Hare Krsna to all
Pranams
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Below is a very famous and very instructive conversation with Srila Prabhupada where he explains how any person today can become aChristain or follower of Jesus Christ if he follows his teachings. Jesus is a pure devotee of Krsna and capable of delivering any soul back to Godhead-IF he follows his teachings.
Srila Prabhupada explains how one can do this even today, Jesus Christ being “gone” now for over 2000 years.
So below, in the conversation, I have added in red letters the name “devotee” instead for the word Christian and ” Bhagavad gita” for Bible.The two words, either devotee or Christian are interchangeable and the same goes for Bhagavad gita and Bible. In this way Srila Prabhupada nicely explains how anyone today can become a Christian or Hare Krsna devotee if he follows either Jesus or Srila Prabhupada-both being physically “gone”. In other words, one does not require a physically living spiritual master on this planet for one to accept him and for him to accept you.
It only requires one must follow either’s teachings.
SB 2.9.8 The potency of transcendental sound is never minimized because the vibrator is apparently absent. Therefore Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita or any revealed scripture in the world is never to be accepted as an ordinary mundane sound without transcendental potency. One has to receive the transcendental sound from the right source, accept it as a reality and prosecute the direction without hesitation. The secret of success is to receive the sound from the right source of a bona fide spiritual master. Mundane manufactured sound has no potency, and as such, seemingly transcendental sound received from an unauthorized person also has no potency. One should be qualified enough to discern such transcendental potency, and either by discriminating or by fortunate chance if one is able to receive the transcendental sound from the bona fide spiritual master, his path of liberation is guaranteed.
Hare Krsna
Damaghosa das
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THE RITVIK SYSTEM EASILY EXPLAINED BY SRILA PRABHUPADA, SEATTLE 1968
681002LE.SEA Lectures Madhudvisa: Is there any way for a Christian (devotee) to, without the help of a spiritual master ( Prabhupada ), to reach the spiritual sky through believing in the words of Jesus Christ (Prabhupada ) and trying to follow his teachings? Prabhupada: I don’t follow. Tamala Krsna: Can a Christian (devotee) in this age, without a spiritual master, but by reading the Bible (Bhagavad gita) and following Jesus’s (Prabhupadas ) words, reach the… Prabhupada: When you read Bible, (Bhagavad gita) you follow spiritual master.(Prabhupada) How can you say without? As soon as you read Bible, (Bhagavad gita) that means you are following the instruction of Lord Jesus Christ, (Prabhupada) that means you are following spiritual master. So where is the opportunity of being without spiritual master? Madhudvisa: I was referring to a living spiritual master. Prabhupada: Spiritual master is not the question of… Spiritual master is eternal. Spiritual master (Prabhupada) is eternal. So your question is without spiritual master. Without spiritual master (Prabhupada) you cannot be, at any stage of your life. You may accept this spiritual master or that spiritual master . That is a different thing. But you have to accept. As you say that “by reading Bible,” (Bhagavad gita) when you read Bible (Bhagavad gita) that means you are following the spiritual master (Prabhupada ) represented by some priest or some clergyman (ritvik) in the line of Lord Jesus Christ.(Prabhupada) So any case, you have to
follow a spiritual master.There cannot be the question without spiritual master. Is that clear? Madhudvisa: I mean like we couldn’t understand the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita without your help, without your presentation. Prabhupada: Similarly, you have to understand Bible (Bhagavad gita) with the help of the priest (ritvik) in the church. Madhudvisa: Yes. But is he receiving a good interpretation from his disciplic succession or his bishop? Because there seems to be some kind of a discrepancy in the interpretation of the Bible.(Bhagavad gita) There’s many different sects of Christianity (devotees) that interpret the Bible (Bhagavad gita) in different ways. Prabhupada: Of course, there cannot be any interpretation in the Bible.(Bhagavad gita) Then there is no authority of Bible (Bhagavad gita). If you interpret something… Just like “Call a spade a spade.” So if you call something else, that is a different thing. He’s not spiritual master. Just like this is watch. Everybody has called it watch, and if I call it spectacle, then what is the value of my being spiritual master? I’m misleading. (laughter) It is watch, that I must say. So when there is misinterpretation, he’s not a bona fide spiritual master. He’s not spiritual master, what is called a bona fide. then what kind of a spiritual master I am? Reject him immediately. That intelligence you must have, who is a pseudo spiritual master or real spiritual master. Otherwise you’ll be cheated. And that is being done. Everyone is interpreting in his own way. The Bhagavad-gita, there are thousands of editions, and they have tried to interpret in their own way, all nonsense. They should be all thrown away. Simply you have to read Bhagavad-gita as it is. Then you’ll understand. There is no question of interpretation. Then the authority is gone. As soon as you interpret, then there is no authority.