What kind of false devotee am I?

[AncientMariner 0]

I can't keep up with all the Krsna Conscious terminology for all the false devotees in the world. I get pleasure when I think about Krsna and read Prabhupada's books and I especially like to read about Lord Rsabadheva, Maharaja Bharata and Jada Bharata. I get absolutely 0 pleasure out of the thought of traveling around trying to convince people that Krishna is God however. The few times I have even attempted to inject any sort of a remnant of Krishna consciousness into a conversation with friends and relatives it was an absolute exercise in futility and was not at all a pleasurable experience so this idea that you get pleasure serving Krishna by distributing his literature is completely foreign to me. Just wondering what the term is for my particular brand of pseudo-devoteeism?

[melvin 1]

Maybe you`re still a fan not a devotee because you still have so much air my dear one. Hahaha!

[Guruvani 0]

You aren't alone mariner.

At my job my employer and co-workers have no clue that I was ever a Hare Krishna and I guard that information as best I can.

 

Quite frankly, with what has become of ISKCON I am ashamed to tell anyone that I was once a Hare Krishna.

 

I haven't preached to anyone in over 20 years when last I met a person who actually inquired from me very seriously about my spiritual knowledge and kept coming back.

I gave him a Bhagavad-gita and he was transformed into a devotee.

 

I don't "preach".

But, if someone inquires I will share what I know.

 

On this forum I don't consider myself a preacher.

I am a grappler who likes to grapple with the misinformation campaigners like the ISKCON cronies and GBC.

 

It just bugs me to see all this false propaganda being made in the name of Srila Prabhupada.

[Inedible 0]

Several years ago I was waiting for my connecting flight at an airport when I was approached by a guy who was selling for Krishna. Due to some bad planning on my part I didn't have a single cent in my pockets. You should have seen how quickly he ran away when I told him I'd be happy to talk with him about Krishna anyway. He was disgusted by my poor judgment, but it only seemed as bad as it did because my connecting flight had been delayed several hours. He could have let me borrow something to read and I would have given it back in good condition. Oh, well.

 

It would probably be easier to approach people about Krishna consciousness if it were something you could quickly and easily demonstrate to the average person. Then it wouldn't matter how caught up they were in the story of their lives or how anxious they were to get where they are going.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

It would probably be easier to approach people about Krishna consciousness if it were something you could quickly and easily demonstrate to the average person. Then it wouldn't matter how caught up they were in the story of their lives or how anxious they were to get where they are going.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience at the airport. Maybe he had a "quota" to meet and he was worried about that. I don't know.

 

As Suchandra Prabhu reminded me not long ago, there *is* something which we can immediately appreciate--Krishna Prasadam--the holy remnants of food which has been offered to Krishna. That is something which nearly anybody (perhaps not the anorexic) can immediately savor.

[theist 1]

 

I can't keep up with all the Krsna Conscious terminology for all the false devotees in the world. I get pleasure when I think about Krsna and read Prabhupada's books and I especially like to read about Lord Rsabadheva, Maharaja Bharata and Jada Bharata. I get absolutely 0 pleasure out of the thought of traveling around trying to convince people that Krishna is God however. The few times I have even attempted to inject any sort of a remnant of Krishna consciousness into a conversation with friends and relatives it was an absolute exercise in futility and was not at all a pleasurable experience so this idea that you get pleasure serving Krishna by distributing his literature is completely foreign to me. Just wondering what the term is for my particular brand of pseudo-devoteeism?

I never try to convince anyone that Krsna is God. More important to me is telling someone that they are spiritsoul and not the matter that forms the body. I also point to Intelligent design behind the cosmic manifestation which indirectly means God.

 

If someone is aleady a theist and believes in God and the spiritual side of life then I emphasize God the most beautiful person the greatest artist scientist musician dancer and friend. It is amazing how this blows peoples mind to hear that God likes to dance and play. I do not bring up Krsna and the cowherd boys and girls of Vrndavan.

 

I am most comfortable sticking to the most preliminary of information. Krsna is self revealing and lives in their heart so I feel no need to try to squeeze in as much info. as possible.

 

When trying to figure out where I fit on the "devotee spectrum" I have found two terms fitting well enough so the question no longer comes up.

1. fallen devotee (as in the fall into the material world)

2. mixed devotee ( as in having something of an interest in reviving my original consciousness).

 

It feels really good not to worry about such things anymore.

 

Remember Krsna, never forget Krsna and let Krsna define you as He wills.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

I also point to Intelligent design behind the cosmic manifestation which indirectly means God.

Why do you wish to mislead people with this superficial thinking? Rather, point out to them that intelligence (consciousness) pervades *everything* in the Cosmos, even the rocks.

 

 

It is amazing how this blows peoples mind to hear that God likes to dance and play. I do not bring up Krsna and the cowherd boys and girls of Vrndavan.

That's better, I suppose.

 

I've been duking it out with some atheists and Christians over at another (more general-interest) site. I'd give you a link, but I'm afraid of some of the folks here going over there and spoiling my party. I've managed to sneak Krishna into the conversation a couple of times without (apparently) turning anybody off.

[theist 1]

 

Why do you wish to mislead people with this superficial thinking? Rather, point out to them that intelligence (consciousness) pervades *everything* in the Cosmos, even the rocks.

 

Murali, that is what Intelligent Design is. There is a Supreme all pervading intelligence behind the movement of every proton. That Intelligence is too complex to have evolved. This is a trap for the atheists and they know it. Because once they accept Intelligence the nesxt question is whose intelligence. The who refers to consciousness.

 

I try to talk to people from where they are beginning with aham bramasmi and ID.

 

ID is not superfical thinking. It is a portion of God's mind working in and on the cosmos. If we could get even a expanded view of this all at once we would faint or become distressed like Arjuna when Krsna showed His universal form. There is intelligence to the virat-rupa also. This is what ID wants to make clear.

 

 

 

 

 

I've been duking it out with some atheists and Christians over at another (more general-interest) site. I'd give you a link, but I'm afraid of some of the folks here going over there and spoiling my party. I've managed to sneak Krishna into the conversation a couple of times without (apparently) turning anybody off.

 

Good for you! I do the same. In one letter to Satsvarupa Srila Prabhupada told him to plant Krsna conscious ideas throughout society. Everywhere we can squeeze it in with a little tact. I hit forums with topics like the death penalty and work it right into the fact that no body dies. People are interested and always someone will discuss life after death with me with the cover being the topic death penalty. How can you discuss the death penalty without understand what is death? It is a question that never comes up until we bring it up.

 

Same with abortion. Ties right in with reincarnation and karma. What is the karma for aborting a fetus? Is it becoming an aborted fetus oneself? The drive behind aborting a fetus is the desire to avoid responsibility. Well karmic law means no one ducks responsiblity this lfe or the next.

 

I understand your reluctance to publish. It takes a lot of patience and tact to slip something in. It is undercover work. We plant some seeds and maybe they grow or not that is up to supersoul but if we can be His agents for at least prompting some curiousity in the minds of others then we have made a contribution. 4 types of people approach the Lord. The curious being one of them. The Lord in the heart will answer their curiousity.

 

I have spent years on a site called beliefnet under various alias. I cremated theist there a few years back. Great topics but a second class site with lots of ads.ots of trolls and a new format that has tons of bugs. Check it out though. I see it like a street corner in a major city. Good corner to engage people and there are a lot of nice folks coming by as well. www.beliefnet.com

 

If you ever want to share your spot you could PM me. I won't out you or step on your work.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

Murali, that is what Intelligent Design is.

 

Thanks for clarifying that for me, theist. To be honest, I haven't looked into ID much at all. My perceptions of it come from the media, and we all know how thorough the media are in their presentation of anything!

 

Thanks, also, for not yelling at me for making a fool of myself!

 

 

I have spent years on a site called beliefnet under various alias. I cremated theist there a few years back. Great topics but a second class site with lots of ads.ots of trolls and a new format that has tons of bugs. Check it out though. I see it like a street corner in a major city. Good corner to engage people and there are a lot of nice folks coming by as well. www.beliefnet.com

 

If you ever want to share your spot you could PM me. I won't out you or step on your work.

 

I PM'ed you a URL to the current discussion in which I'm involved.

 

I'll try to check out beliefnet, though I probably spend too much time here and at the other place already!

 

Dandavata Pranamas!

[Kulapavana 0]

using the process of neti neti I can say:

 

neti ritvik

neti sleepervadi

neti mayavadi

neti brahmavadi

neti sahajiya

neti-GBCvadi

 

...and so on...

 

all I know is that I am just an aspiring devotee, somewhere on the kanishtha plateau...

[theist 1]

 

Thanks, also, for not yelling at me for making a fool of myself!

 

 

Murali you are anything but a fool. Except in the sense that anyone who comes to material world is a fool.

 

The details of ID are way way beyond my comprehension as I do not understand scientific jargon. I just hitch myself to the conclusion and try to talk it up hoping that the more scientifically litterate devotees will get more involved and go beyond the mere retelling of creation stories to try to explain the reality of God.

[suchandra 1]

Beside prasadam I can't actually understand anything...