From Pashupatinath Richard travelled two hundred miles south to Bodh Gaya, the holiest place on earth for Buddhists. At Bodh Gaya he read books by D.T. Suzuki and Alan Watts on Zen Buddhism, and found their teachings simple and appealing. He also learnt that a Zen master from Japan was teaching a way of Zen in Bodh Gaya. The teacher claimed to be following the tradition that has passed down from a long time, and emphasized on the need to lead a life of prayer, humility, service, gratitude and meditation. He demanded a strict schedule, but Richard felt something suspicious.
Some days after the course, a young American couple, two of Master’s faithful followers discovered him to be having a full-on-affair with a lady every night. All his disciples had left him. Richard felt pained that the Master had been strict with his students, but not with himself. He had misrepresented a long tradition of sincere teachers.
“An irresponsible leader can break the hearts and faith of his followers and raise suspicion even toward those who are genuine. What pain his hypocrisy caused to those who trusted him and just see what it has done to his own life. How essential it is to live what we believe. How vital it is to practice what we preach.”
The irresponsibility of the Zen master reminded me of Socrates’ immortal words, “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” Radhanath Swami says, “A spiritual teacher has to be a student first; a preacher has to be a practitioner first; a master has to be a sincere servant first; and a leader must be a true follower first.” Accepting position of leadership without the necessary qualifications is a violent crime, as it shakes the faith of innocent people who trust such a teacher. Radhanath Swami narrates the story of a sadhu, a holy man who was approached by a lady requesting him to instruct her son to give up eating sweets. The sadhu asked them to come the following week. A week later, the sadhu requested the child to give up eating sweets. The perplexed lady asked him why he hadn’t given this simple instruction a week ago. The man replied, “Last week even I was eating sweets. I abstained from sweets for one week and now I have some credibility to tell others not to eat sweets.” Radhanath Swami explains before we instruct others we should at least be aspiring to follow the instructions ourselves.
Once, a young man stayed for a month at the Radhagopinath temple monastery, video shooting everything that was happening there. An inmate confided in me, “We became conscious of him and his camera. Sometimes during my distracted prayer sessions, he would come in the front and catch us on the camera. Suddenly I would become alert and display a certain kind of seriousness in my spiritual activities. One morning as I was putting up my best performance to be good on the camera, I got a nice realization. I thought of how God is constantly watching u
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Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
This meditation is really an eye opener for many conditioned souls like me. Now a days we see so many hypocrite gurus are being busted due to their abominal activities. Every one wants to say but no body wants to follow. This leads to so many conflicts and hypocrite behavior.This is a very enlightening meditation where Maharaj explains the real qualification of Guru, Master, and Leader. Thanks for this wonderful eye opening meditation.
View CommentBecause he follows what he preaches,his teachings are pure and they touch the heart of receivers and transforms their lives.That is the secret of success of Radhanath Swami.
View CommentWonderful article!!! I have been a programmer for ten years but only thru this story of Radhanath Swami do i actually know the meaning of an “Integer” – One who is not divided in himself or who is not in conflict with is own principles. Wonderful!!! I will like integers more now than “Floats”
View CommentPersonal Integrity is a very important characteristic of every one and more so of leaders and even more so of spiritual leaders. Radhanath Swami is one such personality with extremely high personal integrity.
View CommentIn todays world where personality and externality is given so much importance and character is never spoken about, people like Radhanath Swami are very rare. Every chapter of The Journey Home book, shows how Richard (Radhanath Swami) had such an impeccable character and integrity in his search for Spiritual enlightenment.
Radhanath Swami says, “What we are as a person is undoubtedly more important than what we have and what others think of us.”
I pray that these lines be my guiding path of my life…
View CommentVery Powerful reminder from Maharajah “How essential it is to live what we believe. How vital it is to practice what we preach.”
View CommentThank you Maharajah with your mercy only i can strive to live it in my life.
Thank you very much Radhanath Swami Maharaj for giving a eye opener sentence for all of us -> “A spiritual teacher has to be a student first; a preacher has to be a practitioner first; a master has to be a sincere servant first; and a leader must be a true follower first.”
Now a days its very difficult to see such examples except few like you, who preaches what he practices.
View CommentHypocricy leads to loss of faith and creates extremely painfull heart breaking experiences for many. Thank You Radhanath Swami for making us aware of how important it is to live what we believe.
View CommentRadhanath Swami Maharaj is a perfect example of practicing what he preaches.
View Commentperfect example of an self practioner, radhanath swami maharaj ki jai, rajesh karia
View Commentnice article, thanks for posting, regards, bhakti
View CommentHypocricy is part and parcel of this material life. But as Maharaj rightly pointed out that God’s camera is always on 24/7 so why not make concious efforts to live up to what we say and what we believe
View CommentHow true that our character is determined by what we do when we are alone.No matter what front we put up against the rest of the world ,God is watching us 24/7. Thank you for reminding me!
View Commentso nice “A spiritual teacher has to be a student first”,wonderful article
View CommentThis is so helpful to me, especially today. thank you very much! We must be authentic 24/7.
View CommentHH Radhanath Swami says, “A spiritual teacher has to be a student first; a preacher has to be a practitioner first; a master has to be a sincere servant first; and a leader must be a true follower first.” HH Radhanath swami is one great soul who practices before he preaches.
View CommentMaharaj enlightens us with many practical principles. By being conscious of the fact that God is watching us constantly then we can purify our thoughts and actions in what ever situation we are and become perfect. Thank you very much for this wonderful meditation. All glories to Srila Maharaj.
View Commentnice article. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
View Commentvery good article
View CommentWhat a wonderful statement by Radhanath Swami – “What we are as a person is undoubtedly more important than what we have and what others think of us.”
View CommentNice to read this. Indeed very true.
View Comment“How essential it is to live what we believe. How vital it is to practice what we preach” This has been the hallmark of life lead by Radhanath Swami – to walk the talk.
View Commentwonderful article.
View CommentAmazing post by HH Radhanath Swami. Amazing words put into so simple and lucid way.
View CommentAmazing, simple for the simple!
View Commentalways radhanth swami inspires & teaches his students how to practice first and then preach the same…
View CommentThis reminds me of Radhanath Swamis famous quote which is as follows:-
Accepting position of leadership without the necessary qualifications is a violent crime, as it shakes the faith of innocent people who trust such a leader. Before we instruct others we should at least be aspiring to follow the instructions ourselves.
View CommentThank you Maharaj for this wonderful preaching.
View CommentRadhanath Swami made this arduous journey as a 19 year old Richard Slavin. With pain and anguish he learnt so many lessons of life,on his journey home.
Thank you Radhanath Swami for sharing with us these jewels of wisdom. While you paid a high price to collect these jewels, we get them for free, in your book.
View CommentRadhanath Swami wants us to be truthful in our commitment to leading a God-conscious life all the time, not on a part-time basis. Otherwise, we will be guilty of being hypocritical & will subsequently break the trust of our guru, the Vaishavas & even our friends, families, relatives & neighbours.
View CommentDear Reader,
Thank you for sharing Radhanath Maharaj’s pastimes.
View CommentNice Article!!! Thank you very much for sharing.
View CommentSpirituality is being simple at heart. Radhanath Maharaj shows this.
View CommentDevotional service is an activity for 24/7. it is not partime it is a continuos process whether we are conscious or not. But here we see that if we become conscious of God always watching over us then we will never become complacent and hypocrites. the greatest pronlem is that in kali yuga there is lot of hypocricy and quarrel
View CommentAcarya means following Guru Sadhu Shastra and Parampara
View CommentMaharaj is perfect Acarya
Very powerful article. Purity is the force. That’s why Radhanath Swami is transforming so many lives, because he lives by the principles he preaches.
View Commentsrila prabhupad defines religion,a first class religion is who teaches to know god and how to love him,radhanath maharaj is ambassador of the same…..
View CommentThank you very much for sharing your wonderful realization. God is watching us 24×7. We may cheat others, but we can not cheat Krishna as He is sitting everyone’s heart as Paramatma. Radhanath Swami maharaj always aware of Paramatma in his heart, I feel that’s the reason why he developed such purity and never be hypocritical. That’s why he won thousands of people’s hearts and have wonderful spiritual influence on people around him.
View CommentTo be recognised by God as a person free of hypocisy would be the greatest reward a devotee would aspire for.Wonderful meditation !!Thank you for sharing this..
View Comment“Accepting position of leadership without the necessary qualifications is a violent crime”. It is a very
View CommentVery important instuction for all the practicing devotee.
“A leader should be himself properly led” is Radhanath Swami’s constant emphasis. It is because of this stress on character and integrity that Radhanath Swami has succeeded in creating a spiritual revolution in a misdirected modern society. Most of the modern day babas and swamis are caught up with some or the other scandal (hypocrisy) but he steers clear of all such controversies and with the force of his purity and love transmits the unadulterated message of god. What a relief! Atleast one such person exists in this world today!!
View CommentHH Radhanath Swami Maharaj life has always been about teaching others by his own example. Hipocricy and God Consciousness cannot go together.
View CommentH H Radhanth Swami has laways been leading by setting examples.
View CommentAn important aspect of Life has been so wonderfully brought out by Radhanath Swami.We have to be strict with ourselves and accomdating with others.Philiosphy is for preaching to others,regulation is for correcting oneself
View Comment“What we are as a person is undoubtedly more important than what we have and what others think of us.” Radhanath Swami always teaches us not to be bothered about others gossip but to keep in mind what Krishna may be thinking about ourself
View CommentI like this , “A spiritual teacher has to be a student first; a preacher has to be a practitioner first; a master has to be a sincere servant first; and a leader must be a true follower first.” thank you radhanath swami
View CommentThis incident from the book shows the concern Radhanath Swami has for those who are trying to follow the path
View CommentRadhanath Swami is preaches simple living high thinking. Many conflicts have been resolved by just following the instructions given by Radhanath swami. Thank you for the nice article.
View CommentKaliyuga is the age of quarrel and hypocrisy and Maharaj is showing us the way to stay away from the influence of Kaliyuga.
View CommentIt is not uncommon to hear about so many instances of so called gurus cheating their gullible followers and this brings about a lot of bitterness and goes on to break our faith. Radhanath Swamis experiences are an eye opener to be serious in our quest for god and not to play into the hands of cheaters.
View Comment