My Dear Ksirodakasayi, please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7 january 1973, and have noted the contents with great care. Thank you very much for the information enclosed. There is no difference between brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasi. Simply grhastha means that he lives outside the temple with wife, that is the only difference. Otherwise, grhastha must follow the same regulative principles and remain fully engaged in the temple activities.
There in London we have such big field for pushing on the preaching work, so I want that you should assist the other devotees there as much as possible and cooperate very closely for helping me in this way. These temples, they are just like oasis in the desert for the conditioned souls to quench the thirst of their desire for real happiness.
So they must be organized as nicely as possible, and I know you have many talents which can be put to good use. So in cooperation with Dhananjaya and Syamasundara. Prabhu, let us work together. You may assist me in this way and I shall be very much pleased upon you.
Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that anyone who surrenders unto Me, whether a woman, sudra, vaisya, etc., they all attain the highest perfection of bhakti-yoga, not that now I am grhastha, I am doing karma-yoga, or now I am vanaprastha, I am doing sankhya-yoga, this is all nonsense.
So if you read my books, this is explained in so many places that by taking to the path of pure bhakti all the other yogas are achieved automatically because bhakti is the culmination of yoga and the highest perfection of life. Yet at the same time it is very simple and sublime.
So I am your spiritual master, it is my obligation to answer any questions that you may have. So please send the tape and I shall reply.
Hope this finds you in good health,
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Yes indeed, how true it is ;
” So if you read my books, this is explained in so many places that by taking to the path of pure bhakti all the other yogas are achieved automatically because bhakti is the culmination of yoga and the highest perfection of life. Yet at the same time it is very simple and sublime. ”
But the dilemma is that the present management of Iskcon is committed equally to make Krsna Consciousness so COMPLEX and COMPLICATED by changing the original Srila Prabhupada BOOKS in order to best suit their ( present Iskcon’s GBC – Guru system ) motivated agenda for years to come.
That is why the explanation as it is in the Purport of Srila Prabhupada Books is NO longer there and thus, it leads towards an ordinary bhakti INSTEAD of a PURE BHAKTI.
As a result of it, no wonder, we see at present so many YOGA classes/courses are introduced in the present Iskcon temple world wide all in the name of bhakti.
Does this mean that Srila Prabhupada is No Longer the Spiritual Master of His Iskcon ?
Srila Prabhupada remains the Spiritual Master of Iskcon, no doubt, ONLY for those who simply follow His Instructions – VANI and continue His preaching work as He desires.
It is that SIMPLE and SUBLIME.
Hari BOL.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Bhagavad-gita 3.43. PURPORT
“…In the immature stage of material existence, philosophical speculations and artificial attempts to control the senses by the so-called practice of yogic postures can never help a man toward spiritual life. He must be trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by higher intelligence.”
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada .
pamho agtACBSP
Thank you for reminding all the prabhupadanugas about the bhakti yoga as the best yoga connection with the supreme truth. SRILA PRABHUPADA also says that karmi jnani and yogi centre of life is the body, and the first instruction of SRI KRSNA to ARJUNA in the SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA is that we are not this body.
The Christians also say it is useless to conquer the world if we lose the eternal life like the fish outside the water can have all the world to enjoy but without the water is dead can’t enjoy it. Therefore if we want to come alive again we need to take up krsna consciousness through the daily bhakti yoga program starting with the chanting of the maha mantra hare krsna, it’s the best medicine to come out from the bodily concept of life it’s faster then karmi jnani and yogi practice.
agtSP ys haribol