RE: from Mahanidhi Swami-purushottama adhika masa vratas

[Guest guest]

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

>Resorting to Criticizing something they don't understand or can't apply

are

>sometimes opted by the weak minded sense gratifiers who are trying to

cover

>up their possible own lack of determination to purify their senses, but

>Krsna knows who's who.

 

Very nasty.

 

>Yet, watch out for saying, "Preaching" yet meaning--"I can't give up my

>regulated sense gratification I'm getting from the temple-not even for

one

>month.

 

Let us also watch out for becoming hard-hearted because of austerities and

criticizing other devotees. And this also applies to the preachers. Now

we are seeing a battle. The preachers are attacking the tapasvis, and the

tapasvis are attacking the preachers.

 

We need all kinds of people in our society. We need preachers in the field

and tapasvis in the holy places. We need cooks in the temples and teachers

in the schools and businessmen in the offices and so on. No one should

think that he is the only one doing something valid and that the others

are weak-minded sense gratifiers.

 

Every service requires some kind of austerity, but when we think our own

particular austerity makes us better than the others, then the benefits of

our austerity are lost.

 

>I do remember one brahmacari in 1976 in LA who did chaturmasya, but at

the

>end of it got married, so one devotee said sarcastically," Oh I

understand,

>the fruit of his austerities was to get a good wife." Naturally when

>someone sees adverse things happening at the end of the vrata....

 

If he waited till Caturmasya was over before he married, where is the

fault? Is there some regulation that one must wait a certain amount of

time before marrying? And since when is marriage something adverse? It may

not be for everyone, but it is still a Vaisnava asrama, and we have many

wonderful householder devotees in our society.

 

Your most humble servant,

 

Umapati Swami

[Guest guest]

At 07:27 AM 8/3/01 +0800, Umapati Swami wrote:

>Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

>

>>Resorting to Criticizing something they don't understand or can't apply

>are

>>sometimes opted by the weak minded sense gratifiers who are trying to

>cover

>>up their possible own lack of determination to purify their senses, but

>>Krsna knows who's who.

>

>Very nasty.

 

Thank you, Maharaj, for seeing to the heart of the matter, as always. There

is a disturbing hint of self-righteousness in many of these comments. I'm

grateful to Mahamantra for having posted the Purushottama vrata. I have

some time to consider which items I, who am not a renouncer living in the

Dhama, but an ordinary professional guy with aspirations for spiritual

life, might be able to adopt. Fortunately, I have a month to consider which

I will acutally be able to follow. The little vratas followed by ISKCON

members (eschewing one class of foods each month) isn't particularly hard

for me, except the upcoming one: yogurt. That is a real austerity for me.

 

>Let us also watch out for becoming hard-hearted because of austerities and

>criticizing other devotees. And this also applies to the preachers. Now

>we are seeing a battle. The preachers are attacking the tapasvis, and the

>tapasvis are attacking the preachers.

 

Yes, thank you. Again, there are hints of a self-righteous party spirit we

should by all means avoid.

 

>We need all kinds of people in our society. We need preachers in the field

>and tapasvis in the holy places. We need cooks in the temples and teachers

>in the schools and businessmen in the offices and so on. No one should

>think that he is the only one doing something valid and that the others

>are weak-minded sense gratifiers.

>

>Every service requires some kind of austerity, but when we think our own

>particular austerity makes us better than the others, then the benefits of

>our austerity are lost.

>

>>I do remember one brahmacari in 1976 in LA who did chaturmasya, but at

>the

>>end of it got married, so one devotee said sarcastically," Oh I

>understand,

>>the fruit of his austerities was to get a good wife." Naturally when

>>someone sees adverse things happening at the end of the vrata....

>

>If he waited till Caturmasya was over before he married, where is the

>fault? Is there some regulation that one must wait a certain amount of

>time before marrying? And since when is marriage something adverse? It may

>not be for everyone, but it is still a Vaisnava asrama, and we have many

>wonderful householder devotees in our society.

 

You want some tapasya? Try sticking to a marriage and raising kids. So

manyof our society's problems can be traced to men (and women) who dump

their spouses for a life of "renunciation" when the gloss wears off, or

when things become difficult, or after a couple of kids have been born. I

know that I'm a better person and a better disciple for having been married

all these years. We both have struggled at times to bear each other's

quirks and flaws. But we have been determined to try our best to do it

right, to do right by our spiritual master, and to set a good example for

our daughters. I know others who have been married even longer than we

have, have seen evidence of their struggles--and triumphs. They are true

vaishnavas, real tapasvis. Some of them have always been full-time

preachers, others have been engaged sometimes in business or professional

life for livelihood. Those of us who pine for the "good old days" may be

intersted in what happens to this movement when these experienced men and

women bring the experience of their family lives to the next stage of

life. I'm convinced the good old days are yet to come. But it will be

hindered by the kind of party spirit we tend to show, as well as by our

proclivity to seek prestige, followers, and wealth. If we can actually

learn to avoid these . . . watch out!

 

Thanks again to Umapati Maharaj for his good sense and his good example.

 

Your servant,

Babhru das

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/2/01 11:00:42 PM EST, Babhru.ACBSP (AT) pamho (DOT) net writes:

 

<<

Thank you, Maharaj, for seeing to the heart of the matter, as always. There

is a disturbing hint of self-righteousness in many of these comments. >>

 

Personal realizations or practices are not absolute. If it is good for one,

it is not necessarily good for another.

 

Thankfully, Krsna did not create us all the same. If we were all the same, it

would be scary.

 

Ys, Mahatma das

[Guest guest]

Dear Vaisnavas,

 

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

Babhru Prabhu writes:

 

>You want some tapasya? Try sticking to a marriage and raising kids.

 

Well said! I never had kids, but I know what a tapasya it is to make a

marriage work.

 

>So manyof our society's problems can be traced to men (and women) who

dump

>their spouses for a life of "renunciation" when the gloss wears off, or

>when things become difficult, or after a couple of kids have been born.

 

Srila Prabhupada writes:

 

"These things cannot be taken so lightly, otherwise the whole thing will

become a farce. Simply get married without considering what is the serious

nature of married life, then if there is little disturbance, or if I do

not like my wife or my husband, let me go away, everyone else is doing

like that. So in this way the whole thing is becoming a farce." (letter to

Madhukara)

 

"We cannot imitate Krsna, but we can follow Krsna. We can follow His

footsteps, how He was living. He was a grhastha. He was not a sannyasi. So

our sannyasi is not very great credit. To remain grhastha, because we are

going back to Godhead, back to home, the whole, our master, is grhastha.

Not only grhastha, He has got so many wives. So to become sannyasi is not

very great credit, according to our Vaisnava philosophy. To become perfect

house-holder, that is credit. Perfect householder, like Krsna." (Tokyo,

Apr 23, 1972)

 

More:

 

"Now you are a sannyasi, but do not think it is a great credit for you.

It is easy to renounce. The ones performing austerities are the

householders." (Srila Prabhupada to Sudama Swami after giving him

sannyasa, as told by Sudama Swami to an audience of householders in LA

around 1973.)

 

"Just because no woman will have you, you think no one should get

marrried." (Srila Prabhupada to Panca Dravida Swami as told by Panca

Dravida Swami in a class at New Vrindaban.)

 

I may not have the exact words for these quotes, but this is pretty close.

 

Your most humble servant,

 

Umapati Swami