On preaching

[Guest guest]

> Dear Sri Visnupada,

> please accept my humble obeisances.

>

> Last weekend we took part in a spiritualfare and at the end we could

> sing and dance with all the guests the mahamantra together with

> another group from "Babaji", who sing also the Mahamantra in their

> asrama. But before we go to it, we could hardly reject to play and

> sing with them Om namah sivayah.

> All in all it was a success for Lord Gaurangas mission, the people

> become ekstatic.

> Is it o.k. for the sake of the result (chanting Hare Krisna) to

> chant other mantras or doing other harmless practices tohether with

> other groups?, which I know more or less from the time before I

> joined iskcon.

>

> Your servant Nigraha das

 

There are different ways to look at this. From one point of view,

Lord Siva is a pure Vaisnava Acarya, and offering respect to him as a

great servant of Lord Krsna, as is done with the mantra 'om namo

sivayah', is not improper. Even Lord Caitanya used to offer His

respects to Lord Siva. However, we do not have any indication that He

chanted the mantra to Lord Siva. At least I can say that when I was

with Srila Prabhupada, even when he once offered obeisances to Lord

Siva in the temple across the street from our Juhu land, I never heard

him chant this mantra. As a policy, we purposely do not chant the

names of demigods in kirtan. Please remember that Narada Muni, in his

previous life as a gandharva, was cursed by the sages because he was

engaged in the chanting of the names of the demigods and not the Lord.

Chanting is one of the two primary forms of service and thus worship.

When you chant the names of the demigods, you are engaging in a form

of worship. This is not recommended.

 

Of course, there are situations where we might do something which we

ordinarily might not want to do, for the sake of preaching. That is

acceptable. We might be speaking with someone and he might be telling

us about his bogus philosophy and we will silently listen and

sometimes even tell him that what he says is alright, for the sake of

some higher purpose such as delivering the philosophy to him later on

when he can accept it, or engaging him in service.

 

But one should be careful when dealing with other groups. They might

chant Hare Krsna, but they might not have any understanding of what

they are doing. That is not really a disqualification, since the name

will act, but when they have an offensive understanding of Krsna or

His name, they are not making progress while chanting. If they are

actually thinking that Krsna is subordinate to Lord Siva, or that they

themselves are Krsna or will become Krsna by chanting (as is the usual

case with such persons) then the effect of their chanting is not

actually beneficial, and thus your preaching is not actually

effective.

 

Srila Prabhupada strictly avoided mixing with mayavadis and demigod

worshipers. He never shared in their practices neither ate what they

offered. The modern new-agers are simply mayavadis and demigod

worshipers in a new bottle.

 

I do not know the circumstances surrounding your program and an

experienced devotee would have to have been present to make the

decision on the spot. But I would have organized the program in such

a manner that I was not placed in the position in the first place that

I would have to take part in the affairs of dubious spiritualists.

The art of preaching requires that we learn how to place ourselves in

the most advantageous position so that our message is accepted in the

proper atmosphere.