Hare Kṛṣṇa. Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
There is a very popular inclination among many devotees, so called gurus, among many of their disciples to preach indirect Kṛṣṇa consciousness (not speaking about Kṛṣṇa directly). They have coined themselves a new terminology of being “Life Coaches” to propagate indirect preaching like the Māyāvādīs. They do not like to preach directly Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Rather, they prefer to mention His name indirectly. This seem a very popular trend nowadays among the preaching elites in ISKCON.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.3.20-21 states:
Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself know the real religious principle.
On the contrary, Prahlāda Mahārāja, who is listed as one among the 12 Mahajanas (authorities for spiritual knowledge), says otherwise. He says that we must do our service directly to the lord:
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.23-24, purport:
But here it is said, bhagavaty addhā: one must directly offer everything to Viṣṇu.
He is advocating direct service to the Lord. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says in the Caitanya caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 17.129:
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “The Māyāvādī impersonalists are great offenders unto Lord Kṛṣṇa; therefore they simply utter the words ‘Brahman,’ ‘ātmā’ and ‘caitanya,
*Caitanya caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 17.130: “Because they are offenders unto Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is identical with His holy name, the holy name ‘Kṛṣṇa’ does not manifest in their mouths.
Therefore because they are offenders they cannot speak directly about Lord Kṛṣṇa, hearing from them is like drinking poison,
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has written in his Hari-bhakti-vilāsa:
avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam
śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ
“One should not hear anything about Kṛṣṇa from a non-Vaiṣṇava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Kṛṣṇa given by a non-Vaiṣṇava are also poisonous.”
We should wholeheartedly repeat the words of of our spiritual master as we have heard from him.
Caitanya caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 19.152 purport.
But one who is faithful to his spiritual master gets the bhakti-latā-bīja. This bhakti-latā-bīja is received when one is initiated by the bona fide spiritual master. After receiving the spiritual master’s mercy, one must repeat his instructions, and this is called śravaṇa-kīrtana — hearing and chanting. One who has not properly heard from the spiritual master or who does not follow the regulative principles is not fit for chanting (kīrtana). This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.41): vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. One who has not listened carefully to the instructions of the spiritual master is unfit for chanting or for preaching the cult of devotional service. One has to water the bhakti-latā-bīja after receiving instructions from the spiritual master.
We should be very careful in our association with all these deviants and protect ourselves by firmly rooting ourselves at the lotus feet of our dear spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hare Kṛṣṇa, All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
