suicide

 
Imported quote 16181
On His return to Puri all the anxious devotees of the Lord got back their life and the Lord remained there with continued pastimes of His transcendental realisations. The most important incidence during that time was to grant audience to the king Prataprudra. King Prataprudra was a great devotee of the Lord and he considered himself as one of the servants of the Lord entrusted with service of sweeping the temple. This submissive attitude of the king was very much appreciated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The king requested both Bhattacharya and Roy to arrange for his meeting with the Lord. When however He was so requested by the two stalwart devotees of the Lord, He flatly refused to keep the request even though the same was put forward through the good office of such personal associates like Ramananda Roy and Sarbabhouma Bhattacharya. The reason is that it is dangerous for a Sanyasi to be in intimate touch with worldly men of £. s. p. and that also with woman. The Lord was an ideal Sanyasi. No woman could approach the Lord even for offering respects. Women's seats were accomodated far away from the Lord. As an ideal teacher and Acharya He was very strict in the routine work of a Sanyasi. Apart from His part of Divine Incarnatoin, the Lord was an ideal character as a human being. His behaviour with respective persons were always above suspicion. In His dealing as Acharya He was harder than the thunderbolt and softer than the rose. One of His associate Junior Haridas committed a great mistake by lustful glancing over a young woman and the Lord as Supersoul, could detect this misgivings in the mind of Junior Haridas. He was at once chucked off from His association and was never accepted again even thoungh He was implored to excuse Haridas for the mistake. Junior Haridas afterwards committed suicide in frustration of being disassociated from the company of the Lord and the news of suicide was duly informed to the Lord. The Lord even up to that time was not forgetful of the offence and He said that Haridas had rightly met with the proper punishment. On the Principles of the order of life and discipline the Lord knew no compromise and therefore even though He knew that the king was a great devotee, He refused to see the king only for the reason of the king's becoming a £. s. man. By these examples the Lord wanted to emphasise on the point of behaviour by a transcendentalist. A transcendentalist has nothing to do with women and money and he (the transcendentalist) must always refrain from such intimate relations. The king was however favoured by the Lord by the expert arrangement of the devotees. This means that the beloved devotee of the Lord can favour a neophyte more liberally than the Lord. Pure devotees, therefore, never commit offence at the feet of another pure devotee. Offence at the lotus feet of the Lord is some times excused by the merciful Lord but offence at the feet of a devotee is very much dangerous for one who actually wants to make progress in the devotional service As long as the Lord remained at Puri thousands of His devotees used to come and see Him during the car-festival ceremony of Lord Jagannath. And during the car festival ceremony, the washing of the Gundicha temple under the direct supervision of the Lord, was an important function. The Lord's congregational Samkirtan movement at Puri was an unique exhibition for the mass of people and that is the way of turning the mass mind towards spiritual realisation. The Lord inaugurated this system of mass Samkirtan Movement and leaders of all countries may take advantage of this spiritual movement in order to keep the mass of people in pure state of peace and friendship with one another which is now the demand of the present human society all over the world.    (More...)
The spiritual master is eternally perfect, and his self is Lord Sri Krsna's very self in the sense that the self of the spiritual master is in perfect harmony with the Supreme Self. It may here be recalled that Krsna is the Self in the hearts of all: "I am the Self, O conqueror of sleep, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings." (Bg. 10.20) Although Sri Krsna is the Self seated in the hearts of all living entities throughout the entire creation, He exists independent of them. "In My transcendental form I pervade all this creation. All things are resting in Me, but I am not in them. Again, everything that is created does not rest on Me. Behold My mystic opulence: Although I am the maintainer of all living entities, and although I am everywhere, still My Self is the very source of creation." (Bg. 9.4-5) This is the sublime philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva: the Lord is simultaneously, inconceivably one with all living entities and yet different from them. Srila Prabhupada, in a letter to a disciple, explained this philosophy very clearly: "Just as fire and heat cannot be separate and in one sense both can be called fire, still heat is not fire. Another example, electricity and the powerhouse; although practically one and the same, still the powerhouse is not electricity. On the whole, the power and the powerful, although sometimes indistinguishable, still are different. That is the philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva propounded by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. As such, the spiritual master is the Mercy Representative of Krsna. As Mercy Representative, he is worshiped by the disciples as Krsna, but at the same time he is not identical with Krsna. Sometimes it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna is the Master Krsna, whereas the spiritual master is the Servant Krsna. As it is said by Svarūpa Damodara Gosvami, Radha and Krsna are one, still, in order to serve, Krsna's pleasure potency, Radharani, appears separately. Therefore the conclusion is that the spiritual master as Servant Krsna is always respected as good as Krsna, but he is never identified with Krsna, which is Mayavadi philosophy." (Srila Prabhupada, letter, 8/29/70) Although Lord Sri Krsna is the Self seated in the hearts of all, all creatures are not accepted as spiritual masters because they are not always in harmony with the Supreme Self. There are degrees of perfection involved. The bona fide spiritual master is known as nitya-siddha, and the conditioned living entities are known as nitya-baddha. "Persons who have achieved eternal, blissful life exactly on the level of Sri Krsna, and who are able to attract Lord Krsna by their transcendental loving service, are called eternally perfect. The technical name is nitya-siddha. There are two classes of living entities-namely, nitya-siddha and nitya-baddha. The distinction is that the nitya-siddhas are eternally Krsna conscious without any forgetfulness, whereas the nitya-baddhas, or eternally conditioned souls, are forgetful of their relationship with Krsna. The position of the nitya-siddhas is explained in the Padma Purana in connection with the narration of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Satyabhama Devi. The Lord tells Satyabhama: 'My dear Satyabhama Devi, I have descended to this earthly planet by the request of Lord Brahma and other demigods. Those who are born into this family of Yadu are all My eternal associates. My dear wife, you should not consider that My associates are ever separated from Me; they are My personal expansions, and almost as powerful as I am. Because of their transcendental qualities, they are very, very dear to Me, as I am very, very dear to them.' " (NOD 211-212) The spiritual master is certainly a nitya-siddha, but one who claims the spiritual master to be Lord Krsna Himself is committing a great offense. "As is stated in the Bhagavad-gita by the Lord Himself, His birth, deeds and activities are all transcendental. Similarly, the birth, deeds and activities of the associates of the Lord are also transcendental. And, as it is an offense to consider oneself to be Krsna, so it is offensive to consider oneself to be Yasoda, Nanda, or any other associate of the Lord. We should always remember that they are transcendental; they are never conditioned souls. It is described that Krsna, the enemy of Kamsa, has sixty-four transcendental qualities, and all of the ever-liberated souls who accompany the Lord have the first fifty-five of the qualities, without any doubt. Such devotees are related to the Supreme Personality in any of five transcendental mellows-namely, neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parenthood and conjugal love. These relationships with the Lord are eternal, and therefore nitya-siddha devotees do not have to strive to attain the perfectional stage by executing regulative devotional principles. They are eternally qualified to serve Krsna." (NOD, 213)    (More...)

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/?qg=2751