Baba:
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and AC Bhaktivedanta Swami… They are also in one place (MEANING: They have their rightful place in Gaudiya Vaishnavism) … Because there is school and there is college. Higher and higher. Therefore, harinama chanting and sankirtana is for everyone. Everyone needs this for heart-cleaning. And then higher is the college, the literature of the Goswamis. For (planting) vaidhi bhakti and spreading harinama chanting all over the world, for this reason God sent him. So he is also in one place (Again MEANING: having a rightful place in Gaudiya Vaishnavism).
(Now Baba wants to start a sentence wirth “Nobody”, but then thinks it over and starts another one)
In his place (meaning ISKCON) it was the entry (entrance) of (to) raganuga-bhakti-bhajan and (if anyone says) AC Bhaktivedanta Swami is nothing (MEANING unbonafide or unimportant) then he is aparadhi.
He is also in one place. He went all over the world. He introduced Vrindavana chanting, prasadam, Vrindavana-lila…
Disicple:
So we should respect everyone, every Vaishnava?
Baba:
Yes.
Disiple: Because somethings they say..
(Now Baba vehemently cuts him off…not desiring to hear “What bad things they say)
Baba:
No, no no. God also send him. He worked all over the world. He was always in Vrindavana. And Swamiji knew that raganuga bhakti is very high. Little (by) little he added. And then follow that raga-bhakti.
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Before the babaji-haters attack…
“You see…Ananta das Babaji says that ISKCON and Gaudiya Math is like elementary school and the babajis are like the university.”
No. This is not at all what Sri Srimat Ananta das Babaji says.
He says that the priority of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami´s glorious work all over the planet was first of all to introduce Western civilization to bhakti-yoga.
And yes, he needed to start with basic truths and the introduction of mainly vaidhi-bhakti because we Westerners were and still are not able to grasp the concept of pure raganuga-bhakti.
He needed to start with the ABC of bhakti-yoga. But for those who look deep in his books, they will realize that there is A LOT more and also a lot more about raganuga-bhakti (see for example “Teachings of Sri Caitanya”). Many of his senior disciples told me that actually there is everything in Swamiji´s books if you have the eyes to see it.
His gurudeva ordered him to spread Krishna consciousness all around the world focusing on the chanting of the Holy Name and AC Bhaktivedanta Swami mastered this task gloriously, laying a wonderful groundwork for everyone, including this lowly self, to slowly “graduate” to raganuga-bhakti, planting the seed so to say.
The gurudeva of my beloved Baba gave him a different mission: He ordered my Baba to translate and publish and comment on the granthas of the Goswamis of Vrindavana.
These granthas are not necessarily meant to be read by Western hippies…at least not the esoteric ones.
He was not ordered to travel around the globe because that work was later wonderfully done by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami and BV Narayana Maharaja who followed him later on.
All is the plan of the Lord.
Most of us Westerners start with vaidhi-bhakti and there are a few rare souls who immediately pick up the greed for raganuga-bhakti, but mostly we go through a certain set of rules and regulations to purify our hearts. Then that greed can nicely ripen.
ajata-tadrisa-rucina tu sad-viseshadara-matradrita raganugapi vaidhi-samvalitaivanushtheya |
tatha loka-samgrahartham pratishthitena jata-tadrisa-rucina ca |
atra misratve ca yatha-yogyam raganugayaiki krityaiva vaidhi kartavya ||
(Bhakti-sandarbha 312)
“Those in whom such taste (ruci) has not awakened, but who have a special interest for it, should engage in a mixture of raganuga and vaidhi. For the sake of establishing an example for the people of the world, the one in whom such ruci has awakened will do the same. Therefore, as appropriate, raganuga should be performed together with vaidhi.”
It is by the mercy of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and especially of Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami that we came into contact with Vraja-prema.
At least I can verify that with all my heart.
krsna-tad-bhakta-karunya-matra-labhaika-hetuka \
pusti-margataya kaiscid iyam raganugocyate
|| BRS 1.2.309 ||
“The mercy of Krsna and His devotees is the only cause of attaining raganuga-bhakti. Some call this type of devotion pusti-marga.”
Amrita-Tarangini 