Thread 4: A prayer, ---honestly speaking

[Guest guest]

> Thank you Prabhuji. This is the undestanding that I too have from Guru,

> Sadhu, and Shastra. Kalikale Dharma - Hari Nama Sankirtana. Kali Kale

> Dharma is not Varnashrama Dharma. Of course we are not going to reject

> anything as long as it can be used for propagating Bhagavata Dharma.

> Srila Prabhupada did not shed buckets and buckets of blood to propogate

> Varnashrama. He established ISKCON to propagate Bhagavat Dharma.

 

It seems you have not read the new book recently released by the BBT which

is the first of three volumes compiling Srila Prabhupadas instructions

regarding Varnasrama and how we are responsible to implement it.

 

Read this book, and you will have a completely different perspective on

Varnasrama Dharma. In the Srimad Bhagavatam also there are so many purports

in this regard.

 

Varnasrama is the means to propagate Bhagavat Dharma.

 

Your servant

Samba das

[Guest guest]

>Where so you get the fantastic figure of 25%? If only 1/4 of society were

>grihasthas, who would support the other 75%?

 

I took it from the following purport in SB.

 

As for those who are not grhasthas-- the brahmacaris, vanaprasthas and

sannyasis-- they don't have to do anything but strive for advancement in

spiritual life. This means that three fourths of the entire population

should stop sense gratification and simply be engaged in the advancement of

Krsna consciousness. *Only one fourth of the population should be grhastha*,

and that should be according to laws of restricted sense gratification. The

grhasthas, vanaprasthas, brahmacaris and sannyasis should endeavor together

with their total energy to become Krsna conscious. This type of civilization

is called daiva-varnasrama. One of the objectives of the Krsna consciousness

movement is to establish this daiva-varnasrama, but not to encourage

so-called varnasrama without scientifically organized endeavor by human

society. (SB 7.14.10).

 

Some of us must take note that in the above purport Srila Prabhupada clearly

says *One* of the objectives of our movement is to establish daiva

Varnasrama, and it is not the only objective.

 

Thank you for your comment Prabhuji. It was refreshing.

 

Your humble servant,

Bhadra Govinda Das.

[Guest guest]

At 12:07 AM 9/12/00 +0900, Bhadra Govinda (das) JPS (Singapore - SG) wrote:

>>Where so you get the fantastic figure of 25%? If only 1/4 of society were

>>grihasthas, who would support the other 75%?

>

>I took it from the following purport in SB.

. . .

>(SB 7.14.10).

 

Thank you, prabhu. I thought I had heard it, but over all the years, it's

not always clear whether we've heard something from Srila Prabhupada or

from someone in an influential position with their own ideas, pushing them

forward under the guise Krishna consciousness (as when, some years ago, an

ISKCON "guru"--and he may not have been alone--preached that only sannyasis

could accept disciples, based on some clearly materialistic rationales, not

guru-sadhu-shastra). Srila Prabhupada further explains in a lecture given,

coincidentally, on my 19th birthday (I wish I had been there):

 

"Now, suppose if there are hundred person in a society, twenty-five percent

students, twenty-five percent retired life, and twenty-five percent

sannyäsa, renounced order of life. Now, out of 100 persons, seventy-five

percent, they are engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. The rest

twenty-five percent who are gåhasthas, they are meant for sacrificing fifty

percent of their income for this seventy-five percent. That is the whole

program of varëäçrama-dharma. That is a kind of spiritual communism.

Spiritual communism. For spiritual advancement of a society, the whole

social order is so arranged that seventy-five percent of the people, they

are engaged in the matter of spiritual advancement of knowledge and

twenty-five percent of the population, those who are earning, those who in

family life, those who have got factories, business and so many things,

they should sacrifices fifty percent of their income for these seventy-five

percent persons who are engaged in spiritual emancipation. So that is the

whole program."

 

>Some of us must take note that in the above purport Srila Prabhupada clearly

>says *One* of the objectives of our movement is to establish daiva

>Varnasrama, and it is not the only objective.

 

Thanks for pointing this out. This may help us keep our exploration of

varnashrama in its proper context.

 

Your servant,

Babhru das