Isn’t Prabhupada’s Gita 18.65 call to worship Krishna alone and no other Vishnu form fanatical?

Transcript

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Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Question from Madam Shankar Prabhu. Why does Srila Prabhupada say in the Gita 18.65 purport that Krishna is a boy with a bluish complexion face and one should be attracted only to Krishna and not to any other form.
Not even to any other Vishnu form. Isn’t this fanaticism? We should be attracted only to a specific form of God and a specific form of God at that. Answer.
No, it’s not fanaticism. It’s love. Now, the love for Krishna is at one level the most accommodating and at another level it is the most focused.
We see this difference when in various places in the scripture. For example, in the pastime of the gopis it is described that at one time when Krishna disappeared from the rasa arena the gopis were searching desperately for him and Krishna who was hiding he decided to play a game with them and at that time he appeared to them in the form of Vishnu with four arms. And when the gopis saw Vishnu actually Vishnu and Krishna both their complexion was slightly bluish, slightly similar.
So from the distance they thought this is Krishna and they were delighted and they ran towards him in top speed and when they saw it was Vishnu they were disappointed. The yogis when they have darshan of Vishnu that is the perfection of their life and they are delighted but the gopis were disappointed. And what did they do? They did not reject or deride Vishnu they offered obeisances respectfully and they asked him where is Krishna, please tell us desperately.
And then Krishna just pointed with his fingers has gone that way and the gopis ran away. Finally when Radharani came there and she with the desperation of her heart as if she couldn’t live without Krishna she called where is Krishna, please tell me. Krishna tried to point with his hand towards the same direction but seeing the purity, the intensity of Radharani’s love he couldn’t maintain his facade and his two arms disappeared and Radha saw before her eyes her beloved lord.
So in understanding God there is tattva and there is rasa. In terms of tattva all the forms of the lord whether it is Vishnu or Ram or Narasimha or Krishna they are all transcendental they are all supreme they are all omnipotent and in that sense they are all they are all capable of attracting us eternally and granting us liberation. At the same time all of us once we understand the tattva and become attracted to the supreme lord The Upanishads describe that one has to know him know that absolute truth to go beyond there is no other pantha there is no path available for going beyond it there is no other path available to go beyond this but after describing this the Upanishads also describe that the absolute truth is filled with rasa and actually once one gets the rasa then one becomes truly joyful so from the point of rasa every devotee has an attraction to a particular form of the supreme lord and it is that form that one should focus on so what Srila Prabhupada is emphasizing in his purport in 18.65 he, Srila Prabhupada in his teachings at various places very broad for example he wrote a letter to the Pope where he says that atheism is spreading rapidly and is causing people to get misled and all the religions of the world should not passively tolerate this onslaught of atheism but should unitedly combat it so now some people may say the Abrahamic religion’s conception of God is quite primitive and not at all anywhere near as intimate and advanced as is the Vedic conception of God so why should we try to join forces with them but Srila Prabhupada exhibits that also over there because when you are talking about outreach to a large number of people at that time we are just talking about saving them from the clutches of materialism then that’s a strategy that will be used but at some places in his book Srila Prabhupada also gives us the lofty teachings of the tradition which he is belonging to that is the Gaudiya Vaishnav teachings and therein is described that as far as Rasa is concerned the intimate personal reciprocations with Krishna are are far more intimate than with other forms of God and in that sense Rasa is more intensely and intimately experienced with Krishna than with any other form of God and so that form is special so Srila Prabhupada is giving us that special Gaudiya revelation in when he is saying that be attracted only to the form of Krishna and not to anyone else it is not fanaticism it is focus the Bhagavad Gita teaching I have written a Gita daily article be not fanatical but be fanatically focused fanatical means one thing my path is the only path and all other paths are false like there are iconoclastic religions which say that our God is the only true God and the truth of this God is established to the extent we destroy other Gods that is fanaticism when one does not even admit the existence of other Gods but fanatical focus is required for success in any field if a person wants to become a sports star the person cannot say today I will play cricket tomorrow I will play hockey, day after tomorrow I will play lawn tennis person has to focus on one sport and totally in a sense fanatically focus on self and not just within if one wants to play cricket it is not that one person can say today I will be a wicket keeper, tomorrow I will be a spin bowler, day after tomorrow I will be a medium pacer the day after that I will be a fast bowler one has to choose one field and focus on that so similarly when we want to attain God we have to focus on one tradition and within that one tradition when we practice in a focused way then we get transcendental realizations this does not mean that fanatical focus is not the same as fanaticism a student studies in one university and graduates from that university doesn’t mean that other universities are false but that student will not jump from one university to another will focus and get learning from one university itself.
Similarly here Srila Prabhupada in this purport is giving us the Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta and is asking us to focus in the mode of Gaudiya Vaishnavism on the form of Krishna but Gaudiya Vaishnavism also acknowledges the reality of the other forms of Vishnu acknowledges their potency to grant liberation and acknowledges that pure devotion exists for other forms of Vishnu also so therefore it is not a fanatical statement. Thank you. There are many different people