups of devotees here and there, but without an institution, it is difficult to keep ourselves together. The institution is like a house, so to speak. In one sense, it’s secondary, but in another sense, it’s vital.
When we look from the institutional side, our movement is not so different from other organized religious groups. It is important since it’s the vehicle created by Śrila Prabhupada to spread Krsna Consciousness, but just like other organized religious groups, it may involve politics, power struggles, and so on. Our movement is not composed only of perfect people (if it were, we would not be accepted in it!), and therefore, despite its spiritual value, it’s not going to be perfect on the organizational side. We have to learn to deal with our own imperfections and also with the imperfections of other people.
Some consider organized religion intrinsically bad, arguing that people should think by themselves and self-organize, but unfortunately, this doesn’t work very well in Kali-yuga. Without guidance and organization, the masses just become gradually more and more degraded. Just like it’s not possible to have a country without some form of government, it’s not possible to have a large spiritual community without some sort of institution.
Before Śrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Vaiṣnavas used to be grouped in small groups, each one led by a different acarya. This allowed devotees to associate and maintain their spiritual lives to a certain extent, but it was not effective in terms of spreading Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. At that time, our movement was very small and restricted to certain regions, and most people could not distinguish real Vaiṣnavas from people coming from different deviant sects like the sahajiyas and bauls.
Śrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had the idea to create a unified movement that could effectively spread Kṛṣṇa Consciousness all over the world. This idea was put into practice by Śrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and later by Śrila Prabhupada, leading to the creation of our spiritual society. We can see that this brought a great change to the world, allowing millions of people to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa Consciousness through our temples, public programs, book distribution, and so on. All of this would be impossible without an organization. To try to abolish organized religion is a type of anarchist mentality that doesn’t bring any good results.
On the other hand, it’s also a mistake to go too much into the institutional aspects and start to interact and identify only with the institution instead of building relationships with the devotees who are part of it. This is just like establishing a relationship with a house instead of with the people who are living there with us. The house is there to shelter us and to facilitate these relationships, but the devotees are the ones who will bring us back to Godhead, not the house.
This idea of balancing the role of the institution and the relationships with the devotees is exemplified by the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri.
We can see that during His pastimes there, he went daily to receive the darshan of Lord Jagannatha and attended the Ratha Yatras and other festivals. The organization of the temple was far from perfect at those times, just like today. The first time Lord Caitanya entered the temple, He fell into a trance, and the guards, incapable of understanding what was happening, wanted to beat him up and throw him away. Of course, Lord Jagannatha intervened through Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, but from this example, we can understand how even God himself may be mistreated by conditioned people inside a spiritual institution.
Similarly, Haridasa Thakura was not allowed to enter the temple, just like Śrila Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, and others. Many of the personal associates of Lord Caitanya were thus directly or indirectly offended in different ways by the institution.
However, despite this, Lord Caitanya didn’t try to overturn the administration or anything similar. Instead of trying to correct the material faults of the institution, he just followed the rules, seeing that, despite their shortcomings, they were doing some important service. His time was instead spent building relationships with his numerous associates and spreading His sankirtan movement.
As we can see, the balance between the two sides may be delicate. On the one hand, we need organized religion, and for that, we need to follow the rules, imperfect as they may be. On the other hand, we must also develop sufficient brain matter to be able to navigate the negative aspects of the institution. We need to be able to do our service and offer our contribution, but at the same time, conserve our individuality; otherwise, we may end up being swallowed by the rituals and impersonal aspects. Krsna likes individuality because individuality brings variety. The goal is not to extinguish our individuality and become one with the group, but to conserve our individuality, using it to serve Krsna and develop love for Him.
One of the most crucial aspects of spiritual life is to find a group of like-minded friends who inspire us in spiritual life and with whom we can cultivate personal relations. People who leave the institution tend to gradually abandon Krsna Consciousness due to a lack of association, while the ones who become too absorbed in the impersonal aspects of the institution may end up becoming fanatics, who usually don’t go very far either. Being part of a group of like-minded devotees and having deep relationships with them can protect us from both dangers. Being nourished by the association inside this small group, we can have the strength and peace of mind to navigate the complexities of life inside the institution and also the delicate balance between our material and spiritual lives.
When we think about becoming serious in spiritual life, we often think about moving to a holy place, much like Vrindāvana or Māyāpur. Holy places undoubtedly offer many advantages, but not in the sense we usually think. Holy places are places where we are challenged to get out of our comfort zone and take shelter in the Lord. They are meant to give us a hard time and force us to make a choice between the material and spiritual. However, the practical result depends on our attitude to these challenges.
It’s also a mistake to see Vrindāvana and Mayapur as communities of Vaiṣnavas. In practice, they don’t work as communities but as cities. After moving to the city, we need to find our community there; otherwise, it can be a very lonely place.
Moving to a holy place, thus, doesn’t eliminate the need to find a close group of friends. On the contrary, it makes it even more essential. Without such a group of friends, we risk being swallowed by the impersonal aspects of the institution, falling into bad company, or even relapsing into sinful habits.
We can thus see that, regardless of where we live, this group of close friends is essential. We can connect with other devotees, or we can make some new devotees on our own, but we need to find it. Beg, borrow, or steal.
Apart from being the very means for advancing, this group of close friends is also our safety net in spiritual life. We can practically see that often devotees abandon Krsna Consciousness with a heavy heart after being offended or mistreated by imperfect individuals and not finding the support they need to navigate the situation. One who doesn’t have the safety net of a well-knit group of friends will fall straight to the ground in such a situation, which can easily have fatal consequences.
As mentioned, the institution is an impersonal entity and therefore may not be effective in taking care of us when we face obstacles in our spiritual life, just like the house that shelters us will not help us when we have a broken heart, but true friends and well-wishers who are close to us certainly will.
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True!!!