May 16, 2007

Yesterday I mentioned the desire for independence and that I still had this.
I think it is important that I clarify what I meant by independence. I was
not indicating independence from Krishna. No one is independent from Krishna
and the thought that one is or can be is Maya.

However as personalists we recognize that each and everyone of us is an
independent person. That is we are not all one but eternal individuals that
are part and parcel of Krishna. Now that is our ontological position.

It is interesting though how independence plays out both in the eternal rasa
sense and the context of Bhakti rendered in this world.

We can not be forced or cajoled to render service to Krishna. It is a purely
voluntary act of the heart that is the essential aspect of Bhakti.

Too often in an institutional setting we lose this understanding of the
soul’s free will and we try to push people into Krishna consciousness using
expressions such as “you must”, “you have to”, “you are supposed to”, “don’t
be in maya Prabhu”, “I am your authority and you have to listen to me”,
“shut up and act properly”, “if you don’t do this Krishna will punish you”,
“you are going to get a heavy reaction for this or for not doing this”,
“I’ll give you a the mahasweets if you do this”, “if you don’t do this, I
will be very disappointed in you”, “you are causing me pain”, etc….

These are manipulative techniques that actually separate the person from
real bhakti, and may ultimately give someone a distaste for devotional
service.

Krishna says in the Gita (9:2):
This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It
is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self
by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it
is joyfully performed.

For something to be done joyfully, it must be done voluntarily. The person
must retain his sense of individuality and freedom of choice-his autonomy,
or else there is no love. There can be no love without a lover and a
beloved, and when we function on the platform of blind obedience we do away
with one of the two.

I have found that as individuals we do have individual needs even in
spiritual life and even in the spiritual realm. The need for autonomy is one
of the needs that must be met both in the stage of devotional practice and
devotional perfection.

Of course our autonomy is never absolute, it is always relative. The only
person who has absolute autonomy is Krishna (He is Svarat), and I am not
even sure about Him-He is controlled by Radharani!

So, ISKCON has to be very careful of attempting to kill the voluntary
serving mood of the individual by imposing too much authority. Srila
Prabhupada was very very much against centralization.

Here is an interesting quote from Srila Prabhupada in this regard:
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“Regarding your points about taxation, corporate status, etc., I have heard
from Jayatirtha you want to make big plan for centralization of management,
taxes, monies, corporate status, bookkeeping, credit, like that. I do not at
all approve of such plan. Do not centralize anything. Each temple must
remain independent and self-sufficient. That was my plan from the very
beginning, why you are thinking otherwise? Once before you wanted to do
something centralizing with your GBC meeting, and if I did not interfere the
whole thing would have been killed. Do not think in this way of big
corporation, big credits, centralization — these are all nonsense
proposals. Only thing I wanted was that books printing and distribution
should be centralized, therefore I appointed you and Bali Mardan to do it.
Otherwise, management, everything, should be done locally by local men.
Accounts must be kept, things must be in order and lawfully done, but that
should be each temple’s concern, not yours. Krishna Consciousness Movement
is for training men to be independently thoughtful and competent in all
types of departments of knowledge and action, not for making bureaucracy.
Once there is bureaucracy the whole thing will be spoiled. There must be
always individual striving and work and responsibility, competitive spirit,
not that one shall dominate and distribute benefits to the others and they
do nothing but beg from you and you provide. No. Never mind there may be
botheration to register each centre, take tax certificate each, become
separate corporations in each state. That will train men how to do these
things, and they shall develop reliability and responsibility, that is the
point.”
Letter to: Karandhara — Bombay 22 December, 1972

It is my firm belief that Srila Prabhupada not only wanted the temple
presidents to be autonomous but he wanted the same principles applied on an
individual basis to the members;
======
“Krishna Consciousness Movement is for training men to be independently
thoughtful and competent in all types of departments of knowledge and
action, not for making bureaucracy. Once there is bureaucracy the whole
thing will be spoiled. There must be always individual striving and work and
responsibility, competitive spirit, not that one shall dominate and
distribute benefits to the others and they do nothing but beg from you and
you provide.

So, the business of the leaders is to facilitate the individual expressions
of Bhakti in the members and to guide people to Krishna’s lotus feet. By
guide I don’t mean push (by threats, guilt, etc), I mean pull by attraction.