Never Trust the Mind - How Prabhupāda Protects the Devotion of His Disciples
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is a dynamic spiritual organism that relies heavily on the delicate balance of faith, cooperation, and extreme vigilance. Śrīla Prabhupāda establishes that to successfully push forward a global preaching mission, the devotees must function as a united family bound tightly by mutual love and trust. However, while interpersonal trust is essential for practical management, he issues a severe warning regarding the internal landscape of the conditioned soul. A sincere disciple must never place their trust in the flickering mind, nor should they rely on the pleasant illusions of a material future. By placing their ultimate faith solely in Kṛṣṇa and maintaining strict adherence to the regulative principles, devotees successfully navigate these dangers and protect their devotional service.
A Family Built on Love and Trust
The foundation of any healthy spiritual community is the quality of relationships shared among its members. Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly emphasizes that the entire movement must operate as a unified, loving family rather than a fractured corporate institution. When disciples give up the fighting spirit and genuinely cooperate to follow the regulative principles, they practically demonstrate the core principles of love and trust.
- Love and trust.
- Our ISKCON should be taken as being a family based upon love and trust.
- Our Society is like one big family and our relationships should be based on love and trust. We must give up the fighting spirit and use our intelligence to push ahead.
- Our movement is based on love and trust, so if we do not co-operate, then how is that love and trust? Follow all of the rules and regulations very strictly without deviation, chant 16 rounds, attend class and mangala arati.
Empowering the Mission Through Trust
To effectively spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness across the globe and simultaneously translate vast Vedic literatures, a spiritual master requires reliable assistants. Śrīla Prabhupāda practically demonstrates his love for his disciples by placing immense trust in his senior managers, GBC members, and temple presidents. He asks the rest of the society to respect and trust these appointed representatives, allowing the entire preaching machine to function smoothly without burdening him with daily administrative affairs.
- Bali Mardan is my trusted senior disciple, do you think I am a fool to choose him for running on My big New York temple. Rather, if anyone criticizes him, they must be the fool.
- You are one of the trusted managers of the New York temple, and I am very much glad to see that the standard of temple activities is so nice.
- I cannot tax my brain so much from such distant place what to do if there is any difficulty, therefore I am relying completely on you, my trusted senior disciples, to finish up these things nicely.
- I wish to not be involved in management affairs and want to devote me time to translating books so please have some trust in those representatives I have placed as Temple presidents and GBC members.
The Danger of Misplaced Trust
While interpersonal trust is necessary, Śrīla Prabhupāda starkly warns his followers about the dangers of placing faith in the material energy. Quoting his own spiritual master, he instructs disciples to "trust no future, however pleasant," reminding them that hoarding for tomorrow is an illusion in a world of constant death and change. Furthermore, he acknowledges the harsh reality that even advanced managers can fall victim to māyā, and mundane professionals like medical doctors cannot always be blindly trusted.
- If you think you shall keep the money you collect there for future use for temple, that's alright, but my Guru Maharaja used to say, "Trust no future, however pleasant."
- Trust no future, however pleasant. You may talk that future is very bright, but we don't believe in that.
- The difficulty is that our GBC men are falling victim to maya. Today I trust this GBC and tomorrow he will fall down.
- You ask if children may be taken to ordinary medical doctors. Why not? Of course we do not always trust that these doctors maybe doing the right thing, but what can be done?
Extreme Vigilance Over the Mind
The most treacherous enemy in spiritual life is the unpurified, flickering mind. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that a devotee should never become complacent or falsely think they have easily achieved liberation. Constant vigilance is required, as the mind can easily justify deviations or encourage premature changes in one's position. True safety is found only by rejecting the mind's dictates and placing absolute, unwavering trust in Kṛṣṇa.
- In the beginning there may be some mistake, but we must see that "Whether my mistakes are now correct?" That should be vigilance. Never trust the mind. That is the instruction here. Mind should not be trusted.
- We should not trust the mind, that "Now I have become liberated." Never think so. We should always remember that liberation is not so easy thing, but if we follow the rules and regulation, then there is every possibility of becoming liberated.
- Better we should try to stay in this determination than to accept the sannyasa order by changing the dress and then again we fall down. That is not very good. There are instances like that, but it is not at all good. We should not trust the mind.
- Although you are only two you should carry on all your programs as far as possible. In the beginning I was only one and I started everything, so you have twice as many men. Trust in Krsna and simply dedicate your life.
Conclusion
By perfectly defining the boundaries of trust, Śrīla Prabhupāda creates a safe and dynamic environment for his disciples to execute devotional service. He requires his followers to extend profound love and trust toward one another to build a powerful global family, while simultaneously commanding them to be ruthlessly suspicious of their own minds. This dual instruction ensures that the society remains cooperative and harmonious on the outside, while internally, each individual devotee remains vigilant, strictly following the regulative principles and placing their ultimate trust exclusively in the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Our Trust (Disciples of SP). We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.