Guest guest Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 > "The next important items are as follows: (1) One should decorate the body > with tilaka, which is the sign of the Vaisnavas. (The idea is that as soon > as a person sees these marks on the body of the Vaisnava, he will > immediately remember Krsna. Lord Caitanya said that a Vaisnava is he who, > when seen, reminds one of Krsna. Therefore, it is essential that a > Vaisnava mark his body with tilaka to remind others of Krsna.) (NoD 6: How > to Discharge Devotional Service) All of Jan's statements are very gratifying to read. and I remember Indradyumna maharaja repeatedly asking his cis disciples (who in the former soviet union get more stares then in USA/ europe) to still go out in Public places fearlessly in dhoti/saree and with vaisnava tilaka. I applaud IDS's preaching like this. Here in CIS I also remind devotees to wear vaisnava dress as far as possible. While agreeing that certainly vaisnava dress in public is a very good and quite proper preaching medium, didn't Prabhupada say in 1966 that if needed a vaisnava could dress in 'respectable external dress, but that the tilaka and 'flags' (sikha's) must be there."? a vaisnava dress also protects one from possible sinful desires that creep in the subconsciousness when wearing karmi cloths. It forces one to be representative of the vaisnava tradition, no matter where they go. now-a-days, most western householder devotees/ (even a few brahmacaris in the west too) even if they visit the temple in dhoties etc, keep short hair, and no sikhas, and often come to the temple with no tilaka. so perhaps they also should be lovingly told too... Even if some scholarly vaisnava goes to college etc, still it was gratifying to see photos of HH TKG going to college in his sannyasa cloth and tilaka, I'm not sure he did it all the time, but it sure looked like he was into keeping prabhupada's idea of wearing vaisnava dress fearlessly. It looked like he (SP and TKG, IDS, why not we too) could weather any criticism and objections from any crowd. it is an opportunity to preach. aspiring for eternal service of PrabhupAda's Krishna-BalarAma in VrajadhAma. Vaishnava daasaanundaasaha, TridaNDi BhikSu, Bhakti Visrambha MAdhava Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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