prasada to poor people

[Guest guest]

> Yes, there for I used the words 'mundane altruism' to indicate the

> difference. Mundane altruism is when we forget that everyone is a spirit

> soul, part and parcel of Krsna, and simply see them according to their

> bodily condition, thinking that because someone is without money that

> makes them poor and worthy of our altruism while someone with money is

> therefore rich and doesn't need our altruism. As Srila Prabhupada pointed

> out, everyone without knowledge and contact with Krsna is poor;

> spiritually poor. So real altruism is to reconnect the soul with Krsna

> either knowingly or without their knowledge.

 

I think it shouldn't be difficult to understand the concept of

"real" altruism as explained above. Though personally, I would

rather chose the expression "the highest" instead of "real" in

order to avoid the possibility of a very common misconception

in ISKCON that all the other forms of altruism are therefore

not real or false, hence to be disregarded by the practitioners

of bhakti-yoga as "maya".

 

As far as "mundane". It also often carries the connotation of

rejected "maya" in the ISKCON's terminology. While not necessarily

has to be so. Though being of the pure spiritual origin, we are

nevertheless still of this world too. Thus both aspects need

to be given due consideration. Not everything that is of the

external material resemblance deserves to be rejected by

default as "mundane". Rather our aspiration for the mundane

reward is what is to be given up. For this, we have the perfect

example of Srila Prabhupada himself: his well known reaction

and the instruction when he spotted a girl fighting the street

dogs over the scraps of food. Since his "mundane" reaction was

about a mundane phenomena (a bodily condition of the child, not

her spiritual conditon) and the solution was to be mundane too

(to insure people don't go hungry, not to insure that their

souls get reconneceted to Krsna) thus both such altruism and

his isntruction might, technically speaking, be seen by some

as "mundane". But so far I am concerned, it is rather the nature

of selfless compassion that determines wether such altruism is

actually mundane or not.

 

Srila Prabhupada also instructed, in an another occasion, that

free clothing be supplied to the "naked". The soul needs no

clothing. A material dress is not the mean of reconnection between

the "spiritually naked" soul and Krsna. This is another very clear

example of that type of altruism that is not "real" altruism but,

according to some -- "mundane".

 

This Prabhupada's exhibition of so-called mundane altruism

didn't have to include perhaps his forgetfulness that everyone

is a spirit soul and his simply seeing those misfortune people

according to their bodily condition. It is a kind of an ISKCON

misconception that a devotee of Krsna means someone who has

thoroughly washed his hand off "mundane altruism" once for ever.

 

 

> Prasada distribution is one of the most effective

> and universal ways of reconnecting the soul with Krsna. It doesn't matter

> if they see it merely as food; if its offered to Krsna, it IS Krsna and

> anyone who eats some (or distributes it) gets unlimited spiritual benefit.

 

That is certainly undisputable.

(Just as it is so with the fact that the book Bhagavatam is

Krsna and not merely a book, yet it is being tax-free profitably

exchanged for the certain amount of money, thus discriminatively

not given to those with the bad karma of having no money.)

 

But what I have been rather referring to is not the prasada

distribution for the _exclusive_ purpose of the spiritual benefit

only. As my understanding goes, FFL does not pose as such either,

hence FFL should not be "cross-questioned" on that base either.

 

That most essential feature of purpose that prasada has still

not been deprived from along the process of sanctifying the

food, is -- "mundane". It is not like maha-mantara that

we may chant or not, the deity worship we may do or not, a

sastra we may read or not, SB class to attend or not... But

it is still food that if you don't eat, you physically suffer

and eventually -- die.

 

Just as Prabhupada had no problem with the understanding that

prasada also may be distributed for the "mundane" sake of

solving the immediate distress of others such as hunger (and

he even instructed his disciples to do so), I do not see the

base that we make some problem (to others) out of it.

 

 

 

- mnd