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WORLD December 23, 1999 VNN5140 Comment on this story A Challenge To Reach The Identity Of A World Religion BY SWAMI B.A. PARAMADVAITI  POLAND, Dec 23 (VNN) — I shall start this article with some recent news from Poland. That will show how the representatives of the WVA helped to save the dignity of Vaisnavism. Courtcase against Sri Krishna In Poland there are several active Vaisnava missions. The mother of a new devotee girl was very upset, as is often the case when someone's child changes their religious belief and life style due to association with the Vaisnavas. In an attempt to destroy the reputation of the Polish Vaisnavas, she allied with a Catholic nun who had worked in Bengal in a Christian mission. They elaborated a court-case against the Vaisnavas in Poland. Their purpose was to hamper and ultimately stop the preaching activities of the Vaisnavas in Poland. Their accusations were numerous. Some of them were as follows: 1. The Hare Krishnas worship an immoral God who married 16,108 wives. 2. They transgress the customs of our country and manipulate our children. The WVA was asked to send a representative to the court case. Tusta Krishna das, the press secretary of WVA was sent with written documentation to represent the WVA. In the court-case he testified of the old and pious tradition of the Vaisnavas. When it came to the subject of the 'immoral God', Tusta Krishna requested permission from the judge to ask the accusing nun a question. The judge consented. Tusta Krishna asked her: "Do you have a ring on your finger? What did they tell you when they gave you this ring?" The nun kept silent. Tusta Krishna went on asking: "Did they not tell you when they gave you this ring that now you have become the bride of Jesus Christ?" Again the nun did not respond. Then Tusta Krishna addressed the judge and the jury saying: "This nun is accusing Krishna to be an immoral God because He married 16108 wives but, as you can see, she is worshipping Lord Jesus who is married to every nun on the planet." Everyone began laughing and the court-case ended in favor of the Vaisnavas. From village religion to world religion What is a world religion? Today we see so many currents of different well- known religions. Sometimes they accept each other, sometimes they claim exclusive rights to represent their religion and do not accept other currents. Besides that there are so many groups claiming to be spiritual who are usually led by a charismatic leader or guru. Again sometimes they are open to accept other spiritual groups, religions or revelations and sometimes they insist that the truth is only known and revealed through them. This situation is quite puzzling for all people and even governments these days have difficult times to identify what is and what is not truly religious. Moreover there are some churches which are known in the history of mankind for their misconduct and yet, due to a network of social, political and educational participation in the world, are considered world religions. Regardless of the fact that they have organizational structures and financial strength rather than inspired individuals maintaining their influence, they are often those who want to define the term world religion at the exclusion of other smaller or lesser known groups or religions. If we consider the fact that every religion started in a small way and usually had to face great opposition from the popular political or religious leaders of their times, we can conclude that this is not the way to define genuine spirituality or a 'world religion'. Many sensitive people have turned away from the path of religion due to such ill conduct of so- called religionists and due to such wrong definitions of religions as given by respective educational systems. A true religion At this point it will be useful to list some of the characteristics of what is generally accepted as a true religion. A true religion teaches us about the creation of the world and about the creator of the world. A true religion teaches us to love God and His creation. A true religion holds the truth above all other relative considerations. A true religion respects the individual freedom of every man to follow his own faith, unless he harms others and transgresses the rules meant to protect the wellbeing of others. A true religion is the source of personal divine realization of the sincere practitioner of the teachings of the religion. Such realizations will confirm what other realized souls of this religion have taught or expanded upon it. Usually some religious books lay down the basic principles and such books are of divine origin or inspired in the authors by revelation or divine realizations. True religions teach through spiritual masters who have learnt the science of their religion from previous masters. This is called spiritual succession. A genuine teacher cannot teach something which deviates from the substance of the teachings he has received. These definitions of a true religion may sound rather crude. It is difficult indeed to make a list of the characteristics of a true religion. This analysis is, however, necessary if we are to understand what a true religion is and how it comes to be. Universal truth or divine revelation has validity in any place of the world. A world religion may be called so because it teaches a genuine spiritual process and is voluntarily practiced and accepted by honest people in many countries around the world. The Vaisnava world The Vaisnava teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were known mainly in India for over 450 years. He had predicted that his meditative process for self-realization and God consciousness would spread in every country of the world. Today, on the verge of the 3rd millennium, we can see that His prediction has become true. Still His followers are religious minorities in most of the countries of the world. As a matter of fact, the Vaisnavas are sometimes welcome by the local rulers and other religious currents, but more frequently they are misunderstood. Often they are considered as dangerous cults of charismatic manipulation led by individuals with mundane motivations. Since such groups do really exist, it is not difficult to understand that the peculiar lifestyle of a Gaudiya Vaisnava monk will raise the eyebrows of the people with little or no information about the values and history of the Vaisnava tradition. And we shall not hide here that in certain cases Vaisnavas have deviated from the non-sectarian, selfless mood and pure lifestyle which is expected of them. This situation becomes more serious when local authorities belong to an atheistic system or to a fanatic so called religious group which claims exclusive right over the religion that may be practiced in that locality. Often in the history of the world such materially motivated people persecute anyone whom they consider out of their control in the name of their religion or creed. Vaisnavas have often been victims of such situations and until today the list of countries where it is not possible to openly practice the Vaisnava faith is long. Vaisnavas have been sometimes jailed, deported and put into mental hospitals. Their books have been burnt and their temples troubled by materialistic people or mundane religionists. In so many ways, their activities have been hampered due to misunderstanding and hostility. This is a fact and it requires a very good study in regards to what can be done to avoid such difficulties or how to help Vaisnava missionaries who carry the flag of krishna-bhakti to many countries around the world. Vaisnavas in India often do not understand this difficulty since they do not face opposition in India. Commonly Indian Vaisnavas receive good support from the local villages and some members of the wealthier communities. Thus they can peacefully go on with their kirtans and lectures in their temples. At one point they may forget that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had sent devotees like Nityananda and Haridas to preach from door to door, even if some Jagai-Madai-like people may be living there. And this is actually going on. These preachers do not preach anything different from what your guru taught you. They deserve your sympathy and support. Vaisnavism as a world religion organized in the World Vaisnava Association can very often help in this regard. This has already been proven true. Useful tips about the WVA Uninformed people fear that the World Vaisnava Association may try to limit them, control them or use them to do something for which they have no desire to help or participate. Nothing could be further from the truth. The world religion of the Vaisnavas is an accepted truth. This goes well together with those characteristics of a true religion previously described. Every true Vaisnava is automatically a member of this world religion regardless whether he knows that or not. Thus every Vaisnava is also a member of the World Vaisnava Association, either in a passive or in an active way. That is so because the WVA stands only for those values which are understood as the common ground of all Vaisnavas regardless from where they hail. The WVA cannot guarantee the quality of each individual member. Neither is this forum created to assure the highest and deepest aspects of the personal Vaisnava practices in any mission or individual Vaisnava. It is more than reasonable to expect Vaisnava missions to support enthusiastically and generously other Vaisnavas with similar potential difficulties as they may face in their missionary activities. Thus the united forum of the common interest of all Vaisnavas stands to prove that we are truly a world religion. This is so not because we are organized by some world centralized hierarchy. It is rather the opposite: because we are all free to practice our faith in accordance with our personal realization. We believe in the same substance, practice a similar discipline or sadhana, chant the same or similar mantras, read the same scriptures. So it is not out of place to say that we are also supposed to have regard for each other. In the same way, there are common concerns and Vaisnavas cannot always deal with them satisfactorily, either as individuals or as one isolated mission. That is when the WVA can enter into action. The WVA in action. It does not matter how many secretaries the WVA has now working in different areas of competence. This does not really prove its validity. In order for the WVA be more effective, it would be of great help to get some qualified input from capable individual Vaisnavas. Not only that, if bigger missions would grant some energy in the form of capable secretaries to interface with the WVA about their own needs, that would be very appropriate. Also they could check out whether their help would be required in a particular field. We should really reach that level of concern with other Vaisnavas outside of our mission. Otherwise it may weaken all of us and outsiders will doubt our capacity to help the whole world spiritually. There are numerous fields where we may need the co-operation of each other. The upkeep of the pilgrimage places of our Vaisnava tradition from neglect, the protection of the dignity of the Vaisnavas in case of attack from outsiders and the need of an official joint voice of all the active Vaisnava missions are just some of the infinite possibilities of the WVA. Everyone will agree with me that in these last years the preaching field has expanded considerably due to the intervention of the Internet. Preachers now have access to a very large audience through their own pages and Net Agencies such as VINA and the WVA Web-services. Through the Homepages we are now able to address a public which would be generally difficult to reach. In this way even new preachers can easily emerge and give their contributions to the international Vaisnava community. The individual Vaisnava should be held responsible for his own actions. Only in case of some emergencies, if someone is defaming the Vaisnavas and the WVA due to personal misconduct, the WVA may want to keep distance from the activities of such an individual. At present, even in the absence of a highly organized common forum, our reputation as Vaisnava religion suffers if in any Vaisnava mission the faults of the leaders are exposed and public scandals arise. Such cases cannot be avoided altogether and therefore should not deter anyone from participating in the WVA forum. There are other good reasons to take interest in the WVA. Publications, education, and environmental issues are just a few among many subjects which would require more input. And very often Vaisnava missions, especially the smaller ones, are unable to pay much attention to such subjects. Vaisnavas need the WVA The story of the Christian nun in Poland that we reported in the beginning may sound funny, but on the whole, being accused, defamed and troubled due to the Vaisnava faith is not at all funny. In Chile, for example, the government has deprived Vaisnavas of all the basic rights to buy property or register their activities. Even in schools Vaisnava children are discriminated and sometimes expelled due to their faith, what to speak of Vaisnavas who preach in Muslim countries or in communist countries who strictly prohibit any other faith except their own. Do not forget that already Vaisnavas exist in all these places! In Cuba, for example, Vaisnavas have to hide themselves and if detected by outsiders, they have to undergo unspeakable hardships. Who else except a strong WVA can issue any statement in defense of the legitimate members of our world religion? Who else except a strong WVA will impress the people of this world that the Vaisnavas have a traditional dignity, a living tradition where unity in diversity is the basic root of their school and not just some newly fashioned opulence? Who else except a strong WVA will convince people that it is not favorable for them to offend Vaisnava values or give trouble to goodhearted Vaisnavas? The WVA can organize world protest when the Vedic traditions are abused. The WVA was conceived by the previous acharyas Please think about it. I pray that we may please Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhupada, who for some very good reason kept glorifying the Visva Vaisnava Raj Sabha, the modern World Vaisnava Association at the end of each of his Sandarbhas. He knew what the position of Vaisnavas would be one day in this world. He gave us the key and our gurus gave us the vehicle. Now we can all benefit by getting together and making the best of all this. Let all the mistakes and misunderstandings of the past rest, so that the real task can be taken into focus. Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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