Some thoughts on recent discussions in the list.

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Dear Fellow SrI vaishNava-s:

 

Some of you may know that I have been a member of the bhakti list for

some

time now. I have observed that, like the cycle of creation and

praLaya, we

keep getting into the mode of "fighting it out in the public", to

establish

that one view point is better than the other. It is unfortunate that

two

such controversies are being exchanged simultaneously in the list at

this

time. One started with suggestions for some improvements in the

administration of fund-raising efforts, and the other started with the

usefulness and efficacy of nAdopAsana in attaining spiritual

liberation. My

intent is not to add my view on the original issues themselves and

contribute to the controversy further. My intent of this note is that

respected members of the list should try not to let the discussion go

to a

level where they become controversies in public. This does not

contribute

to the harmony which is a core of devotion to perumAL in my opinion (I

can't

quote any scriptures for this, and hope I am not far off from the

scriptures). I would like to strongly request that the discussion be

moved

to the private domain as soon as either party senses that a "opiniated

controversy" is developing. This should be simple enough to do. Long

back

I had suggested that one way to avoid these kinds of open discussions

which

are disruptive, is to read your mail a couple of times to see what can

be

re-worded in order to avoid taking positions which establish the

superiority

of your views over the other views in words that will offend the other

party. The basic spirit that is missing is that some of us do not want

to

tolerate any opinion other than what he/she holds dear to. There is a

Sloka

attributed to SrI yAmunAcArya that I have been wanting to share with

the

group for a long time. Here it is:

 

"hanta! brahmopadeSoyam SraddddhAneshu Sobhate |

vayam aSraddadhAnAh smo ye yuktim prAthayAmahe ||

 

"Well, all this dogmatic teaching may carry conviction with (blind)

believers; we are lacking in such faith and we search for logical

reasons

to convince us".

 

I understand that this was how the great AcArya approached issues. We

can

learn to question, and to be questioned, in the spirit of the above.

We can

learn to tolerate alternate views without being offended at the first

mention of an alternate view from another individual, especially when

these

members in our list are all well-intentioned individuals. We do not

need to

attribute "bhagavad apacAram, bhAgavata apacAram, sarva apacAram and

samasta

apacAram", the moment somone questions anything we believe in. And if

we do

want to interpret any alternate opinion as apacAram of one kind or

another,

we can move the discussion to the private domain by one of the parties

initiating such a move so that the ripple effect of disruption does not

permeate the spirit of the list periodically.

 

I had also proposed long back that there should probably be an

editorial

board for the list (I had suggested SrI Mani as the sole member for

this

task, even though it will demand more of his time), which will go

through

the postings and minimize controversies of a disruptive nature. This

was

voted out earlier by the respected members. I will propose this once

more

for the members' consideration.

 

Just some thoughts which I think can be useful in developing our

spiritual

knowledge collectively and serving emperumAn in some small way.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

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