Intricacies of the Codes of Religion
BY: MARGARET CONNORS
Jan 23, USA (SUN) — First I will offer Mahavidya das these excellent words from the Srimad Bhagavatam 1.17.22 and HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami's incisive purport:
rajovaca
dharmam bravisi dharma-jna
dharmo 'si vrsa-rupa-dhrk
yad adharma-krtah sthanam
sucakasyapi tad bhavet
SYNONYMS
raja uvaca--the King said; dharmam--religion; bravisi--as you speak; dharma-jna--O one who knows the codes of religion; dharmah--the personality of religion; asi--you are; vrsa-rupa-dhrk--in the disguise of a bull; yat--whatever; adharma-krtah--one who acts irreligiously; sthanam--place; sucakasya--of the identifier; api--also; tat--that; bhavet--becomes.
TRANSLATION
The King said: O you, who are in the form of a bull! You know the truth of religion, and you are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator. You are no other than the personality of religion.
PURPORT
A devotee's conclusion is that no one is directly responsible for being a benefactor or mischief-monger without the sanction of the Lord; therefore he does not consider anyone to be directly responsible for such action. But in both the cases he takes it for granted that either benefit or loss is God-sent, and thus it is His grace. In case of benefit, no one will deny that it is God-sent, but in case of loss or reverses one becomes doubtful about how the Lord could be so unkind to His devotee as to put him in great difficulty. Jesus Christ was seemingly put into such great difficulty, being crucified by the ignorant, but he was never angry at the mischief-mongers. That is the way of accepting a thing, either favorable or unfavorable. Thus for a devotee the identifier is equally a sinner, like the mischief-monger. By God's grace, the devotee tolerates all reverses. Maharaja Pariksit observed this, and therefore he could understand that the bull was no other than the personality of religion himself. In other words, a devotee has no suffering at all because so-called suffering is also God's grace for a devotee who sees God in everything. The cow and bull never placed any complaint before the King for being tortured by the personality of Kali, although everyone lodges such complaints before the state authorities. The extraordinary behavior of the bull made the King conclude that the bull was certainly the personality of religion, for no one else could understand the finer intricacies of the codes of religion.
I spoke to the root cause of all abuse and how to correctly view that. You agree with it - but then offer a "Yes But!". To my philosophical point - there simply is no "Yes But".
The parents of the children clearly ignored the natural parental instincts shared by all mammals; total mistrust of anyone and everyone where it pertains to the protection of their children. Thus they put their children in the hands of less than capable hands and experienced first hand the results. They surely know better now. There is no policy anywhere in ISKCON that promotes, endorses or supports the suppression of such natural parental concern for the children of devotees and there has never been such a "policy" - though there were some individual situations and persons involved in this misconduct.
For many years now - devotees all over the world - and especially in those locales where such misbehavior did in fact surface - have done their utmost to ensure that any such misbehavior is both near-impossible and if it dares to resurface - dealt with swiftly and most effectively. I suspect that leading this correction - is the realization on the part of parents that it is first and foremost their responsibility - to assume the potential worst of every adult they enlist to assist with their child's education - and preferring to be pleasantly surprised when they meet or surpass their expectations where it concerns their conduct vis a vis their child.
The specific case you cite in your temple implies that this gentleman remains in some position that grants him access to the children of various devotees. I highly doubt this to be the case. I am sure he longer has anything to do with children as caregiver in any way. If he does - then you should speak directly to the parents of the children in his care and alert them to the potential problems in the future of their children. That is the correct way to address this particular situation.
Painting the International Society for Krsna Consciousness with this broad brush, as if it remains in the dark where it concerns child abuse of any kind - is in my estimation - a gross misrepresentation of the facts. I doubt there is a single parent amongst the ISKCON devotees - anywhere in the world - who is not completely - both up to speed on all matters pertaining to this phenomena and how to both prevent it - or deal with it if it shows its face.
You concur with my philosophical point - and you likewise affirm, "Most of the devotees familiar with our Krsna conscious philosophy would certainly agree with Margaret on the point she is presenting."
There is no "YES BUT" to the absolute truth and HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada tells us that to evade this point places us in the same category as the perpetrators of abuse: mischief mongers.
Now to Gadadhara das:
In the Nectar of Devotion, First Chapter, pure devotional service to Lord Krsna is described as "rarely achieved". HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada writes:
"The rarity of devotional service is also confirmed in the tantra-sastra, where Lord Siva says to Sati, "My dear Sati, if one is a very fine philosopher, analyzing the different processes of knowledge, he can achieve liberation from the material entanglement. By performance of the ritualistic sacrifices recommended in the Vedas one can be elevated to the platform of pious activities and thereby enjoy the material comforts of life to the fullest extent. But all such endeavors can hardly offer anyone devotional service to the Lord, not even if one tries for it by such processes for many, many thousands of births."
In Srimad-Bhagavatam it is also confirmed by Prahlada Maharaja that merely by personal efforts or by the instructions of higher authorities one cannot attain to the stage of devotional service. One must become blessed by the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee, who is completely freed from the contamination of material desires."
The blessings of HDG Srila Prabhupada - come in the form of each and every instruction he provides as to how we can correctly execute devotional service and the means to identify who is and even more - who is not - is provided by him as well.
I offered the clearest means at our disposal to identify such valuable association.
I am speaking of those who do follow and correctly represent these clear indicators of such valued association. They are every bit as rare as pure devotional service. These are the proverbial "apples" I speak of. You wish to speak of the proverbial "oranges"; those whose representation of the means to identify valuable association is less than what it should be - the less than perfect followers. But such imperfect followers are not the subject of my comments.
So while I am speaking of apples - you are speaking of oranges.
I am speaking of winners. You are fixated upon losers. Why bother?
We should concentrate upon finding valuable association so that we can ourselves become valuable association. We should all seek to meet the qualifications of uttama-adhikari as given by HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada in the Nectar of Instruction. They are not impossible to pursue or attain with the above described blessings of the dust of the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and his sincere servants.
Wherever we see room for improvement - great or small - in our own efforts to become and share Krsna Consciousness - we can commit ourselves to doing the needful and doing all we can to effect such improvement. Remaining fixated on the failure of anyone - makes no sense. Where there is lack of any kind in the correct representation of Krsna Consciousness and Srila Prabhupada then great opportunity to present the perfected program is waiting for the enthusiastic efforts of those who are willing to embrace it! Let us all try to assemble such a team of enthusiastic men and women whose vision is not distracted by the failings of anyone else - and roll up our sleeves and get busy doing exactly what others are distracted by in the less than stellar actions of anyone else. Let us all seek to become veritable uttama-adhikaris - and completely absorbed in providing the whole world with access to HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada - and the blessings of the dust of his lotus feet!
