Question From a New Devotee
To HPS, et. al.:
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Here's a quick version of my story: My wife and I only recently started our journey with Krishna Consciousness 2 months ago, after spending a weekend at New Raman Reti/Alachua Hare Krishna Temple in Florida. We had started out at Himalayan Academy, essentially learning Saivism, for about a year prior, but we were feeling drawn to Vaisnavism, particularly as we both felt that Hanuman was closest to our hearts. We stumbled into a weekly "Hanuman Chalisa" bhajan-fest that occurs every Tuesday at our local Hindu temple a year ago, and we have been going regularly ever since. I had developed a somewhat "negative" opinion of ISKCON from Internet gossip, but I kept having dreams about visiting Krishna temples, and Vishnu appearing as a huge wave, and just everything seemed to be pushing us towards Vaisnavism. I was very reluctant to go to a HK temple, and arrived with a scowl and arms firmly folded, expecting to feel like I'd stepped into some kind of "cult" situation. Obviously, I was pleasantly surprised, and by the second day, I was praying to Krishna to accept my surrender. Since then, I've kept a daily diary, wherein I note when and where I do my 16 rounds, as well as keeping tabs on other significant issues. We go to New Raman Reti as much as possible, but we have 8 children and it's 2 hours away, so that's not as often as we'd like. My wife likes to read Srila Prabhupada's books to me, and we have been doing that on a regular basis as well for the past 2 months. I'm a fairly well-educated person, (J.D., M.A. in Ancient History, etc.) so I likely find it easier to digest those books more quickly than the average neophyte.
Since we're only just over 2 months into Krishna Consciousness, we're not at the level required to be formally seeking shelter under a Guru, obviously, but when I was searching the list of different ISKCON Gurus, your name jumped out at me, given the association with Hanuman. My wife and I watched some of your videos on YouTube, and instantly felt a connection. However, due to our "newbie" status, we are trying to keep our minds open at the moment, and not get fixated too easily on the first Guru we come across. I asked some of the people at New Raman Reti if they knew anything about you, and the people I spoke to were not particularly familiar with you. One suggested that I write you with some of my questions, so I hope this is not an imposition.
Specifically, my questions are:
1. I see a lot of Hanuman-related symbolism on pages related to HPS. Could you explain the significance of Hanuman to your Sadhana, and/or his place in ISKCON?
Hanumatpresaka Swami - Anjana Suta Academy --- Esteemed Lord Byron. Your letter is very interesting. We hope we can be of some little service to you. Srila Prabhupada always talks of Hanuman with great enthusiasm, but not very much detail. In Lord Caitanya's pastimes he has incarnated as Murari Gupta, a physician in Mayapura. As you read Prabhupada's books you will find Hanuman more and more. As for Sadhana, you can see him in the beginning of Nectar of Instruction as an example of how to control anger by using it for the Lord.
After we get a little fixed in our service based on rules, regulations, rituals and practices such as Japa, then we can start to try to follow the humor of an advanced devotees like Hanuman. Prabhupada gave us the name, Hanumatpresaka Das so we have always been enclined to hear about him and try to mold our life to some extent on the basis of this lila, Hanuman being sent by Lord Rama with a message.
2. Once we HAVE attained the necessary 6-month period of chanting/4 regs/etc., what would be our next steps if we decide to become disciples? And will our location in Florida make this problematic? (We do not see you as being scheduled to come anywhere near Florida.)
HpS - Please take a look at the file www.jayarama.us/kd/guru-tattva.txt. I think it is listed in the News-letter under the Guru Tattva section. It describes this iniation process as far as our comprehension goes. In the beginning it is so natural to develop our perspective on things from developing a relation ship with Srila Prabhupada. The Acharya for eveyone in ISKCON is Srila Prabhupada. Tell us what you think of the file listed above.
3. Is Anjana Suta Academy the path of discipleship for HPS disciples? Or is it something wholly separate? I admit to being a bit confused about it.
HpS - Understanding "Guru" means understanding Lord Balarama or Lord Nityananda. Krsna, Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Godhood) and His logos is Lord Balarama or Lord Nityananda. We might look at Jehovah as the Supreme Personality of Divinity and Lord Jesus Christ and the Logos, Guru.
So there are many kinds of Gurus. In some sense, Prabhupada says, it just means teacher. When we are ready to formally matriculate there is Diksa guru. He initiates accord to the rituals, but from beginning to end Siksa guru is there giving us advice how to advance at our level.
The Anjana Suta Academy is one Sankirtan party in ISKCON. You don't have to be initiated by us to join it. The two functions are separate, but of course, many people participating in the institute are initiated by us. Prabhupada says that the principal Siksa guru, instructing spiritual maste usually becomes the initiating Spiritual Master. Of course, this can apply to Prabhupada in his position also, no?
I'm sure there are a million questions that I will think of as soon as I hit the "send" button, but if you have the time to answer these 3 questions, then I will be most grateful. Thank you.
P.S., I don't think this letter is particularly suitable for public consumption, but I will leave that to you.
Bryon
HpS - No, it is very wonderful for this Blog. These are very nice questions that we get from many people and by answering them many more people will get their questions answered also. Before we had this Blog we were answering 400-500 letters/month. Now it is about 150/month. Thank you for your excellent questions. I would suggest that you go on reading Prabhupada's books and then gradually all these Guru tattva things will become clear.