A recent post by my old friend and godbrother, Navajauvana dasa, entitled “Maws, Morons & Oxymorons”, has caught my undivided attention and deserves the attention of the general body of devotees. In it, the following comment sums up a long standing and oft-repeated request by myself and others:
Let them (the GBC body) call a general meeting of all devotees, including and especially all godbrothers and godsisters who left Iskcon but still honor and worship Srila Prabhupada, and together find some way to deconstruct the legal, corporate, religious labyrinth they have concocted and reconnect all sincere devotees to the original purpose Srila Prabhupada had in his pure heart when he brought Krishna consciousness from Vrindavan to a Second Avenue storefront.
What I recommended is for all of us to come together in Mayapura and put all we own on the table for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. This means our abilities, talents, money, disciples, followers, secret assets and, above all, truth. This will be the demonstrable proof that we love Prabhupada. This is the only truth that will unite us. This will sort out the pretentious from the real. The time is long overdue. We’ve had enough of spin and propaganda. Too many of us have experienced the truth up close and personal. For us, propaganda will not work. It is not possible to please Prabhupada by external endeavors, by bloated multi-million dollar projects and by writing and mouthing a whitewashed version of ISKCON history. Contemporary solutions depend to a large degree on an honest accounting of the past, which offers plenty of lessons for those willing to listen. The point is, do we want to become independently thoughtful devotees as per Prabhupada’s clear desire or do we want to cop out in the lazy mood of see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil and risk a birth in Vrindavan as the proverbial monkeys?
Sri Radha Govinda, Amsterdam NL
Sri Radha Govinda, Amsterdam NL (Personal Deities)
1 comment:
Ananda,
well, thanks for adding your voice to my little piece. but we both know that such a Mayapur meeting will never happen. it's a fantasy, for all the reasons i gave in my post. but it's a nice fantasy, one that Srila Prabhupada would love to see.
the reality though, is that we, the godbrothers and sisters who left Iskcon, are by the arrangement of destiny, "on our own." What that means is that we each have an opportunity to do what we wish, including to surrender to Prabhupada and the lord in our heart, and do what THEY inspire us to do. That is our real challenge and our only hope. The bishops and cardinals who won their positions in the hierarchy don't have that opportunity because they invested in the external show. So from that angle of vision, we have a better chance to get the real thing if we choose it.
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