Posted: 10 Sep 2011 04:04 PM PDT

Devotees keep asking themselves, "How will the Krishna consciousness movement spread under the present circumstances?"

They observe the lame leadership and feel personally helpless to make any change or contribution toward rectifying the situation or themselves. The answer to this debilitating state of thought is to see one's self in the correct spiritual perspective. The devotees who helped Prabhupada spread his movement ISKCON are the same ones who can and will spread Krishna consciousness now and in the future. All that is required is that each individual devotee see himself as the servant of Prabhupada, now exactly as he was then (when Prabhupada was present)…

The temple center is started just to present an example to the neighboring residents, how they can make a small temple in each and every home. It is not necessary that hundreds and thousands of people will live in our temple, but if we can make effective propaganda, then the neighboring residents, householders, will be inclined to be initiated and follow the modes of temple life. So you can encourage the visitors, boys and girls, as well as married couples, to understand the value of life and how they can peacefully and happily live if they follow the routine worship method in the temple and establish this in their home to be happy in all respects. (Srila Prabhupada, letter to Tamal Krishna, June 1, 1969)

Nam Hatta: The Onus is On You
By Sriman Hansadutta Prabhu

In Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, Chapter Seven, Lord Chaitanya's method of preaching and Prabhupada's comments regarding the process of preaching Lord Chaitanya practiced while traveling throughout South India (a period of about two years) are very necessary for all devotees to study and understand clearly.

Because of the circumstances under which most of Prabhupada's early disciples joined the movement, a widespread misunderstanding has become a great obstacle for people in general to accept and practice Krishna consciousness in a realistic and progressive way under all circumstances. That misunderstanding is that a serious candidate for accepting and advancing in Krishna consciousness must abandon his worldly environment and responsibilities to join a temple ashram and live a communal or communistic life style under the rigid authority of an ISKCON GBC or guru. Nothing could be further from the truth, as we can plainly understand from the following descriptions of Lord Chaitanya's preaching method and Prabhupada's purports, which clearly support and obviously encourage the process introduced by Lord Chaitanya in His dealing with the Kurma brahmana and everyone He encountered throughout His two years of traveling and preaching in South India.

Text 125: "My dear Lord, there is no limit to my great fortune. It cannot be described. Today my family, birth and riches have all been glorified."

Text 126:The brahmana begged Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, "My dear Lord, kindly show me favour and let me go with You. I can no longer tolerate the waves of misery caused by materialistic life."

PURPORT by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

This statement is applicable for everyone, regardless of how rich or prosperous one may be. Narottama das Thakur as confirmed this statement: samsara visanale, diva-nisi hiya jvale. He states that the materialistic way of life causes a burning in the heart. One cannot make any provisions for the troublesome life of the material world. It is a fact that one may be very happy as far as riches are concerned and one may be very opulent in every respect, yet one has to manage the visayas to meet the demands of the body and of so many family members and subordinates. One has to take so much trouble to minister to others. Narottama dasa Thakura therefore prays: visaya chapiya kabe suddha habe mana. Thus one must become freed from the materialistic way of life. One has to merge himself in the ocean of transcendental bliss. In other words, one cannot relish transcendental bliss without being freed from the materialistic way of life. It appears that the brahmana named Kurma was materially very happy, for he expressed his family tradition as janmakula-dhana. Now, being glorified, he wanted to leave all these material opulences. He wanted to travel with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. According to the Vedic way of civilization, one should leave his family after attaining fifty years of age and go to the forest of Vrindavan to devote the rest of his life to the service of the Lord.

Text 127: Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, "Don't speak like that again. Better to remain at home and chant the holy name of Krishna always.

PURPORT: It is not advisable in this age of Kali to leave one's family suddenly, for people are not trained as proper brahmacharis and grihasthas. Therefore Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu advised the brahmana not to be too eager to give up family life. It would be better to remain with his family and try to become purified by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra regularly under the direction of a spiritual master. This is the instruction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If this principle is followed by everyone, there is no need to accept sannyasa. In the next verse, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu advises everyone to become an ideal householder by offenselessly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and teaching the same principle to everyone He meets.

Text 128: "Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krishna as they are given in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way, become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land."

PURPORT: This is the sublime mission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Many people come and inquire whether they have to give up family life to join the Society, but that is not our mission. One can remain comfortably in his residence. We simply request everyone to chant themaha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. If one is a little literate and can read Bhagavad-gita As It Is and SrimadBhagavatam, that is so much the better. These works are now available in an English translation, and are done very authoritatively to appeal to all classes of men. Instead of living engrossed in material activities, people throughout the world should take advantage of this movement and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra at home with their families. One should also refrain from sinful activities-illicit sex, meat eating, gambling and intoxication. Out of these four items, illicit sex is very sinful. Every person must get married. Every woman especially must get married. If the women outnumber the men, some men can accept more than one wife. In that way there will be no prostitution in society. If men can marry more than one wife, illicit sex life will be stopped. One can also produce many nice preparations to offer Krishna—grain, fruit, flowers and milk. Why should one indulge in unnecessary meat eating and maintain horrible slaughterhouses? What is the use of smoking and drinking tea and coffee? People are already intoxicated by material enjoyment, and if they indulge in further intoxication, what chance is there for self realization? Similarly, one should not partake in gambling and unnecessarily agitate the mind. The real purpose of human life is to attain the spiritual platform and return to Godhead. That is the summum bonum of spiritual realization. The Krishna consciousness movement is trying to elevate human society to the perfection of life by pursuing the method described by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in His advice to the brahmana Kurma. That is, one should stay at home, chant the Hare Krishna mantra and preach the instructions of Krishna as they are given in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Text 129: Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu further advised the brahmana Kurma, "If you follow this instruction, your materialistic life at home will not obstruct your spiritual advancement. Indeed, if you follow these regulative principles, we will again meet here, or, rather, you will never lose My company."

PURPORT: This is an opportunity for everyone. If one simply follows the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, under the guidance of His representative, and chants the Hare Krishna mantra, teaching everyone a far as possible the same principle, the contamination of the materialistic way of life will not even touch him. It does not matter whether one lives in a holy place like Vrindavana, Navadwipa or Jagnnatha Puri or in the midst of European cities where the materialistic way of live is very prominent. If a devotee follows the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he lives in the company of the Lord. Wherever he lives, he converts that place into Vrindavan and Navadwipa. This means that materialism cannot touch him. This is the secret of success for one advancing in Krishna consciousness.

Text 130: At whosoever's house Sri Chaitanya accepted His alms by takingprasada, He would convert the dwellers to His sankirtan movement and advise them just as He advised the brahmana named Kurma.

PURPORT: The cult of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is explained here very nicely. One who surrenders to Him and is ready to follow Him with heart and soul does not need to change his location. Nor is it necessary for one to change status. One may remain a householder, a medical practitioner, an engineer or whatever. It doesn't matter. One only has to follow the instruction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and instruct relatives and friends in the teachings of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. One has to learn humility and meekness at home, following the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in that way one's life will be spiritually successful. One should not try to be an artificially advanced devotee thinking, "I am a first-class devotee." Such thinking should be avoided. It is best not to accept any disciples. One has to become purified at home by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and preaching the principles enunciated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus one can become a spiritual master and be freed from the contamination of material life.

There are many sahajiyas [pretenders] who decry the activities of the six Goswamis Rupa, Sanatana, Raghunatha das, Bhatta Raghunatha, Jiva and Gopala Bhatta Goswamis who are the personal associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and who enlightened society by writing books on devotional service. Similarly, Narottama dasa Thakura and other great acharyas like Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya and others accepted many thousands of disciples to induce them to render devotional service. However, there is a class of sahajiyas who think that these activities are opposed to the principles of devotional service. Indeed, they consider such activities simply another phase of materialism. Thus opposing the principles of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they commit offenses at His lotus feet. They should better consider His instructions and instead of seeking to be considered humble and meek, should refrain from criticizing the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who engage in preaching. To protect His preachers, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given much clear advice in these verses of Chaitanya-charitamrita.

Text 131-132: While on His tour, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would spend the night at a temple or on the roadside. Whenever He accepted food from a person, He would give him the same advice He gave the brahmana named Kurma. He adopted this process until He returned from His South Indian tour to Jagannatha Puri.

Text 133: Thus I have described the Lord's behavior elaborately in the case of Kurma. In this way, you will know of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's dealings throughout South India.

Text 134: Thus Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would remain at night in one place and the next moming, after bathing, start again. (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, Chapter Seven, Verses 125-134)

This is the process which was actually practiced by Lord Chaitanya. It was also taught by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. In fact, he wrote a small booklet called Nama-hatta. Nama-hatta means the marketplace of the Holy Name. In that book he drew an analogy between the preaching of the Holy Name and a marketplace where one buys and sells commodities. The description given in that book is exactly like what we would call today multi-level marketing, such as practiced by Amway or Shaklee, where a friend comes to you and says, "Look, you buy soap, right?" and you say, "Yes, of course," and he says, "So why not buy your soap from me?" He sells his friend soap, and his friend can also sell to his friends and relatives, and in this way make some money, and he can get the soap for practically nothing. And he tells his friends and relatives the same thing: "Look, you can sell to your friends and relatives." In this way, multi-level marketing has become a dynamic way for American entrepreneurs to distribute their products.

Even companies like MCI have contracted Amway to sell their products. This is a natural, simple and convenient way for people to enterprise and circumvent the big corporate structures that have monopolized American industry. Similarly, 100 years ago, Bhaktivinoda Thakura suggested that the preaching of Krishna consciousness should be done in this way.

Just as Prabhupada came to us and taught us to chant Hare Krishna and follow the principles of Krishna consciousness, how to cook prasadam and he published these books, we in turn told our friends about it in those days, during the 60′s and 70′s. Of course, in those days, we did not have a home. We were in the street, having rejected society, so we did not have a social circumstance. We did not have an economic situation. We had given up society, because we were so frustrated and confused. But times have changed, and people are not wandering the streets like they were in those days. In the 60′s, Prabhupada gave us a home. He took us in, and we slept on the floor in the temple, and ate chapatis and rice and went about chanting Hare Krishna and convinced some of our peers to take up Krishna consciousness.

Unfortunately, many of us continued to project this method onto the whole world that people have to shave up and move into the temple and give up their car, bank balance, wife and kids and as a result, the Krishna consciousness movement is not spreading. In fact, it is disintegrating—not because there is something wrong with Krishna consciousness, but because in our shortsightedness we have failed to see the broader application.

There is no use of going to the forest for one who has failed to control his mind, because he only takes his uncontrolled mind with him. The best course of action is to remain situated in that environment where one finds himself due to the arrangement of Krishna and practice chanting the Holy Name of Krishna, expecting the mercy of the Lord in due course of time.

Everything depends on practice, and through practice of chanting the Holy Name a taste develops for hearing the transcendental vibration of Krishna's Holy Name. Thus one naturally becomes indifferent to his family attachment, although he may be in the midst of such attachments (wife, children, house, car, etc.).

This method of practicing Krishna consciousness should be encouraged—not the misleading method of premature renunciation, which misleads one to mistake the abandoning of one's material circumstance with renunciation. True renunciation is a side product of true attachment or taste for chanting the Holy Name of Krishna.

Simply making an external show of abandoning the troublesome objects of the senses (wealth, woman, prestige) will not help one to taste Krishna consciousness. It only creates pride and envy.

Some points to consider: One cannot abandon his mundane responsibilities. One cannot enjoy his mundane responsibilities. One should focus on the vibration of the Holy Name. We are in the midst of the ocean of material action and reaction. One wastes his valuable time and energy combating the waves of the ocean. The aim is to come out of the ocean. Chant Hare Krishna, speak of Krishna, think of Krishna, serve Krishna—everything connected to Krishna. The flow of material activities is incidental. It will go on.

Devotees keep asking themselves, "How will the Krishna consciousness movement spread under the present circumstances?"

Having been in this movement since 1967, practically fourty four years, my personal experience watching the movement going through different transitions has convinced me that Nam-Hatta is the alternative, the way Krishna consciousness can be spread successfully. And it can be spread without any effort, avoiding the many problems we are experiencing now. The Nama-hatta approach will circumvent the power structure of the preaching institution. Our devotees have become so encumbered with managerial demands that they can no longer perform the simple, menial and humble task of telling people how to be Krishna conscious. Preaching is actually very easy. Anyone can do it, and we are organizing in this way, hoping that it will revive the momentum and spirit, the dynamic mood of the Krishna consciousness mission started by Srila Prabhupada. In conclusion, we quote Srila Prabhupada:

Pasted from http://namhatta.com/2011/06/17/srila-prabhupada-his-movement-you/29/

It’s All About the Money

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 03:19 PM PDT

Madhu Pandit Prabhu and the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore are intelligent devotees and are dedicated to Srila Prabhupada. I think there is no one who would disagree with this. On any metric you want to take, the ISKCON Bangalore Group is very successful in following the instructions of Srila Prabhupada. They have huge book distribution, prasadam distribution, a wonderful standard of Deity worship, very dynamic preaching programs, very good management, sincere devotees completely dedicated to strictly following the four regulative principles, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, rising before four every morning to attend the Mangal Aroti and being fully engaged 24 hours a day in serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.

So why is it that ISKCON is so intent on getting control over the ISKCON Bangalore Group, even though they know it is not possible really, unless the temple devotees are on their side? And the temple devotees are not on their side — they are Prabhupada men and ISKCON says: “Prabhupada is dead — you need a living guru.” So there is no way they are going to agree with ISKCON/GBC.

It’s All About the Money
By Sriman Madhudvisa Prabhu
Sep 09, 2011 Austrailia (SUN)

ISKCON claims they are trying to eject Mahu Pandit Prabhu from ISKCON Bangalore because of a philosophical deviation, but we have examples in the past where ISKCON temples have separated themselves from ISKCON and have followed a path different from the one chalked out by the GBC.

The exact same situation occurred in Singapore where the devotees in the temple decided to accept the Ritvik ideas and operate separately from the GBC. ISKCON did not try to get the temple back, but just let them go on serving Srila Prabhupada. There was no money there so they are not concerned about this. In St. Petersburg in Russia ISKCON had their biggest and best temple. when Harikesa blooped he took that temple and a million dollars, and in that temple he preached a completely bogus philosophy. As far as I know ISKCON made no serious attempts to get the St. Petersburg temple back. At least not for many years. I do not know what is the situation there now.

There are many examples of the local ISKCON devotees deciding to take a path different from the one being dictated to them by the GBC, and ISKCON just lets them take the temples and follow their so-called deviations. Another example is Colombia in South America. ISKCON tried to throw out the leader, Paramadvaiti Swami, but the devotees in Colombia decided to keep Paramadvaiti Swami and throw out ISKCON. So now the ex-ISKCON temples in Colombia belong to his preaching mission Vrinda, and according to ISKCON they have deviated. But ISKCON has never tried to get the Colombian temples back. Of course, they have no money…

So it appears that ISKCON is not acting against Madhu Pandit primarily because he is deviating from their philosophy. The GBC knows that if the local devotees in a temple are against them and want to manage the temple (which in many cases they have built themselves) in their own way it is difficult for the GBC to counter this. Of course the GBC are trying to make arrangements to stop the temples from becoming independent of them by getting the temples to add bylaws to their constitutions to make them legally bound, but ultimately the temples are a local thing consisting of a group of devotees in a particular place and they have to be managed and supported by the local devotees. Without the support of the local devotees and the local community the temple cannot run.

The GBC can not force devotees to surrender to them; surrender cannot be legislated. If the devotees want to work under the direction of the GBC voluntarily, then the GBC can direct — but if collectively the devotees in a temple decide to reject the GBC and follow some other path, then at least historically the GBC does not seem to have been able to stop them.

The St. Petersburg devotees decided to reject ISKCON and follow Harikesh, the Colombian devotees decided to reject ISKCON and follow Paramadvati Swami, and Singapore and Bangalore decided to reject the GBC and follow Prabhupada, and at least so far, ISKCON and the GBC have not been able to do anything to stop this.

If somehow ISKCON gets control of the Bangalore properties and all the devotees leave ISKCON Bangalore and go and set up somewhere else, taking their congregation and supporters with them, ISKCON will have a lot of empty buildings… Where will ISKCON find the three hundred plus intelligent and qualified devotees to run it?

We have to remember that ISKCON did try and preach in Bangalore before Madhu Pandit, but they were unsuccessful. Madhu Pandit and the devotees he has been able to attract to ISKCON Bangalore have been exceptionally successful preaching in South India. But if ISKCON takes over and loses all the devotees who know how to preach in South India, what will they have? More empty buildings to add to the ever growing ISKCON collection of empty buildings.

Temples without devotees are just empty buildings — useless. ISKCON has so many empty buildings like this — but without an active community of devotees they are not temples, just empty buildings. ISKCON has many empty buildings like this in Europe. Even the German Nrsimha Farm which was the crown jewel of Harikesa’s kingdom is now simply an empty building, except a few days a year during the Nrsimha Caturdasi festival. Apart from this time there is only one devotee and his wife at the Nrsimha Farm. It is an empty building. They have a big empty building in Amsterdam that is supposed to be the new temple donated by one Krishnadas. But there are no devotees. So it remains an empty building. There is a temple/conference center/retreat in Germany that is just an empty building — no devotees. And of course the huge project, New Mayapur, the French farm, is just a collection of empty buildings — no life, no devotees.

Still ISKCON is desperate to get control of the ISKCON Bangalore Group. Why? Because it is rumored they have assets and funds in excess of 3,000 crores. This is an unimaginable amount of money. As far as my dull brain can work out, that is 30,000 million rupees, which is around $650 million dollars US. So well over half a billion dollars. Of course it may not be true, but this is the rumor ISKCON is propagating.

Seeing all these assets under the control of the ISKCON Bangalore Group is driving the leaders of ISKCON completely crazy–they want the money. It appears to be as simple as that.

ISKCON, in their money-induced craziness, is now openly declaring that they want to see Madhu Pandit and all the ISKCON Bangalore devotees behind bars on criminal charges. This is insanity. This is Vaishnava Aparada on such an unimaginable scale.

And what is ISKCON’s complaint? They claim Madhu Pandit and the ISKCON Bangalore devotees are criminals and have usurped the assets of ISKCON Bangalore and are using them for their own benefit. Firstly there is an English saying that, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” Virtually every ISKCON temple has become a center for embezzlement, where money is collected on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and it is siphoned off by various leaders and others for their own programs. Almost every ISKCON temple has a whole batch of “devotees” who are trying to take as much money as possible from the temples for their own programs. And they are criticizing Madhu Pandit for the crime that they are so expert at themselves? They may be thinking that, “ISKCON Bangalore has hundreds of millions of dollars so Madhu Pandit must be also taking some of this money for his personal benefit.”

However, from my experience with Madhu Pandit Prabhu and the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore Group is that they appear to be 100% convinced that the money they are dealing with belongs to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada, and they truly believe Srila Prabhupada when he says: “If you take even one penny of Krishna’s money for your own sense gratification you will go to hell.” So I don’t think Madhu Pandit or the devotees of the ISKCON Bangalore Group are taking any of Krishna’s money for their own sense gratification at all. They are simply managing it very expertly on behalf and for the benefit of Krishna and for pushing on the mission of Srila Prabhupada.

We see over the years it is very difficult for ISKCON to achieve anything that requires managing money. As soon as there is some money in ISKCON, so many devotees are trying to take it for their own programs… If the ISKCON Bangalore devotees were sucking the money out like the ISKCON devotees do routinely in many ISKCON temples, then how could they have expanded their preaching so dramatically as they have over the past five or ten years?
So at least from the information I have, I am quite convinced of the genuine nature of Madhu Pandit Prabhu and I am sure his motivation is to serve Srila Prabhupada, to please Srila Prabhupada. He is a very successful manager and he has attracted a lot of other very intelligent and successful managers and businessmen to join him in the ISKCON Bangalore Group, and together they are using their business and management skills in the service of Krishna. So there is nothing wrong with using one’s skills for Krishna like this. This is what Krishna told Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. Arjuna was a fighter, a ksatriya, his business was to fight. So Krishna engaged Arjuna in fighting. So under Madhu Pandit Prabhu’s expert management he has engaged hundreds of intelligent young men in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and together, using their material skills, they are expanding the preaching of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON Bangalore Group.

I cannot detect that Madhu Pandit Prabhu or the very sincere group of Prabhupada disciples he has serving in the ISKCON Bangalore Group are in any way motivated by the idea that they will be able to suck money out of the temples for their own sense gratification. That is the claim that ISKCON is making. Practically they are saying the ISKCON Bangalore devotees are criminals, stealing Krishna’s money. But I think there is nothing further from the truth.

So in conclusion, at least from ISKCON’s side this is not a philosophical disagreement at all.

There have been many such philosophical disagreements in the past in ISKCON and they have generally let the disagreeing party go on with their service in the way the local devotees want to manage and serve in the temple. Of course, in the past none of these temples had any significant amount of money. But the ISKCON Bangalore Group is rumored to have over half a billion dollars in assets, and ISKCON has a shortage of funds largely due to the way they mismanage the money they have. So they are envious of the success of the ISKCON Bangalore Group. And if they were to get control of ISKCON Bangalore, it is likely they would also mismanage the finances there in the same way they have done in Prabhupada’s temples all over the world. ISKCON is not famous for good financial management or honest accounting — but ISKCON Bangalore is.

Over the years we have practically seen that ISKCON is very expert in turning pure gold into worthless sand. Srila Prabhupada gave them pure gold and now just a few decades later, they only have a few handfuls of sand left… Obviously Madhu Pandit does not want ISKCON to turn the gold in the ISKCON Bangalore Group that he and the devotees have worked so hard to develop into sand.

Madhu Pandit Prabhu as the leader of the ISKCON Bangalore Group has as his duty to protect the temples and the devotees under his care. If ISKCON can take over ISKCON Bangalore they will immediately declare: “Prabhupada is dead. You need a living guru. SURRENDER TO ME!” This will kill the ISKCON Bangalore Group.

So Madhu Pandit is acting as the President of the ISKCON Bangalore Group and he has to protect it. That is his duty. So a ksatriya in his duty has to engage in so many diplomatic activities and it may not be always possible for him to be strictly 100% truthful. He has to act in a political way to achieve his objectives–that is the business of a ksatriya. If one looks hard enough at anyone he can find some imperfections. This is the material world. However there is no question whatsoever Madhu Pandit Prabhu and the Prabhupada disciples of the ISKCON Bangalore Group are working together very nicely with the central point being Srila Prabhupada. They are Vaisnavas, they are devotees — even if ISKCON may have some disagreement with them they must respect them as Vaisnavas, as devotees. Otherwise they will have to suffer greatly for this severe Vaisnava aparhada.

Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa

Pasted from http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/09-11/editorials7727.htm

Nama Acharya Srila Haridas Thakur

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 06:17 AM PDT

Haridas Thakur is considered to be the namacarya, the spiritual master in chanting the holy name of Krsna. Though he was born in a low class, Muslim family, Lord Caitanya’s devotees respected him as being better than the best of brahmanas. He would not eat or sleep until he finished his daily quota of chanting the name of Krsna 300,000 times. Along with Lord Nityananda, Haridas Thakur spread the chanting of Krsna’s name throughout Bengal. In Jagannatha Puri, where Haridas Thakur spent his later days, Lord Caitanya would regularly send him prasadam and discuss with him topics of Krsna. Haridas Thakur died chanting Krsna’s name in the presence of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. After Haridas Thakur’s death, Lord Caitanya carried his body to the sea and with His own hands buried him in the sand.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition
Antya-lila 3 Text49-
The Glories of Srila Haridasa Thakura

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu derives great pleasure from glorifying His devotees, and among the devotees, Haridāsa Ṭhākura is the foremost.

The transcendental qualities of Haridāsa Ṭhākura are innumerable and unfathomable. One may describe a portion of them, but to count them all is impossible.

In Caitanya-maṅgala, Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has described the attributes of Haridāsa Ṭhākura to some extent.

No one can describe all the qualities of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. One may say something about them just to purify himself.

O devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, please hear something about the qualities of Haridāsa Ṭhākura that Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has not described in detail.

After leaving his home, Haridāsa Ṭhākura stayed for some time in the forest of Benāpola.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura constructed a cottage in a solitary forest. There he planted a tulasī plant, and in front of the tulasī he would chant the holy name of the Lord 300,000 times daily. He chanted throughout the entire day and night.

Purport

The village of Benāpola is situated in the district of Yaśohara, which is now in Bangladesh. Benāpola is near the Banagāṅo station, which is at the border of Bangladesh and may be reached by the eastern railway from Shelda Station in Calcutta. Haridāsa Ṭhākura, being the ācārya of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, is called Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura. From his personal Example we can understand that chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and becoming highly elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very simple. Without difficulty one can sit down anywhere, especially on the bank of the Ganges, Yamunā or any sacred river, devise a sitting place or cottage, plant a tulasī, and before the tulasī chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra undisturbed.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura used to chant the holy name on his beads 300,000 times daily. Throughout the entire day and night, he would chant the sixteen names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. One should not, however, imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, for no one else can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra 300,000 times a day. Such chanting is for the mukta-puruṣa, or liberated soul. We can follow his example, however, by chanting sixteen rounds of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra on beads every day and offering respect to the tulasī plant. This is not at all difficult for anyone, and the process of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra with a vow before the tulasī plant has such great spiritual potency that simply by doing this one can become spiritually strong. Therefore we request the members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement to follow Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s example rigidly. Chanting sixteen rounds does not take much time, nor is offering respects to the tulasī plant difficult. The process has immense spiritual potency. One should not miss this opportunity.

Note: As Srila Prabhupada points out in his purport to Adi-lila 10, 43;

“Certainly the chanting of 300,000 holy names of the Lord is wonderful. No ordinary person can chant so many names, nor should one artificially imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s behavior. It is essential, however, that everyone fulfill a specific vow to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Therefore we have prescribed in our Society that all our students must chant at least sixteen rounds daily. Such chanting must be offenseless in order to be of high quality. Mechanical chanting is not as powerful as chanting of the holy name without offenses.”