Vaisnava Aparadha
BY: ANANDA SVARUPA DASA
Jan 8, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (SUN) — Lets face it, no sincere devotee likes to criticize another devotee. Fault-finding is foreign to a devotee. We address each other as Prabhu and that term leaves absolutely no room for criticism. Quite the contrary. Even the most abject beginner full of material imperfections, if he chants Hare Krsna and accepts the process of Krsna consciousness he or she is to be considered a Vaisnava and to criticize such a devotee is Vaisnava aparadha. However, if someone uses the position of devotee to mask some ulterior motive or if someone accepts a position in the devotee community to further some hidden agenda, then criticism is not only allowed, it is mandatory, and to not expose the fault implicates one in the deception.
We don’t like to see devotees like Satsvarupa dasa criticized. We don’t like to see the GBC members criticized. We don’t like to see the BBT trustees criticized. We don’t like to see certain gurus and sannyasis criticized. However, these devotees accepted a position of high responsibility and esteem in the devotee community and the community has the right to expect from them a behavior fully consonant with that position.
If you present yourself for who you are, without pretense or duplicity, despite myriad faults no devotee in his right mind will criticize you. However, if you pretend to be who you’re not, if you have a history of crooked dealings based on diplomacy and deceit, if your position has been achieved and is maintained through politics and manipulation, then not to criticize you is aparadha to Srila Prabhupada, to his movement and to what he stood for.
Those in leadership position in ISKCON are expected to do their service according to the standards Prabhupada set up. These standards are no secret and are well known to the larger percentage of his disciples. Spiritually speaking, the difference between the times when Prabhupada was with us and now, is like day and night. No wonder some of us find fault. We find fault not because we are addicted to fault finding. No. We find fault because fault is there.
