New and Improved ISKCON
BY: HASYA MUKHI DEVI DASI
oct 2011
I'm a big fan of New and Improved anything -- gasoline, dish detergent, toilet cleaner, you name it. That's why it really rattles my tilak when conservative devotees say that there is no room for making ISKCON better. What this society needs is more forward-thinking leaders like the GBC for Seattle. With his Durga Puja altar complete with a credit card machine he has shown how much we can do to change things for the better. That's what America is all about. Improvement. And religion has to keep right on improving with the timely introduction of new-fangled ideas also. Hey, that's progress if you know what I mean.
Look, did Jesus preach about Santa Claus? Well, he sure didn't, but somebody added Santa years later. And later a department store added Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. And, presto, you've got a better religion! Nowadays people worship Santa and Rudolph more than Jesus. Ask them how much time they spend reading the Bible and how much time they spend watching cartoons about Santa Claus, and we've got a clear winner.
The leaders at ISKCON Seattle have done wonders by sitting at the feet of their Hindu congregation to learn how to improve ISKCON's standards of worship. That's real disciplic succession, when you can learn new ideas from anybody who comes along, especially if they have a loose checkbook! I know that they did not forget to offer a ghee lamp to the Visa/MasterCard machine because that's what it's all about. And I know that it will be a great leap forward when we can proudly say in one bold voice that "We are devotees of the International Society for Whatever Consciousness, or ISWCON."
Me, I look forward to the day when the Vyasa Puja of each and every GBC is celebrated in every temple. Why only GBC? How about worshipping guests also? After all, it is the guests that make the temple. And when we see that every demigod festival from the advent of Maha Kali to the propitiation of Lord Shanideva is regularly performed in each ISWCON center, it will be a real victory for our bold GBC. Just like some temples have done with Christmas trees and New Years celebrations.
Interfaith ISWCON means accommodating other beliefs and being sensitive to how others feel. It is our duty to learn to embrace their sensitivities, also, because if we want our religion to be accepted then we've got to accept theirs. It's only natural and it's only fair.
We devotees need to start looking ahead to a brighter future when we can vote on what we believe our religion should be and should not be. A broad-minded ISWCON should reflect American politics by voting every four years on what we should be allowed to think for the next four years. I know we've got a long and hard struggle against the narrow-minded people who throw around those words you hear like "parampara" or "sampradaya." Those "bona fide" devotees really rattle the jari right out of my sari with their silly objections. You know the types. Devotees who quote verses from those books like the Bhagavad Gita, that I still hope I can read someday so I can argue with them.
But, they laughed at innovators like Satya Sai Baba, Stephen Hawking, and Charles Darwin, too. Real devotees are not so narrow-minded. ISWCON Settle is a genuine pioneer in creating a new religion for a new tomorrow and we must be thankful to ISWCON's GBC for their ability to change and innovate whenever time, circumstances and the whims of our congregation call for it.
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