Tips to make a living: Concoct a program where the word “japa” or similar is prominent. Do not worry too much, success is guaranteed no matter what nonsense you say as japa is easy anyway and everybody knows Srila Prabhupadas instructions on it. Now you have to come with some personal scheme that looks unique and a better way to chant and progress and leave the rest to the stupidity of the attendants.
Either you have an outside facility or even better get in touch with the right temple officials, present your credential of GBC bootlicking good standing and they will pay you the flight. Once there you are treated like a king. See if clothes washing personal assistant newbies are hanging around and make sure they participate in the questions and answers and feel important too.
With the increasing trend to make a workshop, seminar or course about everything in Krishna consciousness, we can see our movement steadily dwindling to a kinda corporate-newage-pseudoreligious mish-mash.
I have even heard of a seminar of how to help devotees die. I have been in a number of deaths myself and I tell you the last thing a dying person needs: a “professional” how to die “expert” pseudo religionist.
Just an idea for someone to catch: why not support istagosthis (remember?) on how to treat devotees well, or how to help each other wih respect while we are alive.
Anybody can come, be one of us and if you really excel in your realizations it will be so obvious anyway.
Lest we might be yet again falling in the jet-set personality cult trap like any ordinary pathetic organization.
So, here we come to the crux of the matter: Being offensive is publishing or allow to publish an offense against a Vaishnava.
Now, what is an offense? And what is a Vaishnava? and under which circumstances a vaishnava aparadha occurs? Big words, don’t you think?
If you analyze this simple questions it will turn that 99,9 of ‘vaishnava aparadhas’ are dissensions, insults, quarrel and havoc among conditioned souls, striving for perfection, not elevated vaishnavas anyway, but expert at throwing each other the ashtra of mad elephant offense as to destroy the others reputation. And that trickles down to the general devotees that are busy cataloguing who is ‘offensive’ and who is just exposing the truth.
Does the word vaishnava applies to pure vaishnavas only? If not, is there a difference between offense to a pure devotee and a sadhaka immersed in the modes of nature?
Humility does not mean being gullible nor stupid. Many people thinks the Pope is a saint, but is he? How much of this papism is in ISKCON today?
The one that we are sure that is a pure devotee w/o a doubt is Srila Prabhupada.
Is it not an offense changing his instructions? Is not an offense indirectly preaching that he is dead and we should carry on with new ideas and discard the old ones?
The real offenders ‘to the pure devotee’ might be some of the ones we are paying obeisances to and many of the ones we are tossing in the offensive hellish pit might be those who really care.
Possible? Yes
Probable. Certainly
A fact? You judge.
