My personal purity (lack of)

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Here's an open reply to a query from Kavicandra Maharaja:

 

> Just curious.

> I was just wondering if you are a nishtiki brahmacari?

 

I guess I get the gist of your queries. I am not by any means a naisthika

brahmacari in the classic sense of the term. Nor do I claim any particular

high standard of personal purity. Nevertheless I have faith that if we

simply stick to the process of Krishna consciousness as taught by Srila

Prabhupada then by his mercy we will eventually become purified.

 

But naturally the question arises that who am I, being so much covered by

lust, greed, anger, etc., to question others? Good point. I realize I'm

taking a great risk in doing so.

 

I wish I didn't feel obliged to question others. I wish that the GBC would

police itself. Maye I should be satisfied simply to chant Hare Krishna. But

it is painful to watch as our movement slithers from one disaster to another

and incorporates all kinds of secular values.

 

Although Srila Prabhupada generally enjoined ISKCON members simply to accept

the authority of the GBC, he expected senior men to be alert and responsible

enough to point out deviations. In the well-known case when the wife of a

GBC member was eating meat in the temple, Srila Prabhupada said that the

newer devotees were rightly situated by following the authority and for them

there was no blame. However, he chastised the senior men in the temple for

allowing it to go on. He said they should have immediately stopped the

offense instead of allowing it to continue. (This is how Vaiyasaki Prabhu

related it.) The lesson is that junior devotees are not to blame when

leaders go awry, but devotees of equal stature are held responsible if they

do not act to stop an offense. At least those who are brahminically

initiated should be sufficiently philosophically sound as to recognize

deviation when it occurs and sufficiently responsible to point it out. To a

devotee who spoke out in the above mentioned situation, Srila Prabhupada

wrote; "Because you are a devotee you could not tolerate the nonsense."

(Letter to Gopala Krishna, 28 November, 1974)

 

Devotees clearly have a right to expect that Temple Presidents, GBCs and

sannyasis set an ideal example by adhering to basic standards of sadhana and

siddhanta. But when leaders are questioned on this basis they usually get

defensive and start counter-accusing the questioners. Not a very healthy

situation considering that Caesar's wife should be above suspicion.

 

So despite my own very great lacking in purity, which I thank you for

pointing out, I am taking this risk in the face of the very real danger of

our movement losing the blessings of the parampara to be the vehicle for

disseminating its teachings of pure devotional service throughout the world.

 

Certainly it doesn't feel good to be making so many accusations against

devotees, especially in public. But my repeated experience with the GBC is

that taking the humble position and following procedures gets you nowhere

except the trash heap.

 

And for better or worse I feel it my duty in Srila Prabhupada's service to

stand up and say something.

 

I pray that theat least some Vaisnavas support and protect me in this

contentious and risky endeavor and that they be expert enough to extract

anything of value that might occur in all these lengthy posts.