Hi!
There definitely a big difference between the purports of Prabhupada and what the literature actually says. Henc ethe need for Prabhupada to re publish the concerned literature in teh first place.
There is also a good amount of hipocracy in ISKCON. For example, as I noticed during my visit to Moscow, they lavishly advertised the plan to make their temple there as "the first hindu Temple" in Russia. As you may know that Prabhupada stance on hinduism was that - there is no such word in Vedic literature as Hinduis (I believe nor there is any word as ISKCON either in Vedas), and all Hinduism is made up of dried out branches of old and disorted knowledge. He also said on a number pof occassions that he is not promoting Hinduism and is movement has got nothing to do with it. The Iskcon leaders are very well aware of this. But in order to win the Russian government support and the support and donations from Hindus, they said so.
Also, they claim to be the only true Vedic culture!! In fact not!
The vedic spiritual practices and sadhnas and philosophy greatly differed from what they preach! Also, they claim that all the other mantras and mantra sadhnas don not work in Kaliyuga, except their Hare-Krishna mantra. So how can they be Vedic. Prabhupada also restricted his followers to read any other literature except for the one that was translated by him with his purports and comments. Another thing, he wrote Bhagwad Gita As it is!
This is a very loud self advertisement. Because, In order to understand it as it is, one has to be a master of all spiritual disciplines. And Prabhupada knew nothing about the yogic disciplines. In his work named The Nectar of Devotion, he refers Yogis as 'Materialists' who meditate on their bodyparts like swadhisthan and manipur chakras (large, small intestines)! A Russian friend of mine read this Russian versino of this book!! It was so laughable!! How can a man naming the chakras as intestines be an authority on Yoga???
And what's even more astonishing and abusive is the fact that Prabhupada and his followers consider Lord Shiva, the lord of of Lords as a mere "demigod" !!
If we read teh Mahabharata and go to section 14 of the Anushasana parva, we see Lord Krishna telling Yudhishtara how he received initiation in Pashupat Yoga by rishi Upmanyu and did a very hard ascetic sadhna living on water the first month and then only on air for six months standing on one foot with his hands raised towards the sky to please Lord Shiva and then he was granted boons of being the most attractive in the universe and having unending fame in the entire universe. Krishna here praisesd Lord Shiva as the Supreme personality of Godhead and the beginning and end of everyting in the universe!!
ALSO, Krisna describes to Yudhishtira in front of Bhishma lyin gon teh arrow bed, that Shiva says to him that he has done Shiva's sadhnas to please him in all of his Vishnu avataras. There is a beautiful decrption in the Padma Purana of which the Shiva Gita is a prominent part, where Lord Shiva appears before Lord Ramachandra (after he performs tapasya for long) and blesses him with a discourse. Here Rama is asking Shiva as Arjuna asked Krisna. And then finally Lord sadashiva shows him his universal form where he also sees the ten avatars of Vishnu including the Krisna avatara killing kansa!
The followers of Prabhupada also say that it will be a vaishnava aparadha and an abuse to think Shiva nad Krishna at the same level or to put their idols at the same level!! What the !@#%^# How can it be a insult to Lord Krisna?
What cock and bull!
The actual vedic philosophy and sadhnas are different from what Iskcon promotes and preaches and condemns all other forms of sadhnas and worships claiming that these are a mere lower forms that people of "less intelligence" follow!!
I completely agree on teh bhakti aspect propagated by Iskcon and that Krisna is God. Krisna has always been prayed to in India, but we do not down other forms of the lord as it is done in Iskcon!! They are arrogant. I like their Krisna bhakti, but completely dislike their belitteling attitude of other branches of Vedic knowledge. They also claim to be the sanatana dharma which is wrong. The sanatan dharma is the eternal religion, the older vedic name for Hinduism. This also includes the other important branches as Yoga, Kriya yoga, Shaiv and Shaktism, tantra etc. Iskcon dismisses it completely. hiw can they claim to be Vedic!!?? OH, YES, CALLING ONESELF VEDIC CERTAINLEY HELPS GAIN MORE SUPPORT!!
A Hare Krisna friend of mine recently greeted me with usual "Hare Krisna" I replied him Hare Krisna and then said Om Namah Shivaya! And he got pissed!! He said 'Common, be serious!!" And he is a direct disciple of Prabhupada!!
This is the state of affairs. What more can I say??
HARI BOL!! JAI BHOLE NATH KI!!!
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Originally posted by nearoanoke
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Originally posted by sauravu
As for Gita . Reading it would give you the true sense of what it says. Another thing Krishna or Gita specifically declares one to be a yogi who achieves perfection in any endeavour taken .
As for ISKCON disciple who gave this message ashtanga yoga or meditation being wrong needs to be enlightened more or should be reading Gita better.
Hi Saurav,
I completely agree with you. What you said is true, krishna never told that one yoga is better than the other. It is Prabhupada who misinterpreted krishna's sayings to say that ashtanga yoga is for the less intelligent people and is not of much use.
Please see the below link, where you can see the actual difference between what Krishna told and what prabhupada explained it to be.
http://www.asitis.com/2/59.html
God might not always give you what you WANT, but he will always give you what you NEED