Gaudiya Matha association

[Guest guest]

Good points, Jahnu prabhu, but I will tell a story here, as an example of

what happens when it all goes wrong. Hariaballabha has given us a beautiful

example of what happens when things are done in perspective, but sometimes

they are not. Whilst I do not like to find fault, I will note that there are

circumstances where things seem to be done without being rational. For

example, we have a certain regulation, that those people who have taken

shelter of a guru outside of ISKCON must not serve inside of ISKCON, but

instead in their Guru Maharaja's matha. This is perfectly valid and normal

Vaisnava etiquette. However, I do know of quite a few situations where

'serve' has been interpreted in such a broad manner as to bar those

Vaisnavas from even attending services in the temple, going to nama-hattas,

or any other sort of Festival programmes. People do this, and yet any

non-Vaisnava seems allowed to attend. People of all faiths go to nama-hattas

and other programmers, yet with some devotees - when they truly take that

step to make a connection to the sampradaya, out of genuine faith - they are

shunned as being worse than the rest. I do not want to say the word, but

situations like that smack of 'hypocricy'. Fine, yes, exclude people when

they prove to be a nuisance, but when they do not, is it so fair to judge a

book by its cover?

 

Just some food for thought... I don't like to criticise, and the 'mutual

respect' that Jahnu speaks of is clearly evident by and large, but I would

like to highlight what happens when it is not.

 

Your servant,

Rama Kesava dasa

 

> I think the problems arise when disenfranchized disciples join other

> groups, then come back to ISKCON telling everyone how useless ISKCON

> is, how corrupt the GBC is, how this and that guru fell down etc.

> There is no one in ISKCON who has gone out of their way to condemn

> other sects of bhakti, it is only when these other groups attack

> ISKCON being disrespectful to its devotees that the problems arise,

> because then any loyal ISKCON member will feel compelled, and indeed

> it is every member's duty, to defend ISKCON against these attacks.

[...]

> Apart from Narayan Maharaja's group, I don't know of any other Gaudiya

> matha which is disrespectful towards ISKCON. ISKCON co-exists nicely

> with the other Gaudiya mathas in an atmosphere of mutual respect. It

> is not respectful to invade another mathas and demand that the

> devotees there accept your guru. ISKCON has never shown disrespect to

> other mathas like that, nor have I personally ever shown disrespect to

> anyone just because he or she is not an ISKCON devotee.

[Guest guest]

On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, Rama Kesava (das) BVTS (Edinburgh - UK) wrote:

> circumstances where things seem to be done without being rational. For

> example, we have a certain regulation, that those people who have taken

> shelter of a guru outside of ISKCON must not serve inside of ISKCON, but

> instead in their Guru Maharaja's matha. This is perfectly valid and normal

> Vaisnava etiquette.

 

However, if we accept it as authoritative, then we have to admit

that there are crucial aspects of our tradition that are based primarily

on traditional practice (itihasa) rather than anything explicit in sastra.

That opens the door for any number of others, which can become problematic.

If we don't accept it as authoritative, then we are guilty of acquiescing

a GBC that acts without authority and arbitrates asastric policies. Either

one of these is guaranteed to make some of us uncomfortable.

 

 

 

> However, I do know of quite a few situations where

> 'serve' has been interpreted in such a broad manner as to bar those

> Vaisnavas from even attending services in the temple, going to nama-hattas,

> or any other sort of Festival programmes. People do this, and yet any

> non-Vaisnava seems allowed to attend. People of all faiths go to nama-hattas

> and other programmers, yet with some devotees - when they truly take that

> step to make a connection to the sampradaya, out of genuine faith - they are

> shunned as being worse than the rest.

 

Though it's nowhere near as uncivilized, this is analogous to the

Shia-Sunni syndrome in Islam--these two groups being arch rivals within

the broader Muslim community. They're constantly fighting one another,

often with more passion than can even be imagined by outsiders. Of course,

every cloud has a silver lining. If throughout the last millenium Muslims

have mainly been preoccupied in killing each other instead of the rest of us,

we may have to thank Husen's followers for inventing Shia Islam.

 

MDd