phani's blog

Hare Krishna,

I'm going to remove most of the blogs from this site, since they have been inactive for a long time, or are simply copies of content originally posted at our main site, namahatta.org.

I'll keep a backup of everything, of course, so if, for some reason, you are looking for a particular article that's not available on our main site, please write to me (phani@namahatta.org).

Devotees who would like to have their own blog at this site are welcome to write to me as well. I don't see much advantage over creating your own blog at blogspot or wordpress; the only one I can think of is that I would be willing to assist you in technical matters, image preparation, etc.—if my time permits.

Kaunteya Prabhu's new blog can be found at this address: The ISKCONoclast.

your servant, phanisvara das

Praghosa Prabhu, in his latest article on Dandavats, Accepting our Lot, Gracefully, tells us that offending vaisnavas is really a bad thing, the most serious offense any vaisnava can possibly commit.

While this isn't exactly news to those who have been following Srila Prabhupada for more than a few weeks, I do agree that it's a very important point to remember for all of us. In the heat of an argument it's easy to say or write things that, on more sober reflection, qualify as vaisnava-aparadha. Forcefully stating an opinion about one subject, one can easily offend others, also vaisnavas, who see the problem from a different perspective, or arrive at different conclusions.

Almost all of us are still in the conditioned stage of devotional service, prone to make mistakes, and even if we are very sure of our convictions, there's still a chance we may be wrong. When that happens we say "sorry," and assume that others accept that as a valid apology. Fine, but we have to extend the same courtesy to those who disagree with us, even when we're right—not treat them as enemies, assuming the worst possible motives for their mistakes.

Up to this point I fully agree with Praghosa Prabhu, even though I don't see the need to prove this with many quotes. Every devotee knows that vaisnava-aparadha is bad; it's just that we're often not able to see ourselves as aparadhis, even if we are.

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A deus ex machina (Latin IPA: de:us eks ma:khina (literally "god out of a machine") is an improbable contrivance in a story. The phrase describes an artificial, or improbable, character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (such as an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems, or the entire story having been just a dream one of the characters was having).

Wikipedia

After hundreds of devotees have signed an online petition against GBC Resoluton 311, including many senior devotees and disciples of Srila Prabhupada, and the issue became a hot topic on several devotees' blogs, the directors of the BBT decided to keep Srila Prabhupada's books as they are and not to add footnotes or annotations, or change them in any way to make them more palatable to today's educated audiences.

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