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EDITORIAL April 19, 1999 VNN3649 By Hook Or By Crook BY TARUN KRSNA DAS EDITORIAL, Apr 19 (VNN) — Circa September 1972, a letter was released to all ISKCON temples (numbering about 40 at the time) by Srila Prabhupad and/or his secretary in which the term or phrase was used: by hook or by crook, sell my book. This letter proved to be a significant turning point in the attitudes and methods which we henceforth (henceforward?) employed while (in?) doing street and airport sankirtan and book distribution. The gamit of pragmatic interpretation eventually ran from benevolent cleverness to anything goes, outright criminality. "They're all in maya, mahamaya, headed for cat, dog or even cockroach births in their next life!! So it is our duty to somehow or other convince them knowingly or unknowingly to improve their sukrti/punya bank balance, to up their pious credits by donating to us, Krsna's field reps. This was the philosophical justification, i.e., sum and substance of every sankirtan meeting. It is indeed a fact that on the strength of this letter, harinam sankirtan took a back seat to book sales and was gradually diminished and in some cases totally eliminated in favor of collection any which way with or eventually without books being distributed. Is this what our spiritual master Srila Prabhupad meant by hook or by crook? Let us reexamine Srila Prabhupad's educational background and his meaning and use of the phrase: by hook or by crook. In the Phoenix Main Library we by chance found a book containing British English phrases which are often quite different than our American English phrases. Such books tell the history of how particular phrases were developed and used throughout the past ten centuries. Robert Hendrickson's Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins gives a similar description. Hook and crook have the common synonyms: angle, bend, curve. For example any curved piece of metal or wood can be called either a hook or a crook. In the middle ages, in order to conserve and protect the trees from being completely cut down for firewood, a sort of "EPA" law was proclaimed and strictly enforced. You or anyone else was allowed to procure only so much wood as he could cut, break or saw off from the hanging branches he could reach. Hence the phrase by hook or by crook arose in the matter of securing more wood for kith and kin. The taller the better. Necessity's the mother of invention. So to lengthen or extend their armslength the firewood collectors used hooks and crooks to stretch further upwards to pull down the branches a wee bit more so they could get a little extra kindling on the side. Human nature. (Perhaps the origin of platform shoes and high heels?) In this way the tree was allowed to remain whole. No big cuts. No chop downs. No decimated forests. At the same time, a most natural and ever self-refurbishing heating fuel source for both hearth and home. But the British English phrase book contained further distinctions. The word crook did not come to mean criminal, deviant or gangster until the end of the 19th century, circa 1879, just a few years prior to Srila Prabhupad's birth. And that was only in American English, not in British nor in Scottish English!! As we all know, Abhay Charan De, Srila Prabhupad went to Scottish Church's College. Naturally, he was taught English according to their definitions and word usages. Personally I never heard Prabhupad use the word crook to mean criminal. He used the word thief so many times in his lectures and books. Just to name a few, the Alexander story and Gita 3.12. In such instances, American born disciples such as myself could easily have substituted the word crook for thief and vice-versa. He's a crook. he's a thief, he stole my money, he stole my wallet, etc. No problem for North American English, but Prabhupad never made such substitutions. I remember when the letter came out. I was in Houston, Texas doing a combination of harinam sankirtan and book distribution around the chanting party 8-10 hours per day, 6-7 days per week with Uttamamauja, Kusakratha, Kirticandra, Siddhavidya, Giridhari, Vinodvani, Krsnaprema and a few other stalwarts. Half of us chanted while the other half distributed. Every half hour we'd switch off. In this way our batteries would get recharged, discharged then recharged again in 30 minute intervals. Then the traveling parties from New York, Frisco and Boston came through with reports of bigger collection scores and the news that we were supposed to follow their lead by abandoning street chanting in favor of the begging bowl which was in this case generally a can or pouch. Left hand cash intake, right hand book outflow. No more clay mrdangas on the street. The so-called Brhat-Mrdanga was taking over. Sounds okay on paper. But instead, gradually, step by step, Laxmi eclipsed Radha and karmamisra caste its shadow over suddha-bhakta. Some may disagree but that was certainly my gut feeling. Then, of course, when the quota system was introduced, forget about it! I was never so convinced of the existence of illusion within our Srila Prabhupad's branch of Lord Chaitanya's mission as when I heard my long time friend Visnujan Svami give a lecture at ISKCON New York's 340 West 55St Center circa December 1975 in which he said: "Anyone who doesn't collect at least $50 per day is fallen." I couldn't believe my ears! I had to rub my eyes to check if it was the same Visnujan Svami whose sanga I cherished so much previously (before) (formerly). His preaching style had totally changed, and not for the sweeter or better I might add. He used to attract us with his enthusiasm and sweetness. But now money, mani had become more important than cintamani, purity. We even caught one devotee secretly chanting: money is the honey, monry is the honey. Some went so far as to preach: if you don't return tonight with at least $50, don't return at all. 4 months later he, Visnujan Svami is said to have left this world, somewhat a victim of the misinterpretation of the phrase: by hook or by crook. In summary, to make a long story short, Prabhupad's use of the word crook was and is vastly different than ours. If we dare to represent the Absolute Truth expounded upon in the first 2 Bhagavatam verses and first few CC verses, we must be ready to dive deeper into the meaning of the phrases utilized by Sri Guru so we can more readily comprehend and represent this thing we've been given called Krsna Consciousness or in higher stages: Radhadasyam. ps I by no means wish to say that book distribution was or is a mundane business but I do wish to opine that the lack of enthusiasm for harinam sankirtan is apalling and disheartening to say the least. Those that are enthusiastic to go out and chant should be supported with our own physical presence rather than shunned. This is a hellish mentality. Especially temple president's, sannyasis and GBCs should be out their chanting as often as possible, setting an good example for the others. That goes for vice-presidents, temple commanders and all senior devotees living outside and inside as well. Unless of course they have all joined Sriman Mahaprabhu's movement for some other reason. Comment on this Story | Contact VNN regarding this Story
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