Thread 4: A prayer, ---honestly speaking

[Guest guest]

>Moreover, 50 is simply an arbitrary number. Srila Prabhupada, for example,

>did not take vanaprastha until age 63, when he went to Jhansi.

 

Please forgive me, dear devotees, for my typo in the above statement.

Actually Srila Prabhupada was 57 when he went to Jhansi. The year was 1953.

Then he took sannyasa in 1959 at the age of 63.

 

yours in service, vaiyasaki dasa...

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/10/00 10:14:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

Vaiyasaki.ACBSP (AT) pamho (DOT) net, responding to Bhadra Balaram, writes:

 

< If the GBC must resign immediately, then all the

>TPs who are above 50 must resign immediately. Can you please enlighten me

>how we can implement this immediately?

 

The resignation of the GBC was proposed due to failure in performing their

duty. It has nothing to do with age! Why do you not understand this simple

point?

Moreover, 50 is simply an arbitrary number. Srila Prabhupada, for example,

did not take vanaprastha until age 63, when he went to Jhansi. To try and

force people to take vanaprastha is not only unhealthy, it is fanatical. >>

 

I agree that a "bright line" mandatory retirement age is a bad idea, but the

basic principle that one should not remain entangled in worldly business

affairs (I'm not necessarily talking about ISKCON management here, which I

regard as more direct devotional service) until old age, is an important one.

 

As far as ISKCON management goes, I have heard young devotees and gurukula

alums complain that unfortunately the torch is not being passed to a new

generation (to paraphrase JFK's inaugural address), or at least not on a

sufficient scale.

 

To carry on with this theme of sannyasis getting more directly involved in

traveling and preaching and less involved in management, it also makes sense

that even older grhastas should be preparing for renunciation and should be

training their children and other promising young candidates to take on more

management responsibilities.

 

Just a thought.