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By Jashodev
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Dear Chakra,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
In the temple close to where I stay, the counselor system is very prominent and powerful. According to what I have understood, "counselor" means friend, philosopher, and guide. However, here it is stressed that one should submit completely to a counselor, and any decision he makes regarding my life, I’m supposed to follow without deviation. So my question is this: To what extent should one accept the verdict of the counselor regarding ashram, career etc?
I’m asking this because a few years of my life were wasted because my counselor wanted me to join full time and I wanted to do higher education. I wanted to serve the Bhaktivedanta Institute, but he discouraged me. I tried hard to follow him, but then I felt that he wanted to decide my Guru. After some initial confusion, I felt that that was going too far. So I began to think, To what extent I should follow the counselor?
Nowhere is one forced to accept someone as the one unto whom one has to surrender. Now if I’m staying in place X, I'm forced to accept Y from among 15 devotees as my counselor, and I’m forced to follow him completely. Another thing is that the reason shastras glorify a pure devotee so much is simply so that one may surrender completely to him.
Then why is it that I’m forced to surrender completely to a devotee who is just a few years ahead of me in Krsna consciousness and has project goals to fulfill and will invariably want that I serve under him? He is very likely to place the project before the person. Please clarify this issue.
Your servant,
Jashodev
© CHAKRA 29 May 2002
