Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

We are not OK, but we can be increasingly and demonstrably better and one day OK, if we chant Hare Krishna and do devotional service, inside or outside a temple.
Spiritual advancement is not measured by geographical localization.

[quote][cite] abhiram:[/cite] One popular way of preaching is saying that everything is fine as long as they come to the temple, chant hare krishna etc. [/quote]

Ive personally heard a temple president use this reasoning to keep a suspected thief, who happened to make a lot of money for the temple, in a position of authority. That suspected thief was later made Co-TP. Everythings definitely not ok.

Its the same argument discussed elsewhere on this site i.e - if a guru falls down but still has faith in Krishna, can he still be a guru?

During one of his visits to the Honolulu temple Srila Prabhupada was told that there were many devotees living in Hawaii who were just into surfing, enjoying the nice atmosphere and except for coming to the temple on Sunday they didnt have much participation in the movement. They werent shaving their heads and many werent following the four regulative principles. At some point Prabhupada was asked, "what about those devotees who dont follow the regulative principles ....." and before the inquirer could even finish his sentence Prabhupada cut him off and said (and Im paraphrasing but the main point is there) that there is no question of not following --- because they made a promise -- they took vows. He added that one who cant even keep a promise isnt even human being so what to speak of devotee.

We all know that Prabhupada would usually be very compassionate and liberal with disciples who fell down -- but he also would sometimes be very matter-of-fact and strict. That comment he made in Honolulu stung a lot of people, including myself since I always had some problem with being strict and disciplined as far as 16 rounds and strictly following the rules and regulations. I accepted the fact that as an initiated disciple who wasnt even keeping my promises -- I was acting in a sub-human way and there was no doubt about it.

When my kids were young and the boys would sometimes get into fights and then accuse one another of starting it -- Id always direct my discipline to the older brother saying, "youre older so you should know better." I think the same applies to those of us who are "older and know better." No, its not OK for us to not do what we promised we would do in the presence of Guru, godbrothers and the sacrificial fire.

So thats my take on it.

-- Swarup das