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

[Guest guest]

Well said, prabhu

 

Sadhu, sadhu!

 

> 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

>

> ==========================

> 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

> ==========================================