© 1998 VNN
| WORLD November 30, 1998 VNN2577 Srila Prabhupada's Magic II BY YADUBARA DAS (FROM CHAKRA) USA, Nov 30 (VNN) — Srila Prabhupada had a 'magic'... that made us love him, be willing to sacrifice our lives for him, do anything for him. The 'magic' was that Srila Prabhupada cared for each and every one of his disciples. All of us felt it by his statements, his actions, and his consciousness - that of a mahabhagavat - one who cares for the welfare of all living beings. And along with caring, he tolerated our wrongdoings and bad habits, even as we so tenaciouly embraced them. That's also part of caring... not to stop even though there's good reason. That desire for someone to care about us and for us runs deep... back to Krsna. Isn't it a main ingredient for love, both material and spiritual, that someone cares for us with all his or her being... to sacrifice one's life for those they care for, as Srila Prabhupada did? For many, that caring mood in ISKCON has been lost. There are still to be found rare devotees that carry that 'magic', but as a group, or mood of individuals within the group, we discarded it somewhere back there after November, l977. If we care about someone, we listen to what they have to say... even the mundane. Srila Prabhupada listened to my wife and I complaining about the fighting and slander of women in the Calcutta temple of 1971. He not only listened, he was concerned and caring, about our well being and that of his institution... that such things would not go on to drive devotees away from his shelter. The stories abound... how Srila Prabhupada cared. Then, in our eagerness to carry on Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON, we stopped listening to eachother... and then stopped caring - or maybe caring came first, then listening. I remember vividly, the first major casualty was Pradyumnya. His prophetic letter to the GBC warning the 11 gurus of potential chaos in the path they chose to take, was heresy. He was quickly condemmed as an envious snake and eventually separated himself from the movement. Since then, most of Srila Prabhupada's disciples have slipped away... most silently - some soon after his departure, others gradually, until we find today only a few hundred at most still around. And in what condition? Many of those, as we write, have already been cast aside because of their belief in the ritvik system or their allegiance to those outside ISKCON... all of this inexorably connected to the original guru issue. This issue has never been resolved. After 21 years, still no one wants to go near it... deeply, thoroughly to fully discuss what happened... and why it happened. It still hangs heavily in the air... like an animal strung up after slaughter. The chaos will continue until we first admit the problem, then offer profuse apologies to those who were sacrificed in that horribly scalding fire of kanistha zeal. After that's complete... really complete, then soberly, honestly, and fully untangle the history to discover what went wrong, make a plan to rectify the problems, and finally implement that plan with practical steps. Big job... probably more that we can handle... unless we care more for each other. Regarding those who accept the ritvik idea, they have good points... so does the GBC and followers. Both sides care for Srila Prabhupada and his institution. But do they care for each other? Do they care enough to tolerate opposing views and somehow find a workable solution... together? There's a paradox here. If we don't care for each other, we ultimately can't care properly for Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON. Everything is there in Srila Prabhupada's simple, profoundly demanding request - "Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate after I leave". (nowdays, "care for each other" would seems more appropriate than "cooperation"). Indirectly the statement indicates that cooperation would be something we would have to work very hard to achieve. It calls for us to rise to a level of sacrifice previously uncalled for. I think most would agree, we haven't done the work. Instead we self- righteously sacrifice our relationships... and other's (as well as our own) devotional creeper, in the name of being philosophically "right", without possessing, as Srila Prabhupada did, deep realization of our Krishna conscious philosophy - the same philosophy we beat each other over the heads with. Therein lies the reason for Srila Prabhupada's supreme genius in applying the philosophy, and our mediocrity - the difference between uttama and kanistha - the difference between success and chaos. Wouldn't it seem prudent then to back off in our philosophical flag waving and listen to each other... to let the wounds heal... to get to know each other... to care for and nurture each other? Why can't we do that? What is the consciousness that forces us on in this demoralizing struggle... which of the modes? At best, passion. Unless we are pure, caring does not come easily. We need to practice it, to see it in others around us, to experience its satisfaction. None of us are immune from not caring. It comes with conditioning. Let's start practicing. I need to see it around me... and within myself... to receive it and give it. Yadubara das (inspired in part from the article "Prabhupada's Magic" by Ragunatha das) This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9811/WD30-2577.html |
