I have not heard of Tukurama before, although he sounds like Sai's sort of guy.
If you meditate on the name of Govinda,
then you will become Govinda yourself.
There will be no difference between you and God.
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Tukurama was a mystic, guided by dreams and speculation (the devil :wink:) but it seems to me that to present him as a follower of Lord Caitanya was a little fanciful.
Apparently very little is known of Tukarama's life and there are no shrines to him. He was devoted to Lord Vithoba who is a manifestation of Krishna and his mission in life given to him through a dream was to compete the abhangs (spiritual poems) of Namdev, who was around in 1269 - a full two centuries before Lord Caitanya even appeared. I am curious as to how Tukurama fits into Gaudiya Vaishnavism if at all. I guess only Siddha knows for sure how he came to receive guidance from such an obscure figure when he ignores the Panca Tattva, Lord Caitanya's closest associates.
Definitely nothing has changed with 'chanting' being pretty much the sole pursuit of Siddha's followers. How many times I have heard him and them all say - ALL you have to do is chant. Never mind preaching and following Lord Caitanya's mission, never mind charitable pursuits or building temples - which is something a bonafide spiritual master might have thought to do in thirty years, especially when they have no shortage of money.
In Sai Speaks he refers to Tukarama "By chanting His name you become like He in the course of nature." This is a curious feature of Siddha's continuing philosophy - that those who have been chanting for 5 years are more spiritually advanced than those who have been for two. Of all his followers he has of course been chanting for the longest so by virtue of his own self styled philosphy has become not God - that would be blasphemous - he is simply just like and completely equal to him.
Krishna's tinfoil mansion and aversion to the common air must have simply been lost in translation.
The only thing that really makes sense in Siddha's whole philosophy is the statement "I'm not a bonafide teacher..actually I am not a 'heavy' or great yogi'." Case closed.
Unless you have the grave misfortune of the Lord in your heart being as dyslexic as you must be to read Siddha's own words that he is not bonafide then you have now have no excuse or reasoning to fall back on.
Sai Speaks deserved to be burnt - but given what became of it's author possibly the last remaining copy - is of extreme value. Obviously it is the most valuable teaching of Siddha's in existence as irrefutable proof that he is a dangerous fraud.
As followers of Siddhaswarupananda the Lord in your heart by your actions of retreat and shame - denying any affiliation to him, and the Scripture must be screaming at you to save yourself.
One who is initiated into a mantra by a non-Vaishnava must go to hell. Therefore he should again be initiated properly, according to the prescribed method, by a Vaishnava guru. Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.48