Unlike the ancien regime wherein the king represented the link between man and God and the clergy were secondary to the king, in a Vaishnava society, the invert is true. The guru/sannyasa is the link between man and God – he occupies the topmost position in society and is the unifying figure. In Krishna Consciousness, the instructions of one’s guru is one’s spiritual life force, (as perfectly depicted by Srila Prabhupada). The guru, leaning and affirming the teaching of previous acharyas and desiring the rapid spread of Krishna Consciousness, instructs His disciple to fulfil a certain order.
The chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in the age of Kali-yuga, is the prescribed method of love of God. Once accepting a guru and accepting the vow of chanting a minimum of 16 rounds per day, one begins his spiritual journey full steam ahead. Srila Rupa Goswami states that once acquiring a taste for the holy-name, one desires thousands of tongues to chant and taste its sweetness and millions of ears, shaped like the ear of a calf, to drown in the sweetness of the holy name.
The effect of chanting is, one, more chanting and two, service. In terms of the former, the more one’s mind is engaged in chanting the more consumed one’s mind becomes in chanting. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of his uncle who traded in the textile industry and who owned a textile shop. For several decades he would, from his shop, shout of the prices of the textiles so much so that even in his sleep he would shout the price of textiles. Likewise, when one’s mind becomes consumed in chanting and Krishna consciousness, one is able to mentally think about Krishna 24 hours a day. Thus, the power of repetition is due to the fact that the, “repeated statement is embedded in the long run in those profound regions of our unconscious selves in which the motives of our actions are forged. At the end of a certain time, we have forgotten who is the author of the repeated assertion, and we finish by believing it.’”
The latter ties-in with the third aspect – contagion.
The contagious attitude of service is initially contracted by unconsciously being the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. It is by the mercy of the devotees that one is actually able to render service, however menial to the Lord. The association of the devotees is imperative for the contagious attitude of service, and is depicted in:
vancha-kalpa-tarubhyas ca
kripa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namah
“Just like a desire tree, a Vaishnava can fulfill all the desires of anyone who takes shelter of his lotus feet.” Chanting of the maha-mantra is a humble plea for service and the devotees are the enablers of the effects of chanting. Without the mercy of the devotees and the mercy of one’s guru, spiritual life becomes devoid of an essence and ultimately implodes. Chanting and service is thus a dialectical process, a process that will debilitate and later disintegrate if one-way whatsoever. The gopis perfectly depict this. Not only do they chant the maha-mantra but the leaders of each cluster of gopis enable one another to serve the Divine couple. The culmination of their efforts is the pleasure that Sri Radha-Krishna derive from their efforts which brings the greatest joy to their heart of hearts. Chanting and service thus pulls one further into the mellows of service, but this gentle and ecstatic centripetal force, in addition, creates a community of sincere devotees, willing to upkeep his vows to his guru and give his life, in whatever way, to the propagation of ISKCON. Thus through the acceptance of a guru and his instructions, the mental and verbal occupation of chanting the maha-mantra and the association of devotees, or as Le Bon states, through affirmation, repetition and contagion – crowds are formed.
The peasantry of the French Revolution slowly developed and gathered its forces, but ultimately struck with such a force that the face of the world changed politically, morally, socially and economically. Similarly, but with a greater outcomes, ISKCON is slowly and cautiously sinking its roots in countries, cities and towns the world-over, but soon, the Movement will be a rage that will obliterate any materiality whatsoever and society will exist is a state of pure utpoia, in a state of perfectly practiced Krishna consciousness.