The thing about Prabhupada was his complete non judgmental approach to this world he came to. He saw a lot in the eighty years he was here. The imperial delusion, duplicity and connivery of the British in India. The gradual alienation of the Hindus and Muslims under that colonial rule. The decline of vedic culture and dharma. The apotheosis of Gandhi to a mahatma, Bhagavad-gita notwithstanding, and this in a period when he wrote a full commentary on that sublime book. He lived through the two world wars marked by unspeakable acts on all sides. In my experience with him no one better understood this place as the universal madhouse it actually is. Why else did he come to America, the very capital of the madhouse?
As a substitute for good company I spend a lot of time surfing alternative sites on the net. I try not to take sides: Israelis and Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, capitalists and socialists, obscenely rich and abject poor, irresponsible, criminal leaders of all stripes and in all fields — politics, art, education, health care, business, media, entertainment. The only way to keep my sanity is to remind myself of their madness. “God forgive them for they do not know what they do.”
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