What Is Going On in the World Is a Fight for Truth and Honesty Against Deceit and Lies?
Forewarning:
For some, this post will be controversial.
So, I’m going to have a public discussion here about my diksha guru’s recent post that was shared with me by multiple people (it is shared with me because I do not follow any of his pages) and I encourage the sensitive types, the sentimentalists, and the fanatics to simply leave the conversation (and close the door on your way out please.)
Firstly, I will not be silenced by claims I am criticising my “guru” publicly. There is a major difference between bringing something into question, and blaspheming a vaisnava.
The reason this must be discussed is because it has major implications not only to the physical health of the community, but to the spiritual health also.
Such posts have brought great pain to my heart and have not been resolved satisfactorily by any direct communication I have had with IDS.
Sometimes, I feel muzzled by what the Iskcon community, godbrothers and godsisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, and the like, would think by speaking so candidly. I am tired of such and must be free to express myself regardless of the censure or consequences.
Let us begin:
Some, think that there is a debate raging between “pro-vaxxers” and “anti-vaxxers”. This is illogical (false dichotomy and a strawman argument).
What is going on in the world is a fight for truth and honesty against deceit and lies. This is the same battle that wages in this world continuously, and now more than ever in our generation, are alternate voices being censored and condemned.
Every soul is subject to influence and what most people call facts are simply words coming from some authority they have handed over faith to. Whether or not that faith is justified is another matter.
Using Covid as an example, people are saying so many have died from covid, not because they know what covid even is or if it even exists, just because someone they have put faith in (right or wrong, truth or fiction) is saying it. Sadly, for most it is what the one eyed guru tells them on the 6 O’clock news.
Sastra, sadhu and guru (please study guru tattva so you understand although guru, in principle, is one, not all gurus are equal and able to deliver their disciples from maya – see Nectar Of Instruction, verse 5 purport by ACBSP) advise us to put our faith inthe words of sadhu, guru and sastra and that all three must align.
When I read the words of Indradyumna Swami (IDS) in his promotion of vaccines and the words in the attached post of his, honestly I can not reconcile how these words add up to guru, sadhu and sastra; in fact I am convinced that they do not.
What do they add up to? My opinion is that they are apara-vicara, apparent consideration and arising from the mind of one who has put faith in modern western medicine and perhaps a few “doctors” who have spent years being indoctrinated by modern western medicine and science. Right or wrong, truth or fiction, that is where he has placed his faith. It is most definitely not in the Ayurveda.
It is a conditioned response.
Whilst I may disagree with IDS on such apara-vicara and I do vehemently disagree and think that, on this matter he is completely led astray, does this mean I have to reject everything he says, reject him?
No, of course not. He says so many wonderful things that I completely and wholeheartedly agree with; such as “the holy name is our veritable saviour”.
Whilst I may choose who I take siksha from, as that is my free choice who I see as someone fit to hear from in regards to my spiritual life, this does not mean that the diksha guru, who has formally connected me to Krishna should be rejected because I disagree on such matters.
For Iskcon and many of us neophytes to advance we must be able to reconcile that most Prabhupada disciples are not Prabhupada, not uttama adhikaris (therefore not able to deliver us to the ultimate goal) and not be frightened to seek out those uttama-adhikaris, premi-bhaktas, gaura-jana-priyas as Prabhupada and ‘sastra advises.
Unfortunately, Iskcon has made policies from time to time restricting devotees from associating with maha-bhagavata vaisnavas. Just as one must reject a madhyam or kanistha guru who forbids his disciple from associating with an uttama-adhikari, one must also reject an institution, if need be, so as to be free to associate with premi-bhaktas.
In conclusion, I assert that it is not criticism nor rejection of a diksha guru to completely disagree with him on such matters as expressed in the attached photo regarding – feeling save (sic) enough to get out of his comfort zone – and nor is it an offense to recognize that one’s diksha guru is not an uttama adhikari mahabhagavata and be willing to seek siksha from someone qualified to deliver one to the ultimate goal.
A second photo is added that sums up how I see the world, not how IDS is presenting it.
