Hare Krishna to all the like minded devotees, I want to ask a question but i would request humbly to the replier to keep a broader perspective, be open minded, non fanatical and non biased while writingthe reply as the topic is quite delicate and very sensitive.
I am connected to ISKCON for about 2 years,and very much influenced by the Gaudiya Vaishnav School of thaught and also by the biography of HDG Srila Prabhupada. And I am following the Gaudiya Vaishnav Philosophy,
Now on the matter of initiation i was having a tough time then i heard a lecture from HH Gour govind maharaj that"One should yearn to krishna for a sat diksha guru". I always would pray to Krsna to provide me a sat guru and i used to watch evry initiating maharaj classes but couldnt feel the connection from the core of my heart(Not intending to say they are not pure or sat guru).
Parallely my english teacher who has done bhakti Sastri from Mayapur and had recently initiated in Bhakti Kusum Gaudiya Math,Vrindavan by HH Bhakti Kinkar Sridhar Swami Maharaj the disciple of Bhakti Kusum Swami Maharaj (A pure devotee godbrother of Srila Prabhupada) by a divine exigency as he(my recently initiated teacher) explained that the 1st time he had a meeting with his guru tears continuously flowed from his eyes and he was mesmerized by his speech, purity, vairagya, simplicity. I was amazed, and i also wanted to to meet the pure personality, then it happened that on early 2022 he came with his sannyasi disciple to my initiated Teacher's house, and I also paid a visit, the connection that i felt with him was unexplanable,I felt that he is my gurudev.
Then now I am feeling so much attraction and impatient in taking initiation from him and i dont have a miniscule of doubt on whether he is my guru or not,
but was backed by some points:
1. When my teacher took initiation from him the local ISKCON devotees mocked him, criticised him and said statements which was blasphemous for anyone's Diksha Gura like "TheGaudiya Math cheated you as they always do", "You fell in their trap", "You are being misguided"
2. The other thing that HG Amogh Lila Prabhu once mentioned that "those who are in ISKCON let them be in ISKCON, who are in GM let them be there and there shouldnt be free mixing"(I understand in which perspective he is telling) but HH Bhakti Kinkar Sridhar Swami Maharaj tells a very broad and open minded statement that"We are all on the diff branches of the same Saraswat Chaitanya tree thus we should take association of any pure devotee irrespective of their origin either ISKCON or GM"
Thus i request the open minded devotee community to answer in this regard.
HARE KRISHNA
Replies
Hare Krishna,
Do you know Lord Dattatreya?
As mentioned in Srimad Bhagwatam Lord Dattatreya accepted 24 gurus. And do you know who were those gurus?
you can study them in SB. the gurus mentioned are.. earth, water, air, fire........spider, a prostitute by name pingala, a deer, a bumble bee, sky, moon, sun,the pegions,the python,the ocean,the moth,the queen bee and the honey collector, the elephant,the fish, a bird, a child, the bangles,the snake, the arrow maker., the spider, the beetle.
These look so ordinary people and animals and things but they are gurus'
For a person who wants to learn entire world and every person becomes a guru. The day you are able to see Krishna in all beings that day, you will start feeling Krishna is everywhere in all. That day you wont disrespect anyone. You wont discriminate between any human beings leave about animals and trees. All belongs to Krishna. If you are able to see Krishna is trying to teach you thru so many sources in so many ways. Krisham Vande Jagad gurum. At that stage there is no boundaries of any sampradaya or any boundaries or walls between any person to person only leave about sampradays.
I think who has cross that level and who has become conscious of the Krishna in all beings that is guru in real.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krsna
When my teacher took initiation from him the local ISKCON devotees mocked him, criticised him and said statements which was blasphemous
This is not exemplary behaviour. Please forgive those devotees who committed this offense.
Thus we should take association of any pure devotee irrespective of their origin either ISKCON or GM"
The above statement is completely agreeable. The association of a pure devotee in any form or circumstance is always welcome. Even if that pure devotee is in a different species what to speak of different religion, country or sampradaya, the association of a pure devotee is always desired.
But it is not easy to know who is a pure devotee. Only another pure devotee or Krsna will accurately know who is a pure devotee.
Hare Krsna
Hare Krsna prabhu, Prabhupad says when the disciple is ready guru will come, so if you are ready he will come from any sampraday, not necessary he has to be gaudiya or from Iskcon. Everyone on the earth is not a gaudiya vaishnav, there are other sampraday in India as well. When I started my spiritual energy, all my friends were initially in Iskcon, later on one got initiated in Gadadhar pandit sampraday, another got initiated in Nityanand prabhus sampraday and two got initiated in Swami Haridas sampraday, so you are going to one organisation or temple doesnt mean you belong there. For exmaple if you are in Gujrat and going to pushti sampraday temples because you have no option that doesnt mean you belong to that sampraday, so what is prevalent is not your paramapara. Howevever, One great devotee i know wondered many years in search of guru and when he one day reached to Jagannath puri he found one saint beaming with effulegence, the moment he saw that saint he got peace and happiness and thus he decided hes my Guru. So wherever you feel home and belonging that is your sampraday. Follow your heart.