oldchakra.com

[Home] [Printer-Friendly] [E-Mail This Link] 

Responses and Encouragement
By Vipramukhya Swami

May 31, 2002 – Brooklyn, New York: We arrived at the New York temple the day before yesterday, and all day yesterday the devotees in our group were busy constructing a stage for the temple room here in Brooklyn while I worked on finishing some things on a sound track for a play they will perform at the New York Rathayatra.

I’m usually a loner. I travel alone. I’m taken to the airport by devotees, picked up at the airport by devotees, but on the airplane I’m usually alone. This trip, however, I’m traveling as part of a large group, and the dynamics are different. Traveling alone is usually more efficient. You pick up your bags at baggage claim, go out, look for your ride, get in, and go to the temple. Traveling with a group with trunks and dozens of suitcases, you have to always make sure everyone is with you — that you haven't lost one of the kids or something — that you have all the bags and trunks, etc. But traveling with a group is better in the sense that there's association on the flight, and you feel part of a team.

With us are Jaya Krishna, Dvaraka Puri, Mahavidya, Aniruddha, Vaikuntha Krsna, Bhakta Craig, Bhakta Mathew, Bhakta Rajeev, Tulasi dasi (daughter of Krpamoya), Ekacakra (son of Jaya Krsna), Sachi (son of Syamasundara Prabhu) and Bhaktin Angela, wife of Bimal Krsna Prabhu in England.

And now I’m sick, too. Yesterday and last night I came down with a miserable cold and bad sore throat. My nose is dripping, I’m coughing, and I generally feel lousy. That doesn't help, because besides technical stuff and sound track management, I'm expected to act in some of the dramas that we will be doing here. There will be a drama almost every night.

When I travel, it's always a bit of a challenge how to connect to the Internet to post articles such as this and answer email. Anyway, Mother Satya, the wife of the New York temple president Ramabhadra Prabhu, arranged an office where I could sit and connect to my ISP.

When I did finally connect, I noticed that I had received some responses from my last Pilgrim's Diary article. In fact, even before connecting I met a devotee in the temple who told me he had seen it.

It might be seen as self-serving to post these responses, but again, I do it in the spirit of transparency and also as a follow up of my previous submission.

Sukadeva Prabhu, who specifically said I could post his response, wrote:

My Dear Vipramukhya Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!

This letter is a direct response to the despicable, gutless, and highly offensive letter that you received, criticizing your personal style along with other veiled insults.

As far as I am concerned, this is not Krishna Consciousness. Srila Prabhupada accepted us all in his service and I have read many a letter where Srila Prabhupada has asked us to be like the bee, i.e., to always seek the nectar of a person and not like the fly, which is always seeking the open sores. This person is a wonderful example of the fly mentality.

In Los Angeles in the early 70's, Jayatirtha Prabhu, who at that time was in charge of Spiritual Sky Incense, would dance in front of Srila Prabhupada. He was tall and gangly and his arms would go up and his long legs were almost literally everywhere. Some devotees were critical but Srila Prabhupada said personally that he loved his dancing. He expressed his love for Prabhupada in his own way. There are more personal examples that I could give, but the essence is, Srila Prabhupada never crushed our individual styles in giving him service.

I am very passionate and some devotees don't like my kirtan style, but I lead a kirtan in Los Angeles for Srila Prabhupada, and he wrote me a letter stating that my kirtan was very inspirational. No matter what the criticism for me, Prabhupada's letter was the final word , and I always remember his statement when I lead kirtans. Prabhupada never crushed our individual styles and effort for his service.

I personally enjoy your style very much. I enjoy your wit and intelligence. I am also unlimitedly grateful for your website, because that is where I first met Giriraja, and have become inspired to render service to the Salagrama and Govardhana Silas.

I pray that Krishna gives you many more years in Srila Prabhupada's service.

I hope this letter finds you in good health and blissfully serving Srila Prabhupada.

Your humble servant, Godbrother and friend,

Sukadeva das

(Please feel free to post this letter on Chakra or anywhere else you like)

Another devotee wrote to say:

Maharaja, I was unhappy to read the foolish criticisms of the fellow you quoted in your recent CHAKRA article. It seems that we'll always have the Ramachandra Puri wanna-be's among us, criticizing devotees for being themselves.

I have always appreciated your honest, friendly nature. Please don't become disturbed by such detractors; they're a dime-a-dozen in this world.

Besides, you're a really good preacher and, I believe, an excellent sannyasi. I am enlightened in Krishna consciousness by listening to your lectures on Hare Krishna Real-Audio. In one lecture I listened to recently, you described how we should be joyful upon arriving at a temple, knowing that the devotees are our real family, that we're really home. It was plain to me that you have very deep attachment for the Lord and His devotees.

I know from past association with you in the New York temple that you are warm and outgoing in your dealings with the men, and reserved and very proper in your dealings with women. The fact that you have a sense of humor (a very good sense, I might add) just helps to make Krishna consciousness more appealing to everyone you meet. (Well, almost everyone..) brahma bhuta prasannatma na socati na kanksati.... Has your critic never read Bhagavad Gita? Does he think that the joyfulness of the devotee is just something figurative, never to be expressed? He sounds like a Mayavadi to me.

I am quite sure that this rascal who wrote you would also find lots of faults with His Holiness Indradyumna Swami if he ever spent time with him. Don't pay him any mind.

A devotee from New Zealand, where I have never visited, wrote to say:

Please accept my humble obeisances., All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I would just like to say a few things about the letter that was sent to you questioning how you treat your sannyasi position.

First of all let me say I am in no way able to judge anyone as I am a neophyte myself, but i feel when this person questions how you waste your time pasting Mundane articles and pictures on ChantAndBeHappy.com then I have to say something.

Secondly the humor you paste on Chantandbehappy.com is acceptable because it is pleasing to a neophyte devotee like me and it encourages us to approach you with any questions or doubts we might have with confidence and ease.

And thirdly, this person obviously hasn't listened to your lectures that you post on your website, otherwise he wouldn't be questioning your position. As a neophyte devotee I can happily say that your humor, lectures, diary and your website itself has been a GREAT help in my spiritual progress. Please continue your great works as your works great or small has helped me advance in Krishna Consciousness and that's the job of a Sannyasi, isn't it?? To show people how to love Krsna, I am truly indebted to you.

And one of my disciples wrote:

My dear Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories unto you.

I just read your last article on your web site about this letter and your response.  

I just wanted to thank you for being such a source of inspiration for me and all of your disciples; your steadiness, your humility and  general attitude are a constant example to follow for all of us who get so easily disturbed and bewildered.

If I get a letter like that, I get all freaked out and angry, but you just take it so nicely, the proof that you really depend on Krishna, you do not get disturbed, you're so fixed in your service to the Lord and so stable in your life's goal that no one can do anything to you.

Thank you my dear Gurudeva for giving me the strength to go on with my life by showing me such an example.

I thank these kind devotees for sending words of encouragement. Since I get these mixed signals, some critical, some praising, I don't see any reason why I should particularly heed the "warning" from the devotee who wrote the letter I quoted in my last article. I think I'll just go on being the way that I am, though obviously all of us should always look to improve ourselves and aspire for personal growth throughout life. I'll live my life in such a way as to always be open to hearing criticism.

I believe strongly that sannyasis and leaders should always create an atmosphere where someone can come forward and offer words of correction without fear. I used to know a sannyasi (who is no longer in ISKCON), who created an atmosphere around him that disallowed anyone to say anything critical to him to his face. The only thing this accomplished, as far as I could see, was that the criticism went on behind his back even more vehemently. To me, that's a danger. We should always be open to hear criticism of ourselves, though we shouldn't be open to hear criticism of others. We should be honest enough to know that not everyone may agree with us, and some of the things they say may have truth in them. So it's good to keep one ear to the ground to pick up on those things. Lord Ramachandra, for example, roamed his kingdom in disguise to see what the citizens were saying about him. And when he heard a criticism, he did not chastise the person who issued it.

Similarly we should always keep ourselves open to hear criticism of ourselves, and we should let people know they can come to us with any complaint. It doesn't mean that I necessarily have to agree with the complaint or change my whole life because someone doesn't agree with the way I'm living it, but at least someone should feel comfortable enough to come forward and express themselves.

[See “An Aimless Attention-and-Distinction-Starved Sannyasi” Chakra, May 29, 2002]

© CHAKRA 3 June 2002