Bhaktivinoda Thakura on Christianity

[Guest guest]

Assembled Vaisnavas,

Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada. I am

currently struggling with a personal issue that has caused me to examine

deeply my understanding of KC, other religions and faith in general. In that

light this quote is very timely for me, but it is also confusing. I am not a

scholar by any means, so I am now questioning anything and everything I

thought I knew before. My previous understanding was that Srila Bhaktivinoda

Thakur also published some rather non-sectarian and broader, inclusive

conclusions when speaking of other religions. Is this correct and if it is,

where were those comments published? Thank you for any light you care to shed

on my confusion. yhs, Kanti dasi

[Guest guest]

"here is being worshiped my adorable entity (God in a different form than

that of mine). Due to my practice of a different kind, I cannot thoroughly

comprcomprehend this system of theirs, but seeing it I am feeling a greater

attachment for my own system. I bow down with prostration before His emblem

as I see here and I offer my prayer to my Lord who had adopted this

different emblem that He may increase my love towards Him"

 

Does some well informed devotee know where Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur

wrote this prayer?

 

Your servant,

Yogindra dasa

[Guest guest]

> Assembled Vaisnavas,

> Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada. I am

> currently struggling with a personal issue that has caused me to examine

> deeply my understanding of KC, other religions and faith in general. In

> that light this quote is very timely for me, but it is also confusing. I

> am not a scholar by any means, so I am now questioning anything and

> everything I thought I knew before. My previous understanding was that

> Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur also published some rather non-sectarian and

> broader, inclusive conclusions when speaking of other religions. Is this

> correct and if it is, where were those comments published? Thank you for

> any light you care to shed on my confusion. yhs, Kanti dasi

 

I second that completely. I'm in a very similar 'questioning' process. As

far as I know, Bhaktivinoda Thakura showed lots of tolerance towards other

religions, maybe except for a rather heavy statement about the 'inferiority'

of Islam (at least I heard so).

 

My personal problem is as follows. Sometimes quotes about other religions

are used (in personal discussions amongst devotees) as a means to show how

much 'better' we Vaishnavas, and particularly we ISKCON Vaishnavas, are. Do

we really need to talk like that?

 

All the best and bolo hari hari -

ys Bh Alexander

[Guest guest]

> "here is being worshiped my adorable entity (God in a different form than

> that of mine). Due to my practice of a different kind, I cannot thoroughly

> comprcomprehend this system of theirs, but seeing it I am feeling a

> greater attachment for my own system. I bow down with prostration before

> His emblem as I see here and I offer my prayer to my Lord who had adopted

> this different emblem that He may increase my love towards Him"

>

> Does some well informed devotee know where Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur

> wrote this prayer?

>

 

This is taken from the 1st chapter of Sri Caitanya Siksamrita. A part of

this chapter was published by Madhavananda Prabhu in his Krsna Kathamrta

magazine, and the whole book is translated by HH Bhanu Swami.