Westernization and its Consequences

[Guest guest]

From the Hitler had a Bomb thread, Caitanya-candrodaya wrote:

 

> >

> > >One has to be quite right wing to

> > >even consider such topic as part of Prabhupada Siddhanta.

> > >

> > You wrote:

> > Mmmmmm. "Right wing" topics? I hope someone publishes the rest of

> > the list just so we know beforehand what not to discuss.

> >

> > ys Krishna-kirti das (HDG)

>

> > Same day you wrote:

> > http://siddhanta.com - Home of Hare Krishna Cultural Journal

> > Never mind that ISKCON's authenticity has up until now rested on

> > adherence to tradition, which has distinguished ISKCON from other

> > so-called yoga groups. Never mind that there was a time when ISKCON,

> > without such unprecedented degrees of accommodation with corrupt,

> > liberal Western mores, flourished to an extent that has yet to be

> > matched. And never mind that these changes if implemented would bring

> > the legitimacy of the Hare Krishna Movement as a religion into

> > question. Like communist propagandists, ISKCON's progressives are not

> > reformers but are apologists and lobbyists for the morally bankrupt,

> > liberal agendas of Western civilization.

>

>Out of all Prabhupadas godbrothers I consider Srila Prabhupada to be

>most liberal.

>

As if this were a point. This is a personal view, btw--it just happens

to be yours. :-)

 

This is also why I find it futile for devotees to claim on the one hand

that they want "add Krishna" to people's lives (themselves included)

without disturbing as far as possible their cultural preferences, yet

along with cultural preferences are bundled socio-political views that

people often enough feel strongly about. This is why I don't shy away

from describing devotee's views as "left-wing", "right-wing", "liberal",

"conservative", because these terms do at some level of our lives (even

if we are devotees) describe accurately our material dispositions.

Devotees claim that because they are not the body they cannot be

"pigeonholed" into neat material categories, except that knowledge we

aren't the body is often enough only theoretical, and on account of this

we end up placing ourselves and others into a material category anyway.

That is perhaps where the suggestion that Srila Prabhupada was a

"liberal" becomes relevant. We like to see Srila Prabhupada as

representing all that we find good in the world, so we make him an icon

for our socio-political views.

 

>_SiddhAnta_ means "perfection of conclusion" not

>"traditional view" or "personal view".

>

>

>

Since "tradition" has been mentioned, I thought it would be relevant to

know that this is what "parampara" means. From Monier Williams Sanskrit

Dictionary:

 

para-m-parA: f. an uninteruppted fow or series, order, succession,

continuation, mediation, tradition. mfn (adjective) received by

tradition. (Williams, Monier M. _A Sanskrit English Dictionary_ page 587)

 

ys Krishna-kirti das (HDG)