Srila Prabhupada once said that spiritual life is 90% common sense. Most things just follow a natural line of thought. Once we understand it we can understand the reason being everything.
You have wonderfully explained how one should approach a spiritual master and learn from him the underlying logic that connects different passages in the śāstras. However, Prabhuji, what should we do when there are differences among ācāryas within the same sampradāya or philosophical disagreements among senior devotees within our own organization? How should one approach such conflicts, reconcile them with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings, and maintain absolute śraddhā in his words?
There are always small differences in explanations, since different individuals will never explain things exactly in the same way, but all bonafide acaryas agree in the main conclusions, Krsna is God, we are His eternal servants, devotional service is the perfection of life, etc.
There are also spiritual teachers who may not be completely perfect, and thus may make mistakes, but may also speak mainly according to correct conclusions.
Ultimately, it is not up to us to judge and compare. We should find a spiritual teacher we trust and follow him or her, that's all.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Prabhuji! 🙏
Daṇḍavat praṇāma.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!
You have wonderfully explained how one should approach a spiritual master and learn from him the underlying logic that connects different passages in the śāstras. However, Prabhuji, what should we do when there are differences among ācāryas within the same sampradāya or philosophical disagreements among senior devotees within our own organization? How should one approach such conflicts, reconcile them with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings, and maintain absolute śraddhā in his words?
There are always small differences in explanations, since different individuals will never explain things exactly in the same way, but all bonafide acaryas agree in the main conclusions, Krsna is God, we are His eternal servants, devotional service is the perfection of life, etc.
There are also spiritual teachers who may not be completely perfect, and thus may make mistakes, but may also speak mainly according to correct conclusions.
Ultimately, it is not up to us to judge and compare. We should find a spiritual teacher we trust and follow him or her, that's all.