[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: Hare Krishna

Don Thompson <donthomp@rahul.net> wrote:
>A friend's 20 year old son is considering joining the Hare Krishna Society.
>Anyone wish to comment on the wisdom of this decision?
>

A very wise decision. He should feel proud of himself for finding an authentic movement under the Vedic tradtion through which to ad=
vance spiritually. The vast majority of people in this inauspicious age are easily misled by so many cheaters who pose themselves as=
 great spiritual leaders. 

Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON (known popularly as the Hare Krishna movement) said that the difference between a genuine gu=
ru and a fake is that a genuine guru teaches one how to love and know God, where as a fake guru often tries to pose himself as God, =
or teaches that everyone is God. Furthermore, a genuine guru is not someone who simply makes up his own philosophy. Rather, he comes=
 in a line of disciplic succession of spiritual masters, all of whom transmit the knowledge they have received without alteration or=
 deletion. Presently, many religions suffer because the lines through which their teachings have been passed down have been broken. =
The result in such cases is their scriptures are interpreted by unqualified men with nonspiritual motivations. 

In the case of Iskcon, the teachings have been passed down from spiritual master to student for centuries, and the result is that th=
e basic message of the scriptures has been preserved over time. Srila Prabhupada, while he was on this planet, would never take cred=
it for his accomplishments. Rather, he would say that his good deeds and qualities were only the result of his association with his =
spiritual master, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Gosvami. Such is the quality of a true spiritual master. He never prese=
nts himself as God. Nor does he even present himself as an advanced devotee. He simply thinks of himself as a servant of God, and a =
servant of his beloved spiritual master. 

Today, many of Srila Prabhupada's disciples have taken over the job of guiding Iskcon in his absence, accepting disciples and traini=
ng them in the venerated Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition of Vedanta. This tradition stresses above all that we are the devotees of Krishn=
a, God, and that all of our talents and posessions should be utilized in His service. Devotees do not have to give up anything other=
 than sin and suffering, as well as the mentality of using everything for their own sense gratification. Specifically, this means:

1) no meat, fish, or eggs
2) no illicit sex 
3) no intoxication 
4) no gambling

Often you will see so-called spiritual leaders who take disciples without insisting that they following these principles. But in ord=
er to become a religious person, one must first behave like a human. So these principles are meant to bring us to the civilized plat=
form of humanity. Without following these, we can't even become detached from the bodily conception of life, what to speak of unders=
tanding God. 

This Krishna-conscious movement is not Hindu. Nor does it fall under the designation of any mundane sect or religion. It is entirely=
 transcedental to such designations, as it is concerned with something universal, namely our spiritual identity as the devotees of t=
he Lord. We have seen that people of widely varying faiths and cultures have become attracted to Krishna-consciousness because they =
recognize its teachings to be nonsectarian and nonmaterial.

So the conclusion is that anyone who has been fortunate enough to come into contact with Iskcon will very likely make a lot of spiri=
tual advancement. 

Hare Krishna,

-- Krishna Susarla



-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Moderator: Ajay Shah Submissions: srh@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu
Administrivia: srh-request@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu 
Archives: http://rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu:8080/soc_hindu_home.html (Soon!)
Advertise with us!
This site is part of Dharma Universe LLC websites.
Copyrighted 2009-2015, Dharma Universe.