Narayan Maharaja and His Followers

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Narayan Maharaja and His Followers
By David Greensberg

I went to a gathering of the Swami and his disciples for the first time a year and a half ago. I had never read anything by them or come in contact with them or their society before. I was surprised at their hostility towards ISKCON and even Sridhar Maharaja’s followers.

They were intent on telling me how Narayana Maharaja was the true heir to Srila Prabhupada, and that everyone should become his follower; otherwise, we are showing our insincerity. I was stunned, so I listened carefully to his lecture, and the devotees with him.

They seemed to think that by associating with an old Indian, this was somehow superior to hearing from anyone else. The thinking they have is that since Srila Prabhupada was an Indian and old, then other old Indians are more qualified as guru than others. Why are they thinking like this? Narayana Maharaja is repeating what he has heard, and so are others. Still they insist that only he is qualified, only he is the pure representative of Godhead.

This is their delusion: they insist that only those who are followers of Narayana Maharaja are pleasing Sri Caitanya. This is the height of offensive thinking. They complain that ISKCON is prejudiced against them, yet they are actually the prejudiced ones. Their message is one of exclusion. Only their guru is bonafide. "What is the need for other gurus with Narayana Maharaja around?" they say.

This is their agenda. They are the followers of the "real pure devotee." Therefore they are the only qualified Vaisnavas of Sri Caitanya. Everybody else is beneath them.

They need to do some self-examination. Has simply hearing about the conjugal lila of Radha-Krsna, from anybody, somehow elevated them to the highest level, surpassing everybody else? Are those who are not desirous of their association automatically beneath them, impure and envious? Is Narayana Maharaja so advanced that in just a few years of hearing the sastra from him, you have advanced beyond everyone else? This is their thinking. They desire respect, adulation, worship, and followers, nothing else.