Aug 2, '07 CALGARY, CANADA— A reply to Sadhushastra dasa.
Thank you for your article, clearly in favor of accepting Srila Prabhupada as he is. I hope you will pardon me, though, as I do not know you or your background; whose disciple are you, and how long have you been studying Krsna consciousness? I will assume that you are a little familiar with sastra, and that you want an answer, not merely an argument. But your statements make no sense to me, as they seem to contradict each other with no clear conclusions, so it seems you are more frustrated and venting. That is understandable, I have done the same, but meanwhile those less knowledgeable may be mislead by your criticisms, and so I respond with some answers you may not like to hear. You are wise to think independently, but maybe think through a little more...
You state that those who have a siksa guru think they understand Prabhupada better, but you have pre-stated, in the same sentence, that they have “left Srila Prabhupada’s siksa”. How is this? You say they left his siksa, but they are appreciating his siksa more? Maybe they haven’t left, after all! After all, who is crazy enough to leave Prabhupada’s siksa? Who are these persons, please? I honestly don’t know offhand of any devotee of Prabhupada’s who ever said that they were abandoning Prabhupada’s instructions. Why then, do YOU say this? You put words in their mouths, and judge your opinion, merely based upon where they physically reside? Specifically, which instructions are they not following? In my opinion, those who are within faux-ISKCON are the ones more at risk of being accused of abandoning Prabhupada’s instructions.
Perhaps the reason that those who have a siksa guru outside faux-ISKCON appreciate him more, is that there is a relative scarcity of good association within faux-ISKCON who are upholding Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. My perception is that there are 1000 kanistha adhikaris for every madhyama, what to speak of utthama, within the current ISKCON theatre, whereas those who have required help, and have gone to another Gaudiya Vaisnava, are more likely to hook up with an utthama devotee than within faux-ISKCON, and so they are taught to appreciate Prabhupada more. They left fake-ISKCON to follow the eternal ISKCON of Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Srila Prabhupada Thakura. They did not leave ISKCON, rather faux-ISKCON left real ISKCON
Dear prabhu, I think you may have misread sastra in regards to siksa gurus. There is the diksa, and often there is also a siksa guru, or many siksa gurus, including our many Godbrothers etc. Mahaprabhu wanted us all to be guru, that is siksa, and only if possible and advanced enough, diksa.
You have also misunderstood to think that Sri Vaisnava Guru has different instructions to give so far as essentials go, or to think that they are in opposition to each other. That is materialism, minimizing the position of the Vaisnava.
Further, in the next paragraph, you mention Mahavidya Prabhu’s argument, but it has been soundly defeated, so your statement in that regards is nil. I do not care to go over it again, but you may wish to reread the last few days’ articles.
In your third paragraph you state that “honest sincere devotees were driven away.” Does this not contradict your idea that they who leave faux-ISKCON are self-deluded, thinking they understand Prabhupada better now? On the contrary, they are among the honest sincere ones, in many cases, re; actually following nicely, hence driven away, as they could not stand the deviation and offense, and dared speak the truth. You state that our society has “minimized Srila Prabhupada’s position”, then you characterize those who could not tolerate the offense and left faux-ISKCON, as deluded fools. Make up your mind, please. Are you saying that everyone is hopelessly at fault?
Those following Prabhupada’s instructions are the real ISKCON, not the offenders who claim to be ISKCON, and who occupy Srila Prabhupada’s temples and have taken his resources. Yet, you seem to be in support of faux-ISKCON, or at least, want to criticize those who couldn’t take it and went onwards. In your last paragraph you have said that ISKCON is surrounded by “nut-cases.” Does this mean that you, too?
So far your criticizing the guerrilla soldiers who went out to establish ISKCON all over the world as “fleecers,” this is an outright Vaisnava aparadha, as they are your seniors, and also have given their lives for your sake, prabhu. I call then heroes. Prabhupada offered them “all blessings”. Kindly be careful criticizing your seniors, lest you be in error and suffer as a result. It is dangerous to criticize those above one. Not me, I am an exemption, you may criticize me to your heart’s content. I myself am reluctant to criticize those senior to me, but I have had my way, rightly or wrongly, with my own Godbrothers, but it is never very nice.
I know this does not solve your frustrations at some of the nonsense, but remember that we started this movement from scratch in the West, and that there has always been an onslaught of nonsense, but that is tempered by the many sincere pure devotees within and outside the various associations. Seek their association, and never give up trying to fully follow Srila Prabhupada’s directions, as that is your intent, or so you say.
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