Varnasrama: serving the Lord by serving His devotees

[Guest guest]

> When we get paid, we

> can

> offer some money to further the mission of Krsna consciousness. Ideally, we

> remember Krsna as much as we can while we are working, but the fact that the

> work we are doing for our livelyhoods does not directly support the spread of

> Krsna consciousness has a dampening effect on our Krsna consciousness.

 

Yet if these donations were going into an endowment that devotee trustees were

managing (ksatriyas) to create an economic base to subsidize farmers to protect

cows and produce foodstuffs for devotees (vaisyas), then everyone could be

enlivened that they were helping to build varnashram. The vaisyas would need

goods

and services that would stimulate demand that other devotees could fill,

creating

jobs (for sudras) and some excess that could be used to support brahmanas.

 

>

>

> How would it be different in a varnasrama society? In a varnasrama society,

we

> would both be serving devotees and what's more we would be serving them in

ways

> that were more tangibly linked to maintaining a Krsna conscious society.

>

> One point to remember is that although Srila Prabhupada explains that in

> varnasrama, every varna is independent except for the sudras -- still every

> individual in society is serving other devotees. Srila Prabhupada personally

> gave the example by serving devotees in many ways -- even though he was the

> topmost devotee in our society. Of course, one of his most important

services

> to us was to write many books. That was his service to us whom he viewed as

> devotees and simultaneously, it was bhakti-yoga his loving devotional service

> to

> Krsna. So even the brahmana is serving the devotees.

>

> So in a varnasrama society, we would see that the blacksmith is making a plow

> to

> serve a farmer. He is happy to use his skills to please the farmer because

of

> a

> personal affection he has for the farmer, because they share their

experiences

> in worshipping Krsna. The farmer is happy to use his skills to grow grains,

> one

> quarter of which he will offer to the ksatriya of the village. He is happy

to

> serve that ksatriya because he knows that the ksatriya is a saintly devotee

of

> Krsna who appreciates his hard work and always is careful to protect him and

to

> maintain harmony in the village. The ksatriya uses his skills to create a

> harmonious village which will be the ideal preaching field for the brahmana.

> He

> is happy to use his skills in this way because he loves the saintly brahmana

> and

> he knows that love is reciprocated (bhakti-karya relationships, as Prabhupada

> describes in the third canto). The brahmana, although he is the social head

of

> the village, actually considers himself to be the servant of all the members

of

> the village because he sees them as many-flavored devotees of Krsna.

>

> So in this way, the third principle -- serving Krsna by our occupational

duty,

> and according to our individual nature is observed. But the way we serve

Krsna

> is principally by serving his devotee. And naturally, that expands beyond

just

> the varnas. The wife serves her husband with love, because the husband is a

> servant of Krsna. The cowherd serves the cow with love, because the cow is a

> servant of Krsna.

>

> As far as principle 1, society really is harmoniously organized for the

> pleasure

> of Krsna. As far as principle 2, when people are engaged harnessing their

> natural ability in Krsna's service, they become expert in it, and they are

> well-appreciated in society. When society is properly organized according to

> varnasrama, then everyone actually is happy -- they don't need to be

convinced

> that they are happy.

>

> So, at least this is how ISKCON's evolution into the varnasrama society that

> Srila Prabhupada envisioned for us, as compared to our early pioneer days at

> the

> beginning of the movement.

>

> your servant,

>

> Hare Krsna dasi

[Guest guest]

At 23:24 -0800 6/1/99, COM: Gunamani (dd) ARD (Arhus - DK) wrote:

 

> I could continue but then it will be too long, the point is: simply

>thinking and acting as a devotee, aware of peoples stand, not fanatical, is

>preaching/bhakti-yoga? in itself, of course with qualitative differences, in

>the long run it might prove quite substantial. We will see.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. This is definitely what I missed when

I first "joined" ISKCON. There were no models, so I felt like I was making

it up as I went along.

 

> I would like to hear more about how others handle their situations as

>devotees, while living in a material society.

> Can you see any future in it?

 

Since I never lived in a temple and never have any full time ISKCON

service, this has been exactly what I have done too. Although I wish I

could serve in more substantial ways some day, I agree with you that simply

living openly as devotees, showing others that you can be a devotee of

Krsna and still function in regular society can make an impact. And it

definitely goes beyond simply wearing beads and having people ask about

that (which they inevitably do, at teh grocery store, post office etc.)

 

My children have always gone to non-devotee schools (both public schools

and private Montessori schools). All their friends know they are Vaisnavas.

It's given my children the opportunity to talk with their friends about

vegetarianism, bring in prasadam, share their holidays and history (we

bring their friends to Ratha Yatra, lend the schools various videotapes,

e.g. on the Ramayana etc). Both my children are good students, good

athletes and have served on their student councils (elevråd in Swedish).

To their friends and teachers, this has "normalized" ISKCON and ISKCON

devotees and they have learned that we're no more odd than practitioners of

other faiths and can be successful by their standards too.

 

In terms of my circle of friends and colleagues, I'm also very open about

being a devotee. I have a huge poster of Lord Jagannatha over my desk,

other pictures in my office too and sometimes I play devotional music on my

computer while reading. Some people ask about this and about ISKCON and I

always answer their questions as honestly as I can. I've been very vocal

about the need to have vegetarian options at all work functions (99% of the

time, people do it naturally here, but on a couple of occasions they've

slipped up and I had to let them know). I've also invited friends and

co-workers to festivals and about 20 people from my job came to my fire

sacrifice wedding and danced, chanted Hare krsna, and threw grains into

the fire.

 

I've been working at the same place for 13 years now and I don't want to

make it sound like I did all of this from day one. It probably took about

2 years of gradually becoming more open. People's first reactions were

usually: "What, *you're* a Hare Krishna? I thought you were all in the

streets and airports." Then they'd become interested and wanted to know

if there were many of us who had regular jobs and who lived out in society.

In all of these years, I have never had a direct negative reaction from

anyone. In fact,people who know me have been surprisingly supportive at

times. E.g. when I decided to become initiated, I told a few of my closest

co-workers. At first, they were puzzled and asked lots of questions,

especially about "no illicit sex". Once I had explained it and said that

this was something I wanted to do, one very sweet (gay) man asked: "So

would you mind if I threw you a "celibacy party" to celebrate this

important step?"

 

:-)

 

How about others out there in cyberspace? Looks like "the fringe" has

become mainstream!

 

Ys,

Madhusudani dasi

[Guest guest]

Thank you Madhusudani Radha and Janesvara Prabhu's, for a short moment you

made me feel like I was actually a part of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON.

 

I am searching for You between millions of desires

getting lost in a ocean of rules

while I struggle and pray

loosing day after day

 

You are only a breath away

 

 

Your servant Gunamani d.d.

[Guest guest]

> "Surrender and do the needful..."

 

> Hare Krsna dasi comments:

 

> These are some nice questions. To me, varnasrama appears to synthesize >

several principles:

 

> **************************

 

> 1. Visnu aradhyate -- in varnasrama society is acting in harmony for the

> pleasure of Lord Visnu

 

> 2. Sarve sukhino bhavantu -- make everyone happy

 

> 3. Sve sve kamany abhiratah, samsiddhim labhate narah -- by following his

> qualities of work, every man can become perfect

 

> 4. Dasa-dasanudasah -- one should serve Krsna by serving His servant

 

> **************************

 

 

Thankyou very much dear Hare Krsna Prabhu for your very informative and

inteligent explanation in regard to daiva VAD. It was one of the best

explanation I was reading so far about this matter. You put a lot of thinking

into this. At the present moment I could not add something more. All my

questions found theyr answer.

 

your servant

Harsi das