fryskenfry
23-01-06, 02:34 AM
Hare Krishna
i posted this question somewhere else, where it was slightly off-topic, but thought it would be to the benefit of us all if everyone could read the answers to it.
maybe you will be so kind as to answer a question that has come to my mind recently: i think we consider all religions equal, that is, if a muslim is pious and listening to a good teacher of his scriptures, then he will advance.
but i cannot help noticing, that most religions that elevate their profets (christianity, islam) to deity, in due time become hostile towards others. once Jesus is your new demigod, you will start preaching to others, serving the same god, but a different profet / demigod. If preaching won't work, then a crusade probably will. and the new age of crusades has certainly started recently.
i have never experienced any disrespect in this direction from hare-krishna preachers, but i wonder whether it is a wise thing to elevate Prabupada to the level of a demigod. and i fear this will happen once his desciples have left this world. has Prabupada ever said anything about this risk? or did he simply not see it coming?
you cannot simply answer, that the hare-krishna movement will always stay the same, as history has already proven you wrong. for instance, the gurukula (is that school? don't remember the word exactly) system has already been changed. and a lot of more subtle changes could be added, if you wish.
the answer is also not, that Prabupada's words are very easy to understand. i helped a devotee a few years ago on a translation from english into dutch and he experienced some problems on interpretation. on the one hand Prabupada's mastery of the english language was not perfect, on the other hand some words simply cannot be translated, especially not if they are metaphorical in any way or refer to a symbol in a certain language.
any translation of his teachings will be easy to understand, but will refer to symbols that the original language did not foresee.
so i say, the more the world changes, the less we understand the literal word of Prabupada and the greater the risk that he becomes the next God and the greater the risk that his words will be interpreted.
i sure hope, history will be our teacher.
Haribol
i posted this question somewhere else, where it was slightly off-topic, but thought it would be to the benefit of us all if everyone could read the answers to it.
maybe you will be so kind as to answer a question that has come to my mind recently: i think we consider all religions equal, that is, if a muslim is pious and listening to a good teacher of his scriptures, then he will advance.
but i cannot help noticing, that most religions that elevate their profets (christianity, islam) to deity, in due time become hostile towards others. once Jesus is your new demigod, you will start preaching to others, serving the same god, but a different profet / demigod. If preaching won't work, then a crusade probably will. and the new age of crusades has certainly started recently.
i have never experienced any disrespect in this direction from hare-krishna preachers, but i wonder whether it is a wise thing to elevate Prabupada to the level of a demigod. and i fear this will happen once his desciples have left this world. has Prabupada ever said anything about this risk? or did he simply not see it coming?
you cannot simply answer, that the hare-krishna movement will always stay the same, as history has already proven you wrong. for instance, the gurukula (is that school? don't remember the word exactly) system has already been changed. and a lot of more subtle changes could be added, if you wish.
the answer is also not, that Prabupada's words are very easy to understand. i helped a devotee a few years ago on a translation from english into dutch and he experienced some problems on interpretation. on the one hand Prabupada's mastery of the english language was not perfect, on the other hand some words simply cannot be translated, especially not if they are metaphorical in any way or refer to a symbol in a certain language.
any translation of his teachings will be easy to understand, but will refer to symbols that the original language did not foresee.
so i say, the more the world changes, the less we understand the literal word of Prabupada and the greater the risk that he becomes the next God and the greater the risk that his words will be interpreted.
i sure hope, history will be our teacher.
Haribol