Umapati Swami's Blog

It has just occurred to me that I really am eternal. I know I've been hearing it and reading it for years, but I never thought about the reality of it.

If I don't go back to Godhead, then after this life there will be another one. Of course, it's nice to know that I will keep living, but in what conditions?

I will have to start all over again, from nothing. All the knowledge I have acquired in this life will be lost, and I will have to start learning to read again, assuming I even have a human birth. I will have to go through the whole struggle all over again to build something that will again be lost at death.

And it goes on forever, starting again and losing everything at death, again and again and again.

It's given me a new look at the following statement in Srimad Bhagavatam (1.1.1):

"Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal."

How can it be unreal? Srila Prabhupada says, on the other hand, that the world is temporary but not false:

"The creation is not false, but it is a temporary manifestation just to give a chance for the conditioned souls to go back to Godhead." [Srimad Bhagavatam 2.10.4]

Why then do the scriptures also say it is unreal?

Because it is temporary. We struggle so hard to obtain temporary things that vanish from our grip, like a magician's illusion: Now you see it, now you don't.

I may struggle to acquire a fortune, and it all seems real—the struggle, the money, the goal. But at the end of my life, it will all disappear.

So as real as it seems, it is also an illusion because in the end it all disappears, without a trace, without even a memory.

And I will have to start again, maybe a man struggling to get rich, maybe a tiger struggling to catch a buffalo, maybe the buffalo struggling to escape from the tiger.

Where will I be, what will I be, a hundred trillion lives from now? a hundred trillion creations from now? And that's nowhere near the end because there isn't any end.

It's like the old saying: You can't win, you can't break even, you can't quit playing.

All this, and yet the way to an eternal, deathless life of bliss and knowledge is on the tip of my tongue.

Hare Krishna.

© Umapati Swami, January 20, 2007

The soul lives on forever, so we know.
It's nice to think that I will never die.
Forevermore, I've countless lives to go.
I'll never have to tell myself goodbye.

But look both ways—ahead, behind—my friends,
Repeated birth, disease, old age, and death.
I shudder just to know it never ends:
Eternal strife and fear with every breath.

And yet I've no one but myself to blame.
I know that Maya's charm is all deceit.
I should be chanting Krishna's holy name,
And find my deathless life at Krishna's feet.

But still I look for joy in Maya's hand,
When life unending waits in Krishna's land.

© Umapati Swami, January 9, 2007

Dear Padmanabha Maharaja,

Dandavats. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Thanks for the e-mail. I won't try to answer it point for point. Rather, I will talk about some principles that I think will cover everything.

When we met the other day, you mentioned that Narayana Maharaja wants the GBC to lift the ban against ISKCON devotees' associating with his followers.

At one time, I might have agreed with that, but not now. If the proposal came up to lift the ban, I would oppose it because I know what the result would be. Narayana Maharaja's followers would go into all the ISKCON temples. "Come," they would say sweetly. "Give up your third-class ISKCON gurus. Come to our mahabhagavata guru. Instant re-initiation. Just a phone call away."

You may say I am exaggerating, but these are the things you are doing right now. You were doing them just a couple of weeks ago.

Maybe you do not realize that you are insulting Srila Prabhupada. It was he who set up the system of ISKCON gurus that you are now decrying. Srila Prabhupada did not say that Narayana Maharaja or anyone else, mahabhagavata or not, should become the next ISKCON acharya.

You say that you are following Srila Prabhupada, and at the same time, you criticize the system he set up for guiding disciples.

When we met the other day, you mentioned that re-initiation is authorized in scripture under certain circumstances, but Srila Prabhupada said not to do it: "A devotee must have only one initiating spiritual master because in the scriptures acceptance of more than one is always forbidden."

As far as I am concerned, and many others will agree, Srila Prabhupada is the ultimate authority in all matters: "I have heard something from my spiritual master, so I speak to you the same thing. So this is parampara system. You cannot imagine what my spiritual master said. Or even if you read some books, you cannot understand unless you understand it from me. This is called parampara system. You cannot jump over to the superior guru, neglecting the next acarya, immediate next acarya."

And as far as instant re-initiation goes, Srila Prabhupada had this to say: "Here is another point, that one should not accept somebody as spiritual master all of a sudden. At the same time, the spiritual master also should not accept anybody as his disciple immediately."

Now what Narayana Maharaja wants to do in his own math is his business, and I am not going to comment on it. My complaint is that the followers of Narayana Maharaja are saying that Srila Prabhupada instituted an inferior system and they are inducing ISKCON devotees to disobey his order.

There is a difference in mood between Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja. Narayana Maharaja is setting up maths to train scholarly devotees, and who could object to this?

But Srila Prabhupada's mission is to get the whole world chanting Hare Krishna. For this reason, Srila Prabhupada said that the unfinished half of his mission was to set up varnasram dharma.

Narayana Maharaja points out that varnasram is considered external even by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but again, Srila Prabhupada is my ultimate authority on what will please Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

True, varnasrama is not the ultimate goal, but it is a means for advancing toward the goal. The more people we have chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada's books, the more Sri Sri Gaura Nitai will be pleased, and this is what we in ISKCON are striving for:

"Satsvarupa: For us, is the perfection to be absorbed in preaching to others?

"Prabhupada: Yes.

"Satsvarupa: Rather than thinking 'I want to go and play with Krsna'?

"Prabhupada: No. Your... Yare dekha tare kaha krsna-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. That is Caitanya. Yes.

"Satsvarupa: To everyone, tell them about Krsna.

"Prabhupada: Yes.

"Satsvarupa: Not thinking, 'Oh, when will I go to Krsnaloka?'

"Prabhupada: No, it doesn't matter. You give him good advice. Just like a canvasser. He canvasses for selling some books or some... If does not sell, he is not a culprit. He has done his job. That is recognized by Krsna. Devotee does not make any bargain with Krsna that 'Krsna will give me this benefit; therefore I have become pure devotee.' That is not devotee."

And again:

"If one sincerely tries his best to spread Krsna consciousness by preaching the glories of the Lord and His supremacy, even if he is imperfectly educated, he becomes the dearmost servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is bhakti. As one performs this service for humanity, without discrimination between friends and enemies, the Lord becomes satisfied, and the mission of one's life is fulfilled. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore advised everyone to become a guru-devotee and preach Krsna consciousness (yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]). That is the easiest way to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead." [SB 7.6.24]

(Madhya 7.128: Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krsna as they are given in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.)

If this is the easiest way to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, why should we go for something harder? And this is what we are teaching in ISKCON, so what is your problem?

There is a lot more, but I think that I will leave it at this for now.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Umapati Swami

© Umapati Swami, December 31, 2006

Photo: Umapati Swami, formerly Umapati Dasa Adhikari, (profile view, left, near bottom) with Srila Prabhupada, Los Angeles airport, 1974, photographer unknown