Why do ISKCON Leaders share platform with impersonalists ?

I saw many times they shared platform with big spritual charismatic leaders of India

what will it help in , will it not give wrong impression to devotees in ISKCON ?

Transcript

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platform with impersonalist I saw many times but they share platform with big spiritual charismatic leaders of India what would help in will it not give a wrong impression to answer our acharyas have not taught us to teach impersonalists like untouchables have they went to many conferences for example there’s a famous sadhu samaj meeting in Mumbai where he was speaking and other impersonalists were speaking and what is to be avoided is close intimate association with them so Prabhupada even told that based on the Vedic culture that if we a impersonal sanyasi we have to offer him obeisances so what is important is that we don’t get intellectually influenced by their ideas or we don’t get emotionally impressed by their by their sentimental appeal or something like that but actually speaking if there is a there is a pan-religious meeting where there are people from different backgrounds and denominations within the Vedic tradition coming then if we are invited and if the forum is appropriate there is in principle nothing wrong in devotee ISKCON devotee leaders going for such programs we need to understand that we live in a multicultural world and in a multicultural world we have to be aware of the fact that there are various schools of thought and we cannot just imagine other schools of thought out of existence so if there is an appropriate forum there is absolutely nothing wrong in going for such programs now what about the wrong impression being conveyed to devotees actually the very idea of such a question coming up indicates that there is a wrong impression among devotees that needs to be corrected we have to understand that there is culture and there is philosophy and the philosophical differences should not make us lose sight of basic human culture what to speak of spiritual culture when Srila Prabhupada was staying in America in the early days he was staying at the Mishra yoga studio and this person at whose place Prabhupada was staying he used to teach yoga which was filled with impersonalist ideas and out of necessity Srila Prabhupada had to stay there but when he was when he was staying there at that time he was very courteous with him and Prabhupada would in fact cook for him and this Mishra said that actually if Prabhupada had not been there I would have I was so unregulated in my eating I was so busy in other things and otherwise so unregulated so it is Prabhupada who brought regulation in my life so Prabhupada would cook for him feed him and of course they would have philosophical discussions and disagreements eventually Srila Prabhupada went to his own place because he wanted to preach Krishna consciousness more freely but the point is Srila Prabhupada when it was necessary lived with him and also cooked for him even when sometimes some spiritual impersonalist spiritual leaders would come to meet Srila Prabhupada he was very courteous with them he would offer them prasad talk with them so philosophically we may have differences but culturally we need to follow the culture and we need to respect even impersonalists firstly as fellow human beings and secondly as fellow transcendentalists who may also have to some extent especially if they’re sannyasis they have they have renounced the worldly pleasures so there’s absolutely no need to treat impersonalists as untouchables now what can can be done for a specific service should not be done indiscriminately for the sake of casual information hunting or titillation that means it is not that if we know some people are from an impersonalist background and they’re not just impersonalist they’re aggressive impersonalists aggressive impersonalist means they propagate their impersonalist ideas and try to impose them on us then we may have to categorize them among the envious and we may have to keep a distance away from them so on an average if devotees know some acquaintances who are aggressively impersonalistic we need to keep a distance from them but if there are specific forums where such a where leaders from different spiritual organizations are coming and we have to meet them and discuss and maybe speak on some topic then that is perfectly okay for example in future if the government wants to make say a resolution on abortion say should we legalize homosexuality or should we what should we do about abortion or whatever so now if they want the if they want the Hindu perspective we can argue that Krishna consciousness is not Hindu but then certainly nobody is going to consider Krishna consciousness to be Muslim or Christian just as Vrindavan is in the spiritual world but if we want to put place it somewhere in the geography of India geography of the world then we have to put in India we can’t put it in Pakistan or China similarly Krishna consciousness it’s transcendental but if we want if for functional purposes it needs to be placed on the religious map of the world then it has to be placed in Hinduism so tomorrow if somebody wants a opinion on some in a democratic setup or in a multicultural setup if say the government or the media wants a representative wants some opinion about certain issue then whom will they come to nobody will be interested in the opinion of one particular organization that is there somewhere in the world even if that is a big organization so what will be they’ll be interested in is if it represents the interest and the beliefs of a particular community of people so if that happens then they may consider the views of that organization just like in Britain the Anglican Church view are considered quite important by the British media and the British government similarly say the Catholic Church views are considered important very place in place of the Catholic Catholicism is the majority religion of the people so now in future if the government wants some stand the media wants some stand then whom will they come to they will come to those who are considered to be prominent Hindu leaders and if ISKCON devotees don’t make themselves ISKCON leaders, ISKCON devotees don’t make themselves visibly present in the religious dialogues of the day then they will never get such forums where we can address a larger gathering than what we can address through the people who come specifically to ISKCON’s outreach avenues whether they read ISKCON books come to ISKCON temples or visit ISKCON websites so certainly those who there will be many who will be directly interested in coming to ISKCON’s outreach programs but there will be a far far greater number who will not be interested in that so if devotees don’t go for such programs then basically we by default hand over Hinduism to impersonalists and that is what has happened largely in the academia for the last hundred years before Srila Prabhupada went to America Hinduism was equated with impersonalism because practically all the spiritual leaders who went before him were impersonalists and even in India most people today have idea that what is the goal of life it is to merge in there some kind of believing Hindus the idea it’s a merge in God so now certainly we want to this is a misconception and we need to counter it but the way to counter it is by in some places we directly present the truth in other places we have to engage in a dialogue where where the alternative thoughts within Hinduism are also brought out so now we are not talking here about forums where we can present Christian consciousness the absolute truth I’ll give an example to illustrate what I mean when Stephen Hawking wrote the book called the Grand Design at that time the Times of India decided to do a story about that and they came to various they said they took the opinions of several scientists and then they came to religious communities so now then they came to for finding out about the Hindu views they came to ISKCON and ISKCON leaders in Mumbai directed them to me because I was interested in I have some experience in scientific presentations so then I gave a brief response explaining how his ideas are incomplete and inadequate and that was published in the Times of India so there was some Muslim the archbishops and the archbishop of Mumbai for the Christianity and then within Hindus it was ISKCON and the understanding was given over there so I explained how the idea that Stephen Hawking says that the design is grand because it doesn’t need a designer the laws are adequate so then I wanted yes but the laws themselves need an explanation the laws are they transcendental beings who exist beyond the creation we always see that laws require a lawmaker so anyway the point I was making is if now if a scientist makes a controversial claim then how many how much will Times of India be interested really and what ISKCON has to say about it well maybe in future if devotees share Krishna consciousness vigorously and if Krishna consciousness becomes a majority or a significant minority then it’s quite likely but till then they will be interested more in Hindu views and if ISKCON doesn’t present itself within the cultural dialogue that goes on today in the name of Hinduism that ISKCON will never be able to get its voice out and then what will happen is by not participating such programs we will let impersonals dominate such programs because with all due respect to all the other Vaishnav sampradaya that are there very few of them are doing vigorous outreach and practically none of them are doing contemporary outreach some of them may do some kind of outreach among their own people and they will be doing outreach through traditional saptahas and that sort of things paranas and that sort of things but contemporary outreach where little to the media is concerned very few are doing that so ISKCON is probably among the very few if not the only organization which is presenting the personal personalism Vaishnavism so if we don’t enter into the cultural dialogue then how will people come to know that there is personalism within Hinduism also so by not entering into the dialogue we let the general mass of people those people who don’t directly connect with ISKCON labor into the misconception that Hinduism is equated with impersonalism and that is a very unfortunate and unnecessary misconception for us as devotees to allow people to labor on so now when we go for such programs here we cannot present things as the absolute truth these programs are meant primarily for a dialogue and presentation of multiple perspectives so at such times we can surely present our perspective with reason and scripture and if we do our presentation well intelligent people will very easily be able to see that this is what makes sense this is what it logically and scripturally sound so many other spiritual teachers with all due respects to them often resort to word jugglery and platitudes which sound good and feel good but which don’t really have much philosophical depth or substance to them so if we go within such forums and present ourselves intelligent people will easily be able to discern this is where the substance lies and then they will be able to become attracted to Krishna consciousness so we could approach this in two ways we could say that all impersonalists are like untouchables and we won’t mix with them and therefore we won’t be able to go to any programs where there that is there is a multicultural presentation and the audiences who are attracted to such kind of presentations will forever stay out of the reach of our moment and then they will stay forever bereaved of Krishna’s truly personalist message that is there in the Bhagavad Gita so if we have a elitist mentality where we treat all other spiritual leaders as untouchables then we will be treated as untouchables not because of any discrimination by the general mass of people yet but just because people do not come to know about us so on the other hand if we with the due caution and due respect engage in the cultural dialogue of the times and present the personalist conclusions of the Vedic scriptures with reason and scripture then surely people will become attracted at the very least people will come to know that personalism is not the only conclusion of the Vedic scriptures this is what many people think today that devotion is a very intellectually vibrant and experientially potent stream of thought that exists within Hinduism and within the Vedic culture and over a period of time as people get more and more exposed they will understand that this is not just a stream of thought but it is the conclusion of the various streams of thought within the Vedic culture and within what goes on in the name of Hinduism today so to summarize we should we should at a cultural level learn to respect everybody including impersonalists as Srila Prabhupada did with respect to those impersonalists who would come sometimes to meet him give them prasad and he cooked for Mishra also in America and then from a practical perspective when we are living in a multicultural world first we need to be acknowledged as at least one existing school of thought within a various schools of thought and then afterwards as we present ourselves with reason and scripture then we will be recognized to be a more prominent school of thought and then we will be recognized as a as the conclusive school of thought so we have to enter into the cultural dialogue that is going on today with respect to various cultures and beliefs and for that these sort of programs are essential so there are different strategies for outreach at different places and one strategy doesn’t have to be absolutized so where so in our our classes when people come to our movement directly we’ll give them the direct personal conclusion based on the scriptures and based on logic and that time we may directly refute impersonalism also but when we are going for programs where the interest is not in the absolute truth but in the knowledge of various cultural perspectives then at that time we’ll have to modify our presentation accordingly and then at least get a threshold within the cultural dialogue and then afterwards we can make our position more and more prominent and then get you Krishna the new place within the mainstream culture that he deserves those who are devoted to him they will Krishna will enter their hearts and rule their hearts with love but for other people at least Krishna should we should be as as devotees should be able to get Krishna to enter into their heads give them at least a place in their head this is a respectable school of thought with intelligent people so one very important example of this sort of program was the 500th anniversary of the taking of sannyas by lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so at that time which was in 2010 there were several organizations who get some inspiration from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and they all came together and they organized a big program and actually they did not have the infrastructure to go about sharing the message so then they infrastructure in terms of people who could they did not have adequate number of teachers who could go out and share the message so then when this this was a prop like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would and his followers would travel from Bengal to Puri so there was a journey from Puri to Bengal which was there and while going along different places which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had visited they would travel there and hold programs over there and this was a huge program and several organizations many of them which are from impersonalist backgrounds came together and contributed so they provided the finances the resources the infrastructure in many ways and then devotees went and spread chanted the holy name and spoke about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and it was a huge program in terms of an attendance the appeal and the overall success so by itself ISKCON would not have been able to arrange such a program at least not with so little resources as it was possible now because several organizations resources were combined together over here and then so the main organization of this program organizer of this program he invited his own Radhanath Maharaj to come and give talks regularly so at that time the GBC meetings were going on and then Radhanath Maharaj informed the GBC about the opportunity for such a program and he sought their permission and blessings and then the full GBC agreed so this is a forum where we can glorify Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and with full approval he went there for the programs so those who are leaders at the moment they are have to be very alert not to miss any opportunity to glorify Krishna and the Lord at large in his various manifestations so this program was a huge example a hugely successful example of the potential that exists if we can collaborate in intelligent ways as of now within the cultural landscape of India Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is in a sense greater than ISKCON, ISKCON as an institution from the absolute perspective also ISKCON as an institution Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God so naturally he’s greater but I’m talking in terms of the appeal and reach many people are attracted Chaitanya Mahaprabhu without necessarily identifying with ISKCON and certainly Krishna is much greater than ISKCON similarly Ram is much greater than ISKCON so if but unfortunately many of the people who know about Lord Chaitanya, Lord Krishna and Lord Ram they will be attracted to him these manifestations of God and they may even accept them as God but they may not have a proper philosophical understanding and we can give them the proper philosophical understanding so and by which actually we can elevate their consciousness so our goal is not just to spread one organization our goal is to raise the consciousness of people of all people and the organization is a means to is a for raising the consciousness of people it is if people want to seriously and sustainably raise their consciousness and organizing is indispensable but the mission we shouldn’t mistake that it is to spread the organization the mission is to raise the consciousness of people and sometimes by going beyond the boundaries of the organization we may be able to raise consciousness of people in far greater numbers than what would be otherwise possible thank you