Srila Prabhupada was not a warm, fuzzy guru who offered alluring clichés about the Light, the Force, or Energy. Neither is Krishna such a God. Rather, Krishna and His devotees use strong words to classify materialists:
Classifying groups of people serves as a way we and others can: (1) understand our conditioned predicament; (2) start to transcend our conditioning through purification; and (3) get an indication of where we are on Krishna’s all-encompassing material “map” and how we can move forward to achieve our desired destination.
"Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels, and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Krishna, the deliverer from evils.
Everyone in the material world is somewhere on Krishna’s “map,” and every place on that map has, for the conditioned soul, assets and deficits. For example, the scriptures tell us that before we can transcend the modes of material nature we must first come to the mode of goodness. To be in the mode of goodness is advantageous - essential, in fact. But those in that mode may be stuck in their materially comfortable, peaceful state, and thus uninterested in spiritual life and unable to free themselves from repeated birth and death - a grim downside to the mode of goodness.
According to Sri Krishna’s and Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, everyone, regardless of his or her material designation, has the potential to attain the highest spiritual position, namely to become a pure devotee. Pure Vaishnavas are beyond all designations and classifications, and in their purest state, they see everyone else as beyond all designations and classifications too. The association of such persons is uplifting. As Srila Prabhupada said about his female disciples:
"These women are not ordinary women. They are preachers. They are Vaishnavas. By their association one becomes a Vaishnava.
(Morning walk, March 27, 1974, Bombay)"
Scholars and Members Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
“Our mission is to see sarve sukhino bhavantu: everyone become happy. We don’t want to see that we exploit somebody else and I become happy. No. We want to see everyone happy. But they do not know how to become happy. Therefore we are trying to spread this Krishna consciousness movement [so] that everyone will be happy.
(Wedding lecture, December 4, 1973, Los Angeles)”
Krishna consciousness means facilitating all devotees so that they remain enthusiastic and determined to grow to their full potential. Srila Prabhupada offered us such fa cility, and we, his followers, are meant to offer the same facility to others.
Please view the ten-minute video, Srila Prabhupada’s Shower of Mercy. It’s here:
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