Letters to the editor

Writing to our very esteemed, ASA, GBC Secretary, H. G. Virabahu Das on Whatsapp:

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AGTSP! paoho.

Saw a description of the GBC Female Diksa Guru Resolution, and have to make this Formal Comment to you as our GBC Secretary.

As we understand it we have to reject it, and anyone approved by it, and encourage others to do so.

Jaya! 😎

Most of it seems workeable to us, but we agree with Saunaka Rsi Das, 'Oxford Center for HIndu Studies' etc., that we have such a bad understanding of Diksa-guru, that deciding if "Women Can Become Diksa Gurus" is based upon a impractical foundation of whether anyone can become a Diksa-guru, so the general concept needs work.

The detailed line that we as lawyers are objecting to strenuously is that the Candidates are O.K. if they are are under the PROTECTION of Daddy, Husband, Grown-up Son, or... one of the respected Vaisnavi-sangas.

This is a collection of women with no man protecting, directing them, no?

Ooops.

As we all heard Mother Yamuna Devi Dasi tried to start one of these in Oregon while Srila Prabhupada was here and he said, "No".

Hare Krsna!

AGTSP Paoho..... Here it is 2.57PM. We are pausing our work to write this letter because we need to say the same thing to many people. Our donkey is very low on energy.

Hey! What's the surprise. He's 72-American years old!!

Our teeth, eyes, ears, lings, heart, short-term-memory, are all going. "Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything" https://poets.org/poem/you-it-act-ii-scene-vii-all-worlds-stage

In contrast, our intelligence, purity of heart is quite enlivening.

We cannot handle individual letters. If we do we get like 400-500/month. So, write here! We see it, other ASA Friends, Members and Intelligent Enemys see it, and we can make our little, maybe precise, comments!

There are so many people with such important news!!!! Please don't let it get lost! Post it here. The ASA Blog. One of the most important websites in the universe.

AGTSP Paoho

A very good dialog may be developing in the Ministry of Education about Ladies as Senior Administrators in ISKCON.

We have suggested that it is not a good use of their talents and another has commented that he sees no reason why a lady cannot be a manager because of her gender.

Our response is:

AgtSP.  Thank you for your concise response.  Paoho. I hope my comments are being taken from the viewpoint of the five (?) blind men trying to understand what is an elephant.  From the viewpoint of this blind man, me, Sannyasa, rather stereotyped one, I do see reasons, but they are far, far, far secondary to whether Mataji is a devotee or not. That is super first for me.

Since she is a very manifest first class devotee and very well situated in her Davi-varna-ashrama Dharma then my suggestion that being a senior manager in this Ministry service comes within that perspective.

I am thinking that ABC Das, who is associate of senior scholarly devotee whom you all know, PhD from very respected univerity, recently married, Associate Professor in USA university, might be a good candidate, but.... and here is my suggestion. Unless there are such qualified ladies as part of the management team to give the advice, perspective and encouragement then such young fellows as ABC Das I don't think do this work.

My idea is Rama raja. Rama is the King, Sita is the Queen, Hanuman and Lakmana are the advisors. Looking at Priyavrata taking up the post of Manu, we see that one cannot be King without a wife, feminine perspective.

Hmmm?  What do you think, Prabhus?  Of course, this discussion has very wide implications for all of ISKCON and here in the Ministry is maybe a very unique place for it to develop.

Thank you.

HpS

AGTSP paoho

We get letters from nice devotees about corruption in ISKCON. This can range from Leaders involved in breaking Four Principles, not chant their rounds, arrogant and abusive behavior, mis-managment of money and exploitation of resources.

Of course, there are big and little thieves. Using temple auto to go for refreshing drive on the way back from the bank.

First, we personally heard from Srila Prabhupada's lips when we was in Berkeley (San Franciscco) in 1973, when asked by a reporter, 'Swamiji, are there problems in your Temples?', "This is the material world, there are problems everywhere!".

When Krsna was personally present in Vrndavana there were demons entering that were so terrifying that they were causing some of the girls to have mis-carriages!

So, we can expect problems in the Temple, ISKCON, but if it is Braja, if it is an ISKCON Temple, then it is under Krsna's control, awareness.

What should we do?

In Braja only Krsna and Balarama kill demons - The rest of us can all chant, "Hare Krsna!!! Hare Rama!!", and Krsna and Balarama will take care of the situation, and, yes, they may empower us to deal with it.

I have personally experienced this even to being physically violent with insane visitors at times.

We will see that Krsn took physical charge of my senses like in Kurukshetra. Or that Krsna gives us unavoidable, clear intelligence how to do our part and we see simultaneously He does his part. We have had strong experience of this.

Yes, in the beginning force may be necessary, physical or verbal, but unless it is done expertly, empowered by Krsna, then there will be a bad taste for everybody.

The Gopis, members of ISKCON live at three levels:

1. We are good citizens of Nanda Maharaja's village. We pay taxes. We act properly in the institution give respect and following instructions, but if there are problems we take institutional action.
2. We have our friends. ISKCON is a society of friends independent of the institution.
3. We have our own individual, direct experience of Srila Prabhupada. He knows what we are doing, and we know what he wants of us. Of course, we know that this only will increase as we become more sincere. It will be through so many transparent via-media, other devotees, books, deities, parama-atma, but the experience is direct.

We must be brave and honest to deal with problems in the Institution. We go to GBC, three GBC, Executive Committee, GBC general Assembly and we can even go to Srila Prabhupada directly, but if everyone is crazy then we should personally declare that in an institutional framework and take charge of Srila Prabhupada's institution.

At this moment, we try to deal with so many problems from our perspective as member of the institution and we see that things are moving on. ISKCON seems about 75% functional at this point, but if I can personally claim that level of functionality it is great.

Look at your own weakness before your criticize others.

Some thoughts.

PAMHO. AGTSP. I just spoke to Matsya Mataji, and it seems Nitai Gaurasundar Prabhu has a not too severe case of the virus. How is your health, Gurudeva? Any symptoms?

0o0o0o0

AGTSP! Ass Katha! ! St. Francis of Asis said that this body is an ass that we ride through this world. Don't spend all of your time taking care of an ass, but Rupa Goswami adds, nirbandhe, Krsna sambandhe, yukta vairagya ucate, seeing the relation of your carrier to Krsna and protecting and using it that way is real renunciation.

Brother Ass always has fever symptoms. He is at least 70% Pitta. Today the pollen level is Extremely High and so he is sneezing, sore throat, etc. From 8.30-10.30AM we were involved in going to, waiting for, documenting the payment for, the KV test. Sat in the car. One of the techs, young lady, was interested in Jagannatha on the bag around our neck. We tried to explain things and then gave her a NoI.

No special symptoms.

Very prolonged tachycardia this morning. No feeling of distress but heart going with light vibrations rather than lub-dub.

"We're all going to die! It's how you live that counts," Conan the Barbarian.

"Why, said Socrates,—is not Evenus a philosopher?

I think that he is, said Simmias.

Then he, or any man who has the spirit of philosophy, will be willing to die, but he will not take his own life, for that is held to be unlawful.",

Phaedo, [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1658/1658-h/1658-h.htm#link2H_4_0002}

"While the King was thus repenting, he received news of his imminent death, which would be due to the bite of a snake-bird, occasioned by the curse spoken by the sage’s son. The King accepted this as good news, for it would be the cause of his indifference toward worldly things." https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/19/4/

"SB 4,23.21. - When Queen Arci saw that her husband, who had been so merciful to her and the earth, no longer showed symptoms of life, she lamented for a little while and then built a fiery pyre on top of a hill and placed the body of her husband on it."

"ŚB 4.23.29 - The great sage Maitreya continued speaking: My dear Vidura, when the wives of the denizens of heaven were thus talking amongst themselves, Queen Arci reached the planet which her husband, Mahārāja Pṛthu, the topmost self-realized soul, had attained."

"Bg. 2.14 - O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."

So, in one aspect we are just surprised, that people, technicians, our gardener Don the excellent Christian, devotees, take this Karuna Virus seriously. It is just some material flip and we should deal with it out of hand: Oh, I am dead! Oh, I am rich!.... and focus on our eternal participation in the Sankirtan party. We have so much to do to improve that!!!!

Then another aspect, when looking it straight in the face. We are going to die in seven days, then we saw that we could really become ECSTATIC.! Like Socrates. Such a great opportunity. Where will we go!???

Thank you.

HpS - Thank you, CCD!!!! This is the secular name for Candra-mukhi Devi Dasi. She is PhD, teaching in university.

Is nice letter. Will be in touch with you soon.

Maharaja,

This reply was from a post of your disciple on "Fakebook", ["Fakebook"???? Not "Facebook"] so please excuse some of the informalities. Thank you! _o'/\__,

Yes, HPS is perfection in practicality, especially through personal experience. Others, he will empathize to a degree, yet he still knows certain processes individuals must go through. The learning curve is necessary.

As in any business Maharaja understands management positions, the unique bearing in ISKCON is that we're dealing with individual and collective services.

The hierarchy is complicated sometimes and not always in exact lineage which can cause dismay in responses. Maharaja noted the 3 levels of interactions and the subtle fourth being Paramatma, that's the mystical facet of ISKCON.

We may use standard business protocols in most cases, though the "Paramatma" brings the need for spontaneous compensation that usually does not occur in modern management.

So, if we can get mutual universal understandings and still get individual instruction for TPC (Time, Place & Circumstance) within ISKCON that would re-establish some of the tones of Srila Prabhupada.

It's getting everybody on the same page that will be the trick, communications is vital so all information is shared amongst those involved while keeping transparency and still minimizing unnecessary exposure to devotional creepers of the individuals.

Whilst this is devised, we still have to wash pots, cut bhoga, shower-up and go to Mangals at home or the Temple, keeping regulated amongst our quandaries and problems. If we do so Sri Bhagavan will assist with the answer or solve the problem.

Regardless, remember that we must serve faithfully, if not... step back and inhale, re-examine our minds and focus on our service. If this is not clear, consult Hari, Guru, Vaishnava...Bhagavad Gita until you get an answer.

All glories to the Vaishnava's !

https://www.facebook.com/groups/136923586685893/permalink/1189680594743515/

Claudia Quispe