Guest guest Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 > Those suffering from cult-membership-phobias may note that none of these > sources are ISKCON sources, just as none of them are mayavada either; all > of them represent ancient, well established (if diverse), and bonafide > Vaisnava communities, like ours. > > It's thus appreciable that the respect given to guru as God is a > universal one in generic Vedic tradition, and without need for further > examples, I can also assert that it extends well beyond Vaisnavism too. > I think Srila Prabhupada's books should be understood recognizing this > broad, traditional context, and that we can benefit greatly from doing so. > Beautiful verses. The point you make about the universality of the respect given to guru is a very interesting one, and I would like to see more of it. I'm frankly tired of the 'cult' labels that uninformed and envious people apply to ISKCON. It becomes a little tiring. Having to feel on the 'back foot' just because I worship my guru is a little annoying, especially when it's what Prabhupada taught. I don't shove it down anyone's throat, so to have the opposite done to me is just downright unfair ys Braja Sevaki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 On Sat, 2 Mar 2002, Braja wrote: > > Those suffering from cult-membership-phobias may note that none of these > > sources are ISKCON sources, just as none of them are mayavada either; all > > of them represent ancient, well established (if diverse), and bonafide > > Vaisnava communities, like ours. > > > > It's thus appreciable that the respect given to guru as God is a > > universal one in generic Vedic tradition, and without need for further > > examples, I can also assert that it extends well beyond Vaisnavism too. > > I think Srila Prabhupada's books should be understood recognizing this > > broad, traditional context, and that we can benefit greatly from doing so. > > The point you make about the universality of the respect given to guru is a > very interesting one, and I would like to see more of it. I'm frankly tired > of the 'cult' labels that uninformed and envious people apply to ISKCON. Uninformed is not always necessarily "envious;" I think it's important to keep this distinction in mind. >It > becomes a little tiring. Having to feel on the 'back foot' just because I > worship my guru is a little annoying, especially when it's what Prabhupada > taught. I don't shove it down anyone's throat, so to have the opposite done > to me is just downright unfair Good point. The GBC itself may have initiated a lot of this "guru is only a relative authority" nonsense when it concocted its system of bogus zonal acaryas, and consequently had to further concoct some means to undo the karmic mess this created--in what was largely tantamount to outlawing the highly beneficial example of guru worship. MDd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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