Response to Solai's letter on Chakra

[Guest guest]

The Long Term Impact of Criticizing the Mission of the Founder-acarya

______________________

 

 

The temptation to ignore the complaints of "Solai" ("The Long Term Impact Of

Urbanizing Mayapur," Chakra, September 19 2005) is a strong one. Yet when

Srila Prabhupäda's mission and followers are criticized in an attempt to

justify one's viewpoint, it becomes a matter of necessity rather than choice

to ignore such criticism and speak on behalf of Srila Prabhupäda. In his

final Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupäda, HH Tamal Krishna Goswami

asked the question: "Who speaks for Srila Prabhupäda?" His answer was that

everyone has their place, and our contributions to the mission of Srila

Prabhupäda, even while riddled with faults, should be taken into

consideration.

 

Yet while Solai's interest in the ecological impact constitutes a great

portion of his text, his points are based on the faulty misconception that

the pursuit of fulfilling the spiritual master's desires is a burden to

certain aspects of society, and should be reconsidered so as not to upset

the status quo of the street and the ecological balance of the area, which

is, I'm informed, a shifting balance, and one that the Sri Mäyäpur Project

staff have taken into consideration in their years and years of research

into the construction of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium: Srila

Prabhupäda's dream for Sri Mäyäpur-dhäma.

 

I'm not qualified to respond to ecological issues, but I'm certainly sure

that offensive doesn't fall into the category of "uniting us all and

understanding that our strength lay in differences" that Tamal Krishna

Goswami was referring to when he spoke of everyone being encouraged to

contribute.

 

Solai writes:

 

Authorities in ISKCON are not willing to take the local population

or other Vaishnava communities in to confidence to establish the

need for such a massive temple and infrastructural facilities.

 

The "need" for such a massive temple is not dependent on the whims or

opinion of local villagers who remain mostly ignorant of the mission of

Lord Caitanya-an ignorance that other maths have found just as difficult to

address as ISKCON. Nor is Srila Prabhupäda's mission dependent upon the

approval of maths run by his godbrothers. This statement shows a complete

lack of knowledge of Srila Prabhupäda's history with his own godbrothers,

and his entire life purpose. Is it too much to expect that one who is so

determined to make public statements might be armed with knowledge first?

 

After ISKCON invested so much of money on infrastructure in the

past, the level of filth and pollution increased manifold. ISKCON

attracted tourists and the local people lured by the opportunity

established business catering to them. Wine, women and meat entered

the market. This trend will be accelerated by the new temple

project, if this is the ultimate result of such hard work of ISKCON

devotees, do we need it? What other great purpose it is going to

serve? The land is already holy, how can new temples make it holier?

 

First we are asked to believe that the presence of ISKCON in the holy dhäma

was the cause of "wine, women, and meat" in Mäyäpur. A more naive remark I

would be hard-pressed to find. Here we are being asked to believe an

unfounded statement that prior to ISKCON's creation, no such sinful activity

would have possibly existed here. Even if it didn't at the time (something

that is almost inconceivable, but an allowance I'll make for the sake of

argument), was the arrival of these elements only because of ISKCON, or

might it have had something to do with the influence of Kali-yuga? In fact,

the point Solai makes is that ISKCON is to blame for the advancement of

Kali-yuga: a statement that flies in the face of the entire mission and

purpose of Srila Prabhupäda.

 

What other great purpose it is going to serve? The land is already

holy, how can new temples make it holier?

 

Here it might serve some purpose to post so many quotes on "what great

purpose" this temple will serve, according to Srila Prabhupäda and our

previous acaryas, and according to scripture. These quotes might go a long

way in helping to explain what this holy land exists for, and why Sri

Caitanya Mahäprabhu came here, and what He came to establish. For the sake

of brevity, I'll exclude these quotes, which I'm sure most have either seen

before, or have access to via Folio or publications by Srila Prabhupäda and

those who represent his institution. Suffice to say, Solai's speculation

that Srila Prabhupäda might be content to leave things as they are and be

satisfied that we are the most successful math on this road seem more than

just a little far-fetched.

 

Ignorant of our founder-acarya's mission and purpose; content to ignore the

teachings and mission of our disciplic succession; oblivious to the reasons

for the descent of the Supreme Lord in this age---perhaps those who labor

under the burden of these afflictions should consider that their best avenue

might be silence. In that way, they might offend less and learn more. In the

ensuing silence, an avenue of proper approach may reveal itself to them. If

one's desire is to truly better the actions of the institution he is

addressing, they would do well to remember that criticism will turn an ear

deaf more swiftly than they realize.

 

Our mission is not to restore the forests and bring back the tigers: one who

pursues such noble ideals would be well advised to seek a zoological society

whose values they can embrace. Until then, despite the obvious desire some

have to see Mäyäpur maintain its status quo, the mission of Lord Caitanya

and His most beloved associates and followers will continue---with or

without us.

 

Your servant,

Braja Sevaki Devi Dasi

Mayapur

[Guest guest]

I found these latest 3 posts from Solaiyappan near-unreadable due to

weird formatting, and that is with an HTML mail client (Eudora), not WinCOM.

 

Anyhow, basically, Solai is disagreeing with out Founder-Acharya

Srila Prabhupda. The place to do that is outside ISKCON.

 

Even from the dirty place of Solai's article however, we can find a

few nuggets of genuine concern:

* ISKCON/devotees do not generally have a keen sense of environmental

awareness.

* There is corruption within ISKCON.

* There is insufficient consultation/communication with neighbours.

 

These are things which we all can and should address wherever we

serve. It is pretty much axiomatic that the Mayapur project, and

indeed all ISKCON projects need to be free of these problems for

long-term success.

 

Ys Arjunanatha dasa

 

 

 

At 03:52 23/09/2005, solai wrote:

 

>Content-Type: message/partial; total=3;

>id="01C5BFEA.2B0641D0@Vaikunta"; number=1

>

>Ok. But do you agree that our mission is, not to abuse the environment?

>I wish to live with nature and pursue KC. Simple living and high =

>thinking,=20

>I will add sustainable livelihoods also!

>It may be a Zoological society as you have suggested.

>I am getting lot of mails every day on this issue, so many devotees are

>having similar hidden feelings like me on this project. Most of the

>devotees are replying anonymously, indicating the threat to their =

>survival

>in the movement. The vested interests are so powerful and strong and my

>daughter advises me, they will kill you or dislodge you from Mayapur=20

>if you are writing like this!=20

>So many devotees are appreciating me for bringing out this issue =

>fearlessly.

>My objective is to expose the facts of the project proposal and I wish

>ISKCON to share information on this project with the devotee community =

>in a

>transparent manner, if they believe they have a strong case to present =

>in

>favor of urbanizing Mayapur.

>In case if any one wish to review lateral opinions on this issue I can

>forwards the mails sent to me by devotees in this regard. May be soon I =

>will

>upload it to my website or blogger space.

>Your servant,

>Solai allies Shyammurty das

>Camp: Belgaum

>

>

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>----- Original=20 Message -----

>"Braja Sevaki TKG" <<3D.htm>Braja.Sevaki.TKG (AT) pamho (DOT) net= >

>To:=20 "Basu Ghos --

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Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.4/109 - Release 21/09/2005