Maya kicks ISKCON

[Guest guest]

Haribol!

 

I read a text today on the Krsna Katha conference, called ISKCON kicks maya:

 

> As you may be

> aware, we are really far removed from devotee association, so we have a

> tendancy to mix with all the different Maharaja camps here -

> SiddhaSwarupa, Govinda, Sridhara, Narayana etc.

 

Removed from *devotee association*? Does that mean there are no *devotees*

in these "Maharaja camps"?

 

I'm sorry to say this, but I find it very disrespectful that you mention

Siddha-swarupa Swami and B.S. Govinda Maharaja in the same line as Srila

Prabhupada's beloved Godbrother and friend, His Divine Grace Bhakti Raksaka

Sridhara Maharaja (as Srila Prabhupada instructed the Back to Godhead

editors to write his name) and Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja.

 

Would you like it if I publicly wrote Tamal Krsna without his title

'Goswami', and referred to his disciples as one of the "Maharaja camps" -

Bhagavan, Harikesh, Tamal, Jayapataka etc.?

 

Whatever may be your personal opinion about the Gaudiya-Matha gurus, please

don't become so disrespectful on this public conference, unless you can

really point out why they are not worthy of their titles. In the case of

Srila Sridhara Maharaja, the title Bhakti Raksaka (Guardian of Devotion) was

given to him personally by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

 

> anyway, the following Sunday, we

> invited some of the devotees (non-ISKCON and ISKCON) to my house; My son

> Raghunatha lead a great kirtan, we read from SP's B.G., feasted, and then

> we played the new Hare Krsna World video, produced by ITV, edited by Jalu

> and Vikram; the 'other' devotees were transfixed

 

"Other devotees", so you still consider them devotees, that's nice.

 

> - literally could not

> take their eyes from the screen. All they have heard for years is the

> faults and problems of ISKCON, and there in front of their eyes unfolded

> glory after glory,

 

These videos, along with the different magazines, like Back to Godhead etc.,

are expert at focusing only on the "glories" of ISKCON: new temples opened,

big festivals, etc., in other to hide the stuff that's really going on

behind the scenes. ISKCON might be good at making big shows with lamps and

baloons, and temples with robots that recite the Gita, but it's not able to

provide much true spiritual guidance for it's members, which is

characterized by the many intelligent members leaving.

 

> testiment to SP's potency and the purity of the ISKCON

 

SP's potency, yes. ISKCON's purity, I don't think so.

 

> The visiting devotees, some who have followed 2 or 3 other guru's since

> Sp's depature, were speechless - they could not respond to the video and

> still accommodate the stance that ISKCON is doomed, full of error, a dying

> institution, etc etc. To promote harmony, I did not push it, but I could

> have simply asked 'where is the comparable preaching in your camp?'

 

Had you done that, they would have realized the truth about ISKCON's fanatic

members: "Oh yeah, that's how sectarian ISKCON really is. Good thing I left

it long ago."

 

> We are the only hope for the suffering of the world,

 

ISKCON? Then there's not much hope for the world.

 

> we can not

> allow maya to divert us from this mission through quarrel, division and

> politics.

 

We just have to watch ITV videos to convince ourselves that WE ARE THE BEST!

Right?

 

> We can see that NO OTHER camp has the special potency that SP

> has to carry on in Kali Yuga.

 

I heard a story when I was a kid about a rabbit and a turtle who had a race.

The rabbit was running up and down, laughing at the turtle, making jokes

about him, criticizing him etc., while the turtle tolerated the insults

slowly walked on. After some time of this running the rabbit became tired

and decided to take a nap, waiting for the turtle to come closer to the

finish line. He didn't wake up on time however and the turtle won the race.

 

ISKCON may have done a lot of passionate preaching during the seventees, as

well as in the eightees and ninetees, but will it be able to continue like

this? We'll have to see that.

 

The amount of philosophical deviations, pride and arrogance ("We are the

only hope...") existing nowadays among certain ISKCON devotees remind us of

the puffed-up rabbit. The turtle who slowly, carefully and peacefully walked

on, ultimately won the race.

 

Of course this is not a race (although nowadays devotees in ISKCON speak of

"camps" to refer to other branches of the Caitanya Tree), but if the logic

of the rabbit and the turtle is a universal principle, we may expect that

certain branches of the Gaudiya Matha, with their stress on sadhana, bhajan,

study and preservation of the siddhanta, may win the race in the long run.

 

> YS

> Jagaddhatri dd

 

Oh, I didn't know it was you who wrote the text. I thought it was Pandava

Vijaya. Sorry for bothering you again.

 

Your servant,

bhakta Ivar.