He has nothing to do with the affairs of this mundane world. He appears before us to reveal the light of the Vedas and to bestow upon us the blessing of full-fledged freedom, after which we should hanker at every step of our life's journey. The transcendental knowledge of the Vedas was first uttered by God to Brahma, the creator of this particular universe.
From Brahma the knowledge descended to Narada, from Narada to Vyasadeva, from Vyasadeva to Madhva, and in this process of disciplic succession the transcendental knowledge was transmitted by one disciple to another until it reached Lord Gauranga, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, who posed as the disciple and successor of Sri Isvara Puri.
The present Acharyadev is the tenth disciplic representative from Sri Rupa Goswami, the original representative of Lord Chaitanya who preached this transcendental tradition in its fullness. The knowledge that we receive from our Gurudev is not different from that imparted by God Himself and the succession of the Acharyas in the preceptorial line of Brahma. Knowledge through surrender We cannot know anything of the transcendental region by our limited, perverted method of observation and experiment.
But all of us can lend our eager ears for the aural reception of the transcendental sound transmitted from that region to this, through the unadulterated medium of Sri Gurudev or Sri Vyasadeva. Therefore, gentlemen, we should surrender ourselves today at the feet of the representative of Sri Vyasadeva for the elimination of all our differences bred by our unsubmissive attitude. It is accordingly said in the Bhagavad Gita [4.
Surrender unto him first, and try to understand him by inquiries and service. Such a wise Spiritual Master will enlighten you with transcendental knowledge, for he has already known the Absolute Truth.
Actual performance of service to the Absolute under the guidance of the Acharya is the only vehicle by which we can assimilate transcendental knowledge. Today's meeting for offering our humble services and homage to the feet of the Acharyadev will enable us to be favored with the capacity of assimilating the transcendental knowledge so kindly transmitted by him to all persons without distinction.
Gentlemen, although it is imperfectly that we have been enabled, by his grace, to understand the sublime messages of our Acharyadev, we must admit that we have realized definitely that the divine message from his holy lips is the congenial thing for suffering humanity. All of us should hear him patiently. If we listen to the transcendental sound without unnecessary opposition, he will surely have mercy upon us.
The Acharya's message is to take us back to our original home, back to God. Let me repeat, therefore, that we should hear him patiently, follow him in the measure of our conviction and bow down at his lotus feet for releasing us from our present causeless unwillingness for serving the Absolute and all souls.
Sitting at the feet of the Acharyadev, let us try to understand from this transcendental source of knowledge what we are, what is this universe, what is God, and what is our relationship with Him.
The message of Lord Chaitanya is the message for the living entities and the message of the living world. Lord Chaitanya did not bother himself for the upliftment of this dead world, which is suitably named Martyaloka, the world where everything is destined to die.
He appeared before us four hundred and fifty years ago to tell us something of the transcendental universe, where everything is permanent and everything is for the service of the Absolute.
But recently Lord Chaitanya has been misrepresented by some unscrupulous persons, and the highest philosophy of the Lord has been misinterpreted to be the cult of the lowest type of society. We are glad to announcetonight that our Acharyadev, with his usual kindness, saved us from this horrible type of degradation, and therefore we bow down at his lotus feet with all humility. We are happy that we have been relieved of this horrible type of malady by the mercy of His Divine Grace.
He is our eye-opener, our eternal father, our eternal preceptor and our eternal guide. Sending the girls out on book distribution became a new service or function for the brahmacarini, as well as brahmacari ashrams.
Of this there is absolutely nothing wrong. Srila Prabhupad encouraged it. However, Srila Prabhupad never ceased to preach and encourage that all unwed girls be married as soon as possible.
Therefore many temple authorities reached their own conclusions that marriage was maya, unwanted for young girls, as it would diminish their ability to do Sankirtan. Over the years, authorities gradually discouraged young girls from marrying, and only emphasized and encouraged them to do Sankirtan. Because of this, the original intended purpose that Srila Prabhupad started the brahmacarini ashram to carry out to give training to the girls in how to become Krishna Conscious wives was lost.
No formal programs were included in any ashrams that I am aware of that taught unwed girls in the science of how to be a proper K. Rather, the main and often only emphasis was on Sankirtan.
The problem is that he never ceased to emphasis that unwed girls be trained and married as soon as possible. From a Room Conversation recorded April 2, , Bombay more complete transcript is included later in this book.
Prabhupad: Woman brahmacarini, this is artificial. Prabhupada: That they cannot. As soon as they will find opportunity, they will become vyabhicarini.
Prabhupada: Therefore polygamy was allowed. Let them be taken care of, one husband, three wives. From the very beginning of starting ISKCON and starting the brahmacarini ashrams in up to his departure in , Srila Prabhupad never ceased to stress that the unwed girls were not to be encouraged to remain unwed. He only encouraged they be married as soon as possible. Even encouraging men to take three wives so that all the girls would be properly taken care of.
Discouraging unwed girls to marry as soon as possible after a little training is not what Srila Prabhupad wanted.
Failed marriages mean so much energy is lost and misdirected that could be better used in spreading the glories of Krishna. And worse, many young lives of the children are spoiled and misguided when their families break apart. Therefore, even though it may sound like a higher and better system to encourage girls to remain unwed for as long as possible so that their youth can be dedicated to book distribution only, in the long run, the results are more marriages failing, more energy lost that could be diverted to preaching, more children having more social problems due to broken families, and thus, over all, the preaching and peacefulness and spiritual potency of the society becomes more and more diminished.
What seems like a better idea, ultimately is detrimental to achieving our goals. I have compiled this book to be used by the brahmacarinis in training and preparation for married life.
One of the key elements required to make a Vedic marriage work is the cultural training. Starting at birth. This training is required for brahmacarinis as well. Girls who join later in life have no devotee parents to train them.
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