Bhakti is the essence of our eternal relationship with the Lord. As living entities we have been separated parts and parcels of the Lord. Bhakti is that process which revives the lost link with the Lord. The world is populated with myriads of such living entities that have been traversing the eight point four million species circle incalculable times with a hope to ending the journey and attaining eternal bliss. The human species is the most fortunate amongst these species, since it has an opportunity to hit upon a permanent solution in the form of Bhakti. Bhakti has been distributed on the planet from India and the Guru Parampara system is extremely potent to deliver Bhakti even during these gory days of Kaliyuga. The Supreme Lord has made adequate arrangements so that the human race does not wilt away, being parched by the onslaught of unfavourable times. In this regards a great deal of Institutions have cropped up by the will of the Lord and great missions have picked up especially after the departure of the last known incarnations of the Supreme Lord, Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
The Gaudiya Vaishnava Movement is a massive revolution in Vaishnavism that is transforming the entire world and has assumed the form of a vehicle that carries sincere aspirants back to the spiritual realm and thus ending their thankless cycles of repeated births. Many great institutions have had a great contribution in the entire process and Institutions of great name and reckoning stand testimony to the Gaudiya Vaishnava revolution that is estimated to continue on this planet for the next ten thousand years as prophesised by the scriptures themselves.
Having said that; Institutions, Organized Preaching, Congregational movements and other social formats have a great say in the wide-spread of the movement, when one considers a living entity’s individual journey into the system of Sriman Mahaprabhu, the equation of success has to be considered in a totally different light. Sriman Mahaprabhu’s great movement is based on perfect Vedic principles, the roots of which remain unchanged since the very creation of time and space which is as old as Creator Himself! The philosophy relies on this base that what gets one back to the spiritual world simply depends on 3 base entities that is the living entity, the Guru and the Lord Himself. What really gets anybody back to the spiritual realm is the transaction of factors like sincerity , submission to Guru , Service to Guru , Chanting of the Holy Name , Spiritual Service to please Guru and Lord and one’s utmost commitment to Bhakti process in preference to any other aspect of mundane existence. Other than this there are no other criteria that can get one across the tidal wave of material existence.
Commitment to temple rules, Social Care, Preaching, Spreading Social Awareness on Bhakti, Congregational Activities and other Institution based chores may initially appear to support and encourage the Bhakti tendency in an individual but can never ever suffice. Moreover when it comes to the original precepts of Sriman Mahaprabhu, Sriman Mahaprabhu only focussed on the Mahapurana Srimad Bhagavatham and that too on the pure principles of unalloyed devotion enjoined therein. However it is common that Vedic strictures still form the major structure of the organizations which base elaborate functions on a grand scale that attract devotees. What is missing is the simplicity of teaching that was first enunciated by Sriman Mahaprabhu. The temples and organizations that propound devotion to any guru specific or propagate allegiance to World figures in the field of Bhakti do great disservice to the mission of Sriman Mahaprabhu. An organization is a social arrangement wherein one can get introduced to something new be it even Bhakti. However given the nature of material arrangement, an organization or temple can never give one a true understanding on the tenets of true Bhakti.
To attain the crux of devotional ethos especially in the line of Sriman Mahaprabhu, one has to simply surrender to a devotee of Mahaprabhu in the Deeksha disciplic line and avoid “Aropit Bhakti”; that is avoidance of transference of glory to the twigs and leaves rather than the very root of devotional source who is Sriman Mahaprabhu Himself. One has to transcend one’s “spiritual” security status , one’s group mentality and shed away practices of ordinary mundane “seniority” labels used in so-called spiritual circles, one’s double-standard tendency of “devotee posing” and so on and surrender to a God-realized Master , who is free from the clout of name, fame, money and glory and follow the principles enjoined by Sriman Mahaprabhu Himself without any adulteration ; that has somehow happened in the past hundred and seventy five years. Only such surrender sans any social wrapping will truly free the living entity that is currently meshed in the warped railings of “Organized Chaitanyaism”.
Charan Pahari 