Dear Guru Maharaja, Hare Krishna!
Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I was asked to participate in a study from a philosophical/sociological university about [as] a follower of religion/faith/spiritual path that is from [an] other religions [religion] than the main one in the country.
I gladly agreed and answered their questions. It was nice to have the opportunity to talk about Krsna consciousness openly, and moreover to ponder about some deeper issues in connection to it.
HpS-ASA - So very nice to hear from you!! I hope you will tolerate our tardiness in answer your blog post. Part of the reason is the pressure from movie production, travel.
We see, and several informed devotees that we contact also see, that it seems more and more, Iskcon, the Hare Krsnas, are being accepted professionally.
It is like you are working on planning the development of some national project and you ask one of the people you are working with, "So, Nicole, you belong to the Mormon church, no?". Nicole answers yes and may make an enquiry about your religion, and you both leave it at that for the time being.
We have established the basic moral standard of the person we are working with, their basic philosophical perspective.
So, more and more people are informed enough to ask, "So, Mr. Nama acharya, you are a Hare Krsna, no?", and they mean it in a respectful and with even practical curiosity.
It seems that more and more we have to know our tradition in good detail in science, politics, family relations, economics, dinning!!!
On our Sunday and Saturday devotee gatherings, I shared about anarthas that are carried into bhakti yoga as a luggage and how they are masked because they seem like "watering the bhakti creeper" but are, to some extent, watering the weed(s). Specifically, the self-righteousness/arrogance/conceit/vanity one. In the presentation I tried to keep myself on the topic, not going to open more of them so that there is enough time to have a focused discussion. It looks that was accepted. Nobody threw rotten vegetables at me.
HpS - Very, very, very nice topic for initiated devotees, no?!!
Blog I read regularly almost every day.
ASA - 😮 Brown and White make up such a fright, with their words of mush and chaos.
We still have a roof upon our heads and a warm room (and water) and warm prasadam food. Thankful for that.
HpS - Yes, here people really feel the threat of a nuclear war right on their doorstep.
The general populace that I meet is not so bad people, though interesting how humans are weird to be killing so many animals which are sentient beings that feel pain, and the killers are ignorant about that.
HpS - They hide the slaughter-houses, no? Also, the package it like it is Burfi or something, no?
Of course, until not long ago, people accepted that black-skinned people are to be kept only as slaves, and it was a big struggle to change that perception.
We are turning 50 in a few months - if that has to mean something in our insane life.
HpS - We heard, read, that Srila Prabhupada said that 30-years is the end of the physical energy in the body and that 50-years is the end for mental strength, that maybe you can push it to fifty-five. That is good because then we have to rely more on our intellectual strength.
Occupation, apart from the main one of trying to become a Krishnaite, is still in school as a teaching assistant for kids with disabilities and the renting (and managing and cleaning and repairing, and ...) of family apartments. Nirgata is continuing with her Iyengar yoga classes. Parents are 86 now and need some assistance too.
HpS - Always funny, Mataji's name translated into Spanish! 😊
Our respects to her. She must be a saint to put up with you.
So, all in all, it looks like we are still alive.
HpS - Furthermore, on the path of becoming a preacher on the level of Narada Muni!!
AgtSP! AgttGP.
Your servant
Namacarya Das