dattaswami Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Whether Devotees of ISKON are the best devotees Those devotees are really the best cream because they have realized the concept of human incarnation which is Krishna. They are not much worried about the energetic forms like Narayana which are meaningful only with respect to the souls of the upper world. But from another angle they are in the lowest state. The practical aspect of worship is service, which alone has the divine fruit. The service requires a living being and not inert object. The living being can only receive the service rendered by you. These devotees are serving the idols and photos of Krishna which are inert. These idols and photos serve the purpose of development of theoretical devotion in yourself which is related to mind. But mere theoretical devotion without practical aspect is useless. The theoretical devotion should result in the practical devotion and the fruit is always associated with the practical devotion only. The knowledge and devotion are like the degree and the appointment order achieved by your self. But both these cannot get you the salary unless you work in the job. The salary is given at the end of the month for the work you have done in that month. The salary is not given to your degree or to the appointment order. The degree and the order help you to procure the work. The water and fertilizer help the plant to grow and give the fruit. The fruit is associated to the plant directly and not to the water or fertilizer. Thus, knowledge (Jnana Yoga) and devotion (Bhakti Yoga) help the achievement of the state of service (Karma Yoga). Only Karma (Work) can get the fruit directly. These devotees are not serving the present human incarnation and therefore all their service done to the statues or photos becomes waste. Some undeserving people behind the statues or photos are benefited by such service. You can worship the devotees and preachers of this cult and in such case Krishna is more pleased. The Advaitin is wrong in extending the concept of human incarnation to every human being. In this angle the Iskcon devotee is better than Advaitin because such devotee has confined this concept to a specific human being like Krishna. But when the concept of service to God comes, the Advaitin looks better than that devotee. The Advaitin is serving himself assuming that he is God. At least the living being (Advaitin himself) is served, which really receives the service. Lord Krishna Himself stated that He will come down whenever it is necessary (Yadayadahi….Gita). In such case, why these devotees are confining to the past Krishna only and why they are not searching for the present human incarnation? Do they accept Rama also as another incarnation of Krishna or not? They accept Rama as another human incarnation. It means more than one human incarnation of Krishna is accepted. Then, why not accept some other human incarnations especially when Krishna told that He will come again and again whenever required? In Gita, Krishna told that He should be worshipped. Since Krishna was preaching Gita to Arjuna, for Arjuna, Krishna was the human incarnation of that time. For other human beings belonging to other generations, Krishna means the human incarnation that is present in each generation. At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami Anil Antony www.universal-spirituality.org Universal Spirituality for World Peace antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts