Something to think about?

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees,

PAMHO. AGTSP.

 

In order not to become completely frustrated upon realizing there are still

devotees in ISKCON who maintain midle-age mentality and burn anyone who

tends to have different opinion at the stake of slander, blasphemy and harsh

words, I thought I would find something that may help me to elevate a bit my

consiousness and perhaps help both sides of the front to stop up-coming

destruction of Vaisnava etiquette and sanity. In fact, my letter is

exclusively dedicated to Jivan Mukta Prabhu who has shown unbelievable

determination in decreasing this etiquette. And because he has also

displayed a great vigour in fighting by Srila Prabhupada's words, let's the

words come back to him, hopefully to his heart.

 

Your servant,

Viraja dasi

 

"One very intimate devotee of Lord Caitanya, most probably Vasudeva Datta,

requested Lord Caitanya to deliver all the conditioned souls in his

presence. He said, 'Let me suffer for their sinful actions, but my dear Lord

You take them with You back home, back to Godhead.' So this attitude of

offering facilities to others for going back to home, back to Godhead, and

personally accepting their suffering thereof is perfect Vaisnava attitude."

(SPL to Umapati, August 23rd, 1970)

 

"I know you are always experiencing difficulties in living with devotees,

but we must be tolerant and endure the personal differences, being humbler

than a blade of grass, and stick to our duties to the spiritual master."

(SPL to Sri Vallabha, 4th June, 1974)

 

"We should learn to forget and forgive minor incidents because there are 2

men in a place, there is always some misunderstanding. Such misunderstanding

happens even between husband and wife -- what to speak of others. But we

have to adjust things on the basis of Krsna consciousness." (SPL to

Gargamuni, 11th January, 1968)

 

"Each and every living entity is an individual soul, and as such,

disagreement is quite possible in our dealings with one another, BUT WE HAVE

TO CONSIDER THE CENTRAL POINT OF INTEREST." (SPL to Yamuna and Harsarani,

15th January 1968)

 

"We are preaching Krsna consciousness, THE GREATEST PLATFORM OF HARMONY, and

if we dissent amongst ourselves and disunite, it doesn't look very well."

(SPL to Aniruddha, 30th May, 1968)

 

"Of course, disagreement may be there, but there should not be dissension."

(SPL to Umapati, 30th May, 1968)

 

"Your appreciation for the service of your Godbrothers is very much

laudable. THIS IS ACTUALLY A DEVOTEE'S BUSINESS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD

APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF OTHER DEVOTEES. Nobody should criticize anyone.

Because everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord, according to one's

capacity, and the thing is, Krsna wants to see how much one is sincere in

rendering Him service." (SPL to Tamala Krsna, August 19th, 1968)

 

"If you work conjointly, without quarreling amongst yourselves, a tremendous

service can be done towards the expansion of our mission. Please therefore,

try to execute this program peacefully for the sake of Lord Krsna, to Whom

you have all dedicated your lives." (SPL to Harivilasa, September 29th,

1968)

 

"Please do your duty combinedly without any disruption of peaceful attitudes

among yourselves. We are pushing our movement on the bacground of a peaceful

atmosphere in the world, and if we show a little disturbance in our own camp

that will not be a very good example. Therefore, everyone should be

forbearing, tolerant and cooperative. That is my special request to you

all." (SPL to Janaki, 18th January, 1969)

 

"Relationship between Godbrothers must be very genuine and pleasing.

Otherwise, the future of our institution will not be very hopeful." (SPL to

Tamala Krsna, October, 1969)

 

"Now all my disciples must work combinedly and with cooperation to spread

this sankirtana movement. If you cannot work together then my work is

stopped up. OUR SOCIETY IS LIKE ONE BIG FAMILY AND OUR RELATIONSHIPS SHOULD

BE BASED ON LOVE AND TRUST. We must give up the fighting spirit and use our

intelligence to push ahead. You should accept help from your Godbrothers."

(SPL to Upendra, August 6th, 1970)

 

"Anyway one quality of a devotee is that he is always very much tolerant of

other people, so I request you simply to tolerate the faults of others and

always think that I am myself the most faulty. In this way your humble

attitude will qualify you to advance very quickly in Krsna consciousness."

(SPL to Jairge and Lindon Lomese, May 25th, 1972)

 

"This fighting spirit will destroy everything, but what can I do, you

American and European boys are trained up in this fighting attitude. Now put

it aside and simply work cooperatively for spreading this movement all over

the world." (SPL to Bali Mardan and Pusta Krsna, 18th September, 1972)

 

"We should not criticize each other, as Vaisnavas, because there is fault in

everyone and we may be ourselves subject to criticism. BEST THING IS TO BE

ABOVE SUSPICION OUERSELVES, THEN IF WE SEE DISCREPANCIES AND MAKE SUGGESTION

THE OTHERS WILL AUTOMATICALLY RESPECT AND TAKE ACTION TO RECTIFY THE

MATTERS. That is cooperation. And we must exist on such cooperation,

otherwise the whole thing is doomed if we simply go on fighting over some

small thing. So try to organize things and preach together in this spirit,

and that will please me very, very much." (SPL to Madhumangala, 18th

November, 1972)

 

"So perfect society, or Vedic society, does not eliminate competition --

competition of stronger and weaker must be there -- but it eliminates envy,

because everyone is weak before Krsna." (SPL to Sri Govinda, 25th December,

1972)

 

"The test of our actual dedication and sincerity to serve the spiritual

master will be in this mutual cooperative spirit to push on this movement

and not to make factions and deviate." (SPL to Babru, December 9th, 1973)

 

"You have dedicated your life for Krsna and therefore you should be ideal.

We are introducing Krsna consciousness movement for the harmony and good

will of huminity. But if you yourselves are suffering from the very ills we

are trying to remove, how can the people be influenced favorably? Stop this

fighting, tolerate, chant and read our books. Use the intelligence and do

some service for Krsna. My request to you is not to fight anymore." (SPL to

Trivikrama Maharaja, 1th May, 1974)

 

"Those who are advanced devotees try to see only the good that other

devotees are doing, just as bees are attracted to honey, while flies are

attracted to sores." (SPL to Ramesvara, May 5th, 1974)

 

"Because the real fact is that if there is any difficulty with others, that

is my lack of Krsna consciousness, not theirs. Is this clear? KRSNA SAYS

THAT HIS DEAREST DEVOTEE IS ONE WHO DOES NOT PUT OTHERS INTO DIFFICULTY, IN

FACT, WHO PUTS NO ONE OTHER INTO DIFFICULTY." (SPL to Madhukara, January

4th, 1975)

 

"OUR MOVEMENT IS BASED ON LOVE AND TRUST, SO IF WE DO NOT COOPERATE, THEN

HOW IS THAT LOVE AND TRUST?" (SPL to Krsnavesa, 16th January, 1975)

 

"So, this criticism of Sridhara Swami was as much intolerable for Caitanya

Mahaprabhu as His criticism upon Vallabhacarya is intolerable for you. Such

kind friendly criticism you'll always find among learned scholars, but that

does not mean there is any ill feeling with one another. So, as you can

criticize Sridhara Swami in the above words, what is the wrong if in the

same spirit the supporters of Sridhara Swami criticize you? There is an

English proverb spoken by Lord Jesus Christ, 'Judge not others lest ye be

judged.'" (SPL to Giriraja, 25th November, 1976)

 

"You have mentioned about some criticism made by Jaya Govinda which upset

you. I do not know exactly what is the point, but if there is some HONEST

CRITICISM there should be no cause of becoming upset." (SPL to

Vrndavanesvari, 28th July, 1969)

 

"IT IS NOT OUR POLICY TO REJECT SOMEONE ON ANY PERSONAL GROUNDS. RATHER IT

IS OUR DUTY TO ENCOURAGE HIM ON THE COMMON PLATFORM OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE TO

KRSNA." (SPL to Satsvarupa, 25th November, 1970)

 

"I have noted your several complaints against the devotees but it would be

better to set the example rather than to criticize the defects of the

devotees. We should always remember that we recruit members from people in

general. It is not expected that every one of our members should be

immediately to the standard qualification. The best thing for you is to set

the example by your personal behavior and try to forget such incidences and

be always in friendship with each other." (SPL to Vrndadevi, October 14th,

1971)

 

"Do you think USA is a magic place, simply by coming here he will become

reformed? If possible you can send to the USA, but it is better to correct

him to the standard point by frienfy gestures. WE CAN REJECT ANYONE, THAT IS

VERY EASY, BUT TO REFORM HIM THAT REQUIRES GREAT SKILL AND TACT AND IF YOU

CAN REFORM HIM THERE BY KIND WORDS AND DEALINGS, THAT IS BEST." (SPL to

Madhudvisa and Amogha, 24th August, 1972)

 

"We should not find fault with others and criticize and go away, that is not

the Vaisnava way." (SPL to Gaurasundara, 26th August, 1972)

 

 

PS I would llike to thank Janesvara Prabhu for his last letter that has

given me the spark of inspiration to compile the quotes.