Falldown from Spiritual Life...!!!

By: Nandagopal Jivan das

Part- I

This time, we decided that we’ll discuss a little bit on falldown from spiritual life. You might think this a discouraging topic. Krishna consciousness, after all, offers us great hope. It cleanses our heart, frees us from illusions, and re-awakens our dormant love for Krishna. And it does this potently and quickly. Why then should we talk about falldown? Simply: Because it happens.

After starting on the path, not everyone makes it all the way—at least not in one lifetime.

In one sense, that’s why we’re here. To be attracted to Krishna consciousness now, we must have pursued it before, in a previous lifetime. Yet somehow we fell short of our goal. And so we’ve come back, in another birth—and with another chance. By carefully using this opportunity, we can attain perfection, even in this life. And for the sake of success, it’s vital for us to know what dangers to expect along the way.

Striving for Krishna consciousness is like declaring war on maya. “The trouble with you,” Srila Prabhupada once told some disciples, “is that you’re not sufficiently afraid of maya.” Maya, illusion, is very powerful. And the serious transcendentalist never underestimates its strength. We should expect maya to fight back. So we should know Maya’s power and maya’s tactics. We should know how to protect ourselves. We should know how to guard our flanks, rescue the wounded, and recover from setbacks. And we should know that victory is certain—as long as we depend upon Krishna. Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita that maya is insurmountable because it is His divine power. But when we surrender to Krishna’s lotus feet we can overcome maya and enter Krishna’s abode, the eternal world of the Absolute Truth. To help us surrender to Krishna and reach that spiritual world is the purpose of ISKCON Youth Forum.

In Bhagavad-gita Arjuna asks Lord Krishna, “What happens if I start this practice of yoga and then later I fall down? Then I’m nowhere. I’ve given up my material life, and I’ve ruined my spiritual life. Now I don’t have anything. I’ve lost on both sides. So what will happen to me?”

This question comes up theoretically in Bhagavad-gita and it comes up practically within our own experience. After we take to spiritual life, either we may fall down, or we may see others around us fall down. Falldown is a concern that everyone—on any spiritual path—has to deal with.

First we should ask ourselves, what is falldown?

“When one vows to follow a spiritual path but later strays from it, one has fallen.” In Krishna consciousness, for example, at initiation one pledges before the spiritual master to chant the Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds each day and follow four regulations: no intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling, and no meat-eating. To break these vows is to fall. Beyond this, one may give up the spiritual life altogether. In 1966 Srila Prabhupada once said that one who gives up Krishna consciousness falls again into the material pool. Srila Prabhupada imitated the sound of a stone falling into water—“bloop!” From that moment on, “Bloop” soon became standard devotee lingo. To leave Krishna consciousness was to bloop.

In one sense, all of us in the material world have blooped. We’ve forgotten Krishna and fallen from the spiritual world. Now we’re trying to revive our spiritual life. And however far we’ve come, we ought to be moving steadily forward. Yet sometimes we stumble and slip back. Why? What causes falldown? How do we keep from falling—and help others keep from falling too? When devotees on the path do fall, how should we treat them? And what do we do if we should fall ourselves? It’ll be discussed here.

One of the most persistent underlying causes of falldown is not merely being careless with the regulative principles but maintaining offenses—in particular, offenses against the holy name—and not engaging in an effort to clear them up. If one is trying to clear up offenses, even though the offenses may be there, one is on the “clearing” stage and will continue to make spiritual advancement. But if one commits offenses and doesn’t try to rectify them, he stops making spiritual advancement, and after a while he gradually loses interest in the path of Krishna consciousness. That’s described in The Nectar of Devotion as the “waning-moon effect.” Somehow one’s enthusiasm for Krishna consciousness gradually disappears, like the waning moon. Why am I losing interest? It’s because of not trying to clear up offenses.

Actually this is not the only reason. There are many. Sometimes falldown might result from committing offenses against a devotee. And pride goes before a fall. Not enough hearing and chanting is also one of the reasons.

In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna Himself pinpoints the causes, in the Second Chapter, verses 62 and 63. These are two verses every devotee should hang on the wall of his mind. “While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.”

So that’s it in a nutshell—the sad story of falldown. Lord Sri Krishna beautifully encapsulates it in the Gita.

Devotional Relationships

And now the question is why it happens? Prabhupada said, “Preaching is the essence.” He also said, “If you don’t preach, then very soon after I leave there won’t be any more Hare Krishna movement. You won’t be able to go on with this ‘Hari bol, Hari bol.’ And he said that if you preach, everything will be in perspective.” Also there’s a need for more instructions in the beginning. Because some people come to Krishna consciousness but they don’t know deep inside what it is about. They think it’s only wearing the dhoti-kurta, putting a tilaka on your head, and having a good time. There’s not enough training. We tend to preach until someone’s initiated, and then we stop preaching. Another problem is lack of honesty in communication.

We may fear to open our minds to other devotees because we feel that they may somehow say, “You’re fallen.” If a devotee’s not introspective enough to understand what his actual standing is, if he’s more concerned with what he should be than what he actually is, you can have a community of devotees relating to each other in a very superficial way. And that doesn’t lead to open dealings. There has to be someone you can go to and reveal your heart to who’s not going to turn you away but is going to encourage you to purify yourself and return to the standard. And there’s a need for self-honesty. You need to be able to accept your position and work from there and not be too hard on yourself. Not that you compromise the philosophy but that you give yourself a break. Encourage yourself.

There’s some seed of falldown in our mind, but we fear that if we say something our prestige will be damaged. So we keep quiet, and the disease grows, and we become more of a hypocrite as we dig ourselves deeper in. We need people to reveal our minds to. So we need to make friends among devotees. If we don’t have those devotional friendships, we’ll be stuck inside our own minds—and then we practically must fall down. In The Nectar of Instruction Srila Prabhupada says that the only reason ISKCON exists is to foster those personal loving exchanges. If we didn’t have a society of devotees who were concerned about one another’s welfare, we’d all be fallen.

ISKCON is an institution where we’re not just engaging in devotional service on our own but in the company of many others. So naturally our relationships have a social standing to them. And we may hold above the real purpose of the institution, namely becoming Krishna conscious, our standing in the institution or whatever. And if we’re thinking about our social status, holding more dearly to how others perceive us than to our own spiritual well-being—we can just get lost in the institution. Another classic cause for a falldown is ambition. Or when we achieve our ambitions, then attachment; then appears duplicity and that’s quite a lineup Maya’s got.

Counseling

One person we’re supposed to be able to confide in is the spiritual master. But, because ours is a preaching movement, the spiritual master may not be accessible to us every time. When we need some immediate counsel, he may be halfway around the world. Or you may not want to burden him with your problems…So, there is a need to have devotees we can feel intimate and open with and reveal our minds to and feel that they’ll be concerned about our best interest.

One thing Srila Prabhupada advised was to avoid politics and business, because our Society needs people one can trust. We need devotees who’ll concentrate on developing these qualities—simplicity, honesty, self-control—so that people will trust them. Such a great responsibility rests with sannyasis, gurus, temple presidents, leaders, senior devotees. We have to offer training. Those who have the inclination will take it up, and then people will seek them out. Ultimately, each person’s going to decide whom he or she has faith in. We’ve been conditioned for millions of lifetimes, and on our own we have no power, because the material energy is insurmountable. But Krishna declares emphatically in the Bhagavad-gita that one can get free from this if we surrender unto Him. And part of this surrendering process is prayer. So when a devotee has difficulty, that can be an impetus for really taking shelter of one’s guru and Krishna and praying for the strength and intelligence to overcome the difficulty he’s been caught in.

One time, maybe in the early 1970’s, when the movement was starting to spread a bit, Prabhupada was with some disciples in his room in Los Angeles. The temple was big and opulent, for those days. And Govinda Mataji had made Prabhupada a coat with peacock feather tassels to tighten its hood, and someone had given Prabhupada a gold lame bead bag. Prabhupada said, “Now we are getting so many things. So I’m just praying to Krishna that I may not fall down.”

• Read Part-II

Falldown from Spiritual Life...!!!

Part- II

Seeing Others Fall

Sometimes we see that even big devotees fall down, devotees we look up to or admire, devotees who are considered advanced. When that happens, how do we see it, and how should we see it? Well, when someone who’s well known or elevated or respected falls down, we tend to think, “Here was such an advanced devotee, and he fell down. So what chance is there for me?” It’s discouraging. And we say, “What’s wrong with Krishna consciousness that this person fell down?” When a person you respect deviates, naturally you doubt not only that person but the whole thing. We shouldn’t think that if someone falls there’s something wrong with the process. The process is perfect, but one’s application of it may have some defect. Spiritual life is like a razor’s edge—it shaves us clean, but if we’re not careful we can get cut. When a person falls, we should look upon it not as a problem with our philosophy but a confirmation of it. The philosophy predicts that if a person does certain things he’ll fall down. So, when a person does those things and falls, that confirms it. Do we ask ourselves not only what was wrong with him but what was wrong with us that he wasn’t helped?

In Or Out?

How do we regard those who have fallen?

In commenting on the twelfth chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Srila Prabhupada makes it really clear that the Hare Krishna movement is in principle made up of three groups of people. Krishna says, “Surrender to Me.” So first are those who are spontaneously attracted to surrender to Krishna. Then Krishna says, “If you can’t do that, follow the regulative principles of devotional service.” And in the purport Srila Prabhupada makes it clear what this means: rising early, taking a shower, going to the morning program, and so on, under the supervision of the spiritual master. So those who do this are in the second group. Then Krishna says, “If you can’t do that, then work for Me.” And Srila Prabhupada says that this means that at least one should be sympathetic to the propagation of Krishna consciousness. Every organization requires land, capital, labor, and organization, so you can contribute one of these things. Those who do this are in the third group. These three groups make up the Hare Krishna movement. So there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the movement’s having all kinds of people who aren’t following the strict regulative principle. Where we have a problem is with people who at one time or another have taken formal vows to follow the principles of the second group and then found themselves unable to keep to them. We’re really surprised when we see that people who left devotional service [blooped] kept coming back to the Sunday Feast. Many of us wished they should just go away. We couldn’t preach to them. They’d already heard everything, and now they were blooped. But we should know that they are in the third group and think, “Hey, these are our people! They’re part of our movement!”

One obvious lesson to learn from this is that people should be more careful about taking vows. And when you take vows you should be into it for the long run. But apart from these lessons, one point is that many people who took those vows and broke them may again one day be following them, and until then we should help them stay in as much association with Krishna consciousness and get as much benefit from devotees as they can. To say, “You’re so fallen, you can’t even come to the temple” is just very uncharitable and inhumane. And one should feel that one could any day be in that position oneself. So we just have to be tolerant and give people as much association and help as we can. Krishna places so many obstacles, so many tests. So even if we might see some fault in a devotee for some time, especially if he’s a senior devotee we have to be very careful not to criticize and not to judge, because he’s Krishna’s devotee and therefore it’s up to Krishna to purify him. And sometimes Krishna will let some fault linger for some reason that’s beyond our ability to comprehend. So we have to learn not to be judgmental, because that makes it more difficult for someone who’s having a hard time.

Prabhupada said our devotees are like bomber pilots. During the war the Air Force would be careful not to lose its bomber pilots. The country had put so much energy into training each one of those pilots that to lose one was a great loss—they were practically irreplaceable. Our trained devotees are like bomber pilots: so much experience in devotional service, so many skills, so much devotion cultivated. So we should be so concerned for the welfare of our devotees: if someone is having difficulty, how to hold on to him, and if someone has left how to bring him back. Such valuable are the devotees of Krishna.

Making Things Worse

Srila Prabhupada concludes his purport on the api cet su-duracaro verse in a very instructing way. There he excuses accidental falldown, but says that if a fallen devotee doesn’t improve his character by devotional service he is not a high devotee. In other words, he is a devotee. So Prabhupada indicates that someone having difficulty as a devotee should still be recognized as a devotee. Srila Prabhupada also says that no one should deride a devotee for an accidental falldown.

So a lot of times what happens when we condemn other people is that we’re condemning precisely what’s wrong with ourselves. That’s why it’s said that when you point your finger at someone, three fingers of your hand are pointing right back at you. It’s unintentionally very revealing. If somebody’s going around condemning, “This person’s having illicit sex, he’s having illicit sex, he’s having illicit sex,” you can suspect that the person speaking has sexual problems he’s not going to honestly deal with. He notices the problem in other people because he’s worried about himself but doesn’t have the courage to confront it.

After the fall

Technically, a devotee falls from Krishna Consciousness when he breaks the rules against illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, or gambling. We all try to avoid falling. But when a devotee does fall, how can we help him?

In The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada states that if one regularly discharges devotional service, one won't fall down. “But even if circumstantially there is some falldown, the Vaisnava [devotee] need have nothing to do with prayascitta, the ritualistic ceremony for purification. If someone falls down from the principles of devotional service, he simply has to execute the rules and regulations of discharging devotional service, and that is sufficient for his reinstatement.” Our main service to a person, who has fallen, then, should be to convince him or her not to despair but to resume Krishna conscious activities.

When devotees fall, we shouldn't discourage them by treating them like outcasts. No matter how serious their offenses or mistakes, Krishna can forgive them. Therefore, devotees too should be forgiving and helpful. Otherwise, if a fallen person thinks he must stay fallen, his sins may become habits, and his chanting and fellowship with devotees may stop.

Devotees should help other devotees who have slipped on the path. Lord Krishna Himself advises that no one deride a devotee for some mistake. “Even if one commits the most abominable action,” the Lord says in the Gita (9.30), “If he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination.” Srila Prabhupada comments that this is a warning that a devotee should not be derided for an accidental falldown. “He should still be considered saintly even if he has accidentally fallen down.”

An advanced devotee is sometimes like a thunderbolt and sometimes like a rose. Spiritual masters sometimes enforce strict discipline, as when Lord Caitanya banished Chota Haridasa for a slight mistake. This was in fact a spiritual pastime between Lord Caitanya and His liberated devotee. In this instance, Lord Caitanya wanted to set a strong example for others. But Lord Caitanya and His devotees were often lenient towards those who fell. Prabhupada once said that he himself, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and all the other Krishna Conscious spiritual masters were “eighty percent lenient” toward their followers. This leniency grows from faith that the best remedy is not to push fallen devotees away but to encourage them to continue their devotional service.

On this point, Lord Caitanya's dealings with His servant Kalakrishna are instructive. Kalakrishna was the only person to travel with Lord Caitanya on His tour of South India, but unfortunately a woman allured Kalakrishna to join a band of nomads (Bhattatharis). Lord Caitanya went personally to the nomads and risked violence to save him, but when Lord Caitanya returned to Jagannatha Puri, He told Kalakrishna He wanted nothing more to do with him.

Yet although Lord Caitanya rejected Kalakrishna, Lord Caitanya's devotees, led by Lord Nityananda, did not. They devised a plan by which Kalakrishna could serve as a messenger to Lord Caitanya's devotees in Bengal. This was certainly the best medicine for the fallen Kalakrishna. It made him blissful and grateful and kept him in the association of devotees. “Therefore,” Srila Prabhupada writes, “The Lord's devotees are more merciful than the Lord Himself. The Lord Himself may sometimes be very hard, but the devotees are always kind.”

With a devotee named Subuddhi Raya, it was Lord Caitanya Himself who showed the forgiving and purifying power of bhakti-yoga. Subuddhi Raya's falldown was mostly circumstantial. In his early life he had once beaten a Muslim servant. By fate that servant eventually became a politician and was appointed governor, and that governor, instigated by his wife, took away Subuddhi Raya's caste status. He did this simply by sprinkling on Subuddhi Raya's head a little water from a pitcher used by a Muslim. By the Hindu customs in those days, that was enough to get one cast out from the Hindu community.

When Subuddhi Raya went to consult learned brahmanas at Benares, asking them how this shame could be counteracted, they advised him, “Drink hot ghee and give up your life.” But other brahmanas gave him different advice, so he was doubtful about what to do. In perplexity, he met Lord Caitanya at Benares and explained his position. Lord Caitanya advised him, “Go to Vrindavana and chant the Hare Krishna mantra constantly.”

This advice from Lord Caitanya certainly stands in contrast to the harsh advice of the caste-conscious brahmanas. Lord Caitanya said, “Begin chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, and when your chanting is almost pure, all the sinful reactions will go away.”

Srila Prabhupada comments that according to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instructions one should not wait to purify himself before chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Whatever our condition may be, we should start chanting right away. The power of the Hare Krishna mantra will gradually relieve us of all material contamination, and thus we will find shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna, the ultimate goal of life.

So a genuine spiritual movement should forgive and encourage. Sometimes devotees, because of their own mistakes or events beyond their control, may leave the association of the other devotees and the ISKCON temples. If devotees who have left are treated at this crucial time as “outcasts” and not treated with kindness, they may become bitter or disgruntled and lose faith. One devotee complained that after he made a mistake, no devotees visited him or spoke to him. He then grew disillusioned and said, “I want to see good, moral and happy examples of people in daily life, with their friends, families, and disciples. Not just so-called good classes from high seats.”

Srila Prabhupada told his disciples that they would not become contaminated by extending themselves to nondevotees. So we should extend ourselves even more to followers of Krishna consciousness who have temporarily fallen away. As we offer Krishna consciousness to newcomers by giving them Srila Prabhupada's books and inviting them to ISKCON temples and festivals, how much more we should befriend those who have already served Krishna but been tricked by Maya. This may be the best way to fulfill one of Srila Prabhupada's last requests: “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate among yourselves.”

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