“G u r u m u k h a p a d m a v a k y a"
Without that culture of respect, real spiritual advancement is stifled. Srila Prabhupada called this the International Society for Krsna Consciousness; in order to progress properly we need a society around us that is protecting the principles of Vaishnava culture and the basis of culture is respect. How to serve and how to respect everyone according to their particular position that is the subject matter of the verse today, to the spiritual masters, the diksa gurus or the Siksa gurus, and other senior people who are giving us transcendental wisdom, who are senior to us, in age, in realisation, in amount of time practicing devotional service, senior to us by living according to the principles of a asrama commands respect. To such persons it is our duty to offer proper respect, it is so important that Prabhupada went to such an extreme that he even said that even to mayavadis sannyasi you must offer him your obeisances, if you do not then you must fast for that day, how was this, why would we offer our obeisances to a mayavadi sannyasi? Prabhupada is saying in his books which are the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that mayavadi are envious of Krsna they are personally, by their philosophical persuasion, they are trying to destroy the body of Krsna, they are trying to kill the pastimes of Krsna, they are blaspheming the name of Krsna by saying they are temporary manifestations of Brahman. Hare Krsna!!! Mahaprabhu said if you hear from mayavadis your spiritual life would be doomed. Hare Krsna!!! So obviously we should not hear such things but still if see we must offer obeisances otherwise we have to fast. Caitanya Mahaprabhu would not associate with them in any way but still when he would see them he would offer His obeisances because it is the culture of understanding, the principle of renunciation the sannyas order is the principle of renunciation and it must be held in veneration. No matter how many renunciates are rouges and thieves and fall down to illicit activities still if we want to have a culture, we can be Krsna conscious, we have to maintain respect and veneration for the principle of renunciation.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Chanting is a great service, when we chant we invite Krsna and Radha to our hearts and offer Them our service, our senses, our time, our voice and our love so They can take care of our whole life and engage us like They want to. This means we are surrended and we have complete faith the Lord will be there for us, to protect us any time in any situation we are in and we accept anything They give us. When we achieve this stage of complete faith we may understand our position as eternal servants and advance to pure chanting as our goal of life.
Chant:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare
