Life in the material world is not easy. Souls live in peace in the spiritual world because there they are free from the false ego, connected with an eternal spirit of selfless service to Krsna. In the material world, our situation is the opposite: we act under the false ego and the three modes of material nature. These layers make us act in egoistic and destructive ways that create harm to others and ourselves. Acting in ways that harm others means to also harm ourselves because the suffering we cause to others will return to us in future lives. In this way, we become entrapped in a life of permanent struggle, life after life, causing suffering to each other.

Even when an empowered acarya tries to create a spiritual society, his effort is also not free from problems, because although a pure devotee may be personally perfect in his actions, other members of his society are still imperfect souls, who are still under the false ego and the material modes and are still propense to commit mistakes, quarrel and cause harm to others. Therefore, even spiritual societies will be plagued by problems, although possibly less.

Apart from problems caused by quarrels between the members, spiritual societies are also affected by problems caused by external sources, such as natural disasters, wars, and so on. Sometimes people who lack a high level of spiritual of spiritual realization are put into positions of leadership, creating havoc.

As minute souls, entrapped by the material energy, it’s hard for us to find the way out by ourselves. We need guidance from advanced devotees, as well as the friendship of peers. As we learn, we can also offer some service and guidance to junior devotees, and thus, as a group, we can progress in spiritual life. We can see that although plagued by problems, spiritual societies are essential for our spiritual development, and this is the reason pure souls work hard to create such societies in the first place.

As followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we are part of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya. This means that our line started with Lord Brahma, who received the Vedic knowledge directly from Krsna and passes through Srila Madhvacarya, who personally received the knowledge from Srila Vyasadeva and through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers, culminating with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada.

We all understand that the teachings given by Srila Prabhupada emphasize the acceptance of a spiritual master, who creates the link between the aspiring disciple and the previous acaryas, going all the way to Krsna. Although the spiritual master accepts the responsibility of delivering the disciple out of the material world, he doesn’t do that by his own strength. What the guru does is to connect the disciple with his own spiritual master, who in turn connects him with his own spiritual master, all the way to Krsna. Just like when we hold to a chain to be pulled out of the ocean, our deliverance from the material world is done by the whole Parampara. Although we hold to the last link of the chain (the spirtual master), the lifting is done by the combined work of all links, all the way to Krsna. For this system to work, it’s essential that not only the disciple remain connected to the spiritual master, but that the spiritual master himself remains connected to his own spiritual master, since a link disconnected from the chain has no value.

However, when we talk to talk to representatives of the traditional Madhva Sampradaya we are challenged by their understanding that the deliverance is not done by the spiritual master, but by Madvacarya alone. According to them, one may receive initiation from a Sannyasi, or from any genuine follower of Madvacarya, including even a family member, like the father or uncle, but in any case, the deliverer is Srila Madvacarya. Representatives of the Madhva Sampradaya have a great appreciation for Srila Prabhupada, and according to them, Srila Prabhupada plays, for Iskcon devotees, a similar role to the one played by Srila Madvacarya in the Madhva Sampradaya. In other words, in their understanding, Srila Prabhupada alone is the deliverer of all his followers.

In the story of Vamanadeva, we find an interesting passage where Lord Vamanadeva begs Bali Maharaja for three steps of land in the measure of His steps.

Bali Maharaja had invaded the celestial planets and taken them from the demigods. However, although siding with the demons, Bali Maharaja was a pure devotee, who appeared in the lineage of Prahalada Maharaja. The Lord thus decided to act in a way that allowed Him to return the celestial planets to the demigods, restoring the universal order, but at the same time bless Bali Maharaja.

Appearing as a dwarf, the Lord obtained an audience of Bali Maharaja, who was happy to give him some boom. When the Lord asked for just three steps of land, Bali Maharaja was amused and encouraged Him to ask for more. The Lord was however adamant, arguing that as a brahmacary he didn’t need more than that. Of course, being all-powerful the Lord was able to expand His form and thus cover the three planetary systems with just two steps, but there is a hidden meaning in the Lord asking for just three steps of land, which can teach us an important point.

One question I sometimes receive is about initiations on Gaudiya Maths. Why on Iskcon one has to wait for years, chant 16 rounds, and develop a relationship with the guru while on some of the Gaudiya Maths, one can get a name very easily after promising to just chant four rounds, or sometimes by just attending a program and meeting a sadhu, without promising anything at all?

In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, we have the description of the previous life of Narada Muni. Improbable as it may seem, the great Narada Muni was a normal human child in his previous birth, born from a poor maidservant. He didn’t have the opportunity to study and was just serving in an ashrama alongside his mother. However, in just a few months he was able to get the personal darshan of Lord Vishnu. How did this happen?

As one can imagine, this miracle happened due to association with pure devotees. A group of traveling Bhaktivedantas happened to take shelter in the asrama where Narada was living with his mother during the four months of chaturmasya, and he had the opportunity of serving them, taking the remnants of their food, and hearing them speak about Krsna. Although just a small child, this had a very profound impact on Narada’s consciousness. A few months later, when his mother passed away after being bitten by a snake, Narada decided to leave home and also travel in search of further enlightenment.

After traveling for a number of days, Narada decided to meditate under the shadow of a banyan tree in an uninhabited forest, following the process of meditation on the Supersoul he had heard from the Bhaktivedantas. Surprisingly, as soon as he started meditating he was able to obtain the personal darshan of the Lord, Who revealed His personal form. As Narada himself describes:

In the very early days of our movement, when Srila Prabhupada started the first temple in the Matchless Gifts store, there was not much discussion about clothes. Srila Prabhupada was dressing like a sannyasi, and his first disciples were dressing in their regular street clothes. At that point, Srila Prabhupada was just teaching in the mood of “You don’t have to change anything, just add Krsna”. He was just making them chant Hare Krsna, hear from the Bhagavad-Gita and take prasadam. He was even washing their plates afterward!

However, as time went on, Prabhupada started to gradually implement more aspects. It happens that the practice of devotional service goes along two parallel lines: bhagavata-vidhi and pancaratrika-vidhi. Bhagavata-vidhi includes chanting, hearing the scriptures, taking prasadam, and spreading Krsna Consciousness to others, while pancaratrika-vidhi includes deity worship as well as different standards and rules. The aspects of bhagavata-vidhi are easier to follow, but without the rules and regulations of pancaratrika-vidhi, there is a risk one may gradually get off course, and end up becoming a sahajiya instead of attaining pure devotion to Krsna. Therefore, although in the beginning, Srila Prabhupada focused on the essential aspects of bhagavata-vidhi, gradually he started teaching also the principles of pancaratrika-vidhi, which balance it.

Apart from cleaning standards, aspects of behavior, etiquette in dealing with other devotees, and so on, he also introduced standards of clothing for the temple devotees, with the men using dothi, kurta, and chadar, and the ladies dressing in saris and cholis.

It’s mentioned in the scriptures that Sadhu-Sanga is the most important factor in the development of love for Krsna. Our spirtual path starts when we meet devotees, and our devotion to Krsna is nourished by their association. Association with other devotees is the most basic and essential aspect of spiritual life, but it can be at the same time one of the most difficult.

It can be quite hard to go along with other devotees, especially when there is some pressing service that needs to be performed. The potential problems include egos, differences of opinions, disagreement, fights for position, and so on. Why is it so that the most important factor for our spiritual development is also the most difficult to maintain?

Each one of us faces difficulties and challenges in life. Often people think that becoming rich is going to solve all their problems, but rich people also have problems, it’s just that these problems affect other areas of their lives instead of the financial sphere. Everyone has to carry his cross so to speak.

Human beings are very complex creatures. We have many different types of needs, starting from basic needs such as food and shelter, and progressing to more subtle, but not less important needs, such as relationships. Some, who due to good fortune find themselves in a more favorable position may have an easier time than others, but life has highs and lows and therefore even if someone is in a favorable situation now, it doesn’t mean he may not face difficulties later. There are of course also the ups and downs over different lives. Just because we are in a comfortable situation now doesn’t mean we will be again in a comfortable situation in the next life and vice-versa. No matter what we do, things are never stable in this material world.

One thing I learned in these years is that Krsna Consciousness is not so much about changing our material position (which is largely determined by factors beyond our control), but much more about finding ways to be Krsna Conscious in whatever condition we see ourselves in. This capacity of learning from our experiences, and connecting them with our search for Krsna is what really can have a transforming effect in our lives.

In the teachings of Prahlada Maharaja, narrated in the 7th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, it’s described that “if a śva-paca or caṇḍāla is a devotee, he delivers not only himself but his whole family, whereas a brāhmaṇa who is not a devotee but simply has brahminical qualifications cannot even purify himself, what to speak of his family.”

This is one amongst many verses in the scriptures that describe the transcendental position of Vaishnavas, being superior to Brahmanas who are just following the prescriptions of the scriptures, without developing love for Krsna. This point is exemplified by the pastime of Druvada Muni offending Ambarisa Maharaja. Druvasa Muni was surely qualified as a Brahmana, but being a devotee, Ambarisa Maharaja was able to show qualifications that were far superior.

Based on these descriptions, we like to count ourselves as Brahmanas, or even higher than Brahmanas. In fact, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura quoted from these same passages when he established brahminical initiation to his disciples, sustaining that there is no problem in a Vaishnava from a low family being initiated as a Brahmana and acting as one since in any case, a Vaishnava is superior to a Brahmana and automatically shows the qualities of a Brahmana.

What we overlook, however, is that these passages from the scriptures speak mainly about pure Vaishnavas, who already situated themselves in the liberated platform. On SB 7.9.10, for example, Prahlada Maharaja mentions that: