i would like to say bhaskar as a hare krsna vaisnava brahmana- we have not usurped "your religion" as it does not belong to u. i have studied sanskrit my whole life and prabhupadas teachings are accepted universally -whether u like it or not- the gita and bhagavatam (prabhupada is the only one to have translated bhagavatam by the way) are used in universities all over the world because of their accuracy. i take much offense to YOUR racist commens. prabhupada was pandita sama darsina- he saw with equal vision- men, women, black or gay.... and he never was involved in nor approved of child abuse. u should be very careful of what u say. as for cooking, i grew up in india, and learned to cook there (from indian vaisnavas- which is the same as a hare krsna my friend) i have never felt anything but respect from ppl in india. i am very sad about something u kno so little about.... we are in the direct lineage of chaitanya mahaprabhu- are u in india now? do u see all the temples of iskcon and how well they do? how many indians frequent them, delhi, mumbai (which has 3 huge temples and hundreds of thousands of dedicated inidan disciples) vrndavana, mayapur.... ur a little cocky my friend....and u say u can out cook us hare krsnas and have only been cooking 6 months, well babe, i been cooking for krsna since i was little and i could kick ur ass. we r lucky that not all indians are like u- most indians ask me to perform their weddings, cuz we do it better than local pandits. we are trained pujaris....and cooking is a big part of that. hare krsna manu dasa
I never claimed Hinduism belonged to me. It is my religion in the way the woman whpo gave birth to me is my mother. I have studied sanskrit also since I was quite young. Even to my eye his errors are quite glaring in places. And his translations are far from universally accepted. Most people don't speak out against his view because they dont want the controversy. Saying he is the only one to translate bhagavatam is blatant falsity. I personally have 3 different translations which did not come from Gaudiya Math. Universities are not a judge of spiritual progress. I have studied religion in graduate school. The point of view is of a person visiting a zoo, each religion as a specimen. The idea is not to learn and practice, but to just see and understand different ideologies, however absurd or true. I will answer this with quotes from Prabhupada himself: Sudras have no brain. In America also, the whole America once belonged to the Red Indians. Why they could not improve? The land was there. Why these foreigners, the Europeans, came and improved? So sudras cannot do this. They cannot make any correction. Now people are becoming sudras by so-called education. So they cannot make any solution of the problems. If that daiva varnasrama again established, then the whole problem will be solved. In this land of America, when the Europeans did not come here to colonize, the Red Indians were there. They could not develop this American land so nicely, nice cities, because they were less intelligent. Now you are intelligent, you have developed it. That means if you have got nice intelligence, you can live nicely. Woman reporter: Where do women fit into these four classes? Prabhupada: That I already explained. Women's position is subordinate to man. So if the man is first-class, the woman is first-class. If the man is second-class, the woman is second-class. If the man is third-class, the woman is third-class. In this... Because woman is meant for assisting man, so the woman becomes suitable according to the man, her husband. Woman reporter: Would you say that women are inferior to men? Prabhupada: Yes. The homosexual appetite of a man for another man is demonic and is not for any sane male in the ordinary course of life. There are more where that came from, but that is sufficient I think to show that SP made strongly racist comments against at least one ethnic group, while simultaneously glorifying western materialistic culture, which is responsible for som many of the earth's wounds today. His stand on women and gays is also quite clear. I find it impossible to see someone who holds such sharply biased views as a samadarshi, indeed I find such intolerant people barely worthy of being human. A very contentious statement. The Gaudiya Math has been in turmoil and disarray for many generations and there is serious dispute over the lineage. Yes, you run an excellent business. So much for giving up the ego and surrendering all actions to God. Most Indians? Don't make me laugh. India has over a billion people. Your organization may serve a few million, maybe. Thats hardly a large majority.
prabhupada is the only one to have completed translating the entire srimad bhagavatam -i am very curious then to have ur 3 translations. and can u honestly deny that his teachings are not greatly accepted in universities? and i dont mean by ppl who are just afraid of controversy. he is accepted as one of the 20th centuries most influential sanskrit scholars. the example u gave of srila prabhupada is one ive seen many times b4 my friend, 1stly the example of women- he considered women who arent devotees to be less intelligent, but also men. he didnt consider his vaisnavis to be female, but, rather spirit souls. and the comment about gays, is because of the sex desire, he was best friends with allen ginsberg (a great gay american poet) and told his devotees to treat him with the utmost respect. just as he did for his own gay dicsiples. treat them with love, like amara dasa, dhanishta devi dasi etc.... until u kno all of the circumstances in which he said the above comments, u should refrain from stating absolutes. in regards to my statement being contentious about being in direct lineage with chaitanya mahaprabhu, i would beg to differ, first of all the gaudiya matha isnt the only matha of gaudiya vaisnavism, there are many others, sooo many.... visit bengal. as for me being full of ego and not surrendering my actions to god, i was just reciprocating with ur arrogant statement of "i can beat those hare krsnas in cooking and i only been doing it for 6 months". u reap what u sow. ull forgive me for defending after u gave such rough words? as i said, i have felt nothing but respect from MOST indians when leading worship. they have acted with grace, the same, im afraid, cannot be said of u. particularly in ur comment that u find "such intolerant ppl barely worthy of being human" what u condemn is exactly the intolerance u display. its just that ur intolerance is at the other end of the pendulum, can u not see that? srila prabhupada has done more than u (i would venture) in promoting sanatana dharma than u have or ever will. bottom line bhaskar ji, please stop being soo hard and intolerant. i dont even think u see how prejudiced U come off. love and respect manu dasa
My Guru, whose name I never take is one. Another I have is by Swami Tapasyananda. A third is the work of a Smt. Kamala Subramaniam, who has also translated the mahabharata and ramayana. There are others out there. as for the rest of his argument, let us save it for the hinduism forum.
The sex desire is in straight people also. Why single out gays? Also how can someone say such things onthe one hand be friends with someone or respect them on the other? It smacks of hipocrisy of the worst kind. It is like being a Nazi while claiming to respect jews. Even assuming for the sake of argument that his lineage is beyond doubt, his teachings fail to reflect it, being far more dulistic than the achintya bhedabheda of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Well of course, though I never claimed to be cooking for Krishna. If I were cooking for him, then I would probably not have the ego of it. Anyway, if it makes you happy, I will admit that you are better at cooking than me. Meaning that they have agreed with you, but I have not. If it is intolerant to refuse to tolerate discrimination and hatred, then, yes I am very proud of being intolerant. He has done more harm than good. And now, let us keep this argument in the hinduism forum, shall we?
indeed u are correct. and, well i am done with u. to say he has done more harm than good, is just cruel. there are many nuances u have failed to convey about srila prabhupada. u are a very mean spirited individual, and prabhupada was not like this. unless of course u knew him personally also to profess such judgement? i would never ask u to agree with me, i wouldnt force anybody to agree with me, my upbringing was one of tolerance and kindness i am thankful for. however, i would hope that as someone who claims such tolerance, that u might display it, if not for srila prabhupada, but for other vaisnavas. ohhh but thats right, u dont consider us westerners as vaisnavas. u are arguing from a very emotional point of view. btw, u never commented on how ur posts might be perceived as hateful or offensive to some (like me for example). anyway, its obviously pointless trying to talk with u, u have ur mind made up, and the prejudices to match. i wish u well bhaskar, may ur heart soften to other points of view. hare krsna
I am sorry you see me that way. I have serious ideological and moral objectiosn to SP's teaching and I have given abundant explanation of why. If that be cruel, I'll bear that cross. Once more you are putting words in my mouth. My replationship with every other Hindu on this board has been nothing but smooth. I am not being emotional. I have a standpoint and the arguments to back it, from the mouth of your very own teacher. I am not responsible for your perception. That is your problem. I don't want to cause pain to anyone, but I will speak my mind. I agree, this conversation is useless, since you have yet to back your stance up and give me one good reason why I should accept SP.
im not asking u to accept him, just be less harsh, and kinder to some of his followers. if u re read all of ur posts, some of ur word choices are down right hateful. thats all. love manu
