Re: Digest for varnashrama-culture@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic

[Soma]

Great piece prabhu. Keep up the good work.
ys, somadas

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 6:26 AM, <varnashrama-c...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

  Today's Topic Summary

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/varnashrama-culture/topics

• Simple Living – the Path to Happiness and Personal Fulfillment? [2 Updates]

 Topic: Simple Living – the Path to Happiness and Personal Fulfillment?

Dhanesvara Das <integ...@gmail.com> Dec 08 08:33PM -0800 ^

 
My godbrother, Suresvara Dasa Prabhu, sent the following comment on
this post:
 
Thank you for your latest piece on the Varnasrama conference about
village life. As a survivor of several attempts to "live simply"--from
New Vrindaban to Gita-nagari to the Bhaktivedanta EcoVillage near
Udupi to Prabhupada Village in North Carolina--time and again I've
born witness to the "guna test" we always flunk. As an Amish friend
near Gita-nagari once remarked: "We started with horses and never left
'em. You started with cars, and you're trying to go to oxen? Whoa!"
 
Don't have time to participate in the conference, Dhanesvara Prabhu,
but go on speaking. The Cowherd and His friends are listening...Ys, Sd
 
My comment in reply: Indeed Suresvaraji, the transition of the gunas
is something that must be anticipated and dealt with. After all, we
are souls conditioned to the modes of passion and ignorance, and from
that perspective goodness is "well, nice, but not for me." Going from
traveling at 60-80 mph down to 2 mph is not something that everyone
can deal with, without becoming very impatient and bored. Perhaps a
horse is a good interim step! Counseling would also be helpful for
those moving to the simple life, to help them understand what to
expect both at the beginning and the end, and to work through it.
Additionally one should have a transition phase to phase in adjustment
to the simple life over a series of months, or even years. This would
help to us to focus on and appreciate what the simple life gives
instead of what it lacks. Hmm...although I didn't plan it this way, it
seems this is a good segue to the next piece I want to write for this
blog - my own transition to simple life. Coming soon.
 
 


 

Dhanesvara Das <integ...@gmail.com> Dec 08 10:22PM -0800 ^

 
I sent the above post to some friends by email, and here's another
response by email from a godbrother whose name I will omit:
 
"I joined ISKCON in 1973 and I did not own anything but my cloths for
10 years and for another 5 years I only owed my cloths and a van for
collecting funds for ISKCON. It was not until 1989, or 16 years of
living "simply" that I separated my self from ISKCON. So the devotee
my be willing to follow but if the leaders are abusers, then you have
a breakdown of trust. I had nothing when I moved back to Alachua in
the mid 80s but Hryd. Swami had a house, a pool, etc. And that was
just in Alachua.
"Anyway, I look foward to the day that I can go back. I see that just
a few years away. Hare Krsna"
 
Yes, the leaders must give a perfect example. Especially when we see
sannyasis, the "renounced" order of life living 'high on the hog' it
undermines our own interest in self-abnegation. What the leaders do
the common men follow. In the 80s we had Bhagavan in Europe buying
castles and living in luxury, spending thousands on fancy rugs for his
use, and even a gold chain to lift the flapper in his toilet!, while
the women lived in the cold basements of those castles without heat or
hot water. Those leaders destroyed the enthusiasm of many devotees,
but we won't go into that any further. That is all history, and it's
time for a new chapter. The question is who is going to lead the world
into a new future? Not the devotees it seems.
 
Indeed "the karmis" are leading the way to a new paradigm (see today's
post on http://spiritual-econ.blogspot.com). A different future is
coming. Devotees seem to think that simply because they are devotees
that they are going to be in front of that parade. Well, think again.
As I continue to point out in my lectures to the devotees, we *do not*
follow our own philosophy, we live according to the ways of the
dominant culture. So what kind of leadership is that? NONE. We can
give up the idea of leading the world unless we are going to start
following our own philosophy. Regardless of what the 'leaders' do, we
must have the maturity to follow Srila Prabhupada's instructions on
our own, and give the proper example to others.
 
 


 

[DRousse]

Thank you Soma Prabhu!  Jaya Prabhupada!

 

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