10/24/1998 - 2406

ISKCON Reform

Editorial (VNN) - by Mahaksa dasa

Glad to continue this discussion of guru-tattwa, and am glad to see reform on folks minds. As much as this issue is controversial, it must be dealt with in a scientific manner by ALL those wishing to be pleasing to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

 We get lots of reads here, some ideas diametrically opposed to each other, and our tendency is to be offended. Only when we realize that it is almost impossible to say anything offensive to us, the beginning students of Bhakti yoga, perhaps we can begin to transcend our hurt feelings, our broken paradigms, our crumbling false loyalties, etc. But something must be done lest we become complacent with something quite short of the nectar for which we are all anxious.

If ISKCON were to immediately take the moral high ground, reject the twenty-five years of abuses, and accept the rtvik path, welcoming all those initiated on behalf of Srila Prabhupada into their fold, and adhere to the principal that ONLY Srila Prabhupada is acarya for the next 10,000 years and beyond, thereby assuring peace and cooperation among all his followers, this would be a great start, and be greatly pleasing to His Divine Grace. Such pleasure given to Sri Vaisnava Acarya cannot be minimized in any manner. However, is this the all and all goal of application of his teachings of Yoga.

The Unified ISKCON could be a religion without comparison in the three worlds, and it's followers would be definitely situated in the realm of progress toward the goal of life. Sadhana bhakti would be the rites prescribed, in accordance with the Nectar of Devotion, and the levels of advancement would be commensurate with the sincerity of the congregation. Yet, there is a glaring problem that is sure to arise.

If a disciple has a propensity to manage, then management is his bhakti yoga practice, if he is to speak on behalf of Sri Gurudeva and act as priest, his service is assured. Same with the laborer, the farmer, same with the full time brahmana/student, the ones deciding to raise children, the aged followers wishing to retire, and the avadhuta renunciate. But a problem will arise when one receives a calling to be guru, the established religion will have nothing at all to offer such a person but rejection and accusations of heresy. Thus is the establishment of a Unified, Reformed, Rtvik ISKCON the best we can do?

Cooperation among disciples and followers of Srila Prabhupada should be the main goal of life for all, but is this only accomplished by artificially living as one, having thoughts and actions controlled by leadership without any option of making individual advancement? After all, a religion membership has never helped one at the time of death, religion memberships were not the ultimate nectar described in theconversations between Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya. The goal of life is to feel separation from Krsna and be very emotionally damaged because of such separation. Can a unified, reformed church deliver such insanity?

Do not get me wrong, I am very excited at the thought of all Srila Prabhupada's disciples renouncing the Kali-produced discord, which has wreaked havoc, murder, and other forms of physical and emotional violence on those worthy of worship. And I also have no problem at all with the idea of a large, functioning, well defined, establishment of devotees whose main business is to minister Srila Prabhupada'sprincipals to the world at large, yet reservations exist in me nonetheless.

1. Please, please, do not institute democracy (a flawed social system) to settle this issue. Popular vote will NEVER decide who is Guru, (or who cannot be guru until the year 11,998), leave the voting for organizational management issues only.

2. Please do not get in the way of individual advancement, as this has historically been a problem amongst us neophytes. Many of the early disciples faced discrimination for attempting to push this movement on in Srila Prabhupada's service, only to face reprisals by the managing power structure.

NOTE: Funny thing about revolutions, after victory, there is only another mess, Castro replaced Bautista, Khomeni replaced Shah Pahlavi, Tsombe replaced the Belgians in the Congo. All changes were hard fought, yet lessons were not learned to foster any improvement, and as kali yuga solutions go, they are often worse than original problems.

3. The brahmanas of the movement must dovetail their study of this science with the motivation of the professor and the shastra. Guru-tattwa is traditional, unchanged, and well explained, and cannot in any way be altered by a conglomeration of thinkers to fit in to our way of convenient thought. Such actions of misrepresentation only foster party spirit sectarianism, spiritual laziness, and faithlessness in the words of the Lord and His representative Acaryas.

4. The function of a church is to encourage the congregation to develop Vaisnava characteristics, and the development of such WILL act on the devotee exactly as the scripture states, advancement takes place to the point of spontaneity. One possessed with spontaneous love of Sri Krsna will want to serve in such a way to be pleasing to Him up to the level of his advancement, in otherwise, he will be given theservice to be Sri Gurudeva, as Sri Balarama installed the son of Romaraharsana to properly sit on the Vyasasana and accept guru-puja, not as enjoyer, but as teacher by example (acarya). All established churches and societies should stay out of the way of such events or they are simply a burden on society, rejectors of sanatana dharma.

I hope all readers and writers on the VNN Forums are quite well, and I hope my article here does not offend anyone. Often, when two children are fighting, the solution is merely a compromise devised by parents to stop the noise. Again, I ask the leaders of ISKCON to open up their temples to all the followers of Srila Prabhupada without discrimination, as much as I ask the outsiders to forgive allperceived offensive actions by those who have tried to manage the remnants of his legacy, (Note: I do not ask anyone to artificially grant forgiveness to direct offenders to the feet of Srila Prabhupada and other sincere Vaisnavas, for the process of obtaining forgiveness is properly defined in Srila Prabhupada's Srimad Bhagavatam, yet we should forgive those misled into committing indirect offense). I also ask that all who hear of one accepting disciples, acting as diksa, to analyze his (her) works and teachings before acceptance or blind rejection, and if one finds blatant flaws or incompatibility of mellows (i.e. sahajiyaism, mayavadism, smarta brahmanism, etc.), be prepared to scientifically defeat such rascals in service to Srila Prabhupada, with compassion and love, not just nonsense neti-neti criticism.

All glories to the assembled devotees, the principals of istagosti, the relationship of love of the Supreme Lord, which is the true bond between us all.

Hare Krsna, ys, Mahaksa dasa