Imagine the monastery where English, American, African, Croatian, Russian, Nepalese, Belgian, and Portuguese monks, to name a few, are all living together in harmony, serving the same master, Lord Krishna. Bhaktivedanta Manor ashram is a place where young men from various continents and backgrounds live, dedicating their lives for a higher cause.
A few more prominent monks, for the sake of spreading knowledge about Krishna, have YouTube channels and a large following, whilst the majority of them serve in the background, performing menial services, cleaning the temple, distributing spiritual literature on the streets, cooking or serving guests at the temple.
In the spiritual community, all services are absolute and of equal value. A devotee teacher is not better than a person cleaning the temple room. A devotee distributing spiritual books on the streets is not necessarily more advanced than a devotee cooking at the temple. A priest worshipping the Deities is not spiritually higher than a temple gardener. All are equally dear to Krishna. Krishna is only interested in their devotion.
The Sanskrit word mauna translated into English means silence. Monastery is intended for material silence where only topics which enthuse spiritual practices are discussed.
Every moment should be used wisely and not wasted for unnecessary gossip, sense enjoyment or criticism. One of the ways to measure spiritual advancement is to observe how much time we spend on material/spiritual activity.
Monks traditionally avoid crowded places and social gatherings, but in favour of sharing spiritual teachings and inspiring the community, they take part in those events.
Some young men choose to stay in a monastery for a short term, as a training for the life ahead, whilst others stay for a few years, performing numerous services and learning new skills. A few rare souls dedicate their whole lives to the service of Guru and Krishna.
Bhaktivedanta Manor ashram is a spiritually vibrant place that offers the opportunity to all sincere seekers to learn, get trained and practise Krishna consciousness as taught by the Founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Srimad Bhagavatam 3.24.34 purport- Of course, there are two kinds of devotees of the Lord. One is called goṣṭhy-ānandī, which means those who are preachers and have many followers for preaching the glories of the Lord and who live among those many, many followers just to organize missionary activities. Other devotees are ātmānandī, or self-satisfied, and do not take the risk of preaching work. They remain, therefore, alone with God.
Ananta Gopal Das
09.05.2024
Bhakti Wisdom 