AW: social welfare work is the business of dogs and cats

[Guest guest]

Dear Mataji.

 

I just wrote one text in Prabhupada Said conference. It may be interesting

for you to read it, especially since you are again "heating-up" your

sweeping idea of everybodys (but few) lack of empathy or compassion for the

suffering of others.

 

I do not know if you and other members of this link are also members of

Prabhupada Said, so I will paste my letter also here, so you can read it

easily.

 

ys gnd

 

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Dear Rupa Raghunath Prabhu.

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

 

Please do not jump to conclusions too quicly. Especially in connection to

Maharaja. It may not be the wisest approach.

 

> You are still quoting Srila Prabhupada and we can also keep quoting him

> in an incredible positive way. Where are we gonna end up? maybe the

> conclusion is that SP just confused us by giving dual instructions?

 

We have seen quotes against and in favor of caring for the needy. My

observation is, that there are just few quotes from Prabhupada in favor of

helping the needy, and even those are project dependent, not general, as

pointed out by Jayadvaita Maharaja. There are plenty "more general" quotes,

which were sent by Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja and it is obvious, that we cannot

just bypass them. We cannot just reject that part of Prabhupada, which is

not aligned with our beliefs.

 

Basically we have seen three moods here, as represented by Bhakti Vikasa

Maharaja, Jayadvaita Maharaja and Indradyumna Maharaja. All of them are from

similar background, similar age, sannyasis, preachers, dealing with people,

are experienced, sensitive, knowledgeable, loyal to Prabhupada.... And

etiquette is, that sannyasis are spiritual masters of entire society.

Therefore it is most uncultured, to condemn opinion of one sannyasi in order

to promote opinion of another, just because it suits our needs.

 

If it helps, I would like to present how I see it. I cannot say anybody else

should think like this. But it helps me in trying to have understanding,

which includes all three moods with equal importance and with equal respect.

 

Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja seems to put our motives to test and he seems to be

against activities, which may, to the outside, people look like mundane

charity, and in their eyes degrade us to the level of mundane charity

organisations. Jayadvaita Swami seemed to remind us on the need to regulate

our charitable activities, since practically all Prabhupada's quotes in

favor of charity were specific project dependent, not general. And

Indradyumna Maharaja was mentioned, as one who is actively engaged in

helping the needy.

 

It is impossible for me to accept, that they necessary contradict each other

in some way. Rather it is more possible to me, that they present same truth,

but each from different perspective. I would like to come to conclusion,

that all these three moods are ok. I'm not feeling comfortable with

identifying with just one mood, and condemn another. I'm trying to see all

these three as part of the same ISKCON.

 

Therefore I try to see it like this: Devotee is kind to all, both to daridra

and dhani. We should help whenever we can. We should engage in bigger

charity projects, provided we have blessings of our Guru and other

authorities, whose responsibility is to engage us properly. Most helpful is,

that our energy is invested first in projects, that were initiated by

Prabhupada, and only when those projects are running as Prabhupada desired,

then our power may be invested in additional projects. And all the time we

should bear in mind, that our motive must be kept pure and we can not make

any compromise with anyone for cheap popularity. Also we should be well

aware, that our purity of motive still doesn't guarantee, that public will

understant us correctly, and they may compare us to other similar karmi

projects, which through time reveal their hidden selfish motives, and thus

our good intentions and pure motives may actually degrade public opinion of

Prabhupada's ISKCON to the level of mundane sunday religion.

 

So, thats what I was able to come up with untill now.

 

Please comment, any quidance is most welcome

 

your servant Giri-nayaka das BVS

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