Traditional Gaudiyas and Preaching.....

[Guest guest]

To any of our esteemed friends from the "traditional" branch of Gaudiyaism.....

 

 

Why have none of your acaryas, as far as I'm aware, not preached in the west?

[Guest guest]

sorry...

 

I'll rephrase that....

 

Why none of your teachers preached in the west?

[madhavachari]

Actually there is one who visited Germany. A descendant of Nityananda Prabhu. Premgopal Goswami.

 

Here are some of their gurus: gaurasundar.com/index3.htm

 

[Guest guest]

He came only last year I think...

[madhavachari]

Yes he did.

[beckham123]

yes i agree

[raga]

There is a time and a place for everything and for everyone. I guess that is why many of our teachers have not come to the West. (Though several have.)

 

By extension, one could ask -- "Why have none of the Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas -- yours, ours or anyone's -- come to the West to preach prior to the 20th century?"

 

(As interesting trivia, preaching in the West was pioneered by Baba Premananda Bharati who arrived in the U.S. in 1902, followed by his disciple Mahanambrata Brahmacari in the 1930's.)

[theist]

 

Actually there is one who visited Germany. A descendant of Nityananda Prabhu. Premgopal Goswami.

 

Here are some of their gurus: gaurasundar.com/index3.htm

 

 

Madhvacari,

 

Could you explain the nature of his preaching a little bit. Who is his target audience or does he preach as openly and publically as possible. What is the main focus of his preaching. IOW does he preach the basics ,"aham brahmasmi, chant Hare Krsna" or is he looking to to speak to those who may be more interested in the more intimate of Krsna-lilas?

[madhavachari]

 

There is a time and a place for everything and for everyone. I guess that is why many of our teachers have not come to the West. (Though several have.)

 

By extension, one could ask -- "Why have none of the Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas -- yours, ours or anyone's -- come to the West to preach prior to the 20th century?"

 

(As interesting trivia, preaching in the West was pioneered by Baba Premananda Bharati who arrived in the U.S. in 1902, followed by his disciple Mahanambrata Brahmacari in the 1930's.)

 

There is even a book in English by Premananda Bharati, called Sri Krishna I think.

[madhavachari]

 

Madhvacari,

 

Could you explain the nature of his preaching a little bit. Who is his target audience or does he preach as openly and publically as possible. What is the main focus of his preaching. IOW does he preach the basics ,"aham brahmasmi, chant Hare Krsna" or is he looking to to speak to those who may be more interested in the more intimate of Krsna-lilas?

 

I suggest you write the owner of the site and ask. He may even have audio files of the lectures. As far as I know, they are raganugas with all that involves.

[Guest guest]

dear madhavachari,

 

not to change the thread topic, but I was wondering, have any Sri Vaishnava Gurus travelled west to help western seekers?

[madhavachari]

 

dear madhavachari,

 

not to change the thread topic, but I was wondering, have any Sri Vaishnava Gurus travelled west to help western seekers?

 

Yes. Especially Chinna Jeeyar: http://www.chinnajeeyar.org/

[Guest guest]

 

Yes. Especially Chinna Jeeyar

 

that's nice to hear, and thank you for the link.

[Guest guest]

 

Chinna Jeeyar

 

does he have devotees of all races?

[madhavachari]

There is also a Sri vaishnava in Australia, who gives initiations, Sri Rama Ramanujacharya.

 

http://www.srimatham.com

[madhavachari]

 

does he have devotees of all races?

Yes, Srivaishnavas don´t make distinctions like that. All souls who wish to study and surrender to Sriman Narayana can do so.

 

In some branches, however, they do not give upanayanam or pranava (aum) to non-brahmanas! But in our branch (tengalai) we do not agree with those practises.

[Guest guest]

 

Yes, Srivaishnavas don´t make distinctions like that. All souls who wish to study and surrender to Sriman Narayana can do so.

 

 

In some branches, however, they do not give upanayanam or pranava (aum) to non-brahmanas!

[Guest guest]

 

does he have devotees of all races?

 

This is the quote on his site that puzzled me:

 

 

"Serve all beings as service to GOD. Worship your own - Respect All"

 

- Sri Chinnajeeyar Swamiji

 

I am not sure what he means by your own. Indians?

[raga]

 

Could you explain the nature of his preaching a little bit. Who is his target audience or does he preach as openly and publically as possible. What is the main focus of his preaching. IOW does he preach the basics ,"aham brahmasmi, chant Hare Krsna" or is he looking to to speak to those who may be more interested in the more intimate of Krsna-lilas?

While I have not met him in person, I understand that he will speak in a manner that will address the actual need of the audience.

 

Then, what audiences? Naturally, he will want to first minister to the spiritual needs of those, who are already devotees, and those, who are aspiring devotees with a keen interest on the bhakti-path. The concept of "aggressive outreach" is a bit more foreign to traditional Gaudiya Vaisnavas than it is to modern missionary movements.

 

--

 

 

You have got, say, ten thousand followers. That does not mean success. Everyone has got some followers. This.... What is that? Guruji Maharaja. He has got also so-called followers. The T.M., he has got also some followers. Everyone has got some followers. But what kind of followers they have? That is quality. Everything has quality. Simply quantity is not. There are many Christians. Even up to date, some Christian fair or.... Many millions will come. What is the quality? Quality is all meat-eater. But Christian means he should not kill. Where is the Christian? So we have to test by the quality, followers. Not many followers, the quality of the followers. My Guru Maharaja used to say like that, that “If I get at least one quality disciple, then all my labor will be success.” He was saying like that: quality, not the quantity. By quantity if one is amazed, then he is also goru [cow].

[raga]

 

There is even a book in English by Premananda Bharati, called Sri Krishna I think.

See http://wiki.gaudiyakutir.com/Premananda_Bharati.

[theist]

 

I suggest you write the owner of the site and ask. He may even have audio files of the lectures. As far as I know, they are raganugas with all that involves.

 

Oh, you posted his picture so I thought you might know. I was just curious what a "raganuga" might preach to a general German audience. I am not so interested to look further.

 

 

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[theist]

 

While I have not met him in person, I understand that he will speak in a manner that will address the actual need of the audience.

 

Then, what audiences? Naturally, he will want to first minister to the spiritual needs of those, who are already devotees, and those, who are aspiring devotees with a keen interest on the bhakti-path. The concept of "aggressive outreach" is a bit more foreign to traditional Gaudiya Vaisnavas than it is to modern missionary movements.

 

--

 

I see. That makes sense considering all. Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes.

 

The idea that "aggressive outreach" is not traditional though seems odd though. Did not Haridas Thakur and Lord Nityananda go door to door begging the residents to chant?

[raga]

 

Oh, you posted his picture so I thought you might know. I was just curious what a "raganuga" might preach to a general German audience. I am not so interested to look further.

Personally, I find the term "raganuga" as a designation a bit silly, though I realize there are even people who call themselves such. There is so much in Gaudiya Vaisnavism, and so many different things need to be given to different kinds of recipients.

 

Honestly, many of the so-called raganugas are in dire need of some vidhi to shape them up a bit - to actually have them follow that raga instead of groveling in this world amidst god-knows-what. Lack of vidhi makes the so-called occasional raganuga little more than the proverbial elephant's bath.

 

A speech to a "general" audience would very likely feature "general" topics - you know, the basics that forms a foundation for a mature theological understanding that gives one the possibility to factually appreciate the beauty of the concept of rasa.

[raga]

 

The idea that "aggressive outreach" is not traditional though seems odd though. Did not Haridas Thakur and Lord Nityananda go door to door begging the residents to chant?

Yes - and Haridas also chanted three lakhs of names. That gives a perspective of the balance that's needed between outreach and bhajan.

 

I am not making a note against preaching as such - it's only the "all-out" approach where preaching effectively replaces personal bhajan that worries me.

 

The logic of "how many breads can one give from an empty basket" helps understand why many prefer to first focus on individual bhajan-cultivation.

[theist]

That makes sense.