A good time was had by all
at the mid-year disciples’ meeting
in Stuyvesant Falls.
We had full attendance
for the morning program
in which I gave a speech and
had devotees ask me questions.
In my talk, I described that
I have diksa and siksa disciples.
Our relationships are equal and
identical manifestations of Krishna.
Anyone who makes a distinction
between the shelter-giving Lord
and the initiating and instructing
spiritual masters is committing an offense
in the discharge of devotional service.
I spoke about vapu and vani association
with the spiritual master. I said
vapu association was very nice, but
it was temporary. In the absence
of the personal form of the spiritual master
one follows the instructions of the
spiritual master. The vani is eternal.
As Prabhupada wrote in an invocation
to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
at the beginning of his first volume of
_Srimad-Bhagavatam_: “He lives forever
and his follower lives with him
through his divine instructions.”
I told them that I had produced over 150 books
to revive them and inspire them.
As an ISKCON guru my duty is
to link my disciples to Srila Prabhupada.
I have given this in the major opus
_Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta_.
In addition to SPL I have written
many other books about Prabhupada,
including four volumes of _Prabhupada Meditations_,
three volumes of _My Letters from Srila Prabhupada_,
and many other books. As well as the books
directly about Srila Prabhupada, there are
the “vani” books – books containing the
instructions of the spiritual master.
There are also the many books I have written
on japa and other topics, and I
described a few and gave their titles.
I told them that the books I was mentioning
were mostly out of print, but they could
be accessed in E-book format on the website
sdglegacy.com. I praised that website and
mentioned the different facilities and
offerings it has.
After my talk I fielded questions
from my disciples.
We had arati and a nice lunch.
After that we held an extended kirtan mela.
I came back at 4:00 P.M. to read
and distribute some new books.
As usual, the attendance dropped off
in the afternoon meeting.
But I was very satisfied with the day.
We sold many books and collected donations.
I very much like this program of having
two meetings a year for my disciples and
friends, and they seem to like it too.