Being afraid of saying it plainly or the "preach like a scientist" syndrome

Philosophy · asked by user [] · 2007-08-04 · 2 answers

You know how scientists preach. They ask them a question and they never say yes or no.
Once they asked one if according to evolution humans could become monkeys again in the future. The guy said: well, everything is possible.

Sometimes devotees are vague in their preaching and say: well, every side is correct, we have to understand. They compromise, feel afraid of offending or being attacked, etc etc.

Is this materialistic contamination?

and dont give me a" well, we have to understand" answer...

user [13] · 2007-08-04

You need to have the association and guidance of a pure devotee to be able to understand what you should do, and we should avoid commenting on what other people do.

There is a fine line and subtle difference between doing things because "you want to be accepted" (material contamination) and because "you want others to accept Krishna Consciousness" (which means not to "believe", but to take the next practical step that they need to, in order to advance in the nine stages of development of love of God delineated by Srila Rupa Goswami).

I have unfortunately seen many people unable to tell the difference between the two, and either slide in to deviation, or else criticize bona fide preachers of Krishna Consciousness.

As far as telling where you lie in that spectrum, you have to carry out your activities under guidance. First be an intern, then a nurse, then a doctor.

user [2] · 2007-08-04

I had that experience in own skin. I was preaching in a casual way to a group of yoga meditation coming to the temple regularly and some new devotees were saying I was compromising the philosophy , that you should preach and if someone does not accept, they have to go, no compromising.

They did not understand the benefit this people were getting just by being in the temple, chanting and some of them were starting to chant japa.
Preaching is a slow process if you wanna do it right.

I remember an example given in a class, preaching is like fishing, when the fish takes the bait, you let go a bit and sometimes you pull, until it is so near that you can get it with the net. You get the idea.

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