Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan

178 Gita & political philosophy series 1: Freedom & State Power, The Monk’s Podcast with Govinda Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 178 Gita & political philosophy series 1: Freedom & State Power, The Monk’s Podcast 178 – Govinda P

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Chaitanya Charan · 178 Gita Political Philosophy Series 1 Freedom State Power The Monks Podcast 178-Govinda P Summary

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How Gaudiya Vaishnavism can inspire eco-friendly living, The Monk’s Podcast 176 with Radhika Raman Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 176 The Monk’s Podcast, How Gaudiya Vaishnavism can inspire eco-friendly living – Radhika Raman P

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Chaitanya Charan · 176 The Monk’s Podcast, HowGaudiyaVaishnavism can inspireeco-friendlyliving – RadhikaRaman P summary

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Protecting dharma 2 Lessons from history guidelines for today – The Monks Podcast 175 with Govinda Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 175 What is dharma and how can it be protected? part 2, The Monk’s Podcast 175 with Govinda P

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Chaitanya Charan · 175 The Monks Podcast Protecting dharma2Lessons from history guidelinesfortoday – Govinda Pr summary

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Prabhupada — the transcendentalist who embodied the best of the traditionalist, the existentialist and the utopianist
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Prabhupada — the transcendentalist who integrated the best of the traditionalist, the existentialist and the utopianist
Traditionalists live for the past, existentialists live for the present, utopianists live for the future. Religious teachers are often presumed to be traditionalists, but Prabhupada was a transcendentalist: he lived for the supreme transcendental reality, Krishna. And in his service to Krishna, he drew the best from the past, focused on the best in the present and aspired for the best in the future. Let’s see how.

Transcendentalist beyond traditionalist

Traditionalists believe that the past was the reservoir of everything good and that turning back the clock is the only way to human flourishing. They spend much of their time, emotion, energy and intelligence in lamenting how dreadful the present is and in nostalgically reminiscing how wonderful the past was.
Prabhupada certainly held that we had much to learn from the past. In our contemporary infatuation with progress, we have cut ourselves off from the past’s treasure trove of enriching wisdom. Therefore, Prabhupada presented and represented the wisdom that had been prevalent in India in the past. But he didn’t consider that wisdom as belonging to the past; it was timeless and transcendental, having its source in the supreme transcendental reality, Krishna. Because he knew that the timeless is timely at all times, he didn’t feel the need to center his outreach efforts on turning back the clock.
Recognizing that many of the religious rituals and cultural customs of the past couldn’t be replicated in the present, he downplayed those mores of the past. Steering clear of a naive idolization of the past, Prabhupada judiciously selected from the past those things which would help people today to come closer to Krishna. He engaged his students in spiritual practices that were doable and transformational for them. In a similar spirit of not fighting unnecessarily against the flow of history, he didn’t insist on rejecting the many facilities provided by modernity, especially by modern technology. In fact, he went far beyond acknowledging the utility and even necessity of technology for daily living in today’s world; he even encouraged the use of technology for sharing spiritual wisdom more efficiently and extensively.
Striking an even grander note in that same vein, he envisioned his movement as a global synthesis of the East and the West. Speaking metaphorically, he talked about how two people — one blind and one lame — can help each other. The lame man can show the way to the blind man and the blind man can carry the lame man, and thus both can reach their destination. Unpacking the metaphor, he asserted that India was like the lame man and the West was like the blind man. The two needed to work together for raising human consciousness and promoting the world’s welfare. How is this metaphor relevant to our discussion on transcendental vis-a-vis traditional? Because through the metaphor, Prabhupada conveys that India today needs to join forces with the West, not change itself to the India of […]

What is dharma and how can it be protected part 1 The Monks Podcast 173 with Govinda Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 173 What is dharma and how can it be protected? part 1, The Monk’s Podcast 173 with Govinda P

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Chaitanya Charan · 173 What is dharma and how can it be protected? part 1, The Monk’s Podcast 173 – Govinda P summary

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What does depending on Krishna mean, practically, The Monk’s Podcast 171 with Radheshyam Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 171 What does depending on Krishna mean, practically, The Monk’s Podcast 171 with Radheshyam P

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Chaitanya Charan · 171 What does depending on Krishna mean, practically, The Monk’s Podcast 171 – Radheshyam P summary

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Gopi Gita Appreciation part 5, The Monk’s Podcast 170 – Madhavananda Prabhu & Amarendra Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 170 Gopi Gita Appreciation part 5, The Monk’s Podcast 170 – Madhavananda Prabhu & Amarendra Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · 170 Gopi Gita Appreciation part 5, The Monk’s Podcast 170-Madhavananda Pr &Amarendra Pr summary

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Why our personal experiences matter in our spiritual journey, The Monk’s Podcast 169-Yogesvara Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · 169 Why our personal experiences matter in our spiritual journey, The Monk’s Podcast 169-Yogesvara P

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Chaitanya Charan · 169 Why Our Personal Experiences Matter InOurSpiritualJourney, The Monk’s Podcast 169-Yogesvara P Sy

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Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk’s Podcast 167 with Mahaprabhu Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk’s Podcast 167 with Mahaprabhu P

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Chaitanya Charan · Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk’s Podcast 167-Mahaprabhu P summary

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Responding to attacks on devotees in Bangladesh
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During the Durga-puja festival in Bangladesh this year, posts appeared on social media claiming that the Hindus had disrespected the Koran by placing it on the floor before the Durga deities. A subsequent investigation found CC TV evidence showing that the Koran was placed there by a Muslim – it seemed to be a ploy of some Muslim extremists to stir passions among the Muslim masses. Unfortunately, it worked and hundreds in aggressive mobs rioted, destroying many Durga mandaps, as well as Hindu temples, businesses and homes. During these riots, a mob attacked the ISKCON temple in Noakhali, killing three devotees and disfigured the deity of Srila Prabhupada.

Channeling outrage in two ways

When such things happen, we naturally feel shocked, sickened and outraged. If we don’t feel angry, then where is our devotion? When five-year-old Prahlada was persecuted by his demonic father Hiranyakasipu, Lord Nrsimhadeva took serious action against Hiranyakasipu. We need not imitate Nrsimhadeva’s actions, but feeling anger when things connected with our Lord are threatened or destroyed is a natural sign of devotion. We feel angry about something when we are emotionally invested in it. Feeling indifferent about such incidents is a sign of apathy.
The main question is not whether we should feel angry, but how we should express our emotion of anger. Are our emotions taking control of us, impelling us to do things that we would regret or would make things worse? Or are we controlling our emotions and using their energy intelligently? We need to channel that anger in a constructive way so that our response makes things better.

Broadly speaking, there are two dimensions to our response in such situations:
1. Brahminical response based on scriptures (sastra)
2. Ksatriya response based on weapons (sastra).

The brahminical response with sastra, or scriptures, is used to protect people from misconceptions and to give them the right understanding. sastra or weapons are one part of the ksatriya response; this response is integral to a multi-pronged strategy for protecting the innocent and punishing the wrongdoers. Any healthy society needs to use both sastra and sastra to deal with such situations.

Brahminical response

From a brahminical perspective, we need to do three things:
1. Protect our own faith by taking shelter of scriptures
2. Avoid getting caught up in sectarian anger towards particular groups
3. Work in a collective spirit with those who share our cultural values, even if we may have philosophical differences.

Let us discuss each of them in detail.

1. Protect our own faith: Such events may shake our faith in Krishna’s power to protect us. But scripture offers a holistic understanding of Krishna’s protection. Both in Ramayana and Mahabharata, there were great souls who were on the side of virtue but were killed: Jatayu in Ramayana and Abhimanyu in Mahabharata. In Ramayana, even before the war took place, Lord Rama had come to a place in central India known as Ramateka, where he came across piles of bones. These were the remains of sages who had been performing austerities and had been devoured by cannibalistic demons who […]

Gopi Gita Appreciation part 4, The Monk’s Podcast 166 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation Part 4, The Monk’s Podcast 166 With Madhavananda Prabhu And Amarendra Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 4, The Monk’s Podcast 166-Madhavananda Prabhu & Amarendra Prabhu summary

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Evolution Bhagavatam What are the issues for devotees The Monk s Podcast 165 with Akhandadhi Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Evolution, Bhagavatam, Life & preaching of a devotee, The Monk’s Podcast 165 with Akhandadhi P

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Chaitanya Charan · Evolution Bhagavatam What are the issues for devotees The Monk s Podcast 165 – Akhandadhi P summary

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Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 – Madhavananda Prabhu&Amarendra Prabhu summary

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How cow care represents universal ethical principles, The Monk’s Podcast 163 with Krishna Kshetra Maharaj
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Chaitanya Charan · How cow care represents universal ethical principles, The Monk’s Podcast 163 with Krishna Kshetra M

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Chaitanya Charan · How cow care represents universal ethical principles,The Monk’s Podcast 163-Krishna KshetraM summary

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