Shake Off the Maya, Hridayananda
BY: NITAI GAURA HARI DASA
Nov 07, ITALY (SUN) — Some days ago, with a little concern and awe, I took all my courage and, full of determination, spoke directly with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A double click on the "Bhaktivedanta Folio Vedabase" of my screen, and His Divine Grace was just in front of me, ready to answer to all my questions and doubts.
I submitted my question trough the "Folio" internal search engine; it was a very simple question, formulated by only two words, but very significative: BOGUS and SANNYASA. Srila Prabhupada, in his wisdom, smiled and started to instruct me on the point of BOGUS SANNYASA.
The very first thing He told to me was:
"One who has not controlled the six forms of illusion [lust, anger, greed, excitement, false pride and intoxication], whose intelligence, the leader of the senses, is extremely attached to material things, who is bereft of knowledge and detachment, who adopts the SANNYASA order of life to make a living, who denies the worshipable demigods, his own self and the Supreme Lord within himself, thus ruining all religious principles, and who is still infected by material contamination, is deviated and lost both in this life and the next.
PURPORT
Lord Krsna here condemns BOGUS personalities who adopt the sannyasa order of life for sense gratification while still maintaining all of the symptoms of gross illusion. A false show of sannyasa is never accepted by intelligent followers of Vedic principles. So-called sannyasis who ruin all Vedic religious principles sometimes become famous among foolish persons, but they are simply cheating themselves and their followers. These charlatan sannyasis are never actually engaged in the loving devotional service of Lord Krsna."
I asked Srila Prabhupada:
He gave another charming smile and said:
"Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto11, Chapter18, Verses 40-41."
His voice was very grave, but He still had that beautiful intriguing smile.
"Why is Srila Prabhupada smiling?" I was asking myself. And then a light bulb in my brain turned on.
"Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11. Hmmm. But, Srila Prabhupada, didn't you personally translate the Srimad Bhagavatam till the Tenth Canto?"
I asked, expressing my reasonable doubt.
At that point, His big smile increased, so much so you could see His beautiful teeth, among which His golden tooth shined. With His divine head He nodded.
"Hmmmm".
"So, Srila Prabhupada, who translated and commented this beautiful and powerful verse of the Canto 11 of the Srimad Bhagavatam?"
I asked.
With His clear voice He said, in His classic Bengali accent:
The next day, Srila Prabhupada took me and other disciples on a morning walk conversation. It was a beautiful morning, and we went to walk on a beautiful beach named Marina del Rey, in Los Angeles. The smell of the ocean was mixing up with the smell of incense and fresh tilaka, of which the clothes of the devotees and, in particular, of Srila Prabhupada, were pervaded.
A strange thing happened. Suddenly I looked to my watch, and it was indicating a wrong date: "July 13, 1974". Regardless of this small particular, I returned to walk near Srila Prabhupada, eager to listen every word He had to say.
He spoke about the risk of a conspiracy between the British Government ("rascal, falling-down nation") and the Christian Church ("Therefore in London we wanted to purchase a church. And they said, "We shall burn it down; still, we shall not give to Bhaktivedanta Swami".) In order to hinder the London Ratha Yatra for "some technical mistake".
Later on, after having criticized the GBC ("You are not very strong GBC's", and "If you can take these steps, then do it. Otherwise, sleep" (said sarcastically), He said that: "There was two fight in the Indian history. One is Rama and Ravana, and one is Kuruksetra. And the hero is Vaisnava. We are going to produce such Vaisnavas, not these dull rascals, sitting down. We don't want these Vaisnavas, sitting down rascals. We want Arjuna or we want no one."
He also said:
"My Guru Maharaja used to say: "One who has got life, he can preach." The dead man cannot preach. So you become with life, not like dead man. Without life... Just like all my godbrothers. They are dead men. And therefore they are envious of my activities. They have no life. If you want to make easy-going life, showing the Deity and then sleep, then it is a failure movement".
A very interesting thing Srila Prabhupada said concerning the future of our movement was: "Politics, diplomacy, fraud, cheating, these are the general qualification of the western countries. If they are, these things come within our movement, then it will not be successful. Tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. One has to become purified."
But the most interesting thing that he said during the walk conversation was: "There is a class of sahajiyas? Yes. Vaisnavas. Just like, dress like Rupa Gosvami, loincloth, and, but three dozen women behind him. So Bhaktivinoda Thakura: "Here is a disciple of Kali. He has tilaka and he has kunti and he's doing this nonsense. Eita kalir chela."
After this assertion, He promptly turned to me and showed the very same, beautiful smile of the previous day. His golden tooth shined. Seeing Him walking and moving away with His disciples on that beautiful July morning, on that beautiful beach, near to that beautiful ocean, I stood firm.
"At least a Kali Chela dresses himself like a Vaisnava. At least he does not wear t-shirt", I thought.
For information of the readers, from the very first article posted by Harinamananda Prabhu, I cried. Those were sad tears. I was (and I am still, in a different way) attached to Hridayananda Prabhu. Surely he is a very intelligent Vaisnava, he gave a tremendous amount of service, and I will be eternally grateful to Him for that service. I have a big respect for him, the respect of a Vaisnava who wants, in his humility, to help another Vaisnava and urge him lovingly not to take the wrong path. My above stories are a humble attempt to do that. He is not a sahajiya, he is not a charlatan, but he is walking on that wrong path.
I was also in tears reading the article lovingly written by Hasti Gopala dasa, "Hridayananda dasa, Please Come Home". Yes, that is the right advice.
Hridayananda dasa, glorious Hridayananda dasa, glorious preacher, glorious Srila Prabhupada's servant, glorious piece in Lord Caitanya Sankirtana Movement, leave those Karmi clothes, leave those Karmi habits, shake the Maya off, turn back and please come home. Please. We all are waiting for you.
Sorry for my poor English,
Your humble servant,
Nitai Gaura Hari dasa
