The necessity of humility, tolerance, and respect to ensure the strength and longevity of a Mission.

By Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

From early in the morning I have been thinking: we preach Krishna consciousness all over the world, and really the fortunate souls are enlightened by Krishna consciousness, but our main duty as preachers and missionary workers is to establish properly and organise properly, with humility, tolerance and giving honour to others. I have been thinking about this from the morning, early in the morning.

Actually, that is our duty. You can see at present there are over seventy of our centres in this world, and the devotees there are very enthusiastic and are preaching and practising Krishna consciousness according to their capacity. But the main necessity is to give them a firm position, according to their capacity. A solid platform is necessary for them, otherwise for the time being it will be exalted, but after that it will go down.

We have seen Alexander the Great. He came and wherever he went, he conquered those places and those countries, up to India, Punjab, and other places. When he came, he conquered everything, but ultimately he could not establish his own kingdom. And when he left, everything finished.

Alexander the Great is such a big hero—all his qualities were heroic—but he could not establish his mission. Why? Its fundamental basis was not strong. We are preaching Krishna consciousness everywhere, and actually theistic people are attracted to that because they want to play with the Lord; they do not want that the Lord will be in a faraway place where we will worship Him with honour and giving Him thanks. That is not the desire. We want to play with the Lord, and that opportunity is within the scriptures. The spiritual scholars are giving that connection, and when we are practising, we are also feeling that. Then, that is very good for us. But it is necessary to have a fundamental basis; if everyone will be tolerant, humble, and give honour to all, then they will be successful in their practising life.

It is necessary that the leaders in the society of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, which is present all over the world, will be humble, tolerant, and give honour to others. Then the Mission’s fundamental basis will be very strong and firm. This is what I am thinking. My friends in the Western world are so nice, and they are doing as is possible by them, but it will be good if, side by side, the Indian disciples of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math will be active like our other countries’ devotees. The Indians must also give much attention, otherwise the Mission will not be firm for so long. That is my thinking.

If we practise in our life what we are preaching and follow that, then everything will be beautiful. We want a connection with reality, and reality is beautiful. Everything will be beautiful if we are connected with spiritual practising life. We must keep it firmly, then our Mission will be firm. I cannot say if it will continue eternally, because I am seeing that big, big Acharyas like Sankar Acharya, Ramanuja Acharya, and Madhva Acharya came, and their missions were also so big, but at present those missions are very tiny. If, as much as possible, we will try to practise Krishna consciousness with humility, tolerance and giving honour to others, then our Mission must be firm and continue to give the mercy of Lord Krishna to everyone for a long time.

We must be conscious about this. That is what I am thinking. I am always thinking about how we can give enlightenment to the devotees. My life is almost finished, and two years before it was in a very dangerous situation and almost finished. But after that I got some lifetime by the grace of Srila Guru Maharaj, and I am thinking, as is possible by me, I must give this consciousness to others.

Everyone will think. This is my prayer to everyone.