Preachers of Virtue vs Truth-sayer and Sweet Tone: PART 4 - The virtue-preachers are really boil-blowers.
spirituality·@upendranath·
0.000 HBDPreachers of Virtue vs Truth-sayer and Sweet Tone: PART 4 - The virtue-preachers are really boil-blowers.
<html> <p>https://i.supload.com/r1gY-EjEVf.jpg </p> <p><strong>The virtue-preachers are really boil-blowers.</strong> With high-sounding speech-making, which they believe themselves, they confuse the innocent. They have not accepted in their hearts that the <strong>highest welfare work is to distinguish reality from illusion for the benefit of all, which includes themselves</strong>. Therefore they succumb to the group deceptions while proclaiming interest in reality. Their flattery and sweet demeanor wins hearts, but the blind spots remain. Thus they obstruct the work of the truth-sayers. That is their only real accomplishment. Failing to model themselves in the fighting spirit of our <em>acaryas (a spiritual master who teaches by his own example, and who sets the proper religious example for all human beings)</em>, they have not realized that preaching discrimination includes virtue, but preaching virtue does not automatically include discrimination. Ultimately, virtue preachers impede the work of <em>Srimad Bhagavatam</em>..</p> <p>Part of the problem is that preachers of virtue believe that being popular is a symptom of genuine spirituality. They are not conscience-guided people. Rather they rely on popular opinion to guide their thinking. They appear to be inside-out oriented, but mostly they are outside-in people. Or they consider safety or expediency to be key considerations. The sixteenth century reformer, Martin Luther, revealed the vices behind the pious rhetoric of the conscienceless who practice vice in the guise of virtue; the Roman Catholic Church.</p> <p>Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it diplomatic? Narcissism asks the question, is it popular? However, conscience asks the question, is it right? …. Moreover, there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor diplomatic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience says it is right.</p> <p>Virtue preachers cannot live by this code. Yet they like to project that theirs is a higher, more realized platform than that of the truth-sayer, that they are sensitive, tactful and believe in incremental changes. In addition, they really believe in the value of what they do and about the unity of everyone involved.</p> <p>By switching the language they try to cast negative slander on the truth-sayers. When a truth-sayer advocates keener discrimination, they say, </p> <ol> <li>“He’s too critical”; </li> <li>When he advocates wisdom, they say, “He wants prominence”, or “He is a jnani (person who just studies the Vaisnava scriptures)”; </li> <li>When he demands justice, they say, “He’s angry”; </li> <li>When he advocates reform, they say, “He wants revolution”.</li> </ol> <p>Another part of the problem is the desire for peace. Most people believe that the litmus test of spirituality is peacefulness. Indeed, it is, but people don’t know what peace means. We are not here to be peaceful in the sense of having an easy life. We are here to serve in all conditions. War, peace, happiness, distress, fame, infamy—these make no difference to us. Being freed from doubt and delusion we go on with our service to the <em>parampara (disciplic succession),</em> in all circumstances distinguishing reality from illusion, “for the benefit of all”, which includes ourselves, and that is our peace.</p> <p>Srila Prabhupada often depicted the role of a preacher as a declaration of war on Maya (Maya-illusion; an energy of Krishna which deludes the living entity into forgetfulness of the Supreme Lord. That which is not, unreality, deception, forgetfulness, material illusion. Under illusion a man thinks he can be happy in this temporary material world. The nature of the material world is that the more a man tries to exploit the material situation, the more he is bound by maya's complexities.). Our peace is derived from our willingness to engage in this war. The so-called peace of the virtue preachers is despicable to a Vaisnava. …. We are <em>eternal </em>servants of Krishna. Eternal does not mean starting tomorrow. Eternal means right now and forever. So we are here to serve the spirit and intent of the <em>parampara</em>. When we do that with conviction and faith, sincerely, then we are peaceful amid any dualities or conflict. If we are on the side of truth, we are automatically peaceful. Arjuna wanted to be peaceful and mellow by going away from battle, but Lord Krishna said, <em><strong>“Forget it, Arjuna pal. </strong></em> <em><strong>Give up this petty weakness of heart. </strong></em> <em><strong>It does not become you, a person who knows the progressive values of life. </strong></em> <em><strong>Distinguishing reality from illusion is a battle and I want you to fight without considering your happiness or distress.” .</strong></em></p> <p>We are at war with illusion, whether the illusion manifest in or outside of the community of devotees makes no difference. We have to fight, not go find peace. This is the point of <em>Bhagavad-gita</em>. The battlefield is a metaphor for life and Arjuna represents every person. We have to orient ourselves like Arjuna, not try to sail around our duty to be artificially advanced. This is the lesson of Srila Prabhupada’s life. Falling for the warning song of those who entice us to be higher, before we have learned to be dutiful like Arjuna is our equivalent of leaving the battlefield before the battle. …. Srila Prabhupada told me that <em>Bhagavad-gita </em>is our ABC's. He said, </p> <p> “When you understand your ABC's thoroughly, then you can easily understand more complicated words. You can understand our graduate work, <em>Srimad Bhagavatam</em>, and then you can understand our postgraduate work, <em>Caitanya-caritamrta, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu</em>, like this.” </p> <p>In other words, if we miss the point of <em>Bhagavad-gita</em>, how can we become postgraduates? We would be bluffing, and indeed such is the case in many instances.</p> <p>We should not think Arjuna was <em>not </em>peaceful. At first he, like the virtue-preachers, had the wrong conception of peace, that it is all about avoiding conflict. So Krishna had to set him straight. Peace in this world is not, as we often see depicted in the wishful conception of mundane poets and artists—some tranquil garden where the lion lies down with the lamb. Peace comes from having a clear conscience.</p> <p>The only way for a Vaisnava to have a clear conscience is to cleave to the will of the Lord in all circumstances. Therefore, the first duty of <em>(a practitioner of sadhana-bhakti; one who is nearing the perfection of Brahman realization; one who is a suitable candidate for liberation), </em>is to understand the will of the Lord. In this way, one is freed from all doubt and delusion. This freedom is achieved under the guidance of the bona fide representative of the <em>parampara</em> and careful study of the <em>sastra (scriptures)</em>. Then, as Prabhupada writes, “when one knows the transcendental philosophy one acts without hesitancy.” This is ultra-peaceful..</p> <p>Therefore, in the midst of battle, Arjuna was peaceful, because he gave up his sentimental conception. He surrendered. We have to learn to become peaceful like that—by surrendering and being truth-sayers in the battlefield of life.</p> <p><strong>Continued in Part 5: Again, Srila Prabhupada's life is the model for us all. </strong></p> <h1> </h1> </html>
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