Comments Posted By Akruranatha
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It was nice at L.A. Ratha Yatra this year to have Praharana Dasi in the Q&A booth, where she spoke a bit about the grhastha vision team. It was a welcome change of pace, and an important one.
It is nice to know we can call in and hear the recorded calls if we are not able to participate live.
Thanks Karnamrta and Arcana Siddhi. Please keep up the good work,
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 24.08.2010 @ 18:57
I have never been to the Polish festivals but we can’t help yearning to go when we hear these pastimes.
I have been on cloud nine all week just floating in bliss (in spite of a stressful work schedule) from having attended L.A. Ratha Yatra last weekend. As in Poland, thousands of visitors mingled with the devotees and experienced great spiritual happiness, holy names, prasadam, and many thousands took home Srila Prabhupada’s books. Over 7,500 “packets” were distributed, each containing several small books and other printed matter.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 06.08.2010 @ 18:24
It is interesting how simultaneously important and unimportant all these rules of protocol and etiquette between junior and senior devotees are.
Infected by modern, democratic, materially egalitarian ideas, it may seem unnatural to show so much respect to the status of another person. Kids even take their parents to court these days. People instinctively bristle at the (obviously true) notion that some people are more respectable than others. Isn’t everyone equal?
In a nice Vaisnava society the rules of showing proper respect as due to the status of different devotees is observed strictly, but there is no undue exploitation of that status (as is typical in Kali yuga society).
It is only because of Kali yuga anomalies that the French national anthem speaks of watering crops with the blood of aristocrats. Actual aristocrats, who would not neglect their duty (their natural inclination, even) to care for their dependents as their own children, would never inspire such sentiments.
To show proper respect is very important for the person who offers the respect, but to receive respect is not craved by an advanced Vaisnava. (”amanina manadena”)
Most of the etiquette involving respect in our society is symbolic only, (at least for those who do not depend economically on the temple). Someone sits on a higher chair, or gets to smell the prasadam flower first, or is greeted first when several people enter the room, or gets addressed with an honorific title. Of course, the symbol should express our true feelings of respectful affection. What I mean by “only” or “merely” symbolic is that it is more a matter of respect than a matter affecting physical or even economic well-being. Our respectable holy men do not have power over our lives and property (unless we offer it to them). But still some devotees chafe at the hierarchical courtliness of it all, as if it goes against some deep-seated egalitarian impulse. (It was very hard for many in the early days to accept the idea of bowing down to Srila Prabhupada).
I have been happily reading Sivarama Swami’s book “The Siksa-guru, Implementing Tradition Within ISKCON” (published in 1999 by the Hungarian BI.) It is interesting to see how important it is for us to properly respect all devotees, and yet to respect some special devotees specially. It is not because their hunger for honor demands it, but because learning such manners is imperative for us to interact properly in spiritual society.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 13.08.2010 @ 22:42
What a prayer to Prabhupada will do …
The power of prayer is amazing. Especially the powerful prayers of pure devotees.
When I think of the pastime of Lord Advaita praying for the advent of Lord Caitanya, I am struck with this sense of wonder.
Lord Advaita is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, Maha Vishnu (or Sada-Siva). He is fully capable of killing all demons, establishing dharma, protecting devotees, as so many incarnations have done in the past. Yet, instead of doing so Himself, He prayed for the advent of the Most Merciful, Golden Avatar, who displayed His unprecedented pastime of descending in the mood of His beloved Srimati Radharani.
We ourselves could pray for the power to be exceptionally potent preachers, to become famous and have many followers and convey the pure message of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam throughout the world without ever becoming contaminated by false prestige.
However, I prefer to follow the mood of Lord Advaita and pray to stay in the association and service of others who are empowered preachers of the holy names, and to taste pure bhakti while discharging my duty by assisting such great souls in their service of properly glorifying the books of Srila Prabhupada.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 27.07.2010 @ 21:34
It is nice to see that a nine-year-old from any school can produce such a well-written and thoughtful article.
“From the mouths of babes”, they say. We really do have to pay attention to Brajasundari’s message and develop better educational opportunities for the children in and around our communities.
In our recent Monthly Sankirtan Festival in San Jose, we were thinking, “How are we going to get 300 devotees to go out on book distribution?” Well, guess what? Of the 556 who ended up going out, 51 or them were kids, from infants to 16-year-olds. The kids’ party ended up distributing over 1,000 books.
These are special kids and they deserve to be educated in the association of devotees. We should not let our past failures in providing gurukula training sour us from the mission of getting it right.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 23.07.2010 @ 19:35
The Multilevel Marketplace of the Holy Name
I should have sent in a photo with this article. A photo of Bhaktivinoda Thakur would have worked nicely, because of the connection between the title “Marketplace of the Holy Name” and the fact that these record-breaking numbers of devotees going out on book distribution have been on the summer Monthly Sankirtan Festivals in honor of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s Disappearance Day.
Of course a photo of Vaisesika Prabhu should also be included. His innovations in the field of book distribution, such as the principles of “a lot of people each doing a little bit” and “decentralization” discussed in the interview are really transforming and revitalizing the way Srila Prabhupada’s books are being distributed.
Multi-level marketing is a very appropriate comparison, when you consider: All of the 10,000 books distributed by ISV last month, or practically all anyway, would not have been distributed had Vaisesika not created and inspired a network of distributors.
The old model of making heroes out of individuals who had big scores did not take into account the bigger scores that are generated by inspiring and training whole “downstream” channels of distribution, enabling ever expanding numbers of people to experience the joy of pleasing Srila Prabhupada through distributing his books.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 21.07.2010 @ 22:09
Motel Gita Program Makes History
It is really nice to see some TV coverage for this great project. Nowadays if you are not on television it is as if you do not exist.
Yesterday at the Bhaktivinoda Thakur disappearance festival, Milan Doshi reminded me that our goal was 1 million books in 10 years, not in 5 years. I guess I just inadvertently shortened by half the time we have to make our goal, but I really do think it is doable by July 2015, with Lord Caitanya’s grace.
For the ISV Monthly Sankirtan Festival in honor of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, our goal was to deploy 300 distributors and to distribute 7000 books. When the scores were announced yesterday evening, we were astonished to learn that over 10,000 books were distributed by a record-smashing 556 distributors!
Motel Gita can deploy a team of just 3 or 4 devotees at each temple to call on and service accounts in the nearby area. We not only have to get the owners to stock their hotels and motels with Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gitas, but to keep them stocked. Guests do take the books away, often with permission, as noted in the TV spot. It is important to maintain these good relationships with the hotel and motel owners, because this is a tremendous opportunity to expose millions of travelers each year to Srila Prabhupada’s descriptions of the names, forms, qualities, teachings and pastimes of Lord Krishna.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 12.07.2010 @ 16:45
It seems the trend featuring vampires in literature, cinema and TV has continued to multiply and grow to cult-like status, especially among children and young people. Some of these works are very cleverly conceived, full of humor and social commentary and the work of talented actors, writers, directors.
I sometimes wonder, though, whether the popularity of the genre (and the inspiration of the writers and artists) comes from raksasas and other fearsome creatures who occupy subtle planes of existence.
Sometimes evangelical Christians decry the supernatural influence of occult forces, witchcraft and satanism in common cultural icons, and elites with higher education scoff at them and look down their noses at such superstition and ignorance. Meanwhile, heavy metal music and other aspects of teen culture openly indulge in satanic and witchcraft themes.
The work of Sadaputa Prabhu drawing comparisons between UFO testimonies and literary depiction of various magical, “mythical” creatures raises similar ideas. We know as devotees that various races of demons, raksasas, bhutas, etc. exist, and there are ongoing competitions between the Godly or angelic realms and the forces of darkness. It is hard to ignore the suspicion that these various daivic and asuric beings are vying for attention within human minds and inspiring our creative writers and other artists in their depictions of the supernatural.
We could analyze the vampire trend as just a style or fashion. (In one episode of “South Park”, a vampire epidemic at the school was quelled when the Goth kids, tired of being mistaken for “Vamps”, destroyed the vampires “lair”, which turned out to be the Hot Topic trendy clothing store at the mall.) But even so, we would need to analyze further what is so fascinating about pale skin, pink eyes, fangs, nocturnalism.
Sure, one might say it is nothing more than the lure of forbidden love, of mysterious creatures who cast a spell and overcome our civilized resistance with dark, animal-magnetic forces, the sexual metaphor of the breaking of skin and the oozing of bodily fluids. But that answer raises deeper questions regarding whether those very features of our psycho-sexuality are themselves aspects of our lower selves, the parts of us more influenced by the darker, less sattvik forces.
Christians are also afraid of Hare Krishna, which appears to them as some occult religion. They may yet see that it is really Godly and Lord Caitanya dispels all darkness.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 19.07.2010 @ 02:07
Very nice article. Bravo, Ananta Ram!
(That’s all I wanted to say, but now I have to type 100 characters so the submit button will not be disabled)
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 29.06.2010 @ 01:44
How Prabhupada took Londonisvara
Yes, Pusta-Krishna Prabhu, of course we should distribute Krishna consciousness indiscriminately, to whomever will take it.
Often those who are not sufficiently “materially exhausted” are too proud or too attached to take it seriously.
And yes, in the past “hippies were our best customers”, and a larger cross-section of our generation were hippies.
One thing though: in the past we were sometimes so indiscriminate about who we welcomed into our community (and in those days we lived together and slept and bathed in the same buildings) that we ended up getting more than our share of so-called “lazies and crazies” and criminals.
IMHO (and as always I may be totally wrong), our old model of “moving everyone in” to an alternate society with our own economy and government, a world unto itself, was an ill-conceived strategy, at least for carrying out the long-range and deeply transformative mission we have been assigned. It may have been a “hippie commune” ideal that crashed into the reality of real varnasrama civilization.
It is usually easier to convince homeless people, people with emotional and mental problems who cannot fit in anywhere else or provide for their own economic needs, to “move in” with us.
And naturally, those who move in become purified and eventually become somewhat faithful devotees (although as Srila Prabhupada points out in the Purport to 9.3, “some people come and apply themselves to Krsna consciousness with some hidden motive, and as soon as they are economically a little well situated they give up this process and take to their old ways again.”)
But in the long run it is a great drain on energy and our own psychic equilibrium to have to live with too many people with backgrounds in mental hospitals and corrections institutions (as many homeless people are). As a matter of strategic planning and “triage,” I think we should have a more carefully considered policy regarding who can actually stay in a temple asram, and for how long and under what terms.
Not everyone is cut out to be a monastic or a brahmana. Permanent temple life, at least in urban preaching temples, should be reserved for those who really have a brahminical vocation, IMHO. Such sattvic, tolerant devotees can live happily together in peaceful ashrams. Bringing in too many “differently qualified”, special needs devotees actually sometimes drives our better devotees away.
I do believe in temporary, intensive live-in training for qualified students.
Comment Posted By Akruranatha On 05.07.2010 @ 02:43
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