Varnasrama College Diary

[Guest guest]

Varnasrama College Diary

By Rabindranatha Dasa Adhikari

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

 

Today I was thinking about what I want the Varnasrama College to be like so

I wrote the following statement.

 

The first major self-sufficient Krsna conscious Vedic Village with a

Varnasrama College in the western world. The education in the college would

be the best in terms of the knowledge it has, how it is taught and within a

pure atmosphere. With also the best Deity worship, prasadam and cleanliness

anywhere in the world. All of which will be demonstrated.

 

Quote of the day

 

"To effect the perfection of human life there is cooperation between men and

demigods, sages, denizens of the Pitrloka, devotees of the Lord and the

scientific system of varna and asrama orders of life. The distinction

between human life and animal life therefore begins with the scientific

system of varna and asrama, guided by the experience of the sages in

relation with the demigods, gradually rising to the summit of reestablishing

our eternal relation with the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of

Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. When God-made varnasrama-dharma, which is strictly

meant for developing animal consciousness into human consciousness and human

consciousness into godly consciousness, is broken by advancement of

foolishness, the whole system of peaceful and progressive life is at once

disturbed. In the age of Kali, the first attack of the venomous snake

strikes against the God-made varnasrama-dharma, and thus a person properly

qualified as a brahmana is called a sudra, and a sudra by qualification is

passing as a brahmana, all on a false birthright claim. To become a brahmana

by a birthright claim is not at all bona fide, although it may be a

fulfillment of one of the conditions. But the real qualification of a

brahmana is to control the mind and the senses, and to cultivate tolerance,

simplicity, cleanliness, knowledge, truthfulness, devotion and faith in the

Vedic wisdom. In the present age, consideration of the necessary

qualification is being neglected, and the false birthright claim is being

supported even by a popular, sophisticated poet, the author of

Rama-carita-manasa.

This is all due to the influence of the age of Kali. Thus mother earth,

represented as a cow, was lamenting the regrettable condition." --Bhag.

1.16.31P

[Guest guest]

" would be the best in terms of the knowledge it has"

 

a little self aggrandizing , don't you think?

 

", how it is taught and within a pure atmosphere. "

 

And you will succeed at creating this "pure" environment when so many well

meaning devotees before you have failed ?

 

"With also the best Deity worship, prasadam and cleanliness anywhere in the

world."

 

This is practically delusional.

 

 

"All of which will be demonstrated."

 

In your daydreams, if no where else.

[Guest guest]

Prabhus, Matajis, Fellow Cowherds,

 

This sort of "encouragement" is exactly the reason that I find my self

preaching and distributing books in Boulder, CO rather than attempting to

practice

cow protection/agriculture at New Vrindavana or some other "rural" community

within ISKCON, within this world. I've, after being similarly humiliated,

resigned myself to caring for cows in Goloka whenever I happen to get there.

 

I know that it's healthy to keep our eyes open and encourage willing devotees

not start something that they can't finish, but I can't see any possible way

that statements like these (of Gosh's) can be productive or help to encourage

devotees in the way of contributing to cow protection, varnashrama dharma

(whatever the hell that is), or agriculture within this movement.

 

I don't know how many younger devotees (mid thirties on down) are in this

forum, but isn't it partially, if not wholly true, that the movement is

stagnant

in North America because of this sort of "encouragement" provided by our

elders; those who actually made the mistakes of the past (or who turned a blind

eye

shouting "JAI GURUDEV!" while they were being made)? The problems associated

with cow protection in this movement were not ours; we stepped in them (and

we've been wiping the sole of our boot in the grass ever since to get rid of

the

smell).

 

How do you expect us to contribute to this part of the mission with this sort

of Pig Sh-t attitude? (Note the use of the word "Pig" as Bull Sh-t is a

practical if not purifying substance).

 

Then there will be complaints that "These so-called brahmanas would rather,

chant their rounds, preach, and practice sadhana bhakti than save the cows!",

or, "No one wants to live simply and serve the cows like in the old-days!"

There will be talk of old-timers and other things that are "practically

delusional."

 

Well guess what? You burn us out. Who can stand such negativity? We are shot

down and ridiculed, nay-sayed (probably not a real word, I know) and even

threatened, if we even speak of wanting to serve the cows or expand the

service,

(which would not really be "expanding" because the previous generation failed

to "preserve" what Srila Prabhupada did - we would only have a go at "catching

up"). Every idea we have, being less then perfect, is growled at, bitten,

ripped up, peed on and left for dead within such a cynical, negative,

atmosphere.

 

Therefore devotees change their service and apply their intellegence to

solving problems that are allowed to be solved. I stopped worring about

so-called

cow protection and agriculture (really just an attempt at gardening with large

animals from my experience), about a year ago (maybe less as I've lost sence

of time since moving) because of a response to an idea of mine that was way too

 

egotistical to be taken seriously given the hypothetical nature of this sort

of service.

 

It was actually a comment not even directly related to cows - but the mood

was so thick and symtomatic of the real problem with this service (the egos)

that I had to quit!

 

It was regarding whether I had "GBC permission" to use the words "ISKCON of

Iowa City" (which I did from HH Romapada Swami, GBC of Iowa) on a draft of a

letter to ISKCON temples to inquire on behalf of the Ministry of Cow Protection

 

(Balabadra Prabhu and/or Mother Chaya only), asking about the condition of

each communities' cows and for a full inventory. I was (before laughing myself

into another service) willing to compile the info for a cow protection database

 

for the Minsitry (again, Balabadra Prabhu and/or Mother Chaya), So that when

someone askes them, How many cows are in ISKCON, they could give an answer.

 

However, this petty and uncalled for response was enough to convince me that

nothing much has changed with the old guard since I left New Vrindavan (like

the rest of my generation left). I am convinced that this part of the mission

will only be fulfilled (outside of the mind) by future generations who will not

 

have to be burdened by such porch-side muscle flexing. Beleiving that the

cowherds that came before them were all pure devotees, they will gladly follow

in

what they beleive to be their foot steps (rather than following in their

shadow as my generation is trying to do).

 

Anything can be done in this movement as long as there is intellegent

sincerity and a willingness to try. But how can we go forward when those who

represent the service are so belittling and negative?

 

My sincerest apologies for the offenses which I am knowingly adding to this

forum. I suspect that I will be warned if not removed from this list outright.

Please understand that I don't actually beleive that every Prabhupada disciple

over 30 is an old, burnt out, bitter soul, but there is a very real, dark

cloud about this sort of stuff from many of our elders (too many to be

healthy).

 

I think it would be better if we all tried to be positive with each other

rather than making a feable attempt to show our aged wisdom through publicly

humiliating eachother. If we think that something is not right, it would be

more

productive to come up with a solution, or discuss our doubt rather than simply

belittle a fellow cowherd (and thus send a qualified person to another service

within this mission).

 

I would also like to apologize for not using my spell checker (I'm out of

time). Gosh, I love you man, but please lighten up on us.

 

YS - Gopal Das

 

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

~John Lennon (sometime after meeting with Srila Prabhupada)

-------

 

 

In a message dated 1/12/2005 9:41:07 AM Mountain Standard Time,

gourdmad (AT) ovnet (DOT) com writes:

" would be the best in terms of the knowledge it has"

 

a little self aggrandizing , don't you think?

 

", how it is taught and within a pure atmosphere. "

 

And you will succeed at creating this "pure" environment when so many well

meaning devotees before you have failed ?

 

"With also the best Deity worship, prasadam and cleanliness anywhere in the

world."

 

This is practically delusional.

 

 

"All of which will be demonstrated."

 

In your daydreams, if no where else.

 

 

 

-----------------------

To from this mailing list, send an email to:

Cow-Owner (AT) pamho (DOT) net

[Guest guest]

> in North America because of this sort of "encouragement" provided by our

> elders; those who actually made the mistakes of the past (or who turned a

blind

> eye

 

I am not going to turn a blind eye to this sort of unrealistic thinking.

FYI, I gave this same talk to Kirtanananda Swami 30 years ago, and he

responded just as you are, that I was making material judgemnts, Krsna was

no poor man, and he was going to have the best Deity worship, the purest

atmosphere etc etc. Same pattern, same response from me, and, once again, I

get blacklisted for it. I fought breeding issues with KS as early as the

mid 70s, sorry if that doesn't fit your conception. Just because I

sacrificed years of my life after the fact to care for cows I said should

never have been sired, after he walked away, and that is when you stumbled

into the scene and hence hold me responsibel for the whole mess, oh well, I

learned a long time ago devotees are not interested in learning from the

past and are ungrateful. And that the young ones are no different than the

old ones were, they are just at an earleir stage.

[Guest guest]

> Pardon me, but what does a pink robe, gold crown wearing pedophile getting

> busted by the FBI have to do with Rabindranath Prabhu's ideas?

 

 

please reread my post and see if you can understand what my point was; if

you still can't see I will clarify

 

in any case, thanks for your encouraging response, i can see how my effort

fell short, and will try to learn from your example

[Guest guest]

I have to ask the same question as Gosh, "This is all very nice, but the

relevance to cows is.....?" As Kakavati also says all very nice and great to

hear but this is the cow conference not the Varnasrama College conference and I

thought we were suppose to be talking about cows not someone's diary about

their daily life. I think it would be different say if Gosh posted memorys

from his diary about working with cows or Hare Krsna did, that would be ok. I

really don't think Rabindranatha should post his diary here, or is that ok now

since he is now in charge and can now post what ever he wants. No offense

intended in any of this just want to know what direction this confrence is

going to be going. Cows or Varnasrama College

 

-- Kalavatidevi108 (AT) aol (DOT) com wrote:

In a message dated 1/22/2005 10:10:42 PM Mountain Standard Time,

Rabindranatha.ACBSP (AT) pamho (DOT) net writes:

One may ask why mention all these things? The reason I do is to get feedback

from others whether or not one should do such things or for that matter even

mention them. Another reason being is that I am interested in writing a book

on Nitya-Kriya i.e. regular daily activities and also giving a class in it

here at the college.

 

 

I think it's great - for one, because it's your diary (which has relevance to

you personally, to your Varnashrama College service and community, and for

posterity in general) and also because hearing that you're sweeping and mopping

 

the office floor is not some mundane, irrelevant fact. It's enlivening. A

devotee's service is glorious and transcendental. When I first read that I

thought, "This is so nice! It's one of the regulative principles (from the

long

lists of what devotees are supposed to do - not the 4 regs.) that we're

supposed to do. Clean our homes (or offices!) to start the day in devotional

service

right!" So all glories to your orderly life and detailed information! By

being so regulated and having records, you are giving a good example of the

qualities of a brahmana.

 

Your servant,

Kalavati devi dasi

 

 

-----------------------

To from this mailing list, send an email to:

Cow-Owner (AT) pamho (DOT) net

 

 

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