How should we deal with ex-ISKCON devotees who blaspheme ISKCON?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
question how do we deal with ex-ISKCON devotees who now blaspheme ISKCON answer it all depends on who those devotees are what our relation with them is and what exactly they are saying lets take each of these points one by one firstly lets take the last point we tend the point of blaspheming we tend to use the word blaspheme very loosely its not that anybody who is criticizing anything about ISKCON is blasphemy blasphemy is generally something which is done with a very envious or malicious mentality to drag down something divine now it is possible that some devotees have been hurt by something because of whatever they experienced in ISKCON and we as ISKCON devotees do have the humility to acknowledge that mistakes have been made in the past ISKCON is a young movement and the transition after Srila Prabhupada departed from a movement with a very spiritually advanced and elderly head very spiritually advanced very mature, very loving head to a younger generation that was barely in the 20s 30s who had to take up leadership positions and basically ISKCON was a movement that was transplanted from India to America and then brought back by Americans to India so often because of the wide cultural variations between its various members, sometimes some principles were insensitively applied so many devotees have been hurt by some of the decisions that were taken and if some devotees have become alienated because of this and because of that they have left and because of that they are criticizing that is not to be considered as blasphemy so there are some devotees within ISKCON within ISKCON also may criticize ISKCON and even we don’t necessarily consider it as blasphemy they may have the desire of improving ISKCON but there are definitely devotees who just consider who just think that there is no good within ISKCON and they think that they just make criticizing an end in itself now it’s difficult for us, we don’t need to go through all the criticism to try to understand what is the intent of a particular person my point is that we just shouldn’t use the word blaspheme too loosely firstly so it may be that some person may just be hurt and the criticism is more an expression of the hurt heart which wants attention and if some senior devotees give attention, they give some love and care and do whatever is possible to rectify the past wrong then often those devotees may come back and that is also a possibility that we will there and we will not consider it if we just get too obsessed with the word blasphemy, the idea of blasphemy so now secondly who those devotees are is very important if they are in relation to us, if they are very senior or whenever they were in ISKCON, they were very senior elderly then it’s not likely that we can influence them much rather by trying, associating with them or hearing from them, we may get unduly influenced now it is not that our faith is so fragile and tender that we can’t hear, we just hear some criticism and get spoiled that is not the point, the point is that we have minimum time we have very, our lives are so fast our minds are so distracted and we actually, it is true also that our faith is capable of getting wounded quickly so we need to associate with those devotees to strengthen our faith and strengthening selecting our association doesn’t mean blinding ourselves to the problems that may be there in ISKCON selecting our association primarily means that we know there are different places, ISKCON is an international organization and certain places may be having certain problems but whatever problems are present, irrespective of that, the process of Krishna consciousness is eternal and it is eternally potent and if we practice it we will become purified, thousands of people have practiced it and they have become purified so we have come here for a particular purpose and if we associate with a group of devotees who are seriously practicing Krishna consciousness and are getting purified, we will also get purified by that and it is not that those devotees who have left the movement we are likely to help bring them back especially if they are much senior to us, then they are not likely to listen to us so that means I am talking primarily about say some internet sites or something like that where there is a lot of criticism of ISKCON it’s best not to browse in those sites because as I said let’s focus our energies and if somehow some of this blasphemy comes to us, now I am talking about people who are actually criticizing with a malicious intention then we can clarify from some of the devotees to get the issues resolved to get the doubts clarified now third would be another important possibility might be some devotee who is who is or has been our friend and that devotee has now gone away from Krishna so then in that case we need to see how best to continue the relationship it’s not necessary that just because a devotee is no longer within the institutional boundaries of ISKCON that means we have to snap our friendship with them no it may well be that our friendship may be that person that devotee’s connection with Krishna so here I am equating in a simplistic sense somewhat equating connection with Krishna with connection with ISKCON there are possibility that somebody may continue practicing Krishna Consciousness in some way without a connection with ISKCON so that possibility is not denied but the point is that associating with sincere devotees is far better than struggling to practice alone so now if that person devotee who was a friend of ours and whom we may be in some position to influence although not now then we can maintain some relationship with that devotee and we can as much as possible if that ex-devotee is not ready to talk anything about Krishna Consciousness without bringing a lot of criticism then we can come to some kind of agreement for disagreement we agree to disagree and we keep our friendship on other grounds we don’t have to have a very close friendship because if we are serious devotees then we may find it difficult to relate with someone who has now stopped practicing Krishna Consciousness but we don’t have to necessarily become hard hearted or ultra judgmental or anything like that we can maintain some relationship and not let that relationship degenerate into a forum of argumentation unnecessarily over a period of time if we maintain the relationship if people see we are not just unidimensional devotees they are also human beings and we have a human relationship at a human level we care for them and then gradually that may help them to come back to Krishna but we have to be first and foremost careful about what is the effect on our faith because if somebody is speaking negatively about his God we best keep a distance from them and pray for them from a distance and Krishna’s prayers those prayers will also contribute and Krishna will eventually reclaim whoever has gone away from him but when that will happen we can’t say and whether we can be a part of Krishna’s plan to help them come back that we shouldn’t assume that we are strong enough or that person is flexible enough to be persuaded we should wait and watch make sure that we protect our devotion first and while protecting our devotion if we can help others that is good also but first and foremost without becoming judgmental to someone who has left we need to pray for them and where it is practical for us where it is realistic that we will be able to help then we can offer some help by keeping a basic human relationship and if that person becomes a little bit more open then either we can try to clarify the doubts or take that person to some other senior devotee get in touch get that devotee to some senior devotee who may be able to clarify the doubts and that way we can help that devotee to come back now in general having a ultra judgmental attitude is a very strong way of alienating the devotee so sometimes you may say I am giving like a surgeon cutting doing a surgery with a knife but you know somebody has fallen in we tell somebody you have fallen in maya that is one of the strongest ways of alienating a person because quite often when people leave a movement what they want to see is that how those people respond to this respond and they say still we have a human level of caring then that itself can attract them back over a period of time so don’t be judgmental and try to help wherever it is possible but first make sure that our own devotion is not adversely affected in trying to help someone whose devotion has been adversely affected thank you Hare Krishna