​If senior devotees have misconceptions about us, is clarifying them disrespectful?

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Transcript

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you will not be able to overcome it.
So, should we clarify with senior devotees if they have certain perceptions of us and if they are not correct? Because if we don’t clarify, they will have the wrong perception. But if we clarify and feel that they are seniors, how can I tell them that what they think is not right and I am right? See, just because somebody is senior does not mean that they are omniscient. They are more mature, they are more advanced, but they are also limited beings.
Even Sri Prabhupada never acted omniscient. He acted based on information. And sometimes, if he was given wrong information, then somebody else clarified and gave the right information.
So, at that time, he appreciated. At one time, some devotees, when they would do book distribution, they used to earlier do distribution in dhoti kurta. But then they said that people find the dhoti kurta very weird.
So, can we wear shirt, pant and go? Or the general clothes that people wear in the western world. Prabhupada said, fine. And then they started doing that.
And actually, they could approach more people and they could distribute more books. And then, one devotee reported to Prabhupada that, Oh, you know, the devotees are relapsing back to their hippie ways. And when Prabhupada heard that, then stop this, he said.
From now onwards, we should just wear dhoti kurta and go out and distribute books. So, dhoti kurta, saree, whatever. So, now, then when Prabhupada sent this, at that time, another devotee wrote to Prabhupada.
And he actually said, Prabhupada, you know, it’s not that we are relapsing back to the hippie ways. We are actually wearing respectable clothes. Shirt, tie or whatever.
And if we start wearing only dhoti kurta, actually many people will feel that these are cult members and they will keep a distance from us. Our book distribution will go down almost by 50-60%. So, Prabhupada said, ok.
If you are not relapsing back to the hippie ways, if you are wearing respectable clothes, then that is fine. So, even so, Prabhupada did not claim omniscience. He acted based on the information that he was given.
So, in that sense, by providing senior devotees the right information, we help them to guide us better. So, it is not that when we give them some information which is different from the information they have got, it is not that we are challenging their authority. We are just giving them the proper picture so that they can take the right action.
So, if there is some misperception, it is good to clarify. At the same time, the clarification can be done in a respectful way where, say, I’ll just give an extreme example. So, this one devotee I just met, a senior Prabhupada disciple, he had gone to a temple.
And he said that, he was giving a class where he said how all the Shrutis, Smritis, all of them talk about how Krishna is God. All of them talk about Bhakti. And then he said Bhagavad Gita is a Smriti and in that also Bhakti is talked about.
So, after the class, one devotee got up and he said that what you spoke was wrong. Bhagavad Gita is not a Smriti. It is a Shruti.
Because whatever is spoken by God is Shruti. Okay, next question. Now, actually, this is a complex subject.
There is technical classification. In terms of technical classification, the Upanishads are Smriti. The Upanishads are Shruti.
And the Bhagavad Gita being a part of the Mahabharata is a Smriti. But within a Smriti, because it is spoken by Krishna, it can be called a Shruti. So, there is technical classification and there is essential principle.
In terms of technical classification, it is Smriti. Baldev Vidyabhushan in the Govinda Bhashya commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, when he quotes Shrutis, he does not quote Bhagavad Gita. He quotes the Upanishads.
And when he is quoting the Bhagavad Gita, he is saying, Smriti says like this. So, in technical classification, it is a Smriti. In essential conclusion, essential principle, it is a Shruti.
So, there is no need to get caught in this complexity. But the point is, if somebody is having that, oh, you are wrong. Then, they are not really interested in learning.
They are interested simply in imposing their views. So, at that time, it is not of much use. So, clarification should not be done in the sense that you are wrong and I am right.
You can say, Prabhuji, you have had this information, but I would like to tell you this also. You can do it humbly in a clarificatory way, then things can be resolved. And it is actually a service to the senior devotees to give them the proper information by which they can do their service properly.
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?