© 1999 VNN
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USA January 22, 1999 VNN2898 See Related VNN Stories Mayesvara's L.A. IRG Presentation BY MAYESVARA DASA  USA, Jan 22 (VNN) — On Saturday evening, after the Jan 16th RtVik convention in Los Angeles, I made the following presentation to an audience of 25 devotees. It was a long day and most of the attendees were too exhausted to sit through my 40 minute appeal to approach reform wisely and cautiously at 8pm. I reviewed what was in many ways just a refresher course on proper Vaishnava Etiquette. I also discussed practical suggestions on how efforts to reform would be more likely to succeed if diplomacy, sensitivity, and thoughtfulness were given more emphasis then what has been demonstrated in the past. Everyone sat patiently without interrupting but when it was time for questions it was clear that the majority of the audience was uncomfortable with some of the material I reviewed. The common theme that kept reappearing is how much the GBC has failed to act properly and therefore SHOULD NOT be followed. As a group they aggressively defended their "Righteous Vaishnava Anger" and left me wondering if I had said anything that might have been appreciated. Krishna provided the answer for me the next day while I was chanting my Japa in front of the temple. Four different individuals, who had strongly resisted the points I had made night before, approached me on their own to reveal that actually they had to recognize the validity of my points. Each one indicated that although they did not agree with everything I said, they conceded that there was a lot of good material they needed to giver greater consideration to. One younger RtVik, who was obviously very insistent on the RtVik viewpoint, even indicated that perhaps his revolutionary position was a bit too extreme and his reasons for being so maybe even ill founded. What was also encouraging is that I had an opportunity to show this presentation to the leadership of the LA Temple. They received it nicely and acknowledged the mutual desire for reform based on a cool headed, thoughtful evaluation of the situation. Their was also no objection to the distribution of the proposed mission statement for reform which I entitled. "12 Commitments Toward Unity and Respect". I will be releasing that for publication on VNN in the next few days. So the presentation was a strong reminder heard in the hearts of those who understand Srila Prabhupada's "Foremost Instruction" was that we must "Cooperate together Nicely" despite our differences. The conclusion is clear: "Regardless of your political position on the Guru/RtVik issue, if the person you are speaking to has Tilok on their forehead, you should be very careful about the words you us and what you say. If the conversation becomes aggressive, insulting, belittling, or generally obnoxious, then you may still be discussion philosophy, but you are not acting very Krishna Conscious!" With respect to all the devotees, I remain your servant mayesvara dasa About the Author | Other Stories by this Author See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/usa/US9901/US22-2898.html
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