, 21 March 2009: Prove your realizations… not by argumentum ad nauseum but by doing the work on the ground
Dear Prabhus, Please Accept my Obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
If we take the old expression “Bloom where you are planted” to heart in all of this – we may find simple guidance.
I have noted all the back and forth on this topic [ISKCON guru succession vs rittvik initiation as per Srila Prabhupada’s directive dated July 9, 1977], and have refrained from weighing in on any of it. Partly because my own views have been quite sufficiently expressed in the past and most of you know them.
I will sum them up here for them that don’t.
Communication of any ideal is only served positively – when the gentle art of persuasion via the fine art of “argument” or “rhetoric” is employed to move a man from point A to point B. The moment such gentle attempts to move a man devolve from persuasasion to “coercion”, the effort to alter or adjust the actions of any individual take on a decidedly different flavor. Then, where subtle coercion moves to all out force – the deliverance of some type of undesired “consequence” – one has allowed his effort to descend into WAR.
We are seeing this in all this back and forth now amongst a very UN-invested group. By “uninvested” I mean that all the discussion of what each of you sees as important on this issue – gets set aside and at the end of the day – you close the computer down and go off to do whatever you are obliged to tend to – where you are “planted”, and you are left only with the residual effects of the various comments delivered by this one or that one. There is little to no short or long term effects to any of these kinds of discussions.
No matter how the logic is employed – or in the case of some men, snide asides and condescending barbs – in the end, neither side would or could alter their position on any of this.
We are requested by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: “Take His sankirtan party to EVERY TOWN and VILLAGE and in this way – “Save everyone in the land.”
Arguing with men like Gaur Kesava Prabhu or Basu Gosh Prabhu – who no doubt see themselves as “champions of truth” – is reallly extending such men far far far far tooooooo much capacity to effect anyone or anything. Without the internet – NO ONE can influence anyone beyond their immediate sphere of potential influence.
These two men – and any others who share their “understanding” – should be aware of the thousands of men and women who happen to be just outside their door – IN THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD in fact – whose plight is summed up alllllll throughout the pages of Srila Prabhupada’s wonderful purports to Bhagavada Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Our business is to serve their best interest. We are all commissioned by Srila Prabhupada as his “agents” to live for the sole purpose of EXTENDING Srila Prabhupada’s invitation to the general public to take part in this wonderful movement of chanting, dancing and feasting given us by Lord Gauranga.
SRILA PRABHUPADA was first and foremost concerned that WE took advantage of this wonderful process. Then he asked to busy ourselves with the work of inviting others.
Whatever Gaur Kesava Prabhu is doing in this regard – or Basu Ghosh Prabhu or anyone anywhere is doing – that is far far far far far far removed from anyone else. We are all separated – have been for years – and will be for the rest of our lives.
THAT IS THE REALITY.
It is far more important to try our absolute best to extend the gentle invitation of our Srila Prabhupada to the general public to take part in this sankirtan party – to “persuade” them with charming personal association and Srila Prabhupada’s “devotional ecstacies” than to waste a single second arguing with anyone over these matters.
I say “let the best man win”.
Gaura Kesava Prabhu DESIRES to represent the instructions of Srila Prabhupada as this or that. Likewise others as well. There is no way to interfere with that. Neither can he interfere with anyone else. At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding – its taste!
When Srila Prabhuapda visited us in Hawaii in January of 1974, he delivered a short class on Saturday morning. At the end of the class – as he was stepping off the Vyasasana – he paused and looked up at all of us and with the enthusiastic face of a young boy said, “So, all over the world we are holding our Sunday Love Feast. Here we are also doing. Yes? So tommorrow is Sunday and YOU ARE ALL INVITED – and I WILL COOK.” The entire tiny room, FILLED TO THE BRIM with loving devotees, shouted, “Jai Srila Prabhupada!! Hari Bol!!!
Every jiva soul that has been fortunate enough to have attained a human body is a perfect candidate for Lord Gauranga’s sankirtan party of chanting, dancing and feasting. Srila Prabhupada lovingly extended his ETERNAL INVITATION to each and every one of them. He left the cooking, cleaning and serving to the rest of us. He left alllllll the information necessary to convince any man or woman to take this simple process seriously – within his books. He organized his ashram – his mission – with very specific instructions. We can follow them or not. He never coerced us. He ordered us HOW to execute the general instructions. BUT – in the end – no one can coerce us to follow them – neither can anyone COERCE US TO NEGLECT THEM.
Each of us must decide for ourselves how “I” will do that.
Instead of arguing with one another – to convince the other – that this is guru or that is guru – we should just be “guru” and save everyone in our NEIGHBORHOOD.
I myself could give a rat’s tail what any man thinks about any of this. If they share my realizations – I welcome them as comrades. If they don’t – then we are rivals, and I delight in the competition. Have at it, my friends. Feast on the opportunity to prove the strength of one’s realizations.
When a man says, “I will best you,” I never say, “You are probably right.” He has to kick my Irish ass first, and THAT has never come easy to anyone. Ever.
My basic realization is coercion ALWAYS yields a soured and obsequious thrall of a man. Persuasion – combining the heart and the head of a man – is always the better tack.
Srila Prabhuapda did not implement a cocercive system of preaching within his mission. He employed love and trust – the twin towers of confidence.
So to men like Garua Kesava Prabhu and others – I welcome your claim that you clearly have the Truth in your Bottle and are eager to sell it and deliver its much sought after elixer! I encourage you to preach as you see you must, and I will eagerly cheer on your effective dissemination of Krishna Consciousness as enthusiastic sankirtan devotees of Lord Gauranga.
I may disagree with your conclusions on what I perceive as the direct orders of Srila Prabhupada, and I may advise a man to apply his own common sense in the matter, leaving the final decision COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UP TO HIM. This is precisely how I have raised my 6 children. I extend what I view as the unfettered invitation of HDG Srila Prabhupada to each of them, and I encourage them to trust their own capacity to hear from him – directly via his books and instructions – and then decide to WHOM they will assign ABSOLUTE VALUE as their personally chosen CURRENT LINK to our Spotless Parampara.
They have always greatly appreciated that tack and it is one that I myself have taken – all my life.
May I encourage everyone to BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED.
In the Bhagavad Gita 6:32 Lord Krishna tells Arjuna the following, and Srila Prabhupada elaborates in the purport:
TEXT 32
atmaupamyena sarvatra
samam pasyati yo ‘rjuna
sukham va yadi va duhkham
sa yogi paramo matahSYNONYMS
atma–self; aupamyena–by comparison; sarvatra–everywhere; samam–equally; pasyati–sees; yah–he who; arjuna–O Arjuna; sukham–happiness; va–or; yadi–if; va–or; duhkham–distress; sah–such; yogi–transcendentalist; paramah–perfect; matah–considered.TRANSLATION
“He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, both in their happiness and distress, O Arjuna!”PURPORT
One who is Krishna conscious is a perfect yogi; he is aware of everyone’s happiness and distress by dint of his own personal experience. The cause of the distress of a living entity is forgetfulness of his relationship with God. And the cause of happiness is knowing Krishna to be the supreme enjoyer of all the activities of the human being. Krishna is the proprietor of all lands and planets. The perfect yogi is the sincerest friend of all living entities. He knows that the living being who is conditioned by the modes of material nature is subjected to the threefold material miseries due to forgetfulness of his relationship with Krishna. Because one in Krishna consciousness is happy, he tries to distribute the knowledge of Krishna everywhere. Since the perfect yogi tries to broadcast the importance of becoming Krishna conscious, he is the best philanthropist in the world, and he is the dearest servitor of the Lord. Na tasmat kaschid me priyakrt tamah. In other words, a devotee of the Lord always looks to the welfare of all living entities, and in this way he is factually the friend of everyone. He is the best yogi because he does not desire perfection in yoga for his personal benefit, but tries for others also. He does not envy his fellow living entities. Here is a contrast between a pure devotee of the Lord and a yogi interested only in his personal elevation. The yogi who has withdrawn to a secluded place in order to meditate perfectly may not be as perfect as a devotee who is trying his best to turn every man toward Krishna consciousness.
So we can all “Chant and Be Happy” and do our best – according to the level of our realization – and “BLOOM WHERE WE ARE PLANTED”!
Don’t waste another NANOSECOND with naysayers or rhetoricians whose appetite for sankirtan and/or the “brhat mrdanga” are less than your own. That is not recommendended and is beneath any man or woman worth their salt!
Hare Krishna
Praghosa Das
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