| Home | “Once the standards begin to become lowered like this, then we’ve opened up a ‘Pandora’s Box’, and one thing leads to another.” |
Dear Prabhus, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla
Prabhupāda!
One thing that has bothered me about taking prasādam at ISKCON temples is that one usually doesn’t know whom the bhoga’s been offered to. Has it been offered to a criminal/demon pretending to be a devotee/“guru?” Is it actually worse than eating bhoga?
When I visited New York ISKCON’s 26 2nd Avenue Preaching Center last Tuesday evening, there was no doubt about to whom the bhoga was offered. I saw it being offered by Bhakta Jeffrey to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Bhakta Jeffrey said that he’s been a bhakta for 4 years. This brings to mind an interesting question, and it reminds me of a quandary that the karmī’s have:
Most karmī married couples practice some form of birth control. Their children know this, and therefore they learn that sex isn’t always just for having children; it can also be simply for pleasure, or for satisfying a bodily hankering. This leads to many problems for the parents and for society in general, because the children then think, “If sex can be just for pleasure, and pregnancy can be prevented by the use of birth control methods, then why wait for marriage?” Abortion, used as a backup for failed birth control, sends the same message. One thing leads to another: “If sex is for pleasure, and not for having children, then why not have sex with a partner of the same sex? Then we wouldn’t even have to worry about birth control or abortion. Why not masturbate? Why not have sex with animals?” This kind of mentality is what has led to the spat of recent school shootings. They usually have to do with some boy who got jilted by some girl.
What I’m getting at is that ISKCON has a similar quandary: “Is it a higher standard for a bhakta to make an offering to the pure devotee, uttama-adhikārī, Śrīla Prabhupāda, or for a ‘disciple’ of one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s less-than-perfect disciples, to make an offering to his ‘guru’?”
I get the distinct impression that the ISKCON devotees are not sure, because now, in some cases, they have bhaktas cooking in the Deities’ kitchen, whereas formerly only 2nd initiates were allowed to do this. Once the standards begin to become lowered like this, then we’ve opened up a “Pandora’s Box,” and one thing leads to another. In some temples, street shoes are even worn in the Deities’ kitchen! I heard a report that this is even going on in a temple that has Radha-Krsna Deity worship!
These are just a couple of more indications that “There’s something rotten in Denmark..”..or is it Sweden?
[see “82 Items of Comparison Between Conditions in ISKCON when
Śrīla Prabhupāda was Personally Present with Today’s
Conditions”
- http://pratyatosa.com/Oldvsnew.htm]
Your servant,
Pratyatoṣa Dāsa
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