I have a friend who knows devotees for 20 years.
He is 10 years younger then me, and has unlike me,
previous christian background in christian approach to divinity.
He became a fixed-up aspiering devotee and for many years
he chanted Hare Krsna, read SP books, came to the sunday feasts...
He knows even the history regarding Srila Sridhar Maharaj,
and accepted it also nicely. He even came in contact with the
disciples of Srila BG Narasingha Maharaj (and once with Maharaj
personaly).
In the meanwhile it seems that he got tired of all strugle with
the senses, which can be understandable (to the certain extent).
The main problem with him is that he looses rapidly his interest
in Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
He is returning to his Christian understanding of God, Jesus, Love, etc...
I do not know what to tell him. I am sorry since he has some Krsna
understanding, and he has been practicing bhakti yoga for quite some
years, that he just "slip" into Christianity.
Am I telling well, or I am to leave him to become completely
Christian, since this is his way.
I heard this example that Srila Bhaktivinode said when he was
in Christian church, how these are his brothers and sisters,
and that they are worshiping the same God, but calling him differently,
and having different style of worship.
Maby it is not so bad to be a Christian.
Can one be called transcendentalist if he is Christian, Muslim, etc, if
he is fixed-up in his tradition?
He is my dear friend, and a nice person, so I would like to help him,
and to give him the best advice.
What to do?
In my opinion, Christian theology has nothing on Gaudiya theology. They are different, and we GVs get the longer end of the stick.. The emphasis in Christian theology on the paternal role of god is something we do not have, especially with the salvation and sacrifice theology of Christ. People who are attracted to this will often have a different psychological motivation for practice. For Christians belief is enough for salvation, wheareas we have much farther to go once we have achieved this level. The Christian emphasis on good acts to fellow man if definitely not part of the Gaudiya religion, which sees the only welfare as the giving of Krsna Bhakti. While the emphasis on good acts sounds like the moral demands will be great, compared to the Gaudiya standards of sattva, the Christian morality is relatively permissive (as long as you are heterosexual). And finally, to continue to needle people from other discussions, Christian religions emphasize fellowship and community building, which DEFINITELY attracts followers.
All this to say, there are reasons people would leave GV faith for Christian faith. They may be drawn to aspects of religion that GV does not emphasize. There is a level of this conversion that will be hard for us to address. We can do the typical apologetics and twist our own tradition into something that looks more parallel to Christianity...but that is a proselytizing tactic more than authenticity. Maybe you can just hope for the "best" so to speak, that the samskaras in GV will manifest as a desire for Bhakti in this life, but that may not happen and we cannot force such interest.
The Christian god, whether we discuss Jesus or YHWH is absolutely not the same god as Chaitanyadeva or Krsna. We can draw parallels and emphasize the fact that they are all "gods", but in almost every other way they are different. And that is a lovely thing. It's syncronistic for me to respond today as I need to spend my day writing about YHWH, the Judeo-Christian god, while my heart is immersed in my beginning study of Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu. I have to say, YHWH and KRSNA cannot be more different. Thank God.
I can hear that you love your friend, but we cannot induce a desired life in others. the best we can do is show others through our manner of being and speaking what it is our faith contributes (which is plenty; Rasa tattva, raga Bhakti), and hope those we love will be drawn to it as well. But others cannot be molded into the people we wish them to be.
In my opinion, Christian theology has nothing on Gaudiya theology. They are different, and we GVs get the longer end of the stick.. The emphasis in Christian theology on the paternal role of god is something we do not have, especially with the salvation and sacrifice theology of Christ. People who are attracted to this will often have a different psychological motivation for practice. For Christians belief is enough for salvation, wheareas we have much farther to go once we have achieved this level. The Christian emphasis on good acts to fellow man if definitely not part of the Gaudiya religion, which sees the only welfare as the giving of Krsna Bhakti. While the emphasis on good acts sounds like the moral demands will be great, compared to the Gaudiya standards of sattva, the Christian morality is relatively permissive (as long as you are heterosexual). And finally, to continue to needle people from other discussions, Christian religions emphasize fellowship and community building, which DEFINITELY attracts followers.
All this to say, there are reasons people would leave GV faith for Christian faith. They may be drawn to aspects of religion that GV does not emphasize. There is a level of this conversion that will be hard for us to address. We can do the typical apologetics and twist our own tradition into something that looks more parallel to Christianity...but that is a proselytizing tactic more than authenticity. Maybe you can just hope for the "best" so to speak, that the samskaras in GV will manifest as a desire for Bhakti in this life, but that may not happen and we cannot force such interest.
The Christian god, whether we discuss Jesus or YHWH is absolutely not the same god as Chaitanyadeva or Krsna. We can draw parallels and emphasize the fact that they are all "gods", but in almost every other way they are different. And that is a lovely thing. It's syncronistic for me to respond today as I need to spend my day writing about YHWH, the Judeo-Christian god, while my heart is immersed in my beginning study of Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu. I have to say, YHWH and KRSNA cannot be more different. Thank God.
I can hear that you love your friend, but we cannot induce a desired life in others. the best we can do is show others through our manner of being and speaking what it is our faith contributes (which is plenty; Rasa tattva, raga Bhakti), and hope those we love will be drawn to it as well. But others cannot be molded into the people we wish them to be.
I agree with most of what you said except one thing:
"compared to the Gaudiya standards of sattva, the Christian morality is relatively permissive (as long as you are heterosexual)"
Christian morality has become permissive. It was not permissive and emphasized celibacy, sex only for procreation and even monogamy(monogamy was alien to Vedic or even Gaudiya thought and it is very much a Christian influence). Now just by setting high standards for morality, such is not established. In fact, hypocrisy flourishes in places with enforced requirement of morality. So Christian world had to choose between hypocrisy or dilution of standards and they are choosing the latter. While the Gaudiyas can be the super moralists of today if you say so.
In the meanwhile it seems that he got tired of all strugle with the senses, which can be understandable (to the certain extent).
To have significant progress and experience on any path, the exploitative tendency based on sense-perception will have to be dealt with. This is not emphasized by mainstream Christianity but it is present to some extent in the mystic/Eastern Orthodox tradition.
GV's conception of Krsna allows us to purify our senses by service. I'm not aware of any equivalent in Christianity due to their differing conception of divinity.
You could explain to him that the struggle with his senses will remain until he engages them in the service of Hrsikesa.