Prabhupāda Urges His Disciples to Maintain What He Has Established
The rapid global expansion of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement required more than just initial enthusiasm; it required the steady, mature dedication to maintain what was opened. Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently reminded his disciples that taking responsibility means strictly preserving the purity, management, and philosophical standards of the society. By maintaining their personal spiritual routines and keeping the temples self-sufficient, his followers ensure that the mission remains a permanent shelter for the conditioned souls.
Maintaining Personal Spiritual Strength
To manage temples and preach to the public, a devotee must possess immense inner power. This spiritual strength is not permanent by default; it must be consciously and rigorously maintained every single day. Śrīla Prabhupāda taught that the only way to keep oneself spiritually fit is to rigidly adhere to the foundational practices of chanting the holy names and following the restrictive principles without fail.
- I may inform you that in order to maintain our status of spiritual strength, everyone of us must very rigidly chant daily sixteen rounds without fail and follow the regulative principles strictly.
- I am very glad to note that you are seeing that the devotees are maintaining the devotional practices. This is the secret to success. Therefore I am stressing it.
- The secret of preaching work is that one must keep himself fit in spiritual strength by maintaining always the highest standard of purity in Krsna consciousness.
- I have always stressed this point; that if we simply follow the regulative principles, chant regularly daily 16 rounds, and maintain firm faith equally in Krishna and Spiritual Master, that your life will become sublime.
- Enthusiastic mood is maintained when everyone is always without fail chanting 16 rounds daily, rising early for mangal arati, reading books, preaching.
Self-Sufficient Preaching Centers
A spiritual institution cannot expand if its branches constantly drain resources from the headquarters. Śrīla Prabhupāda instituted a strict policy that every local center must be financially independent. Rather than begging for maintenance or relying on outside businesses, temples are meant to be maintained exclusively through the pure, enthusiastic distribution of transcendental books and literatures.
- I do not want that a branch should be continually maintained by other branches; every branch should be self-dependent.
- If we can sell some copies of our publications, books and literature, and we can maintain our establishment, somehow, we shall think it is a great success; we don't want anything more.
- The temples will be maintained by the book sales, and if there are no more temples, then the books shall remain.
- Everyone should engage full time for various propaganda work of the Krishna Consciousness Movement and maintain themselves by the little profit made by book selling and literature distribution.
- Now one thing is that there you have got our magazines, and simply by selling our magazines you can maintain yourself. There will be no difficulty. In all our centers this magazine has given a new impetus for solving the economic question.
Depending on Kṛṣṇa for Maintenance
While practical management is necessary, a pure devotee understands that the Supreme Lord is the ultimate maintainer of all living entities. Therefore, a sincere disciple does not waste time praying for daily necessities or concocting separate material plans for their upkeep. By simply focusing entirely on devotional service, the devotee rests assured that Kṛṣṇa will perfectly arrange all necessary maintenance.
- Krishna is fully aware of your every necessity and he will surely provide everything that you need for your bodily maintenance.
- Don't make any plan. Accept Krsna's plan. That will be simply giving trouble to Krsna. Therefore, a devotee does not pray even for his maintenance. That is pure devotee. He doesn't give trouble to Krsna even for his bare maintenance.
- If he has no maintenance, he'll suffer, fasting; still, he'll not ask Krsna, "Krsna, I am very hungry. Give me some food." Of course, Krsna is alert for His devotee, but a devotee's principle is not to place any plan to Krsna. Let Krsna do.
- Gaurasundara was going to maintain, and he drives fifty miles off, Honolulu. The poor fellow had to rise early in the morning. You see? And so much haste. Therefore: "Gaurasundara, you better give up this job. Just depend on Krsna."
Maintaining Health and Enthusiasm
The physical body is a valuable machine used for executing the mission of the Lord. While the demands of eating and sleeping must be minimized to avoid laziness, they must never be restricted to the point of illness. Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed his followers to properly maintain their health and protect their spiritual enthusiasm at all costs, as a diseased body or a discouraged mind cannot effectively fight against māyā.
- Eating, sleeping, mating, all these are material demands; the more we minimize, then that is good, but not at the risk of health. Because we have to work for Krishna, so we must maintain our health nicely.
- I think you should not waste your time in any other thing except Devotional service and maintain the body in proper order. Unnecessarily you should not waste your valuable time.
- You should take food just to maintain your health nicely. Similarly, other necessities of body must be taken care of. If you become diseased, then how you can execute Krsna consciousness?
- Enthusiasm must be maintained under all circumstance. That is our price for entering into Krsna's kingdom. And maya is always trying to take away our enthusiasm to serve Krsna, because without enthusiasm everything else is finished.
Preserving the Standard of the Paramparā
The potency of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement lies in its absolute fidelity to the previous ācāryas. To ensure that the science of Godhead remains pure, Śrīla Prabhupāda strictly forbade his disciples from manufacturing new methods or watering down the presentation. Everything from the daily temple schedule to the scholarly use of diacritic marks in the books must be meticulously maintained exactly as it was given.
- The standards I have already given you, now try to maintain them at all times under standard procedure. Do not try to innovate or create anything or manufacture anything, that will ruin everything.
- If you all carry these words successively, then the transcendental parampara system will be exactly maintained and people in general will be benefited.
- Diacritical marks must be maintained. These are internationally accepted by all scholars, so I want they should remain.
- We should not have to reduce our standard on account of the ignorant masses. Diacritic spelling is accepted internationally, and no learned person will even care to read our books unless this system is maintained.
The Responsibility to Uphold the Mission
Starting a new project is often accompanied by a surge of excitement, but true devotion is proven through longevity. Śrīla Prabhupāda warned his leaders that if they lacked the manpower or resources to open new centers, they must, at the very least, flawlessly maintain what had already been established. Allowing a functioning temple to deteriorate into a lifeless warehouse due to a loss of the service spirit is a great offense to the mission.
- If you cannot increase it, you should at least maintain what I have given you. You cannot accuse me that I have not given you anything. So it is a great responsibility you now have.
- I do not want to see that everything deteriorates by your management. If you cannot increase then you should at least maintain what I have established.
- We have initiated so many projects and Centers and practically we are short handed all over the world, so it is better at this time if we work to maintain and develop whatever we have.
- As soon as you will lose the spirit of service, this temple will become a big go-down, that's all. No more temple. So we have to maintain that service spirit.
Conclusion
The preservation of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement rests heavily on the shoulders of those who strictly maintain its standards. By teaching his disciples to rigorously protect their personal purity, their physical health, and the financial independence of their temples, Śrīla Prabhupāda guaranteed the longevity of the society. As long as his followers loyally maintain the exact instructions of the paramparā, the movement will remain a perfect, functioning shelter for humanity.
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 Maintaining (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.