Vedr.: yoga? ... and then back to atheism :o)

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Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

> Or at least the students should be VERY clear on what the purpuse of this

> atmayoga is: Physical wellbeing and maybe a little more psychological

> balance, but not any real spiritual insights. This should be VERY clear to

> the students. And then you can tell them that if you want spiritual

> insights or knowlegde, then we have another proces - bhakti yoga.

 

There seems to be a new trend in ISKCON, that beginner should be able to

choose properly. It is proposed, that beginners must be educated to such

degree, that they are able to recognize who is bonafide Guru and who is not

bonafide. Idea is, that everybody can become Guru, and then masses decide

(not anymore GBC) who is bonafide and who is not.

 

There is a slight problem with this idea. How can beginner decide who is

bonafide and who is not? How can beginer see, who is bonafide Guru? You need

to be initiated, to understand anything. One cannot replace understanding by

academic pursuit. And understanding comes by being connected to parampara.

So how can one, who is beginner, gain understanding about teacher, which

will be available to him only, after he makes decision of accepting this

teacher?

 

Anyway, I was connecting my points to SAC proposal to GBC regarding Guru

reform. But this idea seems usefull also in other teacher/leadership fields.

Is teacher to be appointed from above, or is he to be elected from below?

Right now in ISKCON Gurus are appointed, but other teachers are elected.

Will it remain, or change?

 

>

> One other very important point is: Which kind of people is it that we

> attract to ISKCON using these methods? Many of them are probably polluted

> with mayavadi philosophy and new age philosophy. Whenever a person joins

> ISKCON that person brings some material pullution into ISKCON. So the

> question is: Can we really handle this pullution?

 

Oh, yes, can we handle it? Answer is clear. No! We cannot handle it, and I

don't know how much more proofs we need. So many came, so many left, many

more will come, many more will go.... Therefore we better remain pure in our

teachings, because people will come and go anyway. Maybe with purity, yogis

will come, and bhogis will go away. Maybe with compromise, yogis will go,

and bhogis will remain. We may need to just let go of some people, and more

concentrate on those, who are worthed. At the moment we cannot provide for

all, at least lets provide solution for some.

 

Like Srila Prabhupada said:

======================

Prabhupada: Let him go away. Don't care for him. Let all the fools go away.

There is Bengali proverb, "Instead of maintaining some bad cows, let the

cowshed be vacant." We shall prefer the cowshed vacant, no cow, than keeping

all bad cows who does not give any milk, create disturbance.

Devotee (8): In our temple...

Prabhupada: We are giving chance, but we don't want bad cows. We haven't got

to agree with their views. They must agree with our views, then they can

live. Otherwise let them go away. This is position.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi

=====================

 

Now, this seems very clear, from late 1975, long after Srila Prabhupada

started observing, that not everybody will be able to live in the temple,

and started preaching about Varnasrama. He could say do this, do that,

invent this, invent that.... but he didn't. There may be other quotes, I

know. With quotes, like above one, there is alwasy someone saying, that you

cannot accept this directly, it is out of context, that broader vision is

needed, that one must do this and that... Of course, he says, that one must

not accept this quote as valid, but must find other solution. Personally, I

think this quote is clear. But others will say, that it needs some purport,

and they will come up with other quotes against it. In the end, they are

telling you, that you must not have your own understanding, but must accept

their understanding. Which may or may not be ok. Anyway, personally, I can

take such quotes literally, it is my nature. I think I cannot go much wrong

with taking Srila Prabhupada literally, althought I'm at the risk of being

fanatical. But I think, better be wrong because of fanatical following, then

be wrong beause if liberal innovations.

 

>

> Are there any of these atmayogis who have actually taking initiation in

> ISKCON and realized that this atmayoga is just a preaching scheme to

> attract people, and that it's actually a waste of time seen from the

> spiritual perspective?

>

 

I don't know that. Leader of atma-yoga seems to be quite convinced and

confident in his ways, even when they may sometimes be against vedic

principles.

 

your servant Giri-nayaka das