The aim of Manu Samhita and Srimad-Bhagavatam are one and the same.

[Guest guest]

> > (5) If the process of bhakti "burns all sins", then there should be a

> > practical demonstration of that. Some people do, but many do not. In

> fact,

> > it could be argued that most do not. Does this prove that Bhakti-yoga

does

> > not work? No, but it means we have to refine our understanding of what

it

> > means to practice bhakti yoga with regard to *members of ISKCON*. Even

if

> > the books are there, and even if they are sincere, we see so many ISKCON

> > devotees fall down.

>

> I remember the analogy of the electricfan fan. If the fan is switched

off,

> it takes some time for it to come to a stop. Bhakti burns all sins is

> understood through *FAITH* in the words of Guru, Sadhu and Shastra and not

> by practical demonstration, for which we are depending on our imperfect

> senses, which any way we cannot comprehend.

>

> A temperory fall down is not considered as a fall down. Again Bg 9.3

"Those

> who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me o

conqueror

> of enemies.Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this

> material world".

>

> So some people burn sins and some people do not is only due to lack of

faith

> in Bhakti and nothing else.

 

A devotee first starts on the devotional path as a kanistha-adhikary. A

kanishta adhikary is defined as someone whose faith is soft and pliable -

yahara komala sraddha ye kanistha jana. If someone's faith is "pliable",

that means it may be affected by his environement, inimical persons, past

bad habits, etc. So we can say that it is due to lack of faith (or lack of

strong faith) that a devotee falls down. But nearly everyone is in that

position, or has been in that position, so nearly everyone runs the risk of

falling down while he remains a neophyte. This means a person can be

sincere and still be victimized by the inebrities he carries with him to

devotional service. Real falldowns (not the [very] temporary kind)

therefore do not mean the person who (really) fell down was completely

insincere or a total imposter, although such kinds of people also do exist.

 

There was a bhakta who once joined the temple (I was there at the time :-).

He was young, a little rebellious, and even by secular American standards

was ungentle in his behavior. But nonetheless, he came to

Krishna-consciousness and was trying his best to be a devotee. However, in

the course of time, he became familiar with the devotees in the temple and

would sometimes reprimand them if he didn't get his way. Sometimes I would

complain to the president about his profane and abusive language, and he

would say, "Give him a chance, he's got a bad past." And so we tolerated

him. Eventually, his offenses got the better of him, and circumstances were

such that he ran off with a bhaktin, never to be seen again. (This is a

true albeit abbreviated story.)

 

There are two observations I want to make here:

 

(1) The devotee joined the temple with genuine motives.

This I know from my personal dealings with him.

 

(2) Past bad habits, or conditioning, spoiled his devotional service.

 

NOI 2 also confirms that one who engages in 6 types of detrimental activites

can spoil his devotional service. The conclusion is that a person may be

sincere and have faith but his devotional service may still be ruined if by

habit or circumstance he engages in the various types of activities that are

declared to ruin devotional service.

 

Of course, it may be said that if a neophyte really has faith in the

process, then he will avoid all these adverse activities and make steady

progress - he knows what to do and what not to do and acts accordingly. But

then, by definition, he isn't a neophyte anymore; he would be at least a

madhyama-adhikari. A kanishta-adhikari is defined as follows:

 

arcayam eva haraye pujam ya sraddhayehate

na tad bhaktesu canyesu sa bhakta prakrta smrtah

 

"A person who is very faithfully engaged in the worship of the Deity in the

temple, but who does not know how to behave toward devotees or people in

general is called a prakrta-bhakta, or kanistha-adhikari" (SB 11.2.47 - ref

NOI 5 purport)

 

A key term here is "does not know". Gradually, the neophyte will come to

know as he progresses in devotional service. But for the time he is a

neophyte he is in a dangerous position because his own ignorance may cause

him to engage in various activities that spoil his devotional service.

 

Solution? The aspiring devotee needs to be in an enviornment that

encourages positive behavior and discourages negative behavior.

Varnashrama-dharma provides that positive environment. Of course, we cannot

say that it guarantees that all members of a properly functioning society

will not fall down, but it will minimize falldowns and other inebrities.

And that's what we want.

 

We can see the details of varnasrama to be specific directives which are

based on broader principles which are mentioned in scriptures like

Srimad-Bhagavatam, NOI, etc., to help people avoid behavior that will

destroy their devotional service, in spite of their sincerity. Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu himself demonstrated this principle of utilizing varnashrama in

order to nurture devotional service in others. Lord Caitanya reasoned that

only if people somehow or other offer obeisances to Him, they can make

spiritual advancement. He therefore accepted the sannyasa order of life.[1]

Sannyasa itself is a material affair (after all, even a sannyasi is not a

sannyasi forever), so we see practically how the Lord and his associates

practically employed varnashrama in the service of bhakti.

 

Since the aim and purpose of dharma-sastras like Manu-samhita and

transcendental literature like Srimad-Bhagavatam are ultimately one in

purpose (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah), to properly understand how to

implement varnasrama in the mood of yukta vairagya, we have to know (1) our

core transcendental literature that Srila Prabhupada has given us; and (2)

vedic literature that specifically deals with the theory and practice of

varnasrama dharma (because you can't practice it if you don't know it).

 

I therefore recommend that a group of senior devotees study these

dharma-sastras, and that these devotees act as brahminical advisors in the

matter of any sort of attempts to restructure our ISKCON society along the

lines of varnashrama dharma.

 

Your servant, Krishna-kirti das (HDG)

 

--FOOTNOTE--

[1] (from) Srimad-Bhagavatam - Introduction

 

The Lord had a very high estimation of the affections of the damsels of

Vrajabhumi (Vrndavana) for Krsna, and in appreciation of their unalloyed

service to the Lord, once Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu chanted the holy names of

the gopis (cowherd girls) instead of the names of the Lord. At this time

some of His students, who were also disciples, came to see Him, and when

they saw that the Lord was chanting the names of the gopis, they were

astonished. Out of sheer foolishness they asked the Lord why He was chanting

the names of the gopis and advised Him to chant the name of Krsna. The Lord,

who was in ecstasy, was thus disturbed by these foolish students. He

chastised them and chased them away. The students were almost the same age

as the Lord, and thus they wrongly thought of the Lord as one of their

peers. They held a meeting and resolved that they would attack the Lord if

He dared to punish them again in such a manner. This incident provoked some

malicious talks about the Lord on the part of the general public.

 

When the Lord became aware of this, He began to consider the various types

of men found in society. He noted that especially the students, professors,

fruitive workers, yogis, nondevotees, and different types of atheists were

all opposed to the devotional service of the Lord. "My mission is to deliver

all the fallen souls of this age," He thought, "but if they commit offenses

against Me, thinking Me to be an ordinary man, they will not benefit. If

they are to begin their life of spiritual realization, they must some way or

another offer obeisances unto Me." Thus the Lord decided to accept the

renounced order of life (sannyasa) because people in general were inclined

to offer respects to a sannyasi.

 

Five hundred years ago the condition of society was not as degraded as it is

today. At that time people would show respects to a sannyasi, and the

sannyasi was rigid in following the rules and regulations of the renounced

order of life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was not very much in favor of the

renounced order of life in this age of Kali, but that was only for the

reason that very few sannyasis in this age are able to observe the rules and

regulations of sannyasa life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu decided to accept the

order and become an ideal sannyasi so that the general populace would show

Him respect. One is duty-bound to show respect to a sannyasi, for a sannyasi

is considered to be the master of all varnas and asramas.