What is Needed to Begin and Sustain a Rural Community?

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

I can not agree more with Syams points, all of which I

completely resonate with.

 

I paricuarly think points 2,3 and 4 are relevant to

someone like myself.

 

> 2. The participants are protected from victimisation

> by dint of weakend

> sadhana.

>

> 3. Land holding is based on farming practices and

> not on Spiritual prowess.

>

> 4. Back off zones are established to cushion the

> participants from

> intolerant management groups.

 

 

>From my perspective, I could be called a liberal

karmi, not a fixed-up conservative devotee. But at the

end of the day, I literally am a LIBERAL. This may be

word play, but to me to be liberal is to be atma, to

be free. I am a lifeform with freedom of choice, and

if I choose to chant 16 and do 4 regs then that's my

perogative, and if I choose to be a muslim, or a

christian of an athiest, that's my perogative.

 

The perogative of a community must form a communal

liberal stance, meaning to make a collective choice of

what to communally allow or not to allow. If this

choice brings forth standards of behaviour that are

way above the common ilk, then there can not be a

house for all, no Madi or Gadi, or whoever they were

and are. I am not saying that there should be no

standard of communal choice, but ISKCON suffers, in my

opinion, from a lack of tolerance to diverse

lifestyles and easily throws stones in glasshouses.

Others do the same, and it is in the lack of tolerance

and critisism of differences that conflict arises.

Prabhupada was very careful of what, where, when, with

whom and how he critisised others, but many devotees

are not - for them all else are rascal animals. This

type of mentality will only lead to exclusion, not

inclusion, no matter how true it may be.

 

Mark

 

 

 

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