Bhagavad Gita

(Early Notes Toward a Rhetoric of Consciousness).

When I was teaching in gurukulas, the students would occasionally find out that another child didn’t like one sort of food or another and would tease them: “Eww—you don’t like mangoes? That means you don’t like Prabhupada and Krishna!” These eight- or nine-year-olds were probably joking, or half joking, to the extent that kids are capable. But when adults insist in the rudest language that other devotees who don’t share their opinions on one detail or another regarding devotional practice or association are faithless, or even demons, they are not joking. And it’s not funny.

Rather, they are simply demonstrating a narrow-minded attitude and cramped thinking discouraged by Srila Prabhupada himself. Unfortunately, we see a great deal of such narrow-mindedness in discussions among devotees over the course of our association, both face to face and in online discourse. I have found it to be perhaps the most discouraging, most corrosive attitude among devotees. I believe it would immeasurably improve the quality of devotee association, and perhaps even the devotees’ preaching efforts, if, rather than seeing other devotees of Krishna in such a pinched, miserly way, we tried instead to imbibe and exhibit the kind of broad, generous vision of others that Srila Prabhupada himself exemplified.

  Recently I was somewhat belittled by a godbrother for my strong preaching of vegetarianism, engaging in animal rescue, and teaching of yoga, rather than engaging “purely” in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books and doing (in his words) “direct preaching”. Having also seen such comments before in articles posted by devotees, I wanted to bring forward … Read more

Something’s happening here;
What it is ain’t exactly clear.
There’s a man with a sneer over there,
He’s tellin’ me I got to beware.

Those lyrics, adapted from the 60’s song of social change “For What It’s Worth” sung by Buffalo Springfield, describe the cloud of change that has descended upon much of ISKCON today. There is a New Ethic engulfing the Society, one that was never part and parcel of the original purpose of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s intention when he founded ISKCON. Look around you. It would seem that those disciples who are incapable of understanding what they are supposed to be doing have borrowed wholesale from the very society that they are supposed to have rejected.

And the New Ethic in ISKCON is political correctness. Political correctness, as it is bandied about at offices in Silicon Valley or Berlin, is a form of mayavada because it is a harsh social code that is utterly lacking in discrimination, or viveka. In the world we are supposed to have left behind, impersonal political correctness is enforced all over the Kali-controlled media. Today’s media of radio, TV and I=Internet ignores the fact that America is “bringing democracy and freedom” to the world by a current bombing campaign that is slaughtering millions of Muslims in six countries, because murdering innocent civilians is apparently politically correct. Rather than reveal bombing raids, the media will spend its days focusing upon a sign at a sports game that “unfairly charactererizes” or “stereotypes” a minority. Or an off-color joke told by some celebrity.

A government-controlled media that covers-up wholesale slaughter of millions while lamenting this or that “minority” is obviously using that section of society as a pawn for its own ends. Which “minority” it is does not matter, it is a convenient ploy. What matters is that you fall into line and march in tune with the totalitarian drummer. The Thought Police are everywhere: it doesn’t matter if entire cities are wiped out in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya; you’d better watch what goes on in your head. Similarly, ISKCON today encourages such absence of discrimination because it is easier to create a personality cult around a central body than to have independent and thoughtful brahmanas.