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EDITORIAL January 31, 2000 VNN5370 Comment on this story Good Fences Make Good Neighbours? BY RANGA PURI DAS EDITORIAL, Jan 31 (VNN) — Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? The Berlin wall as the perfect formula for love and trust! Have you heard it before? It has bastard origins, although some Prabhupada's disciples think that it was in the line of his thoughts. I searched through the folio and found that he did not quote it even once, least in the sense used in the West. It is interesting to notice that whenever one moves to a decent neighborhood with low criminal rates, flowers and ornamental vegetation replace fences. When you see that no fences are needed, it is a symbol of a high-class neighborhood. It gives confidence and has additional beauty. It tells about the people living there. Drug dealers, Neo-nazis, Paranoid or otherwise low-class rich people do erect tremendous fences, keep big Doberman or Bull-dogs, build bunkers and tanks and so on an so forth as to keep their doubtful or illegal activities out of sight or to protect themselves from other Mafia-like groups. On the other hand, learned sages and saintly people live in simple huts or caves in the mountain, in the banks of a holy river or in the forest where they do not require contrivances, tricks or elaborate protection. Just the mercy of the Lord available for those freed from pride, ambitions or material enjoyment; delighted witnesses of His causeless mercy manifested in manifold ways in the daily course of their blessed life. Nevertheless I have heard too many times "Good fences make good neighbors" from the lips of ISKCON leaders. In the early eighties I wanted to take advantage of the holy association of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, as I stayed at the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir, but so-called authority advice was to keep away from him, although Srila Prabhupada wisely asserted him to be consulted, as per his obvious expertise and advancement in Krishna consciousness.. In 1989 the same thing happened with Srila Bhakti Promod Puri Maharaj. I regret every day having been so naive as to obey that silly fanaticism. What do we fear from sadhus? Probably the sword of true knowledge, that may cut clean our comfortable understanding and practice of yukta vairagya conveniently covered with the mask of divine service. The above mentioned saying is often quoted nowadays when we talk about the Gaudiya Math or other vaisnava institutions. It is pronounced with a kind of pride, although to my fallen self it carries foul odor. Vaisnavas have stronger ties than brothers. Lord Krishna says that His affection towards His pure devotee is stronger than to His brother Balarama. So why the self-righteous leaders try to erect walls amongst devotees? How can it please Mahaprabhu? Let us recall again that danger comes from inside (or within our society), as it was warned by Srila Prabhupada. And what is this? The eternal enemies of the transcendentalist trying to make spiritual progress: lust, greed, anger, envy, madness and illusion; trying to convert the mission of Mahaprabhu in some mundane squad hankering after profit, prestige and belittling other devotees. As one acharya pointed out: Let us change our three "d's": dollars, diplomacy and despotism with devotion, dedication and divinity. Another senior sannyasi tried to mistify the questioned saying inferring that the good fences meant respect and other qualities, but virtues resemble roads and bridges not fences. Diplomacy without love resembles rather the infamous bamboo and iron curtains. What about "good neighbours don't need fences"? Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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