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Some thoughts on recent discussions in the list.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Narasimhan Krishnamachari • July 29, 2000 


Dear Fellow SrI vaishNava-s:

Some of you may know that I have been a member of the bhakti list for
some
time now.  I have observed that, like the cycle of creation and
praLaya, we
keep getting into the mode of "fighting it out in the public", to
establish
that one view point is better than the other.  It is unfortunate that
two
such controversies are being exchanged simultaneously in the list at
this
time.  One started with suggestions for some improvements in the
administration of fund-raising efforts, and the other started with the
usefulness and efficacy of nAdopAsana in attaining spiritual
liberation.  My
intent is not to add my view on the original issues themselves and
contribute to the controversy further.  My intent of this note is that
respected members of the list should try not to let the discussion go
to a
level where they become controversies in public.  This does not
contribute
to the harmony which is a core of devotion to perumAL in my opinion (I
can't
quote any scriptures for this, and hope I am not far off from the
scriptures).  I would like to strongly request that the  discussion be
moved
to the private domain as soon as either party senses that a "opiniated
controversy" is developing.  This should be simple enough to do.  Long
back
I had suggested that one way to avoid these kinds of open discussions
which
are disruptive, is to read your mail a couple of times to see what can
be
re-worded in order to avoid taking positions which establish the
superiority
of your views over the other views in words that will offend the other
party.  The basic spirit that is missing is that some of us do not want
to
tolerate any opinion other than what he/she holds dear to.  There is a
Sloka
attributed to SrI yAmunAcArya that I have been wanting to share with
the
group for a long time.  Here it is:

       "hanta! brahmopadeSoyam SraddddhAneshu Sobhate   |
        vayam aSraddadhAnAh smo ye yuktim prAthayAmahe   ||

   "Well, all this dogmatic teaching may carry conviction with (blind)
believers;  we are lacking in such faith and we search for logical
reasons
to convince us".

I understand that this was how the great AcArya approached issues.  We
can
learn to question, and to be questioned, in the spirit of the above. 
We can
learn to tolerate alternate views without being offended at the first
mention of an alternate view from another individual, especially when
these
members in our list are all well-intentioned individuals.  We do not
need to
attribute "bhagavad apacAram, bhAgavata apacAram, sarva apacAram and
samasta
apacAram", the moment somone questions anything we believe in.  And if
we do
want to interpret any alternate opinion as apacAram of one kind or
another,
we can move the discussion to the private domain by one of the parties
initiating such a move so that the ripple effect of disruption does not
permeate the spirit of the list periodically.

I had also proposed long back that there should probably be an
editorial
board for the list (I had suggested SrI Mani as the sole member for
this
task, even though it will demand more of his time), which will go
through
the postings and minimize controversies of a disruptive nature.  This
was
voted out earlier by the respected members.  I will propose this once
more
for the members' consideration.

Just some thoughts which I think can be useful in developing our
spiritual
knowledge collectively and serving emperumAn in some small way.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan


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