Re: My Video Reply to the Puri Incident Regarding Shrila Prabhupada

Dear Vaisnavas,

     Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Please accept my obeisances!

     Now we get to the point. It is of course not possible for us to go about fighting angrily with non-believers and offenders as then we'll be outnumbered 999 to 1. Its true that in modern days people provoke others by doing something harsh and then the provoked person gets trapped. I believe Swamiji's reply is the best way a devotee can respond to this sort of a situation -- stick to the facts. As for the rest we can only pray that those souls realise their mistake as it is still not too late. However the point I want to make is that one must never say that the people involved have not committed a Vaishnava aparadha. That is why the strong responses. That argument could have been avoided. Anyway, let bygones be bygones. We are here for sacred association and let us not get caught up in argument-counter argument business.

      What Swamiji has pointed out is very clear and scripturally this whole issue is baseless. The only way is to have a proper discussion of the scriptures with an unbiased mentality and let those who are intelligent accept the truth.The devotees are right, though when the non-devotees are going to wake up and accept it is another is a question. Only time will tell.

     Previously the reason why foreigners were not allowed in the temple was because the foreign mleccha rules had destroyed innumerable temples, destroyed many deities, slaughtered many pious people and devotees in heinous ways and accumulated unlimited sins and offenses and also spread false philosophies and misconceptions. This originally created a feeling of insecurity which required tight control over people coming to the temples. In many temples all over India, these rules are still enforced with variations, such as people of other faiths not being allowed in.

     But now many things have changed. What happened was that even those who were devotees were not being allowed to see or serve Lord Jagannath. Therefore, Lord Jagannath who is a very merciful of the Lord went personally outside India with Srila Prabhupada. At that time no one protested. Prabhupada was quite respected for spreading the glories of Puri. Only recently have some people with sectarian mentality started preaching such misconceptions, quite ignorant of the great service that Prabhupada has done for them, Lord Jagannath and Jagannatha Puri. If they are really concerned about the temple or the holy dham they should consider all this, which they have not. 

      So the ultimate decision lies in the desire of the Lord. If He wants his Ratha Yatra to be held everywhere including all places in India it will happen even if the 14 worlds cry foul. What Lord Jagannatha desires is known to Himself alone and the Lord never tolerates offenses to his devotees. Let us not speculate on the Lord's intentions by using some other examples.  But now one thing is certain that the Lord will not forgive the Vaisnava aparadhis unless they fall at Prabhupada's feet and beg offenses.

      Of course the non-devotees are very easily provoked into committing offenses, but this they do because of their own free will and not because of faults in the devotees' character. The Rath Yatras are never held with any intentions to provoke and compete with the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra. So it is incorrect to say that ISKCON provoked the opposition party and it is also incorrect to sympathise with the offenders.

       Ultimately we pray that the Lord step in with His infinite love and mercy. We may have our opinions,  but if we let the Lord come in we put matters in His hands, insiginificant or critical, and surrender to His will. He will arrange a solution that is best for everyone. The controversial issues have been going on for a while, but till now we on the sanga have only discussed the factual principles internally among ourselves and have not openly made such strong comments against the actions of the non-believers because we fully know that the Lord can easily work around the intentions of the atheists for the sake of his devotees.

       The whole point in raising this topic for discussion and making the video was to protest against the Vaisnava apradha that has been done to Prabhupada and in the process all the other issues have also come to light. The main point is not about who's provoking who or who is ultimately responsible or who's breaking the rules of the scriptures or whether the custom should be brokern or not or who's personal opinion is right. Vaisnava apradha is Vaisnava apradha and the Lord won't tolerate that. That is the Lord's own statement and that's all that matters.

        This video has not been made to encourage further arguments and take dualistic sides, "He is friend, he is enemy." A pure devotee is compassionate to all and so this warning is a sign of His mercy. The purpose of this video is to make this fact clear to the offenders that if their offense is totally baseless and that they should realise the glories of Prabhupada and the terrible sin they have committed; that it's not too late even now to repent and that if they don't wake up soon, they are all going to be in for big trouble from the anger of Lord Jagannatha.

       As for the debate on etiquette, let us all surrender to the Lord and accept His decision. Ultimately both Ramanujacharya and the Jagannatha priests surrender to Lord Jagannatha's wish. Like Lord Chaitanya's sankirtana was the ultimate solution for both the devotees and the non-believers, so we just surrender before the Lord knowing that what he decides is always good for the ultimate welfare of all souls without relativistic or dualistic considerations. So in the end we pray that those who have offended Prabhupada realise their mistake and make good for it.

       Whatever the Lord's will is, let that be accepted by one and all. The devotees will always accept this as their opinions are not different from the Lord. A real devotee has no personal opinion of His own and therefore what He says is the Lord's opinion on things. So why argue otherwise?

        To make the points clear I took it on my head to transcribe Swamiji's video to the extent possible and within my limited and imperfect understanding I have tried to give what I feel is a proper explanation of the video for those who need clarification and also to sort out any misunderstandings anyone may have about our statements and our motives. I hope that is clear. Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Servant of the servant,
Srinath

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