Foundations Of Knowledge

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

BY: NARASIMHA DAS

 

Hare Krishna Learned Devotees,

Please accept my obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, the Real Acharya for this Age. 

I have longed warned of “One Trick Ponies” who harp only on issues related to iskcon mismanagement, particularly the initiations issue. We now have many devotees claiming to be authorities on this issue, yet from their practical examples and writings it would appear that they never had any intention of joining ISKCON or accepting initiation through the system ordained by Srila Prabhupada. Nor are they willing to cooperate or participate on any level in any sanga, even those based solely on Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.. 

Because the philosophical and spiritual acumen of such would-be pundits is somewhat lacking, they run the risk of eventually becoming like the duplicitous persons they constantly obsess over. Worse still, some of them actively mislead  devotees regarding the actual meaning of Srila Prabhupada’s system for ritvik initiations in ISKCON. Thus it is now seen that some so-called Prabhupada Anugas have compromised the sadhana and siddhanta in a effort to appease iskcon leaders into accepting a dual system, wherein new devotees could decide for themselves whether to accept Srila Prabhupada as their diksa-guru or instead accept one of Prabhupada’s disciples as diksa-guru. In this way they defer the whole issue to uneducated newcomers. In this regard, they cite evidence that Srila Prabhupada wanted all of his disciples to one day become guru. 

 

What is their desired immediate affect of such kind of preaching? Apparently they think that this thorny issue should be settled by uneducated spiritual candidates who may not have even begun their spiritual lives in devotional service. So this is the state of the present anarchy in iskcon: a proposal to allow uneducated persons to decide on the policies of what was supposed to be an spiritual institution guided by guru, sadhu, sastra. Instead, they propose that Bhaktin Mary and Bhakta Bob will decide what to do. 

Astonishingly, we now have devotees who disbelief Srila Prabhupada or directly deny him, or even criticize him, while still claiming to be his followers. This is the result of becoming distracted from the real points: 1.)Srila Prabhupada is the Acharya for this Age. 2.) No one can become diksha-guru without being directly appointed by Lord Chaitanya or His bona fide empowered representative. 3.) No one can become guru without being fully self-realized and fully versed in the conclusions of all shastras. 4.) ISKCON is meant wholly and solely for those who understand that Srila Prabhupada is their only diksha-guru and primary shiksha-guru.

To acquiesce to the idea that posers can become gurus in with their own disciples in Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON is a great mistake. 

 

Anyway, please see the attached article on siddhanta. Without discussing siddhanta carefully, we will be unable to maintain sadhana, and thus we may fall victims to maya at any moment. 

But, of course, I know I am preaching to the choir. 

your servant,

Narasimha das

 


 

Foundations of Knowledge: The Path of Reality

By Narasimha das

 

Many dishonest atheists pose as scholars or even brahmins and Vaishnavas. Srila Prabhupada indicated that these kinds of hypocrites are even more dangerous than avowed atheists who simply do not believe in God or religion in any shape or form. Poser atheists sometimes challenge faithful devotees, saying, “What is the use your sentiment and mythologies? Can you predict an eclipse or create a space shuttle? Better you worship scientists, who can make our lives free and easy.”

One infamous atheist posing as a sadhu (Vivekananda) advised devout Hindus to uproot their sacred Tulasi plants and grown eggplants instead. He proposed that growing eggplants would be of more consequence that growing Tulasi. Similarly, other atheists advise, “Go to the forest and practice vanaprastha so you don’t disturb others with your fanatical religious ideas. Join an assembly of sages in the jungle– because a festival of sages in the jungle will be of no consequence and thus will not disturb our advanced scientific society.”

Srila Prabhupada has often countered the assertion that devotees are “idiots” or “blind” followers. “The way of devotional service in neither sentimental nor mundane. It is the path of reality by which the living entity can attain the transcendental happiness of being freed from the three kinds of material miseries… The argument that unless one has proper knowledge one cannot be freed from material miseries is undoubtedly true. But because the lotus feet of the Lord are full of transcendental knowledge, acceptance of His lotus feet completes that necessity… There is no want of knowledge in the devotional service of Vasudeva, the personality of Godhead. He, the Lord, personally takes charge of dissipating the darkness of ignorance from the heart of a devotee. He confirms this in Bhagavad-gita (10.10)”:

tesam satata-yuktanam, bhajatam priti-purvakam

dadami buddhi-yogam tam, yena mam upayanti te

In this connection, Srila Prabhupada also quotes Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.7)

vasudeve bhagavati, bhakti-yogah prayojitah

janaya asu vairagyam, jnanam ca yad ahaitukam

In his Bhagavatam purports (Third Canto, Chapter Five), Srila Prabhupada comments, “The conclusion is that the physical elements may work very wonderfully to the laymen’s eyes, but these workings actually take place under the supervision of the Lord. Those who can mark only the changes of the physical elements and cannot perceive the hidden hands of the Lord behind them are certainly less intelligent person, although they may be advertised as great material scientists.”

Interestingly, in this chapter, “Vidura’s Talks with Maitreya,” two great and highly advanced devotees are meeting but focusing first on the basic premises for understanding both mundane reality and spiritual reality. They do this to show us the example of what’s important to learn first. Srila Prabhupada has pointed out that unless we understand the fundamentals of material existence and spiritual existence simultaneously, attempts to become free from ignorance and misery will prove futile.

Srila Prabhupada comments, “The conception of various controlling demigods who inhabit the higher planetary systems for management of universal affairs is not imaginary, as proposed by persons with a poor fund of knowledge. The demigods are expanded parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord Vishnu, and they are embodied by time, external energy, and partial consciousness of the Supreme. Human beings, animals, birds, and so on are also parts and parcels of the Lord and have different material bodies, but they are not controlling deities of material affairs. They are, rather, controlled by such demigods. Such control is not superfluous; it is as necessary as the controlling departments in the affairs of a modern state.”

This is last sentence (underlined above), is an excellent example. Pious heads of state in ancient India accepted the supremacy of the Lord, the authority of the Vedas, as well as the controls and limitations imposed by Krishna’s empowered representatives, the demigods. In this way, they and their followers were satisfied. But leaders of modern society, while sometimes posing as religious men, don’t accept any authority above their own, or above their manufactured and superfluous laws. They feel that manmade laws are essential to maintain peaceful society but laws of God may be neglected—even to the extent of trying to forcefully break free from the planet upon which we have been placed. Although, by Krishna’s arrangements, the earth is the most suitable place for human life, demons are never satisfied with the natural order. They are willing to go to any extreme to defy God. Their plan that men should travel for many months in a metal tube to arrive on a planet they say is barren and extremely harsh is proof of their insane rebellious attitude. They are like a child who holds his breathe until blue just to get his way.

In ancient times, great demons tried to conquer heaven or build a stairway to heaven, but modern demons don’t believe in heaven. For instance, they think the Moon is barren and lifeless, yet they still try to go there by force–just to prove their independence. It’s no wonder, therefore, that they are constantly bewildered by all varieties of illusions and limitations imposed on them by higher authorities.

In this regard Srila Prabhupada comments, “The demigods should not be despised by the controlled living beings. They are all great devotees of the Lord entrusted to execute certain functions of the universal affairs… Demigods like Yamaraja and other controllers are there for the unwanted conditioned souls who always engage in threatening the tranquility of the kingdom of God. Since all the demigods are confidential devotee-servitors of the Lord, they are never to be condemned.”

Modern science and most leaders of modern society imagine that advanced techno sciences will liberate them and their closest followers from all restrictions– so they can do whatever they like. They exploit the Earth by force for their own profit and prestige and then reassure their foolish followers, saying “Science will reveal how we can live with all pollution happily, and when we finally destroy this earth with toxic nuclear wastes, viruses and pesticides, we will go live on Mars.”

Sounds insane, right? According the infamous atheist “genius” Steve Hawkins (a NASA promoter), human migration to other planets is likely the only way the human race can save itself from extinction. This cripple-minded freak is grossly deformed and confined to a wheel chair and, like many modern scientists, is envious of God and the demigods who confine us all to the limitations of this miserable planet. Insanely, they suggest that while lasting peace and prosperity is not possible on Earth (where we have plenty of fertile land, air, water and other resources just suitable for human life), we will miraculously become free and happy through mechanical space travel. (Just see the vast and enduring popularity of fantasy series like Star Wars and Star Trek.) As we have heard from Bhagavatam and other Vedic puranas, and have seen practically, demons are never satisfied, even if they conquer a huge kingdom or planet.

O Father, O Lord, O Personality of Godhead, the living entities in the material world can never have any happiness because they are overwhelmed by the three kinds of miseries. Therefore, they take shelter of the shade of Your lotus feet, which are full of knowledge, and we also thus take shelter of them. (SB. 3.5.40)

Materialistic scientists are just like ignorant tribesmen or small children who think that a car or plane runs automatically with no driver or pilot. They can’t understand that the Supreme Lord and His parts and parcels, the living beings, or jivas, are what makes the world dynamic, animated and alive. Because ignorant and misguided men have no real information of God or the soul, they must remain perpetually bound by the cruel laws of material nature, which confine them to darkness and misery birth after birth, on this planet and others.

The devotees of the Lord, on the other hand, are fully and forever freed from the miseries and limitations of material existence in both this life and the next. They are not under the control of even the greatest demigod–or even Mother Durga Devi herself. Real devotees of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna are free to move anywhere and everywhere, riding on the “wings of the Vedas”, throughout the material and spiritual words. For learned devotees there are no punishments, time outs, restrictions, fears or miseries, of which birth, old age, disease and death are chief.

Srila Prabhupada: “Intelligent persons, who are like swans, take shelter of the Lord by all means and do not hover on the mental plane by fruitlessly speculating on different philosophies.”

Simply by hearing about Your lotus feet with eagerness and devotion and my meditating upon them within the heart, one at once becomes enlightened with knowledge, and on the strength of detachment one becomes pacified. We must therefore take shelter of the sanctuary of Your lotus feet. (SB. 3.5.42)

Commenting on this verse, Srila Prabhupada says, “The miracles of meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord with eagerness and devotion are so great that no other process can compare to it. The minds of materialistic persons are so disturbed that it is almost impossible for them to search after the Supreme Truth by personal regulative principles. But even such materialistic men, with a little eagerness for hearing about the transcendental name, fame, qualities and so on can surpass all other methods of attaining knowledge and detachment… Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu strongly recommended this process of hearing from a bona fide devotee, and by following this process one can achieve the highest result, conquering all other methods.”

To give up the path of real freedom and knowledge taught by the Vedas and the bona fide spiritual master in favor of mundane and defective systems of pseudo-science or pseudo-religion is surely the greatest folly, a path of deepening darkness.

19 comments

  • Sue

    Is it acceptable for a devotee of the Hare Krisna faith to describe a person suffering from Motor Neurone Disease as a ” cripple minded freak , grossly deformed” etc?
    This has put me, and I should imagine many others, off any further reading into your faith .

    • Dattatreya

      This is due to the fact that Steve Hawkins talks a lot of rubbish , like his speculation would be gospel or something …

      Otherwise , there would not be such disparaging conotations …

  • Sue

    You sound extremely unpleasant……..and more than a little angry with Steven Hawkins.
    Not really a very good example of the Hare Krisna faith.. I expect the rest of them wish you would shut your mouth and keep your vile rants to yourself!!

    • Dattatreya

      Are you talkin’ to me ?!?

      • Sue

        Yes, I am speaking to you. My initial comment on the article was a question aimed at its author. You both seem unpleasant though.

        • Dattatreya

          Where is my ” vile rant ” ?!?

          I didn’t write the article , and … indeed … the author of it is a bit harsh , and I stated what I thought that it was probably mostly due to … That’s all !!!

          Now … I personally don’t agree with 98.9 % of the so called ” scientists ” out there who are just gratuitously spewing out pure speculation ( whether they are jumping around like Sean Connery in James Bond or confined to a rolling chair ) , are getting payed to do so , and usually have a huge ego to top it all off , and as a general rule , I do get angry at false prophets and snake oil merchants , and anybody that doesn’t , is probably working for some commie feminazi new world odor outfit !!!

          Are you pro abortion ?!?

          • Sue

            What relevance does the pro abortion question have to do with this?

          • Dattatreya

            To attempt to gage your ” bitch ” level …

          • Sue

            Lol…… how does that work??… I’m probably a 7 on the ” Bitchter Scale”…… occasionally dropping to a 5.5….. sometimes up to an 8…..

          • Dattatreya

            Right now , you’re not anything … Right now , you’re skillfully avoiding the question …

            I go on instinct …

          • Sue

            What is your instinct telling you?

          • Dattatreya

            That … as you so candidly admit , you’re a 5.5 to 8 on the ” Bitcher scale ” …

          • Sue

            That was actually a light hearted comment. Are you pro abortion?

          • Sue

            To be honest, I evaded your question for several reasons…..the main one being ( apart from not wanting to be publicly judged) that I don’t really know whether I am really pro or anti. My opinions on many matters have changed as I’ve got older. Also, I think it would be easy for me to sit here in my ( thankfully) fairly peaceful and middle class ( ish) life , as the Mother of 2 boys ( no daughters) and spout forth as to the ” wrongs” of abortion…..or the ” rights” for that matter….. but unless I found myself , or one of my loved ones, in such a position with such a difficult decision to make, I cannot honestly say for sure what my opinion would be. It would be wrong of me to judge another for the steps they take without actually walking in their shoes.

          • Dattatreya

            Am I pro abortion ?!?

            Certainly not , however if some girl / woman that’s dressed properly ( i.e. not like a western slut ) gets raped , I might reluctantly acquiesce to some visits to the witch doctor , while willingly acquiescing the ripping off the balls of the agressor …

            Abortion is demoniac …

          • Sue

            I think we shall end this discussion here. I thank you for your interesting input. You have given me much to think about .
            Kindest regards

          • Dattatreya

            Did I ” say the wrong thing ” ?!?

  • Sue

    …….. and its Stephen Hawking btw…….

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