archives

Corey, it's not that there are people called "liberals" in ISKCON who think that everyone is equal. If you read Srila Prabhupada's books you'll find out that these people are called "impersonalists". They are the kind of people who think that there is no difference between, say, a new bhakta and a twice-initiated brahmana.

Personalists, on the other hand, understand that "maintenance of Vaisnava etiquette is the jewel of the Vaisnava" (Caitanya-caritamrita Antya 4.129).

That's because etiquette is the essence of personalism. All kinds of devotees can live together in the house that Srila Prabhupada built, as long as they don't have bad manners.

Of course, preaching in the impersonalist West, as we are in ISKCON, we get a lot of people bringing their impersonal conceptions in with them, something that you talk about a lot.

Many anomalies are arising in our society from this impersonalism, not from equally mundane American political conservativism and American political liberalism.

In the chapter 19 of the fourth canto of the Bhagavatam, in relation to Indra's falsely adopting the dress of a renunciant, Srila Prabhupada explains that this is what causes many people to lose their faith in religion.

As you have pointed out at length and with great delight there are now ISKCON brahmacaris with their own bank accounts, brahmacaris who sleep in till all hours; and there are now even, shock horror, brahmacaris with their own blogs where they carry on their sex life with explicit talk of gross sexual indecencies (a forbidden topic for brahmacaris) and criticism of other sadhakas, which is nothing but subtle sex life. The yajna held by by Daksa Prajapati ("expert in sex life") has become synonymous with unrestrained criticism of Vaisnavas and brahmanas.

Your blog was not carried on Planet ISKCON because you have some inalienable right to be there. It was not carried because of the quality of your writing. It was carried because Vaisnavas are liberal. That means that they give people the benefit of the doubt, that they ascribe to them the best possible interpretation of their motives, that they give them the opportunity to participate in the society of devotees and reform themselves.

Your blog was carried on Planet ISKCON by the mercy of the devotees.

Diversity of perspective can be accommodated, but bad manners cannot be tolerated.

Further to this, because I do not approve of inappropriate and philosophically incorrect behavior posing as adherence to Srila Prabhupada's standards for ISKCON, and I don't want to be a party to creating or encouraging indiscipline in the ranks, I am officially changing the Planet ISKCON policy in relation to ISKCON brahmacaris, who are under an ISKCON authority and are not to have any independence.

I will put that in another post, however, just so that you can understand that it's nothing personal.

Brahmacaris are celibate students who officially represent the monastic order in ISKCON. They are not independent but are under an ISKCON authority who is responsible for their behaviour, and to whom they are accountable.

As such, ISKCON brahmacaris who wish their blog feed to be included on Planet ISKCON must approach their temple authority who should provide a letter covering the following:

a) The brahmacari has permission to write a blog
b) The authority has read the blog
c) The authority approves the content
d) The authority would like the content syndicated to Planet ISKCON

Any concerns that may arise about the content of the blog can then be directed to this authority, who sponsors the brahmacari and accepts accountability for their behaviour.

Existing blog feeds from ISKCON brahmacaris as of April 2008 are exempted from this policy, although if you are a brahmacari you might want to check with your authority.

Harinam Information for Saturday 5th April, 2008
Meeting point: Corner of Curd St and Holland St, Greenslopes
Time: 1 pm

Please note the time is back to 1 pm this week. Since we are doing the Krishnafest program in the afternoon at 5 pm we need to make sure we have enough time to do the harinam and then get to Atma to set up.