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• Date: Thu Dec 14 12:39:41 1995
• Message-Id: id654

From: Bhakti.Vikasa.Swami

Subject: Hardcore Preaching

Cc: Bhakta Dhyan 

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Dear Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja



Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!



My name is Madhudvisa dasa. I am living outside ISKCON at the moment because of

some disagreement but still I am chanting, reading, and preaching to the best of

my ability. I have a www site (on the internet at http://www.peg.apc.org/~shelter)

and often get letters from "straight edge" kids...



I have been observing the hardcore movement in ISKCON since 1990 with Kalki and

the Cro-Mags. It is a very difficult thing. On the face of it it seems a good

preaching oportunity, but I have not seen many good results. From my many talks

with the "straight edge" kids [devotees & "fans"] on the internet, they are not

generally so interested in Krishna, it is different to talking to an ordinary,

"traditional" ISKCON bhakta, they are into the "straight-edge" scene, they listen

to hardcore music, go to hardcore concerts... and they see Krishna as a small part

of that...



But anyhow I read your discussion with Vraja Kishor in his conference on com, and

I was very happy to hear what you had to say and to read the quotes from Srila

Prabhupada.



I just thought I would send you this letter from Jonas and ask your advice. The

whole thing of ISKCON devotees being in hardcore bands has put us in a very

difficult position when it comes to preaching. They are never going to become

Krishna conscious by listening to hardcore music and if they join because of

hardcore music the are not going to give it up either... I would like to hear your

thoughts.



I don't know if you are reading your mail on com or even if the "netgods" at com

in Sweeden will deliver my mail to you. I have only ever sent one letter through

com and they didn't deliver it... I notice you have sent messages through another

bhakta so I will send this to him as well. Perhaps he could pass it on to you.



Looking forward to your reply.



Your servant



Madhudvisa dasa





Dear Jonas



I never thought I would become a Hare Krishna by being "chanted to by a monk"

either. It was the last thought in my mind. I was a successful Computer Systems

Analyst and getting lots of money, etc...



I started visiting a Hare Krishna restaurant and talking to the devotees, but they

told me about Krishna, not hardcore... It is a special thing. We become purified

by associating with devotees, by Krishna prasadam, by hearing the chanting of the

Hare Krishna maha-mantra and by reading the books. These are the ways we become

Krishna conscious:



    1. Reading Srila Prabhupada's books

    2. Tasting Krishna Prasadam

    3. Hearing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra chanted by pure devotees

    4. Hearing the philosophy (Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam) from pure

devotees.



That is why Srila Prabhupada established 4 programs: book distribution, prasadam

distribution, Hari-nam (chanting Hare Krishna on the streets) and preaching. No

one thinks they become a devotee by seeing the "monks" chanting on the street, or

by eating vegetarian food in a Hare Krishna restaurant, but that is how it



happens. The Hare Krishna chanting and the prasadam purify the heart... then some

time in the future the people become Hare Krishna's...



It's not the hardcore music that does it at all. People may join because they like

hardcore music, shelter, etc, but they soon leave again because Krishna

consciousness is not at all about hardcore or being a rock star...



You will never become Krishna conscious by listening to hardcore music. It is

sense gratification.



I don't know if you have read what Srila Prabhupada said on the matter which I

have sent to you or if even you think what Srila Prabhupada says is important, but

as his disciples, we follow his instructions. We don't speculate. There are so

many things we may think but they have to be confirmed by guru, sadhu and sastra,

the spiritual master, the great sages and the scriptures. It is not that "I think

it is good..." It has to be confirmed by the authorities. That is the process.



Anyhow, I don't know what your reaction will be, but our interest is in Krishna

consciousness, and being a "drug-free vegetarian" means you are in a good position

to understand Krishna consciousness. Have you read any of Srila Prabhupada's

books? Do you believe in the soul? Life after death? Reincarnation?



>

>I recieved your letter and I must say I was a bit chocked by it's contest.

>I've always thought that you should serve Krishna with what you do best. If

>it's cooking or mopping a floor doesn't matter, the important thing is that

>you do it for Krishna and with Krishna in mind.



Yes... But you have to do it under the direction of a real spiritual master... You

have to find someone who knows what Krishna likes!  Krishna is suddha-sattva, it

means above even the mode of goodness in the material world, hardcore music is at

best in the mode of passion and mostly in the mode of ignorance. The ISKCON

devotees playing this music agree with this. THEY ARE NOT DOING IT TO PLEASE

KRISHNA... they are doing it to attract people to Krishna consciousness (which the

think will please Krishna -- it is indirect). There is a big difference. Krishna

doesn't like this music and they are not playing it for Krishna -- they are

playing to please the "fans". If you want to please Krishna you will sing the

songs He likes, in a manner authorized by the great acharyas... Sometimes the

people don't like it, that doesn't matter -- we do it to please Krishna AND THE

PEOPLE BENEFIT EVEN IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT... (but many, many people do like to

hear and chant Hare Krishna)



> These guy's has always

>(almost always anyway) played hardcore music but now they do it for Krishna.



As I said, Krishna doesn't like it. So it would be better for them to chant Hare

Krishna and attract people like that. People would still be attracted, not so many

perhaps, but at least they would be being attracted by Krishna! Krishna and

Krishna's name are non-different. When we chant Hare Krishna, Krishna and all His

potencies are present. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has all

knowledge, all strength, all fame, all beauty and all renunciation, and all this

is completely present in the vibration of the Hare Krishna maha mantra when

chanted by pure devotees. It is a very powerful thing indeed, Krishna is all-

attractive, it is only because our hearts are covered by so much material dirt

that we are not attracted at present, but the dirt is cleared away by hearing and

chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra... So if we hear the Hare Krishna mantra our

heart will be purified and the dormant lover for Krishna, which is already there,

it is just covered now, will become manifest...



But the hard-core music doesn't purify the heart, it puts more dirt in there...



>Why should that be wrong. I can't see why kids should be devotees and then

>drop out just becouse the main reason that they joined in the first place

>was a hardcore band.



That's the problem. Devotees do "drop-out" of ordinary, mundane, materialistic

society. It is not that we go to some mountain and live there all by ourselves,

but we like to associate with other devotees, other people interested in serving

Krishna. Of course we talk to everyone about Krishna, but we are not interested in

their material business... The material world is very superficial. So many things



are going on, but the motivation is personal sense gratification. Everyone is,

ultimately, interested in satisfying his own senses. The culmination is sex life.

But devotees are interested in satisfying Krishna. In the beginning it sounds

impossible. I know that when I heard Hare Krishna's only had sex for having

children in marriage I knew I would never be a Hare Krishna... Because sex is so

important in the material world. But I read Srila Prabhuapda's books, tasted the

Krishna prasadam, associated with the devotees, chanted Hare Krishna, and then I

could see sex was not so important at all... I got some taste for serving Krishna,

some spiritual pleasure that was much more satisfying than any material so-called

"pleasure" could ever be...



>I feel pretty upset about this, believe me. I'm

>straight edge (which means I'm  drug-free vegetarian) and I became straight

>edge because of hardcore bands that where (and still are) straight edge. Do

>you think I would have become it if it was chanted by a monk?



No. You would not have become straight-edge, but you might well have become

Krishna conscious. And being Krishna conscious is the important thing. Straight-

edge will not help you when it comes to the most important problems of life:

birth, old age, disease and death. We are eternal spirit souls rotating in the

material world, sometimes we take birth in the animal kingdom, sometimes as

humans, sometimes on earth, sometimes on other planets or even in other universes.

We have been taking birth, getting old, getting sick and dying for a very, very

long time... That is the real problem. This lifetime of 70 or 100 years is no more

than the blinking of our eyes in the cosmic scale of time. We take this life very

seriously because we can't remember our past lives. But we have had past lives,

millions of them, and we are destined to keep on taking birth, getting old,

getting sick and dying eternally... The chance to get out of this cycle of samsara

[repeated birth and death] is Krishna consciousness. It is much more important

than straight-edge...



So I request you to think about these things, to read Srila Prabhupda's books and

to chant: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare

Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Krishna is in your heart and He will help you

reestablish your lost relationship with Him... if that is what you want...



>I don't think

>so. I think you should do what you want, what you like regardless of what

>others might think even if it's done for a god or what ever.



Yes. That is the materialistic world we are living in today. "If it feels good do

it..." But that is NOT Krishna consciousness. We want to do things that Krishna

likes, that Krishna wants, seeing Krishna happy is our happiness. It may sound

unlikely to you but if you give up your own personal interest and simply work for

Krishna's interest you will be perfectly happy. More than that, you will be in

transcendental ecstasy 24 hours a day, the material miseries will no longer be

able to touch you... The example given is that of supplying food to the stomach or

water to a tree. If you feed the stomach or water the roots of the tree the whole

body or the whole tree becomes satisfied. So Krishna is likened to the root of the

tree. If you supply water to the root, or if you satisfy Krishna, the whole tree

[the whole creation, everything, everyone] will become happy. Srila Prabhupada

said this Krishna consciousness is the one switch which when pressed will

illuminate everything, everywhere. It is the only hope for this miserable

materialistic age of Kali-yuga.



So no matter what you do or think, I request you to chant Hare Krishna.



Looking forward to your reply.



Madhudvisa dasa

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