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Dear Mr. Livermore,
Please, before you open you mouth check what you are about to say.
Krishna consciousness or the "Krishna cult" as you call it is accepted
in India as being completely bonafide and His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of the Hare Krishna
movement is respected both in India and by anyone who knows anything
about the Vedic culture in the West. I can quote you hundreds of book
reviews from professors at practically every major university in the
world who all testify to the great value of Srila Prabhupada's books. I
gave some yesterday in another post you can refer to that. For your
information here is the original foreword of Srila Prabhupada's
"Bhagavad-gita As It Is". It is written by Professor Edward C. Dimock,
Jr., a very famous expert on India from the University of Chicago
Department of South Asian Languages and Civilization.
FOREWORD
The Bhagavad-gita is the best known and the most frequently translated
of Vedic religious texts. Why it should be so appealing to the Western
mind is an interesting question. It has drama, for its setting is a
scene of two great armies, banners flying, drawn up opposite one
another on the field, poised for battle. It has ambiguity, and the fact
that Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna are carrying on their dialogue
between the two armies suggests the indecision of Arjuna about the
basic question: should he enter battle against and kill those who are
friends and kinsmen? It has mystery, as Krishna demonstrates to Arjuna
His cosmic form. It has a properly complicated view of the ways of
religious life and treats the paths of knowledge, works, discipline and
faith and their inter-relationships, problems that have bothered
adherents of other religions in other times and places. The devotion
spoken of is a deliberate means of religious satisfaction, not a mere
outpouring of poetic emotion. Next to the Bhagavata-purana, a long work
from South India, the Gita is the text most frequently quoted in the
philosophical writings of the Gaudiya Vaisnava school, the school
represented by Swami Bhaktivedanta as the latest in a long succession
of teachers. It can be said that this school of Vaisnavism was founded,
or revived, by Sri Krishna-Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1533) in Bengal,
and that it is currently the strongest single religious force in the
eastern part of the Indian subcontinent.
The Gaudiya Vaisnava school, for whom Krishna Himself is the Supreme
God, and not merely an incarnation of another deity, sees bhakti as an
immediate and powerful religious force, consisting of love between man
and God. Its discipline consists of devoting all one's activities to
the Deity, and one listens to the stories of Krishna from the sacred
texts, one chants Krishna's name, washes, bathes and dresses the murti
of Krishna, feeds Him and takes the remnants of food offered to Him,
thus absorbing His grace; one does all these things and many more,
until one has been changed: the devotee has become transformed into one
close to Krishna, and sees the Lord face to face.
The scholar, the student of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, and the increasing
number of Western readers interested in classical Vedic thought have
been done a service by Swami Bhaktivedanta. By bringing us a new and
living interpretation of a text already known to many, he has increased
our understanding manyfold; and arguments for understanding, in these
days of estrangement, need not be made.
Professor Edward C. Dimock, Jr.
Department of South Asian Languages and Civilisation
University of Chicago
The Hare Krishna movement has faced many problems and sometimes, as you
have noted in your article, devotees have been involved in illegal
activities - all sorts of things have happened which shouldn't have.
I'm sure some Catholics have been involved in illegal activities too
but the Catholic church doesn't get the blame for that, it's the
individual's responsibly. Unfortunately, the Hare Krishna movement does
not get the same treatment. If one devotee does something wrong the
media take it up and persecute the whole movement. I am sure you can
see this is not really fair.
I trust that you will not post any more rubbish. You can't say things
in a public forum if you can't back them up. You have to have some
proof, otherwise it doesn't look good for you. Of course you can find
isolated incidents where devotees have done the wrong thing (like the
guns at Berkley) but these things are done by people who are not
actually Krishna consciousness. There may be so many problems, but the
philosophy, the books and His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada are completely perfect and are appreciated by all
authorities in the area both in India and the West.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.
Thank you. Hare Krishna!
Madhudvisa dasa
(madhudvisa@krishna.org) /sudarsana
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
Sudarsana Home madhudvisa@krishna.org