excuse me?

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

 

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

glories to the ISKCON gurus.

 

I beg to seriously differ with Sadhu Swami's views. I think that

some of the things he says are not at all in accord with Srila Prabhupada,

and I also think that his quotes are taken to substantiate a very one-sided

and unbalanced vision of Prabhupada's teachings. Take, for example, the

following two quotes from the Caitanya Caritamrita, which counter-balance

his one-sideness. (We must accept ALL of Prabhupada's teachings as a whole,

and not pick this or that passage to suit our purposes):

 

 

"To broadcast the cult of Krishna Consciousness, one has to learn the

possibility of renunciation in terms of country, time and candidate.....He

must avoid the principle of niyamagraha, that is, he should not try to

perform the impossible. What is possible in one country may not be possible

in another. The acarya's duty is to accept the essence of devotional

service. There may be a little change here and a little change there as far

as yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation) is concerned...The essence of

devotional service must be taken into consideration, and not the outward

paraphernalia... A Vaishnava is immediately purified, provided he follows

the rules and regulations of his bonafide spiritual master. It is not

necessary that the rules and regulations followed in India be exactly the

same as those in Europe, America and other Western countries. Simply

imitating without effect is called niyamagraha. Not following the regulative

principles but instead living extravagantly is also called niyamagraha... We

should not follow regulative principles without an effect, nor should we

fail to accept the regulative principles. What is required is a special

technique according to country, time and candidate...."

M.L., Ch. 23 purport of verse 105

 

"An acarya who comes for the service of the Lord cannot be expected to

conform to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means by which

Krishna Consciousness may be spread. Sometimes jealous persons criticize the

Krishna Consciousness movement because it engages equally both boys and

girls in distribution of love of Godhead. Not knowing that boys and girls in

countries like Europe and America mix very freely, these fools and rascals

criticize the boys and girls in Krishna Consciousness for intermingling. But

these rascals should consider that one cannot suddenly change a community's

social customs. However, since both boys and girls are being trained to

become preachers those girls are not ordinary girls but are as good as their

brothers who are preaching Krishna Consciousness. Therefore to engage both

boys and girls in fully transcendental activities is a policy intended to

spread the Krishna Consciousness movement... The results of this are

wonderful. Both men and women are preaching the gospel of Lord Chaitanya

Mahaprabhu and Lord Krishna with redoubled strength... Therefore it is a

principle that a preacher must strictly follow the rules and regulations

laid down in the shastras yet at the same time devise a means by which the

preaching work to reclaim the fallen may go with full force."

A.L. ch. 7, purport of verses 32 and 38.

 

 

I would invite Maharaja to speak what he has written in the heart of

North American society (devotees and non-devotees alike) and see what sort

of response he would get, especially about sannyasi gurus not giving

initiation to women and not even talking to them personally. Or is it that

the Westerners, including the Western devotees, are so much in maya that

they would not be able to appreciate these aforementioned strictures

intended to save the world? Or maybe Prabhupada did not give us everything

because we were too fallen, but now we can "fill in the space" and no longer

give initiation to women...

 

It's ludicrous! At a time when the woman class both inside and

outside of ISKCON is raising serious questions about our proper

implementation of Prabhupada's ideals on this issue, Sadhu Swami is

proposing draconian measures which Prabhupada clearly did not implement.

Prabhupada talked to women disciples as a loving father speaks to his

daughters. Prabhupada gave them first and second initiation. But no one is

saying anything about Sadhu Swami's statements...

 

 

Giving initiation to women is a PRINCIPLE, just like the chanting of

16 rounds is a principle; it is NOT a detail that can be changed according

to time and place.(Does anyone disagree?) Hence to experimentally play

around with it is equal to flirting with philosophical deviation.

 

And meanwhile, there is an entire modern Western civilization to save! We

will not even begin to attract its attention (what to speak of saving it) by

being more Catholic than the pope. Rather, meditating on our own

belly-button will make us even more irrelevant to the modern world than we

are today.

 

 

 

Candrasekhar Acarya dasa