Dear Gurumaharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
First of all i wish to thank you for your reply to my previous letter. Temple news is that Krishna Ksetra Maharaja visits this weekend for classes. Mother Kishori from France visited the other week, and the place got opened with Radhastami and was baptised 'Gaura Dham.'
My reason for writing is that i seek more understanding about a certain point which i hope you can clarify. It is about the contents of this verse:
http://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/17/28
Hrdayananda Goswami reasoned in a class that chanting Mahamantra in the streets is not very effective to most hearers because of the point of this verse. There would be ajnata sukriti, but that is not so potent as to make people come forward and really take up the chanting. For people who have past life experiences, the chanting would wake them up to their previous position and they would continue. The same goes for reading Srila Prabhupada's books. The argument he used based on this verse, is that if an action is not purposefully done out of good intention, the result would not be very potent. After all, the verse prior to this one mentions the criterium as to please the Lord.
Now this shook me up a bit, because of what i sort of picked up in our ISKCON, that the chanting is so potent that everybody will benefit. Of course, Maharaja did not deny that explicitly, nor did he dissuade from doing Harinam in any way, but it was a bit of a letdown, because his point made sense to me. On the other hand, Srila Prabhupada says that even chanting as a joke or mockingly has effect. How do i understand this apparent contradiction? And is ajnata sukriti really not that potent, and does it have to add up in order to be of some influence?
There was another class in Berlin from September, which became a topic of discussion on the internet, where Maharaja said that the prophesy of Lord Caitanya can lead devotees in Harinam parties sometimes to be in a bubble of 'saving the world,' while in actuality they are not connecting to the people around them. To me, these episode strenghten in me the notion that to speak to one person a day, in a good conversation with mutual respect, and to impress upon them the glories and benefit of chanting, and inspiring them in that way, is a glorious thing. Of course i would be interested in understanding your ideas on the 9% that you disagree with in Maharaja, to see more balance, but i can understand could be beyond the scope of this forum. Anyway, i look forward to hearing your thoughts.
With kind regards,
Your aspiring servant,
Raghava Pandit das
HpS - ASA --- Thank you, on our behalf and all the frogs here in the Bog, so much for your association. Yes, it seems beyond the scope of this Blog. In general you have said it. There is Ajnata sukrti for new people and stimualtion of their Vasanas, Samskaras, Ajnanata-sukrtis, from previous lives for those people. It has immediate and lasting benefit, but yes, it does build up.
Yes, there is different potency in how it is done.
We remember that Prabhupada said that in his mother's kitchen all the pots were free of even a black spot from carbon. One black spot and back to the serving girl for cleaning. She would always clean while cooking, so when the offering was done, it was just two stroke to clean the kitchen. Prabhupada said that if you take Prasadam prepared in a Kitchen like that, then immediately you feeled refreshed, happy.
So, yes, if we are chanting like Kanthistha adhikaris, only see God in the procees, our process, then it is not as potent as Madhyama adhikaris who 1. Avoid the demons in the audience, 2. Preach (connect) to the innocent, 3. Worship God by the Chanting, and 4. Make friendship with the devotees (eg. Samskara guys). O.K? Always go chanting with flags. In Russia, always go with good accordion music etc.
O.K? Some little idea?
