In con’t from here https://monkeywarrior.com/detail/15490/
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Dear Guru Maharaja, Hare Krishna and thank you for your prompt reply!
I’d like to make sure I understand you correctly.
You heard Srila Prabhupada, either in a recorded or live lecture, make a statement that seemed to contradict something else he said—either within the same lecture or in another talk. Additionally, Srila Prabhupada mentioned that anything unclear now will eventually become clear through devotional service, most likely when performed without offenses.
Do you know where I could listen to this lecture?
HpS - It was, agtSP, a lecture that was being broadcast over the public address system in the Berkeley Temple. I think it was a group class.
He said that one should only accept uttama adhikari as guru, and then later he said that he had never claimed to be an uttama adhikari. This was bemusing, bewildering to us, but then he said at the end that all these discrepancies would be resolved if we just engaged in devotional service.
As we remember, in the SB, the Professional Reciters are glorifying Prthu Maharaja for being great, an incarnation of God or such. He says, No, no, don't glorify me like that. The reciters look to the sages and they nod, keep on describing his glories, and in the purport srila Prabhupada comments like even if one is an incarnation of God he should not claim to be so, but the wise, scholarly, pure people will recognize him and properly glorify him.
Maybe you personally are feeling that you are becoming more and more fixed in devotional service and actually have some empowered abilities in this Sankirtan movement, but you may also feel that you are a hypocrite and a cheater.
So we see Prabhupada and Prthu Maharaja expressing such feelings, and as we personally engage in devotional service we experience it and Srila Prabhupada's words become deeper and deeper.
However…
Since Srila Prabhupada’s chief is known for stealing butter, I shouldn’t expect everything to always be entirely “honest and legal.” I looked up the phrase “on the up and up,” and Merriam-Webster defines it as such. Are you suggesting that in dealing with Krsna, certain things are not always straightforward or easy to understand with absolute precision?
HpS - The progression of the loving affairs of Krsna with His devotees are crooked like the movement of a snake.
There is a delightful stimulating funny confusion that covers Krsna's pastimes in Goloka. It is Yoga maya.
Krsna is bent in three places. He seems to exist in a space higher than Euclidean Space, even higher than Hyperbolic Space etc.
That said, my core question remains: Why does Srila Prabhupada make seemingly contradictory statements, which can cause confusion for me and others? I understand that different statements may be intended for different situations and individuals. However, many devotees do not accept this nuance; instead, they insist on applying one statement universally and indefinitely.
HpS - Yet he explains repeatedly that different things are presented in different audiences, times, place and circumstances.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/17/38/#bb17250
Some purports see to be for reformed drug addicted hippies and others seem to be for the next Sampradaya, Nitya siddha, Ahcarya.
SB progresses to more and more confidential topics, no?
You also mentioned that service to guru and Bhagavan Sri Krsna comes first, and then answers will follow.
HpS - yasya deve para bhaktir... no?
Since this material world is temporary, there is no need to expect permanent answers here.
The material world is likened to a prison, where problems are inevitable. However, these difficulties serve to inspire a sincere prisoner to seek liberation.
In conclusion, you’re suggesting that I choose one of the topics, and we could possibly discuss it further.
Have I understood you correctly?
HpS - Seems pretty good to me. We are just donkeys being directed by and aristocrat, no? 🏇
Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Lay on Mc Duff and damn be him who first calls, Hold, enough!
