"Furthermore, Sriman Mahavidya contests certain policies of the managers, particularly the Hindu weddings in the temple room, which entails the closing of the curtains upon the Deities."
Dividing the Brahminical and Kshatriya Functions from the Vaisya and Sudra Functions in Temple Management
BY: RAJIV MOHAN BHATTA GOSVAMI
Oct 31, 2010 — INDIA (SUN) — It has been quite interesting to follow the dispute of Sriman Mahavidya das with the temple management of Bhaktivedanta Manor. In this letter I seek the indulgence of ISKCON devotees as I offer perhaps a solution to the dispute.
The essence of the dispute is apparently the fact that the managers of the Manor are salaried for their service. In the view of Sriman Mahavidya these salaries are quite excessive.
Furthermore, Sriman Mahavidya contests certain policies of the managers, particularly the Hindu weddings in the temple room, which entails the closing of the curtains upon the Deities. This, we hear, is against the expressed directions of the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada.
Also, Sriman Mahavidya finds a similar deviation from the directions of the Founder-Acarya in the presentation of ISKCON U.K. as a ‘Hindu’ religion.
These points of contention are well-founded. However what is the resolution that will enhance the efforts of ISKCON U.K. to proceed with greater potency, as per the mission of yuga-avatara, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Actually the solution is quite simple and well-established according to Vaisnava scripture, practice and tradition.
The solution is that those devotees who take a salary should not sit on temple management board. They should not be in positions that decide and direct the spiritual policies and direction of the mission. Those that direct the mission should be fully surrendered and governed by the Vaisnava brahminical codes of unmotivated service.
Thus they become fit to manifest the direction of the in-dwelling Supreme Lord. As soon as a devotee accepts a fixed salary he loses his brahminical purity and status and is coloured by the motivation of the vaisya and sudra level of consciousness.
And vaisya and sudras personalities should not be in positions of policy and management direction. By the mixed mode of their devotion they are disqualified. The policy and direction that they will offer will inevitably be coloured by fruitive intention and mental convenience, not scriptural stipulations. In the missives of Sriman Mahavidya this is the underlying theme of the deviating policies he has been vigorously highlighting.
However, the objection to this solution may be that ‘we should have no one on a salary in the temple’. Yet, it is not practical that an expanding movement or large temple can function without salaried employees.
Cleaners, pot washers, security personnel, even cooks are employed throughout India. Without their salaried service the large temple complexes could not function for a day. But of course they are never found giving direction to the temple policies and sitting on management boards.
In the early days of ISKCON, populated by young un-entangled brahmacaries, a ‘no salary’ policy may have been most practical under the inspiring view of Srila Prabhupada. However as ISKCON expands into a society it is only romanticism to propose that in the changing time and circumstance, a return to those days is possible. Put simply, the circumstances have changed.
Moreover, in those early days did not ISKCON interface with salaried persons? For example, the books were printed by companies with employees, the foodstuffs were purchased from commercial concerns.
Yes, the Founder-Acarya directed the mission to a position of self-sufficiency with farm projects, however ISKCON must admit that interfacing with the salaried persons of the world is unavoidable. Now if some of the devotees who have accepted Vaisnava diksa now only provide service for a salary, should they be rejected? Of course, not.
However, their lower status of devotion must be clearly recognized. Their removal from management boards sends a clear message in this regard. Furthermore, they should not be allowed to give classes and perform Deity worship in the temple.
Nor should they direct the finances of the temple. These regions of sastra, Deity worship and temple financial apportionment are not the province of the vaisya and sudra level of consciousness; as per sastra they are the province of the brahminical Vaisnavas.
Actually, it will naturally be found that those that accept salary lose interest in the brahminical activities of Vaisnavism. Their sadhana and austerity will suffer. They will be impotent in the matter of preaching and Deity worship. However, being covered by fruitive motivation, they will maintain a desire to oversee the finances of the temple.
Inevitably, as they lack brahminical purity, this will lead to misuse of collected funds and deviant policies in order to use the temple complex as a facility for financial gain. For example it has been pointed out that the salaried devotees also decide the level of salary they enjoy. Of course, this is a receipt for financial corruption. This has been highlighted quite rightly by Sriman Mahavidya.
In short, the brahminical and kshatriya function of the temple complex must be clearly separated from the vaisya and sudra functions. This clarity is achieved when the salaried employees of the vaisya and sudra level are removed from levels of brahminical direction and kshatriya management.
In this way no salaried devotee should sit on any temple board of policy and direction. No exceptions should be made to this policy or else the division will eventually break down. Those that perform the Deity worship, financial discretion, and brahminical practices of sadhana and preaching should be maintained very carefully and respectfully as the devotional core of Bhaktivedanta Manor. They will not be able to teach and exemplify the higher levels of Vaisnavism if they accept salary, thus losing potency. They must be recognized as the unmotivated leaders, directors and gurus of the temple. The general public will recognize this division of purity and motivation and thus ISKCON U.K. will be able expanded very nicely in the Vaisnava brahminical mode, not as a corporate entity, as per the desire of Founder-Acarya, Srila Prabhupada.
I thank the devotees for their indulgence in reading this letter and beg their forgiveness for my deficiency in literary exposition. Perhaps they can find profit in the ideas so inexpertly expressed.
In the service of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga,
Sri Rajiv Mohan Bhatta Goswami
CHANGE THE MANOR MANAGEMENT! they are all corrupt!!!!