Pandering Politicians
BY: NAVA JAUVANA DASA
May 09, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTES, USA (SUN) — From a conversation on May 1, 1976 with Srila Prabhupada:
"These leaders, they are samstutah, they are very much worshiped. By whom? Sva-vid-varahostra-kharaih. By the dogs, by the pigs, by the.... sva-vid-varaha..., camel, and by the ass. Because these particular names, I have explained in the Bhagavata... So suppose one man has become lion, and he's praised by dogs, camels, asses, and pigs. Naturally, they will praise, "Oh, sir, you are the king." Does it mean he's king? He's animal.
"The voters are sva-vid-varahostra-khara. And the president is another big animal. That's all. This is transaction of animal kingdom. A lion is the king of some asses, pigs, dogs, and hogs. What business you can expect there? This is their real picture. One who is a human being, he's seeing that how the animals are enjoying by voting and electing president. But they are thinking, "We are busy in a very great business. We are electing president."
Now a major election is going on in the US, and the graphic example that Prabhupada took from the Bhagavatam can be seen in the behavior of the pandering politicians running for President. The Republican, John McCain, who wants to keep US troops in Iraq for another 100 years, and the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, who will say or do anything to get elected, are caricatures of the animals Prabhupada spoke about. They pander to the ignorant masses who identify with them based on gender, race, class or so-called values.
Barack Obama is relatively better, at least he has more noble ideals. But he's being chased around the room by other animals with sticks, who accuse him of not being tough enough or middle class enough or 'white' enough to make a good President. It's a very ugly scene. Even if he somehow wins the nomination and election, Obama will be under terrific pressure from demoniac and divisive forces who will do everything in their power to turn the already polarized citizens against him.
The real issues facing the world are so grave they need immediate attention. But they will go unaddressed while people are distracted until our collective karma produces a crisis of huge proportions. It looks like that is coming soon enough. The current transactions of ignorance, dressed up as advanced civilization, will not be sustainable when the economic and political tsunamis hit our shores. The effects will be devastating and global. We are already starting to see the early signs in food shortages, inflation, bank meltdowns and soaring energy prices.
In an eerily similar way, the politicians of Iskcon pander to their congregations, entertaining them with comical anecdotes, bhagavat saptas, sentimental performances and personal stories. None of these methods were taught to us by Srila Prabhupada. But it's good for collecting disciples and donations while travelling around the world accepting gorgeous positions as gurus and quasi-spiritual leaders. In the meantime, their temples (at least in North America) are empty, just like the churches, except on Sundays, when they are filled with pious Hindus who come for darshan. No one talks about varnashram or any serious alternatives to this material society, and no one seeks to bring back the 95% of Prabhupada's direct disciples who left Iskcon and are not welcome back into the "family" unless they come to glorify the saffron-clad leaders who got themselves elected to the vyasasans.
While this game is going on, the collective consciousness of the world keeps accelerating faster towards a crash and transformation that only Krishna knows how traumatic it will be. While blind leaders-- secular and spiritual both-- are pandering and being praised, the world is quickly losing its balance. The compassionate paradigm that Prabhupada taught us was: "let the blind man and the lame man combine to lift up the world." The miserly paradigm now being followed is: "let blind leaders pander and be worshipped by their blind followers. So what if they both land up in the ditch? That's not our business." It's a topsy-turvy philosophy. It's certainly not vaisnava philosophy.
You can know the truth when you can see it. Prabhupada is showing it and teaching us how to see it. But we need to open our ears if we want to see it with our eyes. Is anyone listening past the pandering?
And from a blog posting that followed:
The End of Politics
After spending valuable time reading the NY Times along with many other online publications (including the Sampradaya Sun), i've come to a conclusion. There is no end to politics.
Politics is about finding fault. Finding someone to blame for our misery. Projecting a demon outside the self. Making a hero out of the false ego, a king out of a beggar.
I read an article about feminism infiltrating Iskcon. Another condemning most of the human population of the world as meat-eating Abrahamic donkeys (referring to every living Jew, Christian and Muslim). These articles were written by thoughtful devotees. It shocked me at first, until i realized that devotees are no different than any other conditioned soul, until they develop real humility and tolerance as taught by Mahaprabhu (trnad api sunicena).
Jnana is not that much different than ignorance until the heart becomes purified and is lit up from realization. Enlightened. Just as power or any opulence can be used for good or bad, so too can knowledge. Ravana was a brahmin.
So the world goes on perpetuating lies about itself. Lies that I am number one. Or as Prabhupada said, quoting the demoniac mind: I am God. That's the essence of politics. I cloak myself in any manner of holy garb: as an ayatollah, guru, monk, priest or president. But whatever my dress, politics means that I have the answer and that the problem is somehow out there, threatening, foreign, to be attacked. That's the false ego projecting the shadow of its own darkness. A perfect example of illusion that is impossible to overcome without surrendering to the Perfect Intelligence.
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