Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Once again I am impelled to object to the demigod worship being performed in Srila Prabhupada's temple. It is his instruction to offer respect but not to worship the demigods.
Last year management said, Oh, but we are only offering prasadam flowers. This year you are sliding further down the slippery slope and have an abhisheka scheduled.
Regarding Shiva ratri and other pujas, I feel strongly that there is a necessity not to confuse ourselves with so-called Hindus, especially here in the west where Indian traditions are synonymous with polytheism. I think we need to be very careful not to give the impression that we worship demigods.
Please consider Srila prabhupada's desire and mood, as well as your actions carefully.
your servant,
Shyamapriya dd
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Randy Meier
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Subject: RE: to managers and board
To: Mukhya devi dasi
Cc: sandraelsey@aol.com
First of all "Vaisnavanam yatha Sambhu" the greatest of all Vaisnavas is Lord Siva.
Then it is also said (and I can supply the quote later) that better that the worship of Vishnu is the worship of His devotees.
Then Krsna is also described as the "worshipper of His devotees".
Lord Siva is the orgin of an entire sampradaya (the Rudra sampradaya) So he is also Adi guru just as Lord Brahma is for us in the Brahma Madhava Gaudiya Sampradaya. So to perform worship of the guru is always advised and Srila Prabhupada strongly established this tradition in ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada taught us to respect the acharaya and certainly Lord Siva is an acarya.
We are not worshipping just any or all Demigods. That is not and will not be happenning.
Lord Siva is practically the only "demigod" worshipped in Vrndavan. He has 4 temples that all Vaisnavas visit and pay all respects. Eg. Gopisvari Sivam . He is considered protector of the Holy Dhama.
In Navadvip there are several temples of Lord Shiva that the devotees visit and offer dandavats, etc..
The temple of Harihara, Half Siva and Half Vishnu is there in Navadvip and part of the Navadvip Parikrama.
Should I go on?
Your servant
Ramiya dasa
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Susan Torgersen
- Show quoted text -
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Subject: Fwd: to managers and board
To: Mukhya devi dasi
The temple's email address does not appear to work.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Susan Torgersen
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Subject: to managers and board
To: temple
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From: tamohara
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Subject: RE: to managers and board
To: Mukhya devi dasi
To be honest, I have never been very into this worship around demigods. Some temples really overdo it, and it becomes questionable. However, I understand it is for the benefit of our Indian congregation.
The main point that I think Srila Prabhupada made was we must be clear that Lord Siva is worshipped as the greatest Vaisnvava, a devotee of Krishna, and not the Supreme. Of course, we understand this, but we must also make this clear to our congregation. We are Vaisnavas, not Saivites.
your servant,
Tamohara das
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Subject: Re: to managers and board
To: mukhyadd@gmail.com
Srimad Bhagavatam 4-4 Text 38 purport - It's right there. Talking about the gopis worshipping Lord Shiva to get
Krishna as their husnand. prabhupada says, "There is no harm in worshiping the demigods, providing that one's aim is to return home back to GODHEAD."
Reply
Forward
Reply by chat to Mukhya
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Randy Meier
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Subject: Re: to managers and board
To: tamohara
Cc: sandraelsey@aol.com
We never present anyone other than Krsna as the SPG.
But still people of all varieties of faith and beliefs are attracted to visit our temples. Just as we sometimes have atheists and agnostics come to our temple and participate. We hope by our association and preaching they will come away with the Vaisnava understanding and belief but it is not always the case. This is preaching work.
Do we think all the "Americans" who come to our temple are Vaisnavas?
Do we expect them to "convert" after one or 2 visits?
Or do we just hope that they have a good enough experience that they will continue to come and gradually understand the philosphy?
Why are Indians so different? Which is worse, being a demigod worshipper or an atheist? Either one should be welcome in our temple.
We are after all - all followers and disciples or grand disciples of Srila Prabhupada. We are not getting mislead here. We are preaching.
If not, I will go join the Presbetarians.
Ys
Ramiya dasa
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From: Kesava Das
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 10:58 PM
Subject: RE: to managers and board
To: ramiya
Cc: Sukhada
Hare Krishna.
This is how I'll reply.
You said, "Once again I am impelled to object to the demigod worship being performed in Srila Prabhupada's temple. It is his instruction to offer respect but not to worship the demigods".
Thanks for your concern about worshiping the demigods. It is true that in some of our temples the worship of demigods may be questionable but there are also many temples that attract hundreds and thousands of indians to an extent that they become friends of our society and many become practising devotees who perform great service for the movement.
We all agree that Srila Prabhupada is against worshiping Lord Shiva as supreme but he is glad to see that Lord Shiva is worshiped as the best of the vaisnavas. Some quotes are attached.
Our only reason for doing all this is for preaching purposes and we do make it clear that the flowers or milk for abhisekh are all first offered to Radhe Shyam then the prasadam is offered to Lord Shiva.
Respecting Lord Shiva and bathing Him as the greatest devotee of Krsna is in line with Srila Prabhupada's instructions.
"Regarding Shiva ratri and other pujas, I feel strongly that there is a necessity not to confuse ourselves with so-called Hindus, especially here in the west where Indian traditions are synonymous with polytheism. I think we need to be very careful not to give the impression that we worship demigods."
We are worshiping Lord Shiva outside the temple under a tent, not on the altar. We chant Hare Krsna mantra, not, 'Om namah shivayah", we dress as vaisnavas with tilaka etc., we worship Lord Shiva as a vaisnava, we explain to others the difference between Krsna and Lord Shiva. We worship Krsna everyday and we teach others to worship Him also.
Srila Prabhupada wanted us to reach out to everyone and for the indians he said Krsna Consciousness is just below the skin.
People may get that impression if we are NOT enthusiastic to explain the philosophy to others and NOT strong in our worship of Krsna. For many years we have struggled for not having a strong Indian support and many of our temples such as LA, Washington, Atlanta, The Manor etc. are maintained to a large extent by indian congregation.
In Alachua we are being carefully examined by our own members to stay on track and the whole world is looking to us for guidance.
Your servant
Krsna Kesava Dasa
Then I sent a reply that I understand their arguments but do not agree, and that they should make their intentions more clear because I have met immigrant devotees who think that we are supposed to worship Lord Shiva.
Arguments not presented are that their actions are totally racist, and that Srila Prabhupada did not introduce Shiva worship in his temples which he established in India.
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