Is chanting Hare Krsna the most important activity?
This is a soul-searching question…requiring a deep and honest answer.
December 27, 2008 by kcsoulmate
Is chanting Hare Krsna the most important activity?
This is a soul-searching question…requiring a deep and honest answer.
Please read my letter called “Why I am leaving ISKCON”
http://harekrishnadiary.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-i-am-leaving-iskcon.html
Your servant,
Caitanya dasa
Hare Krsna Caitanya Dasa
I read your irresponsible letter.
I can see that you are angry and disillusioned with ISKCON.
Such a simple matter could have been easily straightened out by approaching a senior authority in ISKCON. Yet you chose to create international furore instead….
Very well, with the intention of returning to you the initial joy you found in the shelter of ISKCON and on behalf of the general community of devotees, that you took liberty to blaspheme with your comments, I respond:
1. You refer to the GBC as an entity inimical to Srila Prabhupada, but you forget that it was Srila Prabhupada who gave them managerial authority over ISKCON.
2. The GBC is made up of a very large body of devotees. To get that many people to deliberately contrive against the welfare of the society in general, is not possible.
3. The GBC is there to represent the community of devotees and to protect the integrity and honour of the illustrious Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya.
4. The GBC is on our side. If you have a problem with their management, then you can take it up with them. Its an open system. You know that from personal experience – you felt that it was wrong to change Srila Prabhupada’s books – when you informed them – they passed an amendment.
5. The GBC are not oppressors! You and every member of ISKCON has the right to protect ISKCON. YOu can accomplish far more by working with the GBC through your local authorities, and putting your concerns on the table than by rebelling against the whole society and working on your own. You are against them, but they are not against you!
6. The GBC has made and will make many mistakes. Big mistakes. But remember we are only a little over 30 years old. Such a great administrative undertaking is no joke. Other religious institutions have had a few thousand years to get it together, and still fail miserably. Priests are constantly in the news for raping their subordinates, cheating and fraud is rife, huge debates about their very scriptures devides existing religions into millionths.
7. At least we are consolidated – Can you say the same of Christianity/Islam/etc?
8. You cite chakra.org as a reference for your condemnation of Hridayananda Maharaja. Do not do this in future. Chakra.org is not a site recognised by ISKCON. How do you even know that what written on there is true! It’s just a gossip column! You cite it as if its sastra!
9. You give the example of your bhakta leader as a representative of all the leaders of the society. What an unfair generalisation. It is very unfortunate that you were subject to that kind of mistreatment. No bhakta deserves such a terrible experience. However, you can’t say that the whole society is like that. I have been in the movement for 22 years, and I have never experienced anything of the sort.
10. Fanatical religious people exist. In all religions. Its a fact you have to embrace. Take the scriptures for what they are, and use them as a yardstick to see who’s who in the zoo. Choose your association wisely. Srila Rupa Goswami, wrote a wonderful book called Nectar of Instruction, in which he clearly describes the characteristics of a neophyte, intermediate and advanced devotee. Think twice before you put your faith in people – there are dangerous people in this world, and it is unfortunate that some of them dress as devotees. Krsna consciousness advocates simplicity, but not that you be a simpleton. Be streetwise. Like you would in any other situation.
10. You feel that ISKCON cannot attract educated professional people. How absurd. Just open your eyes and look around. Besides, Krsna gives His devotees all the intelligence they need to rid themselves of the cycle of birth and death. Can any education of this material world compare to that?
11. There is nothing wrong with the process of surrendering to authority. In fact it is required. Without surrendering to senior devotees, you cannot learn how to surrender to Krsna. Just make sure you know who a senior devotee is, and how to recognise him, before you surrender ‘blindly.’
12. A bhakta leader is a very small person in the greater scheme of things. He may be important to his little group of bhaktas, but in terms of the society, he is an easy person to overlook. This is why his bad conduct may have gone unnoticed. I understand that you were emotionally traumatised and trapped in the situation, but for others reading this: the appropriate course of action would have been to approach HIS senior to rectify the situation, rather than try to cope with it on your own. This would be a pro-active rather than reactive response.
13. Following authority is always there…and when done in an appropriate way brings joy and fulfillment in the heart. Our process is to be the servant of the servant (a concept I know that you want to imbibe, because you signed your letter with ‘your servant.’)
14. Sure, misinformed people are promoting feminism to their detriment. It is they who are being contaminated, not ISKCON. Just as no amount of mud can make the Ganga impure, no amount of feminism can destroy the purity of Sri Caitanya Mahaparabhu’s sankirtan movement, which is non-different from Himself.
15. You made a point inconsistent with feminism. The introduction of female gurus has nothing to do with the equal rights of women. Man or woman – we are spirit souls. We do not distinguish between devotees on the basis of their bodily characteristics. To do so is not philosophically sound.
16. You mentioned that Srila Prabhupada did not introduce female gurus. This is true. Maybe he didn’t meet a woman who was qualified in his time. However in the history of our sampradaya, there is Sri Jahnava, the wife of Lord Nityananda, who became a guru and had many disciples. In fact, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took first initiation from a guru in the disciplic succession descending from her.
17. You don’t agree with the movies being shown at that theatre. You feel that this is a misrepresenation of Srila Prabhupada. Good observation! We need devotees like you, who can be vigilant and protect the honour of Srila Prabhupada in conjuction with the local authorities and the GBC. Now you will leave ISKCON, do nothing about it, and let the denigration of Srila Prabhupada’s movement continue? Stand, and fight! But with love and good wishes for the welfare of the society in your heart, rather than a vague sort of anger that won’t do anyone any good.
18. You got so uptight about Srila Prabhupada’s teachings becoming watered down, but you want to reject the house he built for the whole world to live in, ISKCON? Is this gratitude? When you see that the paint is wearing off and that the windows are dirty – you want to run away? Like a good son, you should stay, and build up ISKCON until it is better than it ever was. But you? You would rather run a way and see it dilapidate.
19. After “long consideration”, YOU feel that the purity of ISKCON will not be maintained?? “After all, history shows that once something degrades, it is extremely difficult to bring it back up to it’s original pure position.”
You stupid boy. Do you not know that the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya has been in existence since the time of creation? Brahma first received this knowledge from Krsna, and since then it has passed down, unadulterated, for millions and millions of years. Do you think attempts weren’t made in the past to stain its purity?? This movement is under the direct protection of the Supreme Lord. And in Kali Yuga, the reign of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is TEN THOUSAND years, of which only five hundred or so have passed. ISKCON has not lost the plot, you have.
20. “Krishna is so beautiful and sweet that I am bewildered as to how I could have wasted even a moment absorbed in mundane political/institutional affairs.”
You are right. Because you have entered the politics of the institution without the spiritual maturity to handle it, you have become completely bewildered and lost.
21. Based on bewilderment, you have come to the incorrect conclusion to leave ISKCON. Without the association of devotees you cannot make advancement. Outside of ISKCON, association of devotees will be very rare. Reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, but rejecting his ISKCON is aparadha, and you will not derive the benefit from the books.
22. “Many devotees both inside and outside of ISKCON feel that ISKCON is seriously lacking in care and compassion- towards it’s own members and towards the society at large. There is such a great pressure put on making new members, collecting money, building temples, that if we are not careful, we may even miss the entire point- which is to develop love for Krishna. Ultimately, bhakti means love- love for others and love for Krishna.”
I agree with you. However, the tide is turning …based on the enormously effective system of care propounded by the devotees of Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha (CHowpatty, India) under the direction of HH Radhanatha Maharaja. Temples around the world are beginning to institute a similar model of care.
It is a comprehensive system of caring for a devotee through every stage of his life – childhood, adolescence, engagement, marriage, and retired/elderly life. This care is holistic, and comprises a mentorship programme and group support system. It also includes the provision of facilities like medical care, education, as well as employment for the devotees. Their congregation is made up of the highest density of professional people in the world and numbers into the thousands.
I suggest that you go to Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Temple in Chowpatty, India. Spend some time there. There, you must request to meet one of the senior devotees who will remind and teach you what love between devotees means.
23. I see that you are sincere about your spiritual life, but have lost trust in the management of ISKCON. Remember: management is different from leadership. ISKCON may screw up on managerial issues, but it is leading the world through Srila Prabhupada’s books and the Holy Name of the Lord. There cannot be any impurity in that. Separate yourself from management and just try to be a good devotee in ISKCON.
24. If you leave ISKCON, where will you go?
25. You said you wanted to leave ISKCON. But you haven’t, and you can’t…because I can see that your heart is bound up in the very fibres of ISKCON: a service attitude to the devotees (you end with vancha kalpa taru bhyas ca), loyalty to Srila Prabhupada (you are dedicated to maintaining the standard which he set) and the urge to develop one’s love for Krsna.
Your very name is “Caitanya Dasa” – servant of the all-magnanimous Lord Caitanya. May He always protect you and keep you close in His sankirtan party.
Hare Krsna!