Let this Bhagavad-gita Culture be Maintained in Pure Form
BY: PANDU DASA
May 17, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA, USA (SUN) — Dear Mother Lalita Madhava, Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Thank you very much for stopping by my blog and commenting. I don't know of any time that Caitanya prabhu had ever criticized you personally, but you personally attacked him and his guru, hence my direct response to your open letter. I'm pleased to hear of your attraction to motherhood and protection of the life of unborn children, and not at all surprised. Of course you must know that those values are not exactly consistent with the feminist movement in America.
The feminist attitude, according to my observation, was the target of criticism by Caitanya prabhu following Srila Prabhupada's example. I have been reading Caitanya’s Hare Krishna diary for a few months, and although I have not read every word, I've read enough to get a feel for his perspective; and I've seen nothing criticizing women in general. What I've seen is that he has condemned behaviors that interfere with the development of Krishna consciousness, behaviors that contradict the values that Srila Prabhupada taught.
I’m sure his views could be expressed more tactfully, but as you mentioned, he’s relatively new at this. You also could have responded to his writing in a far more constructive manner. I’m a little surprised that you would address a sannyasi so disrespectfully. I thought proper Vaisnava etiquette means respecting even a mayavadi sannyasi, what to speak of a Vaishnava guru and direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada. If we know better, we should try to set an example.
In addition to Caitanya prabhu being a relatively new devotee, and he is also a brahmacari, which I find very respectable. He is trying to sacrifice sex life for Krishna, which is very great tapasya. I can hardly comprehend it. Although I never had brahmacari training, I know it must take very strong discipline to counteract the lower modes of nature this way. Generally maya comes in the form of women for men, and in the form of men for women. In pursuing Krishna consciousness in the brahmacari ashram, he must always be on guard against any attempt for maya to find its way into his mind, and as much as it is already in there, he has to push it out. This takes a herculean effort, and in this endeavor it helps to continuously remind oneself of the dangers of associating with women, especially women who do not respect brahmacarya.
Srila Prabhupada made much criticism of the modern trend of blurring the distinctions between men and women and encouraging their intermingling. I don't think anyone can deny that, and it appears to me that Caitanya is doing his best to follow in his footsteps. Again, Caitanya is a relatively new devotee, so one should not expect him to be extremely expert in expressing such revolutionary views very tastefully.
It is very good to know the philosophy but a much greater challenge to be able to present it both purely and sweetly, because the sinful behaviors of those to whom we would preach are condemned. I have not mastered it either, by a long shot. Often Srila Prabhupada was quite forceful in his presentation, but due to his outstanding purity as Krishna’s devotee and perfect command of the philosophy, he could call a person a rascal and the person would often accept it or even agree. I could say the same thing to the same person, but with almost no potency to get the person to accept. If we are sincere devotees, we have to accept the truth from a new devotee just as we seek the same truth from Srila Prabhupada. Gold from a filthy place. Not that I say his blog is filthy -- actually I appreciate it; but I think you have used similar words to that effect. I have written to ask him to rely more heavily on direct quotes from Srila Prabhupada to make his points, and he's responded that another devotee gave the same suggestion, and that he would take it to heart. I see he has begun this with his recent posts.
I mentioned above that I do not know him personally, and for the record, neither have I met you. I saw your support of the annotations resolution, and I am so against these that I may not be able to accept the authority of the GBC if it happens, and thus I will leave ISKCON if necessary, with much sadness probably for the rest of my life if it comes to that. So your writing lately has been a threat to my spiritual life, and I am very upset about that. Who dares write their own views in Srila Prabhupada's books?!
I am also somewhat indebted to Caitanya prabhu. I presume that your recent visit to my blog was your first. If you read from the beginning, you will see that I had a very traumatic period shortly after I began writing. An unrepentant child molester was invited to my community, Gita-nagari, by Bhakti-Tirtha Swami, and I objected. As a result I was threatened and then condemned so harshly that I thought I must be a demon, and so I left the Hare Krishna movement entirely, suffering deeply every minute of every day because of it. I expect that you would have a lot of respect for Bhakti-Tirtha Swami, but in fact his friendship, approval, and glorification of this child abuser practically destroyed my spiritual life. In this pitiable position, practically no one would come to my aid for more than a year. That was when I found the Hare Krishna Diary, and I wrote to Caitanya prabhu, who was Bhakta Corey at the time, and he helped me by putting me in touch with a nice senior devotee who helped me work through what happened so that I could be at peace with this movement again. So actually I think I am quite in debt to Caitanya prabhu. Who knows where I would be if he had not cared enough to help me? I wrote to him because I saw in his diary a dedication to the strict teachings of Krishna consciousness, and that is what attracts me even though I am a poor follower. His may be not the most experienced understanding, but it’s an attempt to closely replicate Srila Prabhupada's mood of declaring war on maya. A new devotee who can do this deserves my respect.
I am giving you a stream of consciousness writing here, and I hope it is acceptable to you. We are not enemies within the Krishna consciousness movement, or at least we should not be. But from my point of view, Caitanya prabhu is preaching in Srila Prabhupada's line with little to no deviation, whereas what I've seen of your writing seems to be mixing spiritual and material values, which in my view severely weakens the purity of Srila Prabhupada's movement. What are we without purity? If you continue to read the Hare Krishna diary now that he is providing quotes and references, I think with your recent attitude you would have to say that Srila Prabhupada is wrong on many points, that he is offensive, and such things. That, in my humble opinion, is incredibly dangerous for not only your spiritual life, but also those who hear such blaspheme of Krishna's pure devotee. I refuse to hear it, except to defeat it; but it’s difficult when Dandavats and Chakra rely on so heavily on ideological censorship to silence arguments that contradict their propaganda. Is that what you consider inclusiveness?
If you're at all inclined, I hope we can discuss more. I do not censor comments to my blog, except to block spam and on rare occasions vulgarity. Please consider that with your push for so-called 'inclusiveness' at the expense of Srila Prabhupada’s unadulterated teachings, you will be driving out those who are very attached to Srila Prabhupada's teachings in their pure form. I very much want everyone to become Krishna conscious, but I don’t make the rules for how it can be done. Srila Prabhupada himself has explained that while Krishna consciousness is available for everyone, it is not for those who refuse to accept it. Rather it is effective for persons who want to take the process 'in pure form':
"They are all fools, rascals. They cannot take. All the duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah. That is already described. Naradhamas will not take to Krsna consciousness. But there are persons who are not naradhama. For them there must be. Diamond shop is not for everyone, but there are some persons who can purchase diamonds. Manusyanam sahasresu [Bg. 7.3]. It is not meant for everyone. So this is India's culture. At least, these men should be conscientious that "Let this Bhagavad-gita culture be maintained in pure form.""
Srila Prabhupada's Room Conversation, April 5, 1977, Bombay
Thank you again for your association, and please just take Srila Prabhupada’s teaching as it is. Hare Krishna.
Sincerely, your servant,
Pandu das
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