The mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu comes in disciplic succession. The only thing that can save us from our madness is by taking shelter of the spiritual master. Without the spiritual master we are like a ship without a rudder on the waves of the ocean of nescience and the three modes of material nature will just take us here and there. That’s how the mercy of Mahaprabhu ultimately comes. Then behind the spiritual master, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is there and He’s helping. So somehow or other we look at situations and they look too difficult. We know what we’re supposed to do but somehow or other it looks too difficult to do what we’re supposed to do. And then we just start to act impulsive but that’s mad, that’s mad! Because, thinking, feeling and willing are functions of the mind; we must act on the superior intelligence of the spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada is spiritual master of all and he’s the embodiment of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Prabhupada one time came down the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs he made a little pirouette and he said, “My spiritual master made me into a diamond!” Diamond lets the light through completely. So in this way, the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is coming through completely. How can we stop being mad? It’s difficult for all of us to not listen to our mind, not listen to our senses- it’s difficult. So we have to train ourselves, “I am the servant of my spiritual master. You rascal, you are the servant of your spiritual master.” You tell yourself all the time, everyday, 100’s of times, “Do what your spiritual master wants. Don’t do anything…even if you want to do it very much, don’t do it without blessings. At least that…” And even to always approach the spiritual master, “Can you please bless this? Can you please bless that? Can I do this? Can I do that? Do I have your blessings for this? Do I have your blessings for that?” then, even that’s not so good. Better still is to just ask, “is there anything I can do? What would you like me to do?” But don’t worry; we are all mad! So Prabhupada knew that very well, you know; when Prabhupada started preaching he knew that it was a circus! He knew it very well! He knew that all these people were like really not all the way there! But somehow or other he worked around it and tolerated it. In that way you just have to hang in there, that is the thing- HANG IN THERE! So to some extent we have to control our madness; we cannot allow our madness to take us away from the devotees, that is too much! Then we take it too far. But take shelter of guru, take shelter of vaisnavas, don’t make independent decisions- independent decisions cause suffering…
(Durban, SA, 2008)
