Being obedient

In the twelfth chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Krsna gives a descending list of practices meant to elevate us in spiritual life: just fix your mind on Krsna. If you can't do that, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. If you can't do that, then just try to work for Krsna. If you are unable to work for Krsna, then surrender the results of your work and try to be self-situated. If you can't do that, then cultivate knowledge. Initiated devotees understand that they are limited to the first two options: if we can't think of Krsna constantly in ecstasy, then we should follow the regulative principles of vaidhi-bhakti.

There is a similar descending list in our service to Prabhupada. Prabhupada usually allowed devotees to come forward and offer service. I don't remember a case where Prabhupada told devotees they should go out and distribute books, for example. When the young men and women heard his general talks about book distribution, however, and went out and distributed books, they would receive his favor. That favor may not have come in the form of individual attention, but they would know that his "general" talks were not general at all; they were meant for them. By responding to Prabhupada's instructions, they felt his mercy.

Often, however, as time went by, devotees found themselves unable to continue working on that highest level. They couldn't continue to carry out what Prabhupada now expected them to do. Although Prabhupada might have been disappointed, he was willing to accept their stepping down to some other service, and he didn't see it as a failure as long as the devotee was then responsible in that new duty.

We have to correct ourselves and take a responsible stand somewhere, even if we step down from the more heroic position or the first duty we accepted upon ourselves. Then we can still be successful. If we can't be responsible brahmacaris, then we can become responsible householders.

Devotees often think of this when stepping back includes stepping outside the temple and institutional management structure. Can we say that they have abandoned their service responsibilities and disappointed Prabhupada? Is wanting to make their own decisions in their grhastha life whimsical?

Management may sometimes see it that way. Someone may try to exert the same pressure that Prabhupada exerted, but he will see, as even Prabhupada saw, that we cannot control everyone. Prabhupada was flexible and ISKCON managers have to be flexible too. Prabhupada said that a good manager knows how to bend people without breaking them. If devotees feel encouraged in their services, they will have less tendency to give them up.

If we were to answer the same question from the grhastha's point of view, we would have to ask whether there is anything now lacking in the grhastha's surrender. To answer that question, we would have to analyze exactly what an initiated devotee is responsible for. He is responsible for the four regulative principles and his chanting of a minimum of sixteen rounds a day. Those responsibilities can never be given up because the vows were taken before the spiritual master and Krsna. Those vows constitute our basic commitment to ISKCON and Prabhupada. Then we have to look at the other factors in a devotee's life -- where is it best to live? What service is it best for him to perform? Under how much managerial authority is he able to live and still remain enthusiastic? What are the basic physical necessities in his life and how will he meet them? A devotee may decide that it is best that he live on his own.

That does not mean, however, that he does not owe allegience and obedience to the spiritual master. He has to always remember the weighty Krsna conscious essence into which he took initiation. Sometimes that essence may take the form of a particular service we have offered to the guru; at other times, it may take the form of something even more basic, such as the strict and mindful adherence to the initiation vows. Remembering that essence and taking responsible steps in our lives to fulfill it is based on our integrity as devotees.

It takes intelligence and association with the spiritual master's instructions to understand obedience. Some instructions are temporary. The title of this volume is You Cannot Leave Boston. I have left Boston, but I wasn't disobedient. I was given permission to leave. Life is full of changes, so some instructions are temporary. Leaving Boston allowed me to increase my service to Prabhupada and to become an even more responsible disciple. The principle of obedience is the steadying factor.

One way to understand whether we are practicing the essence of obedience is to look at our activities and to honestly ask ourselves whether we are performing those activities for Krsna's pleasure. When we place ourselves outside the control of a temple manager, it falls more to us to make that determination. This honesty can be very positive in a devotee's life as well as for ISKCON. Such a devotee can find his sense of obedience intact and practice the basic principles of Krsna consciousness, and then he can choose to offer his services to the sankirtana movement. Such a devotee is fortunate if he can form a team with a temple manager willing to work with him and whose vision he can share. Most devotees want to trust and work with the temple leaders, and if not to live in strict brahmacari obedience to their orders, at least help to establish the mission. These times no longer have the same simplicity as when a young boy named Madana-mohana was requested by the great personality, Srila Prabhupada, to continue indexing. By following Prabhupada's direct order, Madana-mohana knew he would be protected.

The classic definitions of the asramas are sometimes broken by the reality of people growing up. Some brahmacaris, after serving fifteen or twenty years in a temple, no longer wish to live in that way, although they remain celibate. Prabhupada told us not to become "bachelor daddies," farcical brahmacaris, yet we now see devotees maintaining their status as brahmacaris who can no longer find a place in the temples. Such a person may have to live independently, but he shows his surrender by remaining spiritually connected to devotional service and to Prabhupada's movement. There is room for such people in Krsna consciousness. Prabhupada said it takes gallons of blood to make one devotee. If we define their existences too narrowly, we may drive sincere people away.


- From "You Cannot Leave Boston" by HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
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[srilaprabhupadanectar] Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Being obedient