05-24-2005, 08:46 AM
Does Srimad Bhagavatam talk about what a vaishnava should do or not do? From Jagan Mohanji's post, It sound as if the entire Vaishnava sampradaya as one defined by Madvacharya or Ramanuja. There are lot of Vaishnava Smarta like me who follow Adi Sankara and we have our own brand of Vaishnavism who do not deride Shiva
Within the Mayic domain, there may be heirarchy, but it is much restricted to the way the sampradaya is defined. Claiming absolute superiority of his sampradaya for me is bigotory. Shiva may be accorded a lower state in the vaishnava literature, and Vishnu a lower status in Saiva literature. The way i see it is all the same Narayana seen from a different standpoint. The same narayana for a Kashmiri Shaivite / is Para-Siva or SadaShiva, where for a Saktha he is Maha tiripura Sundari. What matters is the supremeness of the Brahman. Jesus might have referring to the supreme as the eternal father (paramapitha of paralokha) and the same might have been with Mohammad and Allah. The problem comes after this definition.
Regarding what ISKCON does, i am with Narayanan. I visit ISKCON temple in Brooklyn and participate in their sunday Bhajans. One great thing that i notice with the devotees is that in the temple they mainly talk about Krishna with very little of o others, while the people at the other big temples, i hear most people talk all stuff other (amway, H1Bs, green cards etc. ) than God.
But what i dont like is when they ask whether i am inititated into Krishna conciousness . With all that I take the best that ISKCON has to offer i.e the love for Krishna, the Bhajans, the painting, the nama sankirthanam, propogation of Bhagavat Gita and the Bhagavatam and leave the rest (their perception/ comments about the other sampradayas.,etc ) at the feet of Krishna himself. They are Krishna devotees i will not worry about them . Krishna will take care of them even if they are bad as he said in the Gita.
Sarvam Krishnarpanam.
as an aside, are you the Dr.Jagan Mohan who used to post in BR?
Within the Mayic domain, there may be heirarchy, but it is much restricted to the way the sampradaya is defined. Claiming absolute superiority of his sampradaya for me is bigotory. Shiva may be accorded a lower state in the vaishnava literature, and Vishnu a lower status in Saiva literature. The way i see it is all the same Narayana seen from a different standpoint. The same narayana for a Kashmiri Shaivite / is Para-Siva or SadaShiva, where for a Saktha he is Maha tiripura Sundari. What matters is the supremeness of the Brahman. Jesus might have referring to the supreme as the eternal father (paramapitha of paralokha) and the same might have been with Mohammad and Allah. The problem comes after this definition.
Regarding what ISKCON does, i am with Narayanan. I visit ISKCON temple in Brooklyn and participate in their sunday Bhajans. One great thing that i notice with the devotees is that in the temple they mainly talk about Krishna with very little of o others, while the people at the other big temples, i hear most people talk all stuff other (amway, H1Bs, green cards etc. ) than God.
But what i dont like is when they ask whether i am inititated into Krishna conciousness . With all that I take the best that ISKCON has to offer i.e the love for Krishna, the Bhajans, the painting, the nama sankirthanam, propogation of Bhagavat Gita and the Bhagavatam and leave the rest (their perception/ comments about the other sampradayas.,etc ) at the feet of Krishna himself. They are Krishna devotees i will not worry about them . Krishna will take care of them even if they are bad as he said in the Gita.
Sarvam Krishnarpanam.
as an aside, are you the Dr.Jagan Mohan who used to post in BR?