Initiation (?)

[Guest guest]

Jatu,

Here's a cross cultural comparison (Hare Krsna Prabhu, please don't read any

further):

 

Cynics feel the same way about Pollyanna as Swedes do about "too perky"

Norwegians, who bounce out of bed Monday morning, jump into a cold shower,

still with a smile on their faces and hops into their woolen caps and ski

clothes ready to go "pa tur" (cross country skiing).

 

If you're not a morning person, you almost feel like such people are annoying

enough to strangle.

 

Before anyone jumps all over my case, let me say that I love athletic

Norwegians. This was just meant to bridge the cross cultural gap.

 

Ys,

Madhusudani dasi

[Guest guest]

> >

> > Someone who already got a pure soul, a maha-bhagavata, for a guru

> > would hardly be expected to feel the need for praying to Krsna to

> > send him one. Krsna might "wonder", "What's going on? I have already

>

> > sent him one, and he is still praying me for."

> >

>

> Then there is the issue of a conditioned soul being able to recognize

> the

> qualities of the truly advanced devotees. I believe the story of

> Gadhara

> Pandit and Pundarik Vidyanidhi could be relevant in this light -- and

> by no

> stretch of the imagination could Gadadhara Pandit be considered

> 'conditional'.

>

 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu called Pundarika Vidyanidhi "father," and He

gave him the title Premanidhi. Pundarika Vidyanidhi later became the

spiritual master of Gadadhara Pandita and an intimate friend of Svarupa

Damodara's. Gadadhara Pandita at first misunderstood Pundarika

Vidyanidhi to be an ordinary pounds-and-shillings man, but later, upon

being corrected by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he became his disciple.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 10.14

[Guest guest]

On 19 May 1999, Janesvara Dasa wrote:

 

> On 19 May 1999, Tulasi-priya Devi Dasi wrote:

>

>

> > Prabhupada gave a lot of various instructions, but the only ones that I

> think

> > of that are iron-clad, inviolable, and universally practicable are

> >

> > 1. No meat-eating

> > 2. No illicit sex

> > 3. No intoxication

> > 4. No gambling

> > 5. Chant (at least) 16 rounds of the maha-mantra every day.

> > 6. Study SP's books

> > 7. Eat only Krsna-prasadam

> > 8.Preach

>

>

> Not everyone will be able ( as is painfully obvious in ISKCON) to do all

these

> Vaisnava principles right away.

>

 

 

Prabhu, I don't disagree that everyone will not be able to do this right away,

but I'm not talking about everyone. I'm talking about those of us who have

PROMISED our spiritual master to do those things. From everything I've read

and heard, Prabhupada fully expected us to follow those vows once we made

them, and if we fell down, to immediately rectify. He did not give us, who

have formally taken those vows, more than we could handle.

 

As to the examples you gave of those not following, they are all sanctioned

and regulated by Vedic culture in one way or another, but those particular

individuals did not take vows we have taken.

 

Prabhupada called the regs the "regulative principles of **freedom**" Those he

gave initiation to were, for the most part, meant to be the heads of this

varnasrama society we so desperately need. I don't think you should exclude

yourself from that group. You're certainly intelligent enough.

 

 

 

> I am a fool and rascal and I am too attached to this material world. This

has

> caused me to be disturbed in so many ways and I have little peace of mind.

 

You're a brahmana, damnit, and if you have to, you can act as a ksatriya, in

order to show ksatriyas how it's supposed to be done. Don't sell yourself

short. How can you have peace of mind if you're not true to your word? Set

yourself free. Follow. At least don't tell yourself you can't do it.

 

I

> NEED VARNASRAMA DHARMA TO HELP ME COME TO KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS. Not the other

> way around.

>

 

Prabhu, have you ever heard of the Combat Zone in Boston? I think Stitha-dhi,

who's from Boston, will tell you that not even the cops liked to be there, but

that was my field of activities for some time. More degraded you can't get.

But all it took was the association of a few of Prabhupada's grand-disciples

to show me that life could be different, and it is. I became free when I made

up my mind to follow. I have fallen down at times, am still relatively fallen,

but I am moving forward. My intelligence blossomed when I gave up my grossly

sinful activities and I could see (after some years of mental struggle) where

I needed to go. Now I'm getting ready to move to cow country and grow

vegetables. We all have to start somewhere, but we don't have to stay there.

 

If you are determined to see yourself as lacking, even after receiving your

freedom from Prabhupada, than nothing, not even VAD, is going is going to

change that. "Ask not what varnasrama-dharma can do for you, ask what you can

do for varnasrama." To establish VAD, we have to be sober and cool-headed, not

mired in self-destructive behavior and attitudes.

 

Please forgive me if I've offended you, but I really can't stand to hear

devotees talk about themselves in such hopeless terms.

 

Your servant,

Tulasi-priya dasi