Dandavad. Prabhupada kijaya!

I find this thread to be very important. I would like to support Hare Krsna
mataji's observations with a few points.

Janesvara prabhu has stressed the principle of performing prescribed duties
(regardless of the environment), whereas Hare Krsna mataji has stressed the
satisfaction of the Lord by serving devotees.

I suggest that one way to understand this is to appreciate that varnashrama
does not exist until there are all four varnas working together
harmoniously, just as a body is not complete without all of its parts.

Thus for varnashrama to manifest it is not enough for each individual to act
according to his or her prescribed duties if there is no connection to the
rest of the social body. However, it is possible to be perfectly situated as
a devotee if one performs these duties in pure Krishna consciousness. This,
I believe, is one of the differences between bhakti-yoga and varnashram.
Daivi - varnashram requires bhakti-yoga, but bhakti-yoga does not require
varnashram, although it is very difficult for most people to practice
without it.

Varnashram helps us perform bhakti-yoga especially thrfough the
inter-connections of the varnas and ashrams. It facilitates our performance
of sankirtan which we must do as a group.

Ideally the relationships between the varnas is established through intimate
connections in the context of rural, agrarian communities. HOwever, as
pointed out by Madhava Ghosh prabhu, it is possible to establish these
connections in other ways, through trust funds for cow protection, guilds
for crafts and trades, purchasing of goods made by devotees, establishing
care and protection funds for devotees in distress, etc. Gradually as these
links are developed, they can lead to actual communities.

In my opinion, the effort needed to establish these connections cannot be
managed by the ISKCON institution as it is constituted today. ISKCON should
provide encouragement, spiritual guidance, and whatever facility it has, but
the work is too big for ISKCON's Temple and GBC dominated framework.

What ISKCON can do is to establish varnashram college to train people to
carry out this work independently of ISKCON. At the same time, ISKCON must
continue to provide facility for sankirtan yajna, Deity worship, and
spiritual counselling, i.e. all the objects enshrined in ISKCON's charter.

Here in Mayapur, a group of us are trying to pursue both the establishment
of a full varnashrama college and the development of varnashram in the
broader community. It is not an ISKCON only effort, but a partnership
between ISKCON and other entities we have established to give it broader
scope. We hope this will be a model for other efforts.

Your servant,
Pancaratna das