Battling The News
I feel a strong need to express something, and it is not easy to express because I am talking, directing it, to devotees and devotee lifestyle. Others may not appreciate, or maybe they will. Therefore, I'll do my best to make it so all can. My best is not perfect. :)
Years ago when I was young and a very strict [hopefully still kind :) ] devotee, I learned that the Pope died. This was sad, but not our path. When someone continues to be a mleccha we do not make them our leader, though we do not become hardhearted either. Our leader is Prabhupada, for a reason. He has shown by his lifestyle and actions to be indisputable and that he is a pure devotee.
My point in the above, is that I was surprised at that time to see an initiated disciple crying her eyes out over this. Hmmm Maybe she was brought up Catholic, I don't know. But especially back than, we were taught how to recognize a pure devotee, and to put our attachment there. So, it startled me. I felt devotees should know who to attach themselves to, or at least when it came to this depth. [Don't worry, I was still compassionate to her].
Gradually I saw more and more devotees becoming too attached to, for example, a temple president. One temple where I was temporarily staying, it's president had women looking up to him. This was ridiculous & not how other temples were run. He would hold meetings, and they all would gather around him. I refused to attend those meetings. [Probably why I was not too popular :) ]. One day a lady was walking out of one of them, with a tray in her hand. She walked over to me and said: "Want some remnants of so-and-so das/temple president?" I was startled. We never take 'remnants' of anyone except the pure devotee Srila Prabhupada, or God/Krishna Himself. Therefore, I said no. ...Yeah, I was on their list now. ha
More recently we have seen the death of an internet famed Christian Politian. You know who I'm talking about so no need to include his name, the same way I did not include the temple presidents name. Moving forward: The day I heard of his murder, I was startled. I felt sad his life was shortened, sad for his wife, children, how he would not see them grow up, and so on.
Running into a few of his vid shorts on youtube, I did not agree with everything he said, tho found some of it good. First, what I agreed with, followed later by what I disagreed with so please stick with me.
I agreed with his take on abortion and appreciated some of the points he made that life is real from the get-go. Some readers may disagree but I am not trying to offend. Here is a scientific vid short which shows a light burst upon conception! I am not here to judge. Whatever your past may be, if you had an abortion, please now know not to do that again - and chant Hare Krishna. If you have not had an abortion but don' t want your baby in the womb, please give the child up for adoption, just allow it to live, and chant Hare Krishna.
Decades back :) a group known as The Farm made an offer: Instead of getting an abortion, women could come there, birth their babies, and leave their baby. Approximately 200 women took them up on this offer. Only about 11 women left their baby. Why? They had a support system, they had health care, they had connections with kind human beings, and it was discovered many wanted abortions due to pressure from a boyfriend/husband or parent. Not all of course, but lets not put all the blame on the woman. Social pressure can be destructive. Moving on....
Next, I agreed with this podcasters point that many who are gay have a mental or emotional imbalance - and that a diagnosis would be a good idea. (I'm not saying all need a dx, too big a topic to place here. Though we should take note that Prabhupada did indeed initiate some who were gay; they have to follow the same 4 regulative principles the rest of us follow.) Then I read that the podcaster endorsed stoning homosexuals to death. Wait, what? Did I really read /hear that? Oh yes I did, and google will show it to be true.
Along with:
-He spoke of black women not having brain-processing power therefore not to be taken seriously, [ME: Their defense is that he was singling out specific black women and not all. If other comments weren't similar, it might make it believable. Well, hmmm the women mentioned are quite intelligent though.]
-that black pilots may not be qualified due to diversity hires [Me: DEI hires require the 'exact' same training and certification for black pilots as for white],
-he couldn't stand the word 'empathy' and felt it was made-up by New Agers,
-said the man who brutally assaulted Peloski [husband of govt House Speaker] should be bailed out of jail,
-spoke very contemptuously of George Floyd's murder, but not of the Jan 6 2021 Protestors,
-said no one should be allowed to retire [ME: he wanted them to use life-learned skills but many old folk have little energy, or are unwell],
-he said that many black politicians stole the spot of white people, [Me: True or untrue is irrelevant, in this country the most qualified get the job, not whites first],
- said Mamdani winning an election in NY is a travesty because Muslims did 9/11. [ME: What happened to seeing everyone as an individual. Anyway, not saying I know what is right or wrong about Mamdani's policies - just saying being blamed for 911 and being Muslim is not one.]
-said British Colonialism was what made the world decent [ME: it was decent before that timeline via Vedic lifestyle which he did not look into],
-believed in the Great Replacement Theory. [Me: I had to google it. Now that I know: Why would a spiritual man even care about this; suppose to only care about the spirit soul, not the material body someone resides in. sigh Aham Brahmasmi = the ABC's of spiritual life],
-said all are created equal in the eyes of God but not all cultures are created equal and America should be explicitly Christian,
-Etc.
UPDATE: Originally I omitted his name, but since than, some claimed to me that things said about him are untrue; therefore I feel obliged to include his name along with a web site that looks into truth. As you likely know, it's Charlie Kirk. And I'd love to be wrong, however, I got info from a site that was checking facts. If you want to read the full article, go here.
Some devotees commented that he did more preaching than they did. I had to think about that. Then realized a few things. First, it's easier to gain success when preaching one of the main religions of a country within that country than it is about Krishna. Next, numbers or memberships do not matter, as this Bhakti Yoga is unique and rare knowledge - and it "is" a yoga, more than intermittent religion. Next, times have changed. In the old days we use to pack our bookbags every single morning and go out preaching, from College campuses to traffic lights. Today? Not so much.
One thing that bothered me and seems many devotees were ignoring or minimizing was, all the study he did, and he did go in depth - he never realized Christ was a vegetarian. Decades back I did some independent comparative studies and that is something I came across. Eventually I'll be making blog posts about that, as I finally found my 3 lost web pages on Christ and Krishna! Something for me to look forward to. :) It's going to take a lot of work as it is all quite long, so patience please. However, to circle back, I am happy anyone comes to God in some way, simultaneously it would seem the discovery not to eat meat would be included. Nonviolence is important for spiritual life. Of course, vegetarianism is not enough as we next need to offer it to God.
He's not my main point. My bigger concern is devotee reactions. Why do we get psyched over such persons, or focus so much on their moral belief's. This morning I received a fb friend request from a devotee who had his pic up with his wife, and was supportive. sigh Certainly his life should not have been taken, and no one should have celebrated his death. Hopefully they will lower their ego's to have a change of heart. However, it's not all or none. Oh, devotees by nature may like that he is promoting some aspects of God - but we need to keep our eyes open and stop letting glitter and sparkle's blind us. We tend to get sentimental when we hear something of God finally spoken, while ignoring or not looking for what else was spoken. Please be careful of attraction to any such persons as some can speak very eloquently, yet not be at the spiritual level of which they are trying to come across. Such persons, as there are others too, can be quite charismatic and mesmerizing.
“What appears to be truth without Me is certainly My illusory energy, for nothing can exist without Me. It is like a reflection of a real light in the shadows, for in the light there are neither shadows nor reflections.” CC Madhya 22.31 Purport
We should feel sorry regarding what happened to him, can even send a Vaishnava prayer up for him if you are attached, or even if not attached (he could use it). BUT we should not jump on the bandwagon of making him saintly. When Prabhupada was on the planet we would not have been so interested, nor given much time/attention via such persons - except maybe to preach to them if possible - so why do we now?
I've seen devotees do this before with others. Decades back a politician wanted to hang a Biblical quote in all public schools. Devotees were gung-ho for it, and I admit, initially I liked the idea. What changed my mind? When I realized him, and other leaders like him, if given enough power, will ultimately not be accepting of us.
Do not think you will be able to do Harinama anymore, and God-forbid, distribute Prabhupada's books. No. Other paths like Buddhism, Judiasm, Janism, and certainly Hinduism, will be blocked. Maybe even punished. If given enough power to control, they will outlaw us. So please, do not attach yourself to them.
But I am not really interested in any person, or politician. Matter of fact, I am not registered as Democratic nor Republican. As touched on, I want to know why, when we as devotees, have the "rare" good fortune to have come across the pure devotee jagat guru Srila Prabhupada, who has promised to take us back to Home, back to Godhead - why are so many devotees reacting in glorification of the latest man? Why so drawn to his humanitarian belief when most religions and Mayavadi's have the same humane belief, even some Agnostics. Especially, why, when we have the highest spiritual knowledge in all the three worlds, do we get drawn to these preachers:
Another potential reason devotees get drawn to such persona's is the excitement that is happening. We don't want to miss out, therefore some jump on the bandwagon. Lets face it, we lost some of our enthusiasm that we use to have when we gathered our books and went out on Sankirtana. And because we have slowed down Sankirtana in general, we admire others who are doing some form of it. (More-so if it is a religion of our childhood. Whole other topic. ha)
Please know, excitement can easily be obtained through Krishna Conscious activity, tho if not feeling it, it may be time to tweak it. More options: Harinama, book distribution, and food/prasadam distribution. Therefore, if possible, adults can distribute some of Prabhupada's books so that people will have somewhere else to turn other than fundamentalists. I admit, I was never good at book distribution but I tried. If you want to give it a shot, there are two places online that I know of to obtain his bonafide books. You can contact them and ask about bulk orders, or just get a few and see what happens.
Likely some devotees become drawn to these various personalities because the Movement is no longer moving, or not much - not like it use to. Yes, we see them doing what we use to do, and a little we may idolize. Let us not take the rare gift of Krishna consciousness for granted. We often forget that it took us many lifetimes to be able to find this knowledge. It was not easy for me, tho I came at a time before the internet. It was BTG's, books, and 2 temple visits, that saved me. These days with internet, there can be many that mislead. Embrace Krishna Consciousness, let it not take more lifetimes. Don't give away your energy to those who have a lesser fund of knowledge.
"Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth." B.Gita As It Is, 7.3
What we can do is utilize their energy to inspire us to get back out there preaching. Mostly I've used this blog to encourage or inspire folks that anyone can practice transcendental Krishna Consciousness at home. I plan to continue to do that. However, even the world is showing us how much it needs Prabhupada's books. Thus, if even one person picks up a bookbag as a result of this post, that will be perfect.
Some may wonder if I fear devotees will convert and that's why I say all I have said above: Heck no, not in the least. Our process is scientific plus tangible. Even the devotees who dabbled in the above never gave up Krishna. And, we too believe in Jesus. My concern is that devotees will waste their life airs and God-given time for chanting /sravanam, kirtanam /hearing Prabhuada lectures, the 9 Process of devotional service - and get distracted.
Getting off my soapbox now. :-) You don't have to agree with me, but no fighting. We have all ready seen what that leads to.
Peace, Hare Krishna.
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Catholic, Protestant, and Hare Krishna
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BOOKLINK: Anyone interested in buying some of Prabhupada's unchanged books, go here.
BOOKLINK: The following is also a site you can buy a few original Prabhupada books. The downside is they cost more and they don't have many. The upside is they have original covers. Here.
