Questions and Answers. Math and disciples.

Question of Devotees:
After initiation what is the relationship between the Math and disciples? How can a disciple associate with and serve the Math?

Answer of Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaj:
The Math is a place established by Sri Guru so that all people can come and engage in the service of the Lord. It is an institution where people gather for practicing the path of devotion and gradually working to reach the ultimate goal of life, eternal bliss. Here the students and teachers are gathering together to reach the same goal, to become an eternal servant of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. The students and teachers should keep sound faith in God and keep trust and respect for each other in order to avoid quarrels and maintain a peaceful, devotional atmosphere for hosting the embodiment of eternal bliss and peace, Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.

We should come to understand the meaning of Math. There are two parts of a Math; one part is the Temple and the other is the Ashram. The Temple is the place where the Deities are residing for accepting the services from Their devotees. The Ashram is the place where devotees, namely bramacaris and sanyasis, are residing permanently. These bramacaris and sanyasis are meant to be serving the Vaishnavas and Deities according to the instructions of the Spiritual Master, Authentic Scriptures, and the Vaishnavas. The Math is an institution for spiritual practices. We should never consider the size of Math, the number of devotees, the amount of prasadam, or any other material opulence as a reason for taking shelter of any particular Math. In order to maintain peace in this present society the devotional purity and sincerity of the Math’s activities is most important. At the Math people are gathering and living to become the well-wishers of all living entities through sacrificing their valuable human lives in the service of the Supreme Lord and His devotees.

In the Math devotional service should not be `give and take` like material business. Rather, only a spiritual exchange should take place. The spiritual policy is to sacrifice our life for the satisfaction of the Lord without any mundane condition or business agenda. Remember without the mercy of the Lord no one can dedicate their life unconditionally for the service of Lord. In order to become qualified for the service of the Supreme Lord we have to pray (cry out) to the Lord from the bottom of our hearts. Our prayer should be, "Oh Lord! I am your eternal servant. Please send me a proper Guru so that I can engage myself for Your services under His guidance." With this service, and by maintaining a vow of chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra daily with love, and by lovingly serving the Vaishnavas, one can safely stay away from the misery of material entanglement. If the Math is filled with the sincere mood of serving Sri Guru, Vaishnavas and Krishna then it will be a place where people can go to make rapid advancement in Krishna Consciousness.

Those who have sound knowledge and realization of devotional practices should be considered our teachers. All those who stay in the Math for practicing the path of devotion under the guidance of these teachers should be considered the students. A Sanyasi is considered a teacher and his teachings should have integrity in the eyes of people.

Nowadays, most of the Math’s Sanyasi's are becoming Gurus (Spiritual Masters). The Sannyasi’s exemplary nature should protect the people and inspire them to practice the path of devotion. Therefore, the Math is the most important place in today’s present society in this age of Kali-Yuga. If the Math’s activities create a material business place in the name of devotional practices then it will create trouble in the community.

We may think it is not fair to use the words ‘business place’ in relationship to a Math ! Unfortunately, due to the influence of the present age of hypocrisy we can see our mentality has changed. Instead of engaging in spiritual practices in the Math we are doing business in the name of spiritual practice, in order to increase material opulence, name and fame; this is the biggest enemy of our spiritual life. Therefore, we can actually see that some of the Math's sincere Vaishnavas are not being welcomed, due to material considerations. In the Math devotees should always welcome devotees of the Lord, and all sincere persons . Due to this kind of material business policy, sincere devotees who are chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra under the guidance of a pure devotee, are not being welcomed into the Math. If this is happening we can understand that the place no longer has the qualities to carry the title of Math. We should then consider that place a material business place in the name of spirituality. To help us understand these comments I would like to share with you a few words from my Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj:

“Please do not make my Math a hotel where devotees are charged for room and prasadam. Let people feel my Math is just like their own home. Therefore, keep my Math`s atmosphere with this mood.”

Also, at every festival my spiritual master used to tell us:

“Please take care of all our invited guests sincerely. They are all Vaisnavas. If they are not happy with our hospitality then the Math will lose all devotional value. If the Vaisnavas are leaving the Math with any dissatisfaction it is better I leave my body before they leave my Math.”

We may see a person has a lot of faith in chanting and a lot of faith in Vaishnavas but he is economically poor. If such a person is coming to the Math, but due to the material business practices taking place in the Math we are not recognizing him as a Vaisnava and not accepting him with proper etiquette, we can be sure that Sri Krishna’s spirit is not there, because Sri Krishna resides in the heart of the Vaisnava. Where the Vaisnavas are neglected Sri Krishna feels unwanted. Therefore, Sri Krishna’s existence in spirit will not be there at all; just some stone or wooden carving will be there, for show only. As a result of such activities we may see that a Math may be developing materially but gradually degrading in spirituality, in Sri Krishna’s services and in the services of Vaisnavas.

Although many unexpected activities may be seen in the Math, the essence of the Math is very important to help establish pure devotion and for delivering our selves from the misery of material entanglement. The very essence of the Math is to inspire people to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra under the guidance of realized souls, the Spiritual Master and Pure devotees.

I have heard several times from my seniors that we have to dislike a person’s activities, but not the person. In the same way, in order to continue our devotional services, we can dislike the unexpected activities of a Math, but not the place of a Math. For example, if we purchase a first class light bulb from the best company in the present market, but the bulb is not giving light after the switch is on then we have to change the bulb. We want light, therefore we are changing the bulb. Similarly, if the Math is polluted by business activities then those in the Math have to change their activities according to the instruction of senior or realized pure devotees and gradually re-establish the essence of the Math.

After initiation the disciple should always endeavour to understand the essence of the Math through serving the Vaisnavas and by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in order to deliver themselves from the misery of material attachment. Whoever lives in the Math is either a student or a teacher. The teachers will teach with integrity and the student will watch the activities of teacher, offer due respect towards everyone, chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra with purity and serve the temple Deities with Love. If this is not happening then there is no benefit to being in the Math. It is better to search out a place where we can develop our spiritual practice, a place which will keep us safely away from the miseries of material entanglement.

If we see unexpected behaviour in our Math’s authority then we can go to the Temple without expectation of any teaching from the authority. We have to know that the Math is like a office of Sri Sri Radha Krishna. We have to go there to offer service as much as possible, financially, mentally, and physically, not for material relaxation. Like we may see in a material office, there may be a nice atmosphere with modern equipment but these are not for the employee’s luxury or relaxation, instead they are for working purposes. Similarly, we may see many comfortable arrangements and equipment in the Math, but we have to keep in mind that everything and everyone in the Math is meant for Sri Sri Radha Krishna’s services, not at all for the devotee’s luxury.

Nowadays we can see so many Temples and Maths. We can even see many Brahmacharies, Sanyasi and renounced persons in our present society. Their main purpose is to establish the Math and for establishing peace in society. But where is this essence, this peace? You can see that instead of peace we have more trouble. This is due mostly to our focusing on numbers and opulence for our own name and fame. In this way we are not thinking about people’s souls, how they are suffering and how can we deliver them through proper devotional teachings, with no discrimination towards them. Instead in some cases in order to promote our Spiritual Master we are defeating all other Vaisnavas and gradually engaging neophyte people to commit offence towards all Vaisnavas. Those who are committing such offences may materially develop, but spiritually they are away from Sri Sri Radha Krishna. Sri Sri Radha-Krishna are resting in the heart of Vaisnavas eternally.

Jagadananda Pandit teaches us by his book, Prem Vivarta that

‘Koti Janma korileo na pay krishner charan.’

The translation is that if we chant with offences, even if we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra for ten million births, we will still be unable to reach the Lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.

After the initiation a disciple should think that the Math is a place for learning eternal services. Therefore, our Spiritual Master has established the Math for teaching us these services. There are so many services and all are designed and established by Srila Gurudeva for engaging us and gradually delivering us.

We actually have to establish a relationship to serve under the guidance of Guru. We should not go to the Math and stay there with the idea that, “I’m a guest. I am householder, I am giving money.” If we are unable to serve physically then we have to serve financially. If we have both financial and physical ability then we can do both. We have to serve the Math to the best of our ability, according to our capacity, not beyond our capacity. So, the actual purpose for establishing the Math is to engage people in serving Sri Krishna , Mahaprabhu, and Vaisnavas. If this purpose is not being fulfilled then we have to think of alternatives and keep engaging ourselves to become delivered from the misery of material entanglement.

The Math is the place for the service of Sri Krishna; this has to be established amongst all the devotees living in the Math.

We may be a householder going there for few days only, but we should still engage ourselves for service under the guidance of Sri Guru. This is the kind of service relationship we should develop between the Math, disciples and devotees. This is how to associate with the Math. We should not think, “I’m coming here for relaxing. ”