Sripad Srutasrava Prabhu in a morning lecture reminded us how there are no victims in Vaisnavism; there is no such a thing as being a victim of a particular situation or person. We must adjust our own conceptions and always be ready to honour the Vaisnava qualities in others. Even if we think we are right we must honour and respect others. This is the culture of humility and tolerance. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur prays in his song of the Siksastakam:

vrksa-sama ksama-guna korobi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji' anye korobi palana

“Tolerant as a tree, you should forgive and forbear, giving up violence. Practise nurturing and protecting others.”

Srutasrava Prabhu said pratihimsa refers to our tendency for revenge - to inflict hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong done to oneself. So by giving up this tendency when someone hurts us we shall embrace the conception of nurturing them, of giving instead of hurting.

Srila Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj advised us recently,

“Be humble, because if you can understand how much you are qualified, then you will know, “I am not so qualified or a great personality.” Then be humble naturally. And so many disturbances are around me - I cannot deny it; then it's necessary to be tolerant. From family life to sannyas life, everywhere there is that one disturbance: the influence of others. Tolerate it.

“And everyone wants some respect; give that. What is the loss for you? If you see Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's character then you will be more settled in your principle. Gopal Bhatta Goswami gave some correction of Srila Rupa Goswami's sloka. Rupa Goswami knows that what he corrected is perfect, but when Gopal Bhatta Goswami said ‘This is good,' he changed his mood - that is he gave honour to Gopal Bhatta Goswami. He knows ‘I am right,' but when Gopal Bhatta Goswami gave some correction he accepted that correction and made it.

Jiva Goswami cannot tolerate that. Jiva Goswami knows who Rupa Goswami is. Then he went behind Gopal Bhatta Goswami and he told “Sir, what you told to Rupa Goswami - that is some difficulty.” Then they had some discussion, and he [Gopal Bhatta Goswami] understood that he is wrong and Rupa Goswami is right. And he came back and told Rupa Goswami ‘No, no, you are right, I am wrong! Your decision is okay.' Then he told, ‘This seventeen-year-old boy, who is that boy? He is very intelligent. He understands your language. He corrected me.' And Rupa Goswami Prabhu told [to Jiva Goswami], ‘This is not Mahaprabhu's mood. What difficulty is there to give honour to him? But you cannot stay within Mahaprabhu's line; you go back to your house.' When we take that we can understand that we may be right, but when a respectable personality wants some respect, give respect to him.”

In this way Krishna consciousness can accommodate everybody because the only person we need to be critical of is ourselves, and even then not to the point where we discourage ourselves in this process. It's something very sweet even if in the beginning it's a bitter pill to swallow: to know that there is no one but ourselves to blame for our present situation; that we must abandon all egocentric conceptions, and always be ready to give honour.

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur further prays:

jivana-nirvvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

“Live without causing anxiety to others; do good unto others without considering your own happiness.”

Our Srila Gurudev is teaching this by his own example and without hesitating , without losing his affectionate nature he says, “We must be good. If others are good or bad that is another matter; but we must be good. And the quality and qualification will come to us.”

Again and again he reminds us that this is the vital point: to worship our Lord with love and affection, and that in love there is no vengeance, criticism or envy in love. By understanding our present situation we can only honour Srila Gurudev's affectionate guidance.

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Kolkata, India
29 August, 2006