śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year 13, Issue 8
Posted: 11 September 2020
Dedicated to
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Inspired by and under the guidance of
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Our Best Friends Are The Servants of God
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Hari is the entire entity, so it is the servants of Hari who really serve the jīvas. Those who are fascinated with the external appearance of the jīvas think that service to the external body of Hari [His external energy – māyā] is service to Him or service to jīvas. Such people are vivartavadīs, advocates of the theory that the whole creation is a mere illusion. They do not actually serve the jīvas; they serve only māyā, the external body of Hari.
Serving māyā in this way benefits neither oneself nor another. If you impute poverty to Nārāyaṇa, you serve only māyā – not Nārāyaṇa or His servants, the jīvas. Service to illusion (vivarta) is service to the mirage of māyā, not to the real substance. The only true substance is Krishna. The jīvas are the associated counterparts of Him.
We shall serve Hari, we shall serve those who are harijana (devotees of Hari), and we shall also serve those who cannot understand true harijanas, so that they may gain a true understanding of them. We shall help them mentally and physically, too. We shall serve even those who are against the harijanas, but with indifference.
Our best friends are the servants of God with whom we ally. Yet I shall also speak about service to Hari with such friends of mine who possess lesser power to understand and have thus taken up the duties of kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śudras – if they are not antagonistic. But we shall declare noncooperation with those who have become antagonistic – such as the casteless, the agnostics, the Epicureans and followers of Charvaka who regard their physical pleasure as the summon bonum of life, and such others.
Adapted from The Gauḍīya, Year 20, Issue 12
By the Rays of The Harmonist team
