Recently one of my friends sent me a long "Facebook" thread that came as a result of Sriman Jagadananda Prabhu posting my article "Srila Govinda Maharaja did not choose a single Acharya.". on his "Facebook" site.

My friend thought I would be put off by seeing some of the comments there regarding my article. He may have been surprised by my response:
 

Dandavats,

To quote: Louis Nickens, "Interesting discussion, folks. Very interesting."

To tell the truth, I was expecting worse, some gossip forum. All in all, I'm impressed by the thoughtful input of many of our devotees and glad to see they have an open forum where they can reveal their thoughts to each other honestly without fear of reprisal. It also seems to be pretty well self moderated, not going too far outside the bounds of respectful dealings.

Kudos to Jagadananda Prabhu for sponsoring this and for keeping things on an even keel.

Once again I'm relieved and happy to see we have a group of devotees who have a good grasp of our philosophy and enjoy discussion of the important issues. They are obviously reading our books, hearing our Gurus words and examining events in the context of what they have understood from their own perspective. We may not all agree on every point but they all seem genuine and are trying sincerely to move forward, support our mission and help each other as well.

(emphasis added):

"Material nature means dissension and disagreement, especially in this Kali yuga. But, for this Krsna consciousness movement its success will depend on agreement, even though there are varieties of engagements. In the material world there are varieties, but there is no agreement. In the spiritual world there are varieties, but there is agreement. That is the difference. The materialist without being able to adjust the varieties and the disagreements makes everything zero. They cannot come into agreement with varieties, but if we keep Krsna in the center, then there will be agreement in varieties. This is called unity in diversity." — Bhakti Vedanta Swami, Letter to: Kirtanananda  --  Bombay 18 October, 1973

Srila Swami Maharaja was very insistent that we not make his mission into a society of conformist who all become slaves to a central authority.

(emphasis added):

"Otherwise, management, everything, should be done locally by local men. Accounts must be kept, things must be in order and lawfully done, but that should be each temple's concern, not yours. Krishna Consciousness Movement is for training men to be independently thoughtful and competent in all types of departments of knowledge and action, not for making bureaucracy. Once there is bureaucracy the whole thing will be spoiled. There must be always individual striving and work and responsibility, competitive spirit, not that one shall dominate and distribute benefits to the others and they do nothing but beg from you and you provide. No."  —Bhakti Vedanta Swami, Letter to: Karandhara  --  Bombay 22 December, 1972

I have seen many indications that Srila Guru Maharaja and Srila Govinda Maharaja also agreed with these points.

I am very encouraged. I have said before how hopeful I am for our next generation of preachers and this is further evidence to support that.

I pray this finds you well in all respects,

Giri Maharaja
 

Krishna Consciousness does not mean that everyone will agree on every point. We are not searching for one homogeneous milky fluid, a bland non-descript substance without taste or variety to merge with. We are looking for a spicy, sweet, sometimes even pungent, relationship with the Absolute Truth who exhibits every characteristic of personality that is known, having all derived from Him. He is dynamic in every respect. He is the unknown, inconceivable, "indescribably delicious", unpredictable, unfathomable Supreme Personality of Godhead, overflowing with unlimited varieties of beautiful tastes, colors, aromas, sounds, feelings and emotions.

The jivas, ourselves, and His devotees, are also endowed with the same qualities as He. 

Society must impose some boundaries on its members in order to function. The purpose of our society is to promote Krishna Consciousness, Gaura Consciousness and to provide a shelter, a nourishing environment, for those seeking these things. The boundaries we impose are trnad api su-nicena, taror iva sahisnuna, amanina mana-dena.

To disagree is not necessarily offensive. We can disagree without being disagreeable, and preaching means to disagree.

The uttama-adhikari sees the Lord everywhere and everything as being guided by His Divine Hand. Nothing is out of order, nothing need be changed.

The kanishtha-adhikari, known as a materialistic devotee, has very little power of discrimination. He can't say who is higher, Krishna, Vishnu, Ramachandra and so forth. He also can't understand that more attention, more faith and more devotion should be shown to the devotee of the Lord than the Deity in the temple. He also may not understand that Hari Nama Sankirtana and preaching the glories of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga under the guidance of a higher vaishnava is the highest and best function for the jiva in this Kali yuga, not Deity worship, meditation or any other spiritual practice.

The madhyam-adhikari, on the other hand, is supposed to carefully discriminate, this is higher, this is lower, this is superior, this is inferior. He must learn to discern what is the highest plane of thought, what is lower, and always strive to maintain himself as a servant of the highest plane.

As in all things, there are different grades or qualities of madhyam-adhikari. There is the kanishtha-madhyam, madhyam-madhyam and so forth. The lower grade madhyam will not have the discriminatory ability of the higher, but if we are to preach, we must start somewhere and it will be done from somewhere in the madhyam plane.

I heard an expression from my father, "Children are born as animals. They must be trained to be civilized and become human beings." I would add, "Those with insufficient training, remain animals."

At any rate, like children, exploring their surroundings, we must venture out to explore the preaching field. We hear a spiritual concept, we think we understand it, we tell it to others, we gauge their reaction. Do they accept our idea, do they reject it, or do they modify it? We examine our idea again in this new light.

If our idea was accepted, was it fully accepted, or only partially? Did I explain it sufficiently so that what was accepted is really the same as my own understanding? Was the acceptance only formal, lip-deep, or was it real? If it is real, I should expect those who accepted it to join with me, adopt the idea in their own life and pass it on to others. Are they doing that? If not, "Why not?", and so on.

In this way, there is always question and answer going on. We are students and "why" is a very good word to keep in our vocabulary.

I have many questions for others. Others, in turn, have questions for me. When such questioning is not going on, I should be questioning myself. Why am I suffering? Why am I not perfect? Yet, the urge is strong within me to become perfect. Or is it? Why am I still deficient even after so many attempts to correct myself? There should be no laziness, no slothfulness, we should never think "Now I have learned enough, now I am complete, now I know it all."

In the plane of consciousness there is always competition. Every idea, thought or conception is always competing for acceptance or supremacy over another.

The idea of peace exists as a concept. But even that idea is in a fight with those who argue against it.

The kanistha believes he will find peace through non-discrimination. By accepting all Deities on the same level, he does not have to defend the position of one over another. This does not bring peace, however, because he will still have to defend his concept of "All are equal" against those who believe one is higher than another.

The impersonalists are also seeking peace, as are the voidists. Like the kanistha, they feel the pain of materialistic existence and seek relief from it. All such attempts for peace, however, exist with some measure of illusion attached to them. Even the highest spiritual position of these, attained by the impersonalists, retains some small degree of conflict that makes him too uncomfortable to live with himself.

aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho 'nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah

Seeking relationship with another, not knowing that he has an eternal relationship with the Lord and His devotees, he will accept any relationship, even a mundane one, and thus returns again to the plane of exploitation just to get the company of others. It is better to exploited by others than to live alone.

So we, the servants of Mahaprabhu, are not seekers of peace. The spiritual plane we seek is not the plane of peace. It is the plane of competitive service to the Lord and His devotees. Who will supply the best service? I must want that person to be me. If it is to be me, my attempt must be a bold one. There are already so many, more qualified than I am. If I am to get any recognition in such a field, I must strive with more energy and determination than my peers, mindful of the civilized boundaries mentioned above.

In our practicing life we must take bold steps to preach the message of our Guru Varga. We must attack the environment, push back the army of maya, the influence of Kali. As Srila Sridara Maharaja related the idea of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura, "There should not be even one square inch of ground where maya can stand." That should be our thinking and our determination. To conquer the entire world for our Guru, Gauranga and demand unconditional surrender, to Them.

It is a battlefield, to be sure, but it is a battlefield of ideas. We must procure for our arsenal the highest and purest spiritual ideas, then use them to destroy those that are inferior. Relegate them to the dustbin of history.

It does not require genius, or even book knowledge. It requires faith in our Divine Master. We are not so strong or capable but He is very mighty, He will supply what is lacking in the genuine disciple.

ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham 

To whoever gives his full attention to Me, ignoring all others in favor of Me, who is exclusively devoted to Me, I preserve what he has and whatever he requires, that he does not have, I supply that to him.

I cannot speak to what has been posted on any other threads. Based on what I read from this one, I'm happy to see that the contest of ideas is going on. It gives me hope for the future of our mission, which is the offspring of the greatest spiritual thinkers. They boldly rolled their ideas onto the battlefield, like so many canons, and fired volley after volley until all the lower conceptions had no choice but to surrender. They are the generals and we are their foot soldiers. Taking their orders on our head we should fearlessly rush to the front and engage the enemy which is constantly reforming, regrouping, looking for weakness in our lines. Holding high the banner of Mahaprabhu, we must fight with them, do or die.

The thoughts expressed in "Facebook" may be apparently in my favor or against me, it doesn't matter. I am not important, the ideas are important. May the best thought win.

Swami B.K. Giri