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Gauranga Prabhu wrote:

 

> I just cut and paste from these sites. So if you have any questions about

> the contents, please contact them.

 

Hari-katha is a lot more than just cutting, pasting and posting. We should

first understand and then speak. Merely having a folio and a modem does not

make one a Gaudiya Vaishnava preacher. If we post something and some

questions come then it is not our guru's responsibility to explain it, it is

our responsibility. We should render pleasing service to guru, especially by

imbibing his teachings. Not that we speak some higher esoteric tattva that

we don't understand (especially unrequested) and then when questioned about

it, say, "I don't know where it is stated in sastra. But it doesn't matter,

my guru said it. You ask him." That is not guru-seva. That is blind

following. A personality cult.

 

As we stated before, it is not enough just to hear something from our guru

and blindly repeat it like a parrot with no realization. That is **NOT**

Krishna-katha. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and our previous acaryas have not taught

us to be mere information gatherers.

 

Uninvited and unknown, Gauranga Prabhu has come into my bedroom and started

wildly telling me a bunch of things. I was polite enough to listen to him. I

was respectful enough to seriously considered what he had to say. Then when

I expressed some reasonable questions based on his postings, he tells me

that he cannot answer and that I should go to his house to clarify things.

Why should I? If I had wanted to do that I would have done so in the first

place.

 

The Christians have a saying, "Jesus said it, I believe it, and that settles

it!" If we have the same attitude, are we any better? This is an axiomatic

principle that applies to all of us, not to just any one single person or

group.

 

Regardless of what institution we are affiliated with, as Gaudiya Vaishnavas

we have an obligation to uphold this sacred tradition passed on to us. I for

one am not particularly interested in merely collecting information. That is

not the understanding of Vaishnavism that I have gotten from my Guru

Maharaja or Srila Prabhupada. What is the point of just posting interesting,

far out texts if you can't explain them? Gaudiya Vaishnavas are not

interested in mechanical, lexicographical presentations of Krishna

consciousness. It becomes even more ironic and sad when the topics presented

are on the subject of raganuga bhakti. We should be proper representatives

of this tradition and not degrade it to lifeless mechanical repetition.

 

Sri Guru Vaishnava das anudas abhas, Madhavananda Das