10/03/1998 - 2307 ...(See Related VNN Stories)

WVA and Madonna - What Happened

USA (VNN) - by Tusta Krishna das

(see also VNN story #2239, 2229)

First let me offer my thanks to Paramadvaiti Maharaj for speakingup and trying to clarify the situation in terms of the WVAstatement on Madonna's performance. I offer my apology for anydifficulty and anxiety this has caused him and hope he willplease forgive me. And I ask all Vaishnavas to please forgive mymany faults. Although I am full of faults, for some reasonKrishna has allowed me to continue to try and serve him. This ishis unconditional love.

Dear Paramadvaiti Maharaj, please do not be heartbroken butrather be happy in the knowledge that although others may not seeyour anxiety for the welfare of Vaishnavas and your hard work onbehalf of all Vaishnavas via the WVA, Krishna does see you. Letyour heart rest peacefully in this fact. I would now like toexpress what transpired from my vantage point. And I apologize ifI offend any Vaishnavas in this statement.

After seeing a videotape of Madonna's performance on MTV andbeing contacted by many upset Vaishnavas, I considered issuing astatement on behalf of Chaitanya Mission as well as contactingother Vaishnava missions and Hindu groups around the world toencourage them to make statements of their own. Feeling thematter to be relevant to all Vaishnavas, I decided to see if theWVA would like to issue a statement on the matter. I thereforecontacted Paramadvaiti Maharaj in his capacity as WVA secretaryand said I felt the Vaishnava community should respond. He agreedwith me and authorized me to issue a statement on behalf of theWVA. I told him I would also make contact with some Hinduactivist groups who I have worked with successfully in the paston other matters regarding public perception of Vaishnavism andVedic religion.

I then issued a moderately worded statement on behalf of the WVA.In addition, members of Vaishnava and Hindu organizations aroundthe world such as The Chaitanya Mission (Philippines), TheChaitanya Mission (Poland), The Australian School of Meditation,The Meditation Center, VedaVision, Self Sufficiency Association,and the American Hindus Against Defamation issued their own pressstatements from their own perspective--some more harsh andcritical and some much less so. However, it was the WVA'sstatement that garnered the most publicity though sadly it wasn'tprinted in its entirety but paraphrased in a manner that changedits mood.

Although there was not time to contact every mission in the WVA,as a courtesy to Tripurari Maharaj, who is the official vicepresident of the WVA, I notified him of my discussion withParamadvaiti Maharaj and sent him a copy of the press release. Hedidn't have any input and didn't contact me or the WVA. I wastherefore extremely surprised when he released his own statementas WVA vice president five days later essentially claiming that Ihad dishonestly tried to represent the WVA--that I spoke for justone mission, etc. From that point onward, the situation hascontinued to be misrepresented by persons for reasons that Icannot understand.

Let me repeat, Tripurari Maharaj knew full well that ParamadvaitiMaharaj, who for all practical purposes, runs the WVA, had agreedthat I would be the spokesman issuing a statement on Madonna'sperformance on behalf of the WVA. As stated earlier, my originalintent was to speak on behalf of a particular branch of theChaitanya Mission. I only proceeded to issue a statement onbehalf of the WVA after my discussions with Paramadvaiti Maharaj.It was my explicit understanding that I was authorized to speakon the WVA's behalf. It is not surprising therefore that I feltblindsided/stabbed in the back when Tripurari Maharaj made apress statement as the vice president of the WVA that the protestwas simply coming from one small conservative mission within theWVA. Because he spoke as vice president of the WVA and was notspeaking for his own mission, it appeared that he was actuallythe representative of the WVA and that I had been deceptive--thatI was trying to represent the WVA when I didn't.

Paramadvaiti Maharaj has apologized for essentially speaking onbehalf of the WVA. Although I appreciate his humility, the factis that he is the primary mover, shaker and worker in the WVA. Inmy view, Paramadvaiti Maharaj is qualified to speak on behalf ofthe WVA in the same way that the president of the U.S. isqualified to speak on behalf of the U.S. though every citizenwill not always agree with his statements. Such a dispersed,widespread organization as the WVA, made of so many differentmissions, each with their own work at hand, cannot possiblyfunction without an individual or a committee of individualsbeing able to represent the organization as a whole. IfParamadvaiti Maharaj does not speak for the WVA, and ifindividuals can only speak for their own individual missions,then on a practical level, the WVA cannot exist in regard to theoverall relationship that Vaishnavas have with the community andworld at large. So it is a serious practical matter that must beconsidered. Please do not fear, I have no intention of being apart of that--I am just making an objective observation.

In a sense I am an outsider in all of this as I am not an officerof the WVA. I have simply worked with Paramadvaiti Maharaj fromtime to time on a few WVA matters. However, I can say this--ifthe WVA, or any organization for that matter, wants to have aparticular individual make a statement on their behalf, then thatorganization's officers should not come forward and criticizethat spokesman, claiming that he's not really speaking for theorganization. Obviously, no one is going to want to be in aposition where they are blindsided or stabbed in the back by anofficer. I'm not saying this as a criticism of Tripuri Maharajwho is obviously seeing the entire situation from his own pointof view. I'm sure his motives are good. I'm simply saying that asa practical matter, this type of thing should not occur.

The statement issued on behalf of the WVA was written in a mannerso as to make Madonna aware of the fact that her sexually chargedperformance while wearing tilak had offended Hindus andVaishnavas--which is a fact. The statement did not demand anapology as incorrectly reported. And it was intended asconstructive criticism. It was written so as to give Madonna anopportunity to understand what she had done and correct it.

"Madonna either misunderstood the significance of wearing tilakor treated it very cheaply. We sincerely hope it was the formerand not the latter. If she is sincere about her newly expressedinterest in Vedic teachings and mysticism, we are sure she willrecognize her mistake and tender an apology. And of course shewill be forgiven. Hindus and Vaishnavas are very tolerant andalways open to people sincerely interested in understanding theVedas and Vaishnava philosophy and religion. And Madonna is alsowelcome if she is a sincere seeker." (Full text is attachedbelow.)

Again, I beg the forgiveness of Paramadvaiti Maharaj, TripurariMaharaj and any other Vaishnava who feels offended by myimperfect attempts to serve Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. I wish theWVA and Paramadvaiti Maharaj all success. In all honesty,however, I am not at all inclined towards being involved in suchmatters in the future.

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