NACKLACE OF LORD CHAITANYA’S PURE Devotees Introduction author unknown

A GEM FROM “NACKLACE OF LORD CHAITANYA’S PURE DEVOTEES
BY
PRABUPADA 108 SRILA BHAKTISIDDHANTA SARASWATI GOSWAMI THAKURA
1. Accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master.
2. Obtaining initiation from him.
3. Rendering service unto him,
4. Enquiring from him about the principles of true (non-sectarian) religion.
5. Following the path chalked out by the great devotees.
In these present estranged days the fashionable, gluttonous ravishing to the limit of fleshy indulgence within the hellish kaleidoscope of steel, rubber, plastic and glass mechanization, hastens the modern Western man-animal to his sordid grave, only to accept repeated births in lower abominable species of life such as pigs and dogs.
Illicit sex, animal slaughter, intoxication, gambling and feverish preoccupation in amassing wealth are the five residences of the devil of this dark-age, known as the Kali.
According to the injunction of the Srimad Bhagavatam, these grossly sinful activities are strictly forbidden for the king, public leader, the religious persons and the spiritual master.
In India there are a thousand and one so-called religions. But the sincere and thoughtful must embrace the highest path of all the path of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, which teaches, simultaneously from the standpoint of ontology as well as full-fledged theism, the attainment of divine love based on the science of faith. The ignorant materialists are engaged in exploitation in the plane of misconception.
Above them the scholars, poets or litterateurs are engaged in the spiritual darkness of renunciation of this misconception, which merely leads them to the non-differentiated marginal condition. But the Vaisnava path is the path of pure dedication, unalloyed by spurious provincial or vested interest and culminating in divine love which is very rarely found within this world. This is completely free from artificial rigid indoctrination and psychological conditioning.
The Almighty never needs to be a slave to our puny austerities and rituals, even if we could move the heavens and earth by them. He never needs to be a captive in our fist of suspicious analytical scholarship, grammar, or curiosity seeking. But if He chooses to graciously bestow His mercy upon any fortunate soul, be they either learned sages or sons of dog-eaters, none can impede the flow of such divine grace, divine love proper.
It is indeed unfortunate for the world that in the very name of such a divine grace so many imposters have sprung up, and just like businessmen they rally the ignorant, like cattle in a stable waiting to be sent to the slaughterhouse.
They are helpless to save themselves from the vicious cycle of birth and death, to say nothing of their blind followers, and what to speak of delivering the supreme perfection of divine love? Still, the rarity of a genuine thing does not presuppose its absence, and we are confident that the sincere aspirants of progress in the devotional line of perfection will hail this collection of authorize scriptural references, “ The truth about Guru,” as a beacon-light for the purpose of conclusively identifying the genuine bone fide and transparent representative of the Supreme Lord, who alone can teach us the mysterious truths of our eternal relationship with the Supreme in transcendental loving service. Furthermore, the accomplished itinerant preachers of the glory of the Lord and His confidential servitor, Sri Gurudev, will find inspiration in these pages which were originally compiled under the direction of the illustrious pioneer and stalwart of the Gaudiya Sampradaya, Prabhupada 108 Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakura, to whom this small effort is a humble offering by the direct order of our spiritual master.
 

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