Why does ISKCON practice double standards by allowing donors, not others, to do deity abhisheka on festivals?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so why is there double standard creativity worship in ISKCON just like in Abhishek, just like in Manish one can do Abhishek double standard is a very harsh word for this, firstly the principle is as all people servant to me, Krishna says I reward accordingly so there are different people who have different kinds of resources and whatever resources they have, they can offer to Krishna and by offering those resources they can get reciprocation from Krishna so if some people by their past karma, by their present situation, they have more financial resources and they offer those resources to Krishna and that is one step they take towards Krishna and Krishna takes a step towards them, within the practice of bhakti, there is the external form of devotional service and there is the internal intention of devotional service the internal intention of devotional service, that is what is primarily important and the external form of devotional service is also important but that is not what is important if you consider the external form then it is not just money, now they could say there are so So many activities are different discrimination. Say if you consider that there are some devotees who are very good speakers.
There may be other devotees they may just not be able to speak well. Now there may be those devotees who can speak well. Their speaking ability may just be because of their past karma.
They may not be very devoted to Krishna. But they may get more opportunities to speak simply because they are able to speak well. Somebody may be able to sing very nicely.
And now somebody else is there singing maybe it’s a singing only suited for one’s own bathroom. Maybe like that. So even when it is like that now if in a public forum singing is to be done at that time the devotee who sings who nicely they will be given the opportunity.
So when they are given the opportunity to sing we need to know that the certain facilities may be given according to certain abilities or certain circumstances certain resources but the opportunity there is a facility and there is an opportunity. We should not equate the two. The opportunity for advancing is actually available for everyone.
So for example I am giving class right now and say you are here. Now it may well be if I am giving class and I am thinking see I am so clever I can answer all questions. Then by speaking this actually by being proud like this I will not move close to Krishna.
But you by hearing the class and learning the principles so by hearing the same class you may go closer to Krishna more than what I am going closer to Krishna. So the facility in one sense that speaker has may seem more prominent, more attractive, more prestigious than the facility that the hearer has. And that facility is often determined by circumstances.
But the opportunity for devotional advancement depends primarily on one’s own desire one’s own intention. So yes somebody who offers money might be able to do Abhishek but it is not that they were able to do Abhishek they are necessarily going to make more advancement than somebody else who is just watching the Abhishek from a distance. So it is the advancement depends on the intention with which one is trying to serve Krishna.
And that is what we should focus on. Even Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that he gives this knowledge evam parampara praptam imam rajyam shivam ito that he gives this knowledge to the saintly kings. Krishna doesn’t say that he doesn’t give this knowledge to Vaishyas or Shudras but the fact is that kings have influence in society.
So if the kings become spiritual then they can spiritualize the whole society. So Krishna is not following double standards when he says that I give knowledge to the saintly kings. No, through them that knowledge can be efficiently disseminated.
So similarly those people are kings because they have done certain karma in the past because of which they have the position of being kings. And that position in the material world needs to be acknowledged and that position needs to be utilized in the practice of bhakti. But at the same time it is not necessary that the king is necessarily going to make more advancement than an ordinary citizen.
The ordinary citizen may make more spiritual advancement if they have the intention of serving Krishna in a more humble and pure way. So yes, depending on resources, depending on abilities, depending on circumstances, different devotees may get different forms of devotional service to practice. And if we obsess too much over the forms then we will always feel that I am missing out, I am missing out, I am missing out.
But if we focus on the intent, the essential principle in bhakti is that the form is meant to assist us in purifying our intent. अभ्यास योगे नित्तो मा इच्छा तुम दनिजागु So when you practice bhakti by which you will get इच्छा for me, the attraction for me. So whatever situation we are in, if we strive to develop our attraction for Krishna from that situation, then we will develop an attraction for Krishna.
So Krishna is भावग्राहि and if we focus on that principle that Krishna looks at the emotion of my heart and he appreciates that emotion then even if we see there is apparently some difference in the facility offered with the practice of bhakti we will not get too caught in that facility. Rather we focus on the opportunity to remember Krishna and move closer to him. Does it answer your question? So we will stop here.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful questions. And whatever questions are remaining, I have my website www.thespiritualscientist.com So there I will try to answer in the next few days. If you subscribe on the daily feed, you might get the answers in your email directly.
Otherwise, of course, there are Vaishnavas here. You can consult them and you can have the question and answer. Maybe tomorrow after.
Do you have question and answer tomorrow? I can have a big class and you can have question and answer. So what we could do is, tomorrow morning I will speak briefly in the Bhagavatam and then we can continue the question and answer tomorrow. Is that ok?