By Antaryami das
In the Dallas temple, before the devotees and the Deities in early 1983, H.H. Tamal Krsna Goswami read out a letter from Srila Prabhupada: "My dear Tamal, the temple is likened to a military training camp where persons come and are trained as soldiers. After being trained they are sent out into the field to live an ideal devotee life preaching and living by example, or they remain in the temples to serve in one of many varieties of service. Those who are not strong enough to live outside the temple maintaining sadhana they can remain in the temple till such a time." (I was there during this reading.) Long before coming to the west, Srila Prabhupada asked his Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati if it would be okay for him to move into the temple ashram. His Guru told him not to move into the temple, as at that time there were a lot of problems, politics, etc., amongst his disciples. It was better to live outside and practice Krsna consciousness and in time all would be revealed. I present such examples because some devotees are disturbed when asked to move out of the temples. In a class given by Srila Prabhupada titled "weapons by mantra, and gopis have highest pleasure," Srila Prabhupada quotes this verse by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: "Every one of you become guru, and deliver; please let people understand what is Krsna." No mention that one needs to remain living in a temple ashram.