Tattva-viveka
Krishna consciousness is non-sectarian
Karnamrita Das - September 22, 2006 10:27 pm
I just discovered this letter from Shrila Prabhupada and I thought it would be interesting to share it with all of you. (I posted just the part of the letter that applies) There are many insightful statements about Prabhupada's view of how his society should be seen and appreciated by those "outside" it...One point is that although many devotees today are into "interfaith" preaching, they are unable to get too close 
to "other" Gaudiya groups that have a slightly different appearance or emphasis.
Saturday, August 24, 1968
Montreal, Quebec
His Excellency the Right Honorable Roland Michener
Governor-General of Canada
Government House
Ottawa, Canada
Your Excellency,
ISKCON (the International Society of Krishna Consciousness) is a non-lucrative organization, whose purpose is to promote the well-being of human society by drawing its attention to God. We are a non-sectarian society, and our members include people from Christian, Jewish and Moslem as well as Hindu faiths. The aim of ISKCON is not to found a new religious sect, but to invoke the living entity's dormant love of God, and thus provide the human society of all faiths with a common platform of clear theistic knowledge and practice. Members of ISKCON may retain their own respective religious faiths, as ISKCON is meant to establish a clear, practical common formulation of the common ideal of all theists, and to defeat the unnecessary dogmatic wranglings that now divide and invalidate the theistic camp. This common ideal of theism is to develop love of God.
We are following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya to invoke the dormant love of Godhead. The sum and substance of this teaching is that the living entity is eternally the subordinate servant of God, but unfortunately, being sophisticated by illusion, everyone in the human society is trying to predominate over others without accepting the Supreme Predominator. A case in point is the recent Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia.
ISKCON is trying to train people to be situated in that pure condition of life by simple methods, encouraging them to associate always in the matters of God consciousness or Krishna Consciousness, and actually I have good results in the sense that since I have come to the Western countries to preach this cult, my disciples have taken to this principle unhesitatingly although they belong to different faiths and cultures. So I think this propagation of love of Godhead can be pushed forward more and more with good results.
Vrindavandas - September 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Thank you for posting such an inspiring letter. It is ironic that many of the current ISKCON "authorities" disagree with this concept. I had one very senior disciple/sannyasi of Prabhupada who actually happens to be very friendly and supportive of GM argue this point with me. His answer was "Prabhupada was just trying to get people involved, but he didn't really mean that." This sannyasi also said the same thing to me regarding Prabhupada's affection for Sridhar Maharaja and cooperation with the Saraswat family. He isn't the only one either, most of the Prabhupada disciples I have been involved with say the same thing. Some less articulately than others.
Robertnewman - September 23, 2006 12:19 am
I just read a quote by one of my favorite philosophers (Kierkegaard) that seems most relevant to this topic:
"The most terrible fight is not when there is one opinion against another, the most terrible is when two men say the same thing--and fight about the interpretaion, and this interpretation involves a difference of quality."
Bijaya Kumara Das - September 23, 2006 7:43 am
Thank you for posting such an inspiring letter. It is ironic that many of the current ISKCON "authorities" disagree with this concept. I had one very senior disciple/sannyasi of Prabhupada who actually happens to be very friendly and supportive of GM argue this point with me. His answer was "Prabhupada was just trying to get people involved, but he didn't really mean that." This sannyasi also said the same thing to me regarding Prabhupada's affection for Sridhar Maharaja and cooperation with the Saraswat family. He isn't the only one either, most of the Prabhupada disciples I have been involved with say the same thing. Some less articulately than others.
Oh but he did really mean it and recognized all other religions for what they had to offer. He also did not any one to disturb the faith of one and always preached how Krsna conciousness was part of their faith and tried to show them the correct path. ie when he preached to the catholic preist or many others.
Bijaya Kumara Das - September 25, 2006 4:31 am
Oh but he did really mean it and recognized all other religions for what they had to offer. He also did not any one to disturb the faith of one and always preached how Krsna conciousness was part of their faith and tried to show them the correct path. ie when he preached to the catholic preist or many others.
Just watch SPD 10 from the complete dvd library it is very telling.