Prabhu (1): How to define loyalty in spiritual life?
His Holiness Bhaktividyā Pūrṇa Mahārāja: How would you define loyalty in spiritual life? That you can actually have relationships, that you are actually able to function within those relationships. Do you understand? If you want to be more specific, okay, more practical is that, okay, you have been saved by Prabhupāda and his disciples, so you stay in that group, you don’t go outside that group. One is, you stick in the Gaudīyas’ line, within the Gaudīya line you stick in what is Prabhupāda’s line. And Prabhupāda’s line means of those who practice what is here [in the Bhāgavatam.] You can work with the society, the management, and otherwise if you can’t then you live outside, do whatever you do, interact as much as you can, but stick to this line. Then you say, that is loyal.
Prabhu (1): If you look at the Vaiṣṇava history…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: The Vaiṣṇava history?
Prabhu (1): …around the time of the Gosvāmīs, they were all mixing among each other’s…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: All mixing? All the Gosvāmīs? Yes, they all followed Rūpa Gosvāmī, yes, they all mixed, yes.
(..)
Prabhu (2): Mahārāja, Prabhu mentioned the word “loyalty,” and there is something that’s on our minds, especially the devotees in the *** yātrā in ***, there is one particular Prabhupāda disciple, *** Mahārāja, and recently there is some stuff about him…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: What does it matter, the stuff? What does it matter?
Prabhu (2): We all have such a, like a close bond with him, and we…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: Yeah, so right now it doesn’t function
Prabhu (2): No, we…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: So one comes back around when it does function.
Prabhu (2): We still have this bond with him, but we are told that…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: You have the bond with him, but the point is, is you can’t really interact much with him now because he is not acting in a capacity that makes it interactive.
Prabhu (2): We feel he is like our śikṣā-guru, but right now…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: He is like the śikṣā-guru, but… It’s just like this: you had your father, your father is your father, he is always your father.
Prabhu (2): Yeah.
HH BVPS Mahārāja: Let’s say he has got a very high fever and he is delirious, and he is talking some strange things, so do we take all that very seriously? No, you wait until the fever goes away, and now you interact.
Prabhu (2): So, although that… My question is that he may be having this fever or not, I don’t know, but we have this relationship and loyalty to him…
HH BVPS Mahārāja: Yes, but…
Prabhu (2): …so is it stopped because the management says “No more”?
HH BVPS Mahārāja: Means, the point is, is this loyalty is specifically to Rūpa Gosvāmī’s line that is coming down to us through Śrīla Prabhupāda. And then that is being given to us by the members of the society, right? They help us understand. And so, in other words, the stuff has to be in line with what Śrīla Prabhupāda says. So anything that is in line is useful, anything that is not in line is useless, that’s all. Right? You know what I am saying? You go down on the beach, and you walk on the beach. There is a lot of sand, but sometimes there is diamonds. So, if you pick up a diamond, it is a diamond. But if you pick up sand and say it’s a diamond, then it doesn’t happen, right? De Beers is not going to take it seriously, right? So, therefore if stuff that is said is in line with Prabhupāda’s books, that is valuable, but what is not is not valuable. So if there has been some stuff said in the past, you continue with that, but what may be said now may not be so useful, so, therefore, you take advantage of others. Because you are loyal to Prabhupāda.
Prabhu (2): Yeah.
HH BVPS Mahārāja: They have a position because they are connected to Prabhupāda, they are representing Prabhupāda. If they are not representing that, then that connection is not so good. But it doesn’t mean… But because you are dealing with the spiritual platform, anything that was connected still is connected. So, if he gave a lecture, you know, 5 years ago and you like that, you are inspired, it still has the potency. But maybe what he says now does not have much, so, therefore, you take advantage of other senior devotees. Well, good luck trying to apply that though! [Laughter] You are in a sag.
Prabhu (2): Yeah.
HH BVPS Mahārāja: Basically, just keep your mouth shut.
Prabhu (2): Because we keep in touch sometimes, like text messages.
HH BVPS Mahārāja: Beh, you just see and just like that, but you have to see if there is something that’s off, you leave that. And if there is something that’s useful, then that’s there. It’s just time. Give it time. Just give it time. But loyalty is to Kṛṣṇa and going back to Godhead.


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