Parividha Das: My godsister Uma Devi Dasi recently departed due to blood cancer. She worked as a psycho-therapist. I have never met her, but I wanted to share her answer to a question my godbrother Gaura das asked her:
You asked ” . . . what is your advice
to depressed or disgruntled devotees ? . . . ”
as a Prahbupada disciple and psychotherapist . . .
to . . . ISKCON devotees . . . or ‘ex ‘ISKCON devotees
. . . devotees of any identification . . .
to ISKCON leaders . . . or even to ‘ex ‘ISKON leaders
or children/disciples of all the above . . .
or even so . . . to . . . my ‘other’ clients
( who do not know that they are devotees yet )
even to the ones who . . . did . . .
or feel like killing them selves . . .
( . . . even the ones who turned to murder
as the means to be killed . . . )
(( of coursed i have my own story . . .
lets just say . . . i have first hand insight
to/from . . . all sides . . . ))
. . . my realisation is . . .
. . .
RESPONSIBILITY ALWAYS LAYS WITH THE INDIVIDUAL .
i was lucky . . .
to be able to come to this conclusion . . .
if we . . . come/accept . . . to anything . . .
( including therapy . . .
or Sree Krishna . . . especially Him 📷 )
. . . with the expectation
to be freed from this freedom
. . . to self responsibility . . .
( like . . . ‘ hallelujah . . . i have been touched . . . ‘ )
we will be . . . inevitable be disappointed . . .
. . . even our hero and Krsnas intimate . . . Arjuna . . .
even after . . . BG 18.73 . . .
. . . ‘ still ‘ . . . had to fight . . .
the Battle of Kurukṣetra . . .
( and even . . . look at their . . . end later
. . . hhmm . . . )
. . . i came to the association of devotees . . .
for . . . Knowledge of karma . . .
and the process to freedom . . .
luckily no one promised me falsely
liberation from the responsibility of freedom . . .
( lucky . . . time place and circumstances )
. . . even to SrilaPrabhupadas times . . .
there was abuse in gurukula Texas . . .
and all the tendency of new vrindavan . . .
. . . all this was always with us . . .
it is IN us . . .
and it always was . . .
and will be . . .
. . . our very personal responsibility
of our freedom to love . . .
uma dd