10/10/1998 - 2340 ...(See Related VNN Stories)

Srila Prabhupada's Statements On Evictions

USA (VNN) - by Deepak Vohra

I've just returned from a 2-week break and I was hoping to read some pleasant news for a change. Instead, I was greeted with the sickening headline: "Unborn Baby Dies Amidst Eviction Turmoil". Having recently become a father myself, I can thoroughly empathize with Ram Parasar and his wife.

I am not fully up to speed with the details surrounding this eviction story, but it makes you wonder what kind of a "person" would threaten a heavily pregnant woman with eviction. This is not Vaishnava behavior. Srila Prabhupada teaches us that women (our mothers) and children are to be protected. Furthermore, I am surprised that no one has yet referred to Srila Prabhupada's own words on the practice of banning and evicting devotees from temples. As far as I can understand from the following letters, he condemns it:

"Another request I have to you is that there have now been two instances of when somebody does not agree you try to get them out by calling the police. This is never to be done. This is the mistaken policy of Shayasundar, but do not follow this principle. With great difficulty we get a man. We have to reform them. Our business is to become sympathetic to fallen souls. So in future do not do it at all. Everything should be done amicably." - SPL Mukunda, 73-11-06

"Regarding Narottama das, our policy should be to keep members as much as possible. We should not flatly say 'You must leave.' That is not our policy." - SPL Jayapataka, 69-08-12

I don't think any further comment needs to be added. I believe these instructions are clear in themselves.

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