namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Akruranatha das

I was very happy to see Niscala dasi's comments (Srila Prabhupada is Our Martin Luther, Dec. 29) to Hare Krishna dasi's article (Waiting for Iskcon's Martin Luther, Chakra, Dec. 25).

I was sorry to see the frustration and disillusionment with the whole ISKCON project that Hare Krishna dasi seemed to be expressing. Even though I've never met Hare Krishna Prabhu face to face, my first reaction upon reading her article was to want to go visit her wherever she lives and try to reassure her and listen sympathetically to her complaints. Surely her frustration must be due to a whole series of bad experiences and not only from one suggestion about "membership" raised by H.H. Sivarama Maharaja at a European GBC meeting (see: HH Sivarama Swami on Sex by Sita-pati to listen to Maharaja's podcast), which seems to have been not very well received by many major ISKCON constituencies and probably is not likely to be adopted or enforced. Hopefully Sivarama Maharaja's proposal will spark some constructive dialogue, as it already seems to be doing.

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Srila Prabhupada used to say that keeping cows is the way to solve our economic problems: “according to Vedic economics, one is considered to be a rich man by the strength of his store of grains and cows. With only these two things, cows and grain, humanity can solve its eating problem. Human society needs only sufficient grain and sufficient cows to solve its economic problems” (SB 3.2.29) yet in almost every project for cow protection in ISKCON we see the request for donations.

by Ravindra Svarupa das

In the last two postings we have been considering a letter Srila Prabhupada wrote in 1972 concerning the nature of power. A devotee had written Prabhupada with misgivings about competition in activities of preaching. To this apparently simple and down-to-earth question, Prabhupada gave a reply that rose quickly to ultimate philosophical principles. Prabhupada's presentation is brilliantly compact; I have been unpacking it somewhat.

Credit goes to Pandu Prabhu for pointing this out: "I’m reluctant to accept HH Bhakti Caru Swami’s view that we should 'go along with the time' with regard to women working side-by-side with men." Maharaja's words? (bolding added)

"The weak must serve the strong, that we see everywhere, is it not? Who can deny?"

Well, true enough—we do see it everywhere. But is it right? Is it just? Is it fair?

In the letter before us, Prabhupada so far seems unfazed by such doubts. The domination of the weak by the strong is, in his eyes, dharma—part of the unalterable nature of reality, and he goes on to extol it as immediately beneficial: "So that competitive spirit makes us strong, otherwise it is a society of weak men only, and what is the good of such society?"

HH Bhakti Raghava Maharaja sent a Position Paper on varnasrama development, passed by the Regional Governing Body (RGB) for India, to several PAMHO conferences:

"For everyone's information, this is the Position Paper passed by the Regional Governing Body (RGB) for India on varnasrama development. This came about as the result of recommendations presented by the Varnasrama Development Committee for India (of which I am a member) established in September, 2007 by the RGB India body. I believe this document is of relevance to all devotees around the world."

Were I to name the one human act most responsible for the wrongs in this world it would be, hands down, the abuse of power.

As far back as our history books can relate, the strong have exploited the weak. From time to time, the exploited, energized by resentment, rise up and overthrow their exploiters. In this way, the strong and the weak periodically exchange places. Even so, the principle of exploitation remains inviolate.

In his blog View From a New Vrindaban Ridge Madhava Gosh Prabhu quotes a conversation between Srila Prabhupada, Hari Sauri Prabhu, Ramesvara Prabhu, and Jagadisa Prabhu during a train-ride in India. In this conversation Srila Prabhupada esplains how he expects his disciples to create a Krishna conscious society based on varnasrama-dharma.

Any student of Srila Prabhupada will at once recognize the phrase “plain living and high thinking.” It occurred frequently and memorably in his discourse. It functioned as kind of motto or slogan to epitomize Prabhupada’s vision of a natural spiritual culture, an alternative to our modern, “soul-killing” industrial civilization.