The association of devotees is the most precious gift of God in all of creation. When Krsna wants to bestow His most intimate mercy, He allows us to associate with His most sincere devotees. Srila Krsna Das Kaviraj Goswami, the author of Sri Caitanya Charitamritam has prayed that on this path of bhakti I am a cripple and I am tripping and falling but the stick in the form of the mercy of the vaisnavas is keeping me able to continue walking forward on the path of devotion. Srila Prabhupada has said that anyone who thinks that they can be Krsna conscious without the association with sincere devotees is insane. Each and every devotee who is honestly struggling to follow the path of the previous acaryas is such a rare jewel in this world and to the degree that we are able to appreciate the earnest efforts of these rare jewels; to that degree we will become dear to Krsna. And to the degree we try to see the faults of others or the negative side of a person who is struggling to be Krsna conscious; to that degree we will be neglected by Krsna.
-H.H. Radhanath Swami
Srila Raghunath Das Goswami in his Manah Siksa (Instructions to the Mind) compares duplicitous and wicked activities such as fault finding to the urine of an ass. Only a great fool would think that by taking bath in the urine of an ass he can become purified, if someone is foolish enough to bath in the urine of an ass he will only become more contaminated. In same way sometimes in the course of our Krishna conscious we indulge in such lower propensities as faultfinding and criticizing and although one may justify them in so many ways and actually believe that by doing so he is cleansing his consciousness and making spiritual advancement, factually such a person is only sinking lower and lower into material consciousness. And he says that rather than indulging in such deceitful behavior which is compared to the urine of an ass one should dive into the glistening nectar-ocean of pure love for Sri Sri Gandharva-Giridhari (Sri Sri Radha-Krsna).
In the next verse Srila Raghunath Goswami instructs us that the root cause is, pratisthasa, the desire for name and fame or as Srila Prabhupada would say desires for profit, adoration, and distinction. His advice is that one constantly serve one’s guru who is very dear to the Lord and with a voice choked with emotion cry out to Lord Giridhari, in order to be free from such wickedness and attain the pristine treasure of pure love of God.
-H.H. Radhanath Swami
Srila Raghunath Das Goswami in his Manah Siksa (Instructions to the Mind) compares duplicitous and wicked activities such as fault finding to the urine of an ass. Only a great fool would think that by taking bath in the urine of an ass he can become purified, if someone is foolish enough to bath in the urine of an ass he will only become more contaminated. In same way sometimes in the course of our Krishna conscious we indulge in such lower propensities as faultfinding and criticizing and although one may justify them in so many ways and actually believe that by doing so he is cleansing his consciousness and making spiritual advancement, factually such a person is only sinking lower and lower into material consciousness. And he says that rather than indulging in such deceitful behavior which is compared to the urine of an ass one should dive into the glistening nectar-ocean of pure love for Sri Sri Gandharva-Giridhari (Sri Sri Radha-Krsna).
In the next verse Srila Raghunath Goswami instructs us that the root cause is, pratisthasa, the desire for name and fame or as Srila Prabhupada would say desires for profit, adoration, and distinction. His advice is that one constantly serve one’s guru who is very dear to the Lord and with a voice choked with emotion cry out to Lord Giridhari, in order to be free from such wickedness and attain the pristine treasure of pure love of God.
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