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EDITORIAL August 16, 1999 VNN4513 Related VNN Stories Who Is Out Of Line? BY SRILA DASA EDITORIAL, Aug 16 (VNN) — Beware of Sadhu Ninda! There is no behavior more pernicious and devastating to the spirit of devotion than the act of slandering a sadhu, a genuine saintly person. The more advanced the devotee is and the more aggressive and deliberate our attack, the greater the offense. Vaisnava-aparadha is so devastating that it can at once uproot the bhakti-lata (creeper of devotion) and freeze one's spiritual advancement for this and future lifetimes. Furthermore, anyone who is unfortunate enough to hear such reckless talk loses the merits from their previous pious activities. All scriptures, bona fide acaryas, teachers and gurus gravely caution us to avoid slandering Vaisnavas. Srila Prabhupada writes that if a guru does not teach his disciples to respect Vaisnavas, he cannot be a bona fide spiritual master. We should shy away from criticizing anyone, let alone a highly advanced devotee; but when we witness such inappropriate behaviors as the blasphemy of a senior Vaisnava we are obliged to expose the sin and respond according to our ability. No Vaisnava or anyone who aspires to Krsna-bhakti can tolerate and sit silently while sadhus are being defamed. Yet foolish and uneducated souls, presuming themselves to be "devotees, " disregard all good sense and sastric prohibitions, and throwing caution to the wind, offer their brazen and uncouth opinions about senior Vaisnavas to the public for everyone's supposed "enlightenment." That they purport their impertinent remarks in the name of a glorious and bona fide acarya (as Srila Prabhupada or Srila Sridhara Maharaja) makes their actions all the more cowardly and insidious, like offering milk with poison or a serpent's wearing a jewel. Some people have no shame or else they have not been properly trained by a bona fide spiritual master. Their speaking makes everyone unfortunate by creating schisms and circles of misunderstandings between Vaisnavas. Who Is "Out of Line"? These are my general comments in regard to commiting sadhu-ninda, as we should all learn from other people's mistakes. But now I am obliged to make some specific responses to Murlidhara Prabhu for his recent posting on Chakra, "Narayan Maharaja not in line with Sridhar Maharaja." First of all, who is Muralidhar Prabhu to presume himself so qualified as to make public pronouncements about Vaisnavas far superior to him, as if we should all listen to him? Has Murildhar honestly heard from Narayan Maharaja and scrutinized his teachings fairly? Or has he simply repeated the common hearsay, the village talk (gramya-katha)? What can we can about the hearsay that continues to circulate around ISKCON about Srila BR Sridhara Maharaja, but especially from 10-20 years ago? It was pure blasphemy, beside being inaccurate information to begin with. There was also bad-mouthing in some Gaudiya Maths about Srila Prabhupada's supposed deviations from "orthodoxy." And similar "village talk" about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, by the smarta brahmanas, etc. Should we lend those allegations any serious merit? Only an indiscriminate and unfortunate person would take such abusive speech as having any value whatsoever. That is the defintion of a fool -- he lacks the ability to discriminate. And like a naive toddler, unable to tell the difference between poison and food, he consumes anything that comes packaged in a bottle. Those who are actual authority or possess factual knowledge should speak and offer their judgments. Srila BP Puri Maharaja, the seniormost Vaisnava on this planet, has ascertained that Srila Narayan Maharaja is a bona fide *rasika* Vaisnava. Who is our "Murlidhar das" to say otherwise? Then, based on sastra, sadhu and guru to augment our own honest efforts and personal realizations, we must consider things for ourselves. Having myself the great fortune to hear from Narayan Maharaja extensively on numerous occasions over the last four years, I can only dismiss Muralidhar's depiction of Narayan Maharaja's teachings as false and distorted. If anyone, Murlidhar is totally "out of line" for offering his uncouth and ill-informed remarks. He doesn't know what or whom he is talking about. I publicly request Murlidhar Prabhu to offer a sincere apology for his impertinence. His remarks do a disservice to everyone, while creating schisms and further confusion among Vaisnavas. The purport to his comments is that we should all remain less than third-class neophytes with a "mama guru sei jagat-guru" mentality ("My guru is the only jagat-guru."), that's all. We don't require any more of such sectarian minded "preaching." We need true and comprehensive philosophy, and anyone who goes in earnest to hear from Narayan Maharaja will find this to be the case. This is my humble challenge to all my venerable readers. Let's make room for all genuine Vaisnavas. We will only learn to recognize and honor who is senior Vaisnavas, however, when we learn to hear from them directly, not by listening to the local "village talk" and the reckless persons who perpetrate it. Vaisnavanudasa, Srila dasa Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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