Hare Krsna.
Here is the link for the class we did with ISKCON Hawaii. We tried to consolidate our perspective on Sannyasa in ISKCON at the present times. Presenting and listening to comments it becomes very satisfying with depth.
AGTSP!
Paoho
We see some tendency to reject some statements of Srila Prabupada in conflict with modern science. I have doubts about rejecting some seemingly incorrect truth statements where popular science contradicts the Vedas and Srila Prabhupada's presentations.
Eg as I understand, having studied quantum mechanics at U.C. Berkeley, etc, Sadaputa shows in his first book that the sun is closer to the moon than the earth comes from the definition of the earth as Bhu-mandala and not the globe of dirt circulating in space. It is an amazing glorification the Vedic cosmology, but certain words have to be interpreted. They are not wrong. He is using them in a non-standard way.
It is not fair to demand that he be accurate in our modern standard. As far as understand the sun is closer to Bhu-mandala, the ecliptic, than the moon.
There seem to be so, so, so many holes in modern astronomy that to say that the stars are suns like ours is subject to question. Eg. if I put a stick in water you can "see" that it is "cut" and shifted very sharply where it hits the water. "Oh, Oh, haw, haw! This is an optical illusion".
Well, yes, but it is just a fact that the speed of sound in water, air, metal etc is different. Having experienced the media on the earth and the moon (?) then are we to say that what we are seeing from Mars is not coming through different media making it shift this way or that way?
Then Mars is just a few million miles away.
You know that the closest star is Alpha Centauri, no? According to my calculations they place it at 7.6 trillion miles away. If we push Mars to 76 million miles away then we are extending our speculation by a factor of 10,000, no? Ie. one Gulabjamun is good two are better, three are better, therefor 10,000 will be really great.
Space is steady all that distance? There is no gravity river around our solar system...?
Hmmmm?
Hare Krsna. We were sent two papers on this topic from GBC, so we have to do that. We are certainly open to being corrected!!!!!!!
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
