vad cult

[Guest guest]

> Personally I believe that Srila Prabhupada accomplished and did what he

> wanted to do, on behalf of his spiritual master and the parampara and he

> was very successful in it. I believe that he only said it out of deep

> humility that 50 % is unfinished and he only said it a few times. There

> are other occasions in which Srila Prabhupada mentioned and wrote that

> varnasrama dharma is not the most important thing, just "an additional

> help for convenience sake" but not very important at that time.

> I cannot see that we and the world have changed so much since then. Iskcon

> is still a very small movement. Therefore I do not see the need to

> introduce VAD in iskcon, even less in a radical way.

 

Of course, everyone is entitled to their own observations, so here's

mine for its worth.

 

I am afraid I cannot agree with Nikhilananda prabhu on this point.

>From my perspective, its clear that Srila Prabhupada very much wanted VAD.

It was not at all out of humility that he said only 50% of his work was

done, it was out of practical realizations that for KC to be spread on a

scale big enough to affect the world, VAD was the only system that can work.

It is after all Krsna's system. He did the essential work that had to be

done -- establishing what pure devotional service is and how to attain it,

but he also said that he was giving the basics and we would have to fill in

the rest. Each acarya leaves something for the next generation to accomplish

and the implementation of VAD was one of the things Srila Prabhupada left to

us to do.

 

In the early days of the movement Prabhupada openly used to say that

he was only trying to create a class of brahmanas and that it was not

possible to reintroduce VAD in modern society. Since there was no spiritual

direction therefore at least some real brahmanas should be there to guide

everyone. However, as his movement grew, by 1974 he started to seriously

talk about it, at least in part because he saw large numbers of people being

attracted to KC and he already had seen many fall away after their initial

involvement. Many that came along could not maintain the brahminical

standards but still wanted and needed to be engaged in devotional service.

 

By 1977 he was very keen to have VAD introduced and one only has to

read the conversation that we had with him on Feb. 14 1977 in Mayapur to

realize this. Thus his statements that only 50% of his work was done were a

recognition that much more work is needed and that he was leaving it to the

future generations to do it. We cannot write it off as a statement of

humility that need not be taken seriously. It was a call to his disciples,

not an admission of defeat or personal insufficiency.

 

Our movement will ever remain small and ineffectual, playing no

significant role in the lives of the general population, as long as we

ignore VAD. We can go on no doubt, and that will still be a success if we

can keep on making a few brahmanas to maintain the spiritual standards in

the face of the degredation of modern society. But the realization of

Prabhupada's dream for the whole world to change its course towards

spiritual attainments rather than materialism will come when we can show all

those who are not brahminically inclined how to dovetail their propensities

to the attainment of the spiritual goal of life. This has to be demonstrated

practically, and so far we have not done this.

 

In ISKCON we currently try to bring people to the highest standard

in six months or one year, and then let them "fall down" to their natural

level, often feeling rejected and with a sense of deep personal failure.

They reject ISKCON due to the negativity of their experience of "falling

down." Why not have a system where a person is simply and gradually brought

UP, making gradual progression and committment through the scientific

process of VAD?

 

VAD means constant encouragement; people are positively helped to

make advancement from whatever level they are on, incrementally improving to

higher and higher levels. There is no "fall down," no sense of guilt, no

sense of personal failure, no condemnation from one's peers. Only

encouragement.

 

Rupa Goswami says that one has to be always enthusiastic and at the

same time patient. VAD is an effective and necessary structure which

provides for this. And Prabhupada clearly said that ISKCON has to implement

it.

 

Sorry to be contradictory but this is my humble view based on what I

heard from Srila Prabhupada.

 

Your humble servant,

Hari-sauri dasa

 

BTW Nikhilananda prabhu, your texts are still far too long,

especially for people like me who get huge amounts of e-mail. Its better to

make a few points in short texts and spread your comments out over a few

texts.