>>I know, that you now think: "It is
Utopia. Such leader is not present and cannot be present nowadays.
All
of us have heard it and we also saw consequences". But without such a
leader all our attempts to creat so-called "community" of any sense
are doomed to a failure
One has to work with what one has, and one may not have an ideal
leader, who is completely selfless, but one has to see who comes
closest to the mark.
In the beginning of a community, there is a huge amount of physical
work to be done, and so everyone starts off doing that... but over
time, some will show themselves to be more responsible, more caring,
or more spiritual and philosophical. So, after buildings are built,
and gardens dug, and it goes from creation mode, to maintenance mode,
there will be more time for devotee counselling, and by that time,
hopefully, some leaders will emerge by their natural qualities. I
don't think that this is utopia. We have never seen "consequences" of
such a thing, because we have only known bureaucracy, and dis-
empowerment of everyone not holding a title. In the wider society, we
have only known positions getting taken by personal selfish ambition.
There is another thing- made possible in our communities by their
smallness of size and by their focus on guna- i.e. qualification by
guna.
It does not take a genius to work out who, among the workers, is
showing some signs of genuine leadership (caring, concerned, involved,
thoughtful, and wise)- as opposed to false leadership, (symptomized by
ambition and the desire to "get ahead" or even to "take responsibility
for Prabhupada" which has often been a rationalization for personal
ambition). So, at the beginning of "maintenance mode", a vote can be
taken among the devotees about whom they consider the best candidate
for the office of ksatriya- who has shown them the most concern for
their welfare? Then gently that person should be pushed to do more
than just physical work- working on the devotees' hearts and minds,
keeping them motivated, fresh and enthusiastic. It may also be
consulted, after some time, as to who will occupy the brahmana varna-
it should not be someone who is just tired of picking veggies- but
someone who, over the course of time, has shown great honesty and
detachment from favours- even detachment from popularity- to speak the
plain truth for the benfit of all- and also has much philosophical
wisdom (vijnana). When such varnas are determined, it is not that
there need be great change- everyone can go on with their work as
before, but those workers who are designated ksatriyas will be
required to drop everything if someone is in need of help. Primarily,
his duty is to protect from harm- harm from the body and the mind- but
in a small comunity, that may not be a full-time job, and if that is
the case, he should not sit back in his office, pretending to be busy,
while the workers sweat out in the sun. I know this is a radical
diversion from how most devotees think of VA, but the fact is, they
think of it as something like the caste system of India, without
birthright. It is not lack of birthright that distinguishes VA from
the caste syste, but LACK OF EXPLOITATION. If this is not stressed,
then two things will happen. The first is that no one, or very few,
devotees will be attracted- they will find excuses in the sastra to
avoid VA- as they do so now. The second thing is that- if any VA
community is established- it could be far worse than ISKCON. The
labels could be used to exploit or to denigrate. So it is dangerous,
in my opinion, to get too much distracted by details, such as the
giving of names according to the Manu Samhita, and lose track of the
very important essence of VA that distinguishes it from its evil
cousin- in it, there is no exploitration, only cooperation to benefit
each other. It is like the spiritual world, descended, where the gopis
do not want to be seen by Krsna personally, but to help others be seen
by Him. According to how our devotees develop that mood of the gopis,
devoid of ambition and only want to elevate others, then they are
qualified to be leaders.
Utopia? Indeed! Our communities are supposed to be utopias- free from
anxiety- and based around devotional service. Otherwise, we may as
well just forget the whole thing. It is better to have nothing, then
to have a bad thing, advertised as "a positive alternative"- the first
choice is, at least, honest. It is not utopia, however, in that people
do not have to be perfect. But perfection- at least of attitude-
should be stressed and worked upon. We are not just about weeding
gardens, but also our hearts.
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -