Castor bean oil and lamps and my foot in mouth as usual

[Guest guest]

While this discussion on castor oil is bringing up a lot of practical

points, it also appears to be getting a bit personal.

 

Please everyone remember that this conference is primarily meant for

practical issues.

 

Of course the fact is that Carol prabhu, did step into an area that she is

not the most qualified to tackle, and she did make a couple of boo boo's in

regard to statements about Srila Prabhupada.

 

Carol, If I may old chap, and please do forgive me, but one of the most

important prerequisites for spiritual life is to accept with complete faith,

the words of ones guru, even if he tells you to do something which all your

senses and intelligence (think they) KNOW are wrong. If a person is not

prepared to do this, then they should not accept a guru. (Accepting a guru

means accepting discipline, and that means at the very least, no back talk.)

 

A bonafide guru wishes no ill to his disciple, and sometimes tests the

disciple to see if he/she is really surrendered, not that he would ask a

disciple to do something without reason.

 

Of course one has to accept a *bonafide* guru, and that is another issue.

However, in the case of Srila Prabhupada there is no doubt that he was

Krsnas most confidential pure devotee. In other words there was no need for

him to have experienced all the experiences that are to be had in this

world, because he was an intimate associate of the Lord, and as such, all

knowledge both material and spiritual was illumined in his heart.

 

Sometimes pure devotees, and even the Lord act in such a way that might

bewilder conditioned souls such as us. Sometimes to our covered

consciousness, they may even appear to be wrong.

 

So I would reccomend that in future it would be better to discuss our

INDIVIDUAL relative realisation on practical subjects, and leave Srila

Prabhupadas conclusions as they are.

 

Something along the lines of, 'well I know Srila Prabhupada said such and

such, but my personal experience is this, I dont know why, but I would like

to understand'. That would be much better than suggesting that Prabhupada

was wrong. Remember that, as hard as it might be to imagine, Krsna personaly

dictated the books that Srila Prabhupada wrote. Prabhupada, and Krsna are

*intimate* associates. Prabhupada can never be wrong. These are very deep

subject matters, but are nonetheless of the utmost importance.

 

We also need to remember that on these conferences we are dealing with

devotees at all sorts of different levels of realisation, so we should be

more gentle in our dealings, and try not to be so judgmental. After all we

do not know who we are dealing with.

 

Is it not the vaisnava way to take the humble position? If a chastisement is

needed, then it should be done privately, and if it is needed publicly, then

better to take the humble approach, and point out the wrong that has been

published, without demeaning the publisher unnecesarily.

 

Carol is a doer. She is one of those rare individuals, who rolls up her

sleeves and gets things done and does not like to take 'no' for an answer.

She wont give up easily, and that is very admirable. From what I gather she

is alone at her place, with no regular devotee contact. So she is yet to

learn the more subtle ways by which an ideal devotee should act.

 

Please forgive these shortcomings, and encourage her to share her vast

knowledge with us. And if you feel that she may have stepped over the mark,

please send her a private note, with humility and compassion.

 

Personaly I think that she will be very nicely rewarded for her willingness

to share her skills with us, and the skills she has, are the ones we need

the most. These are the skills that will allow us to tread the path of

'Simple living and high thinking, that were the core teachings Srila

Prabhupada gave us.

 

Anyway, I wanted to avoid this kind of discusssion on such topics on the

practical varnasrama conference, so if anyone wants to continue this, can we

do it by private corresepondence? Just click on answer instead of comment,

and cc others who you might like to share with.

 

I hope I havent offended anyone, I have no intention to do so.

 

Your servant

Samba das