Correcting Others

[Govindaram]

 

<font color="red"> Correcting Others </font color>

 

"Devotee means he is able to tolerate all kinds of discomfort and whims

of the material nature, and because he is too much absorbed in serving

Krsna he takes no time to become angry or take offense with others or

find out some fault. No. Devotee means very liberal and kind to

everyone, always gentleman under all kinds of conditions of life." (SP

letter to Hansadutta 12/10/72)

 

1. There is a difference between criticism and correction. A devotee

realizes that criticizing a Vaisnava pollutes the heart and impedes

spiritual advancement.

 

2. To correct a devotee one must be:

(a) non-envious

(b) desirous to practically assist the devotee in his Krsna

consciousness.

© in a position spiritually or managerially which justifies

and/or necessitates such intervention.

 

OR

 

be personally requested by the devotee to help him in his

difficulty.

 

3. The devotee offering correction must be practicing what he preaches.

 

4. Methods of correction:

(a) Correct by personal example and association.

(b) Guide the devotee to the shelter of a more advanced

devotee.

© A junior devotee should not personally attempt to

correct another devotee. He should reveal his heart

to a senior devotee whom he feels at ease with and

seek his assistance/advice to adjust the situation.

 

5. Harsh words and actions have no place in correcting a sincere

devotee. We want to destroy the ignorance in the heart of a devotee

- not the devotee himself.

 

6. If there is some sincere and honest criticism offered, we should be

grateful, not upset. To react negatively to well-intentioned

correction is to manifest false ego.

 

7. An advanced Vaisnava will see each and every correction offered as

the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

8. Prevention is better than cure. If all devotees take up the

responsibility to develop proper awareness in their devotional

behaviour the need for correction will be minimized.

 

 

<font color="blue"> Quotes from Srila Prabhupada </font color>

 

SP Letter to Patita Uddharan (12/12/74) "A devotee -- one who is humble

-- doesn't fault-find"

"So in your letter you are not finding fault with anyone. So you are

good Vaisnava. You do not find fault with anyone. This is the

qualification. We should always think ourselves humble and meek. This

you must know. So we all have to cooperate amongst ourselves, otherwise

what will people think if we ourselves fight with one another? A

devotee is always ideal in behavior."

 

SP Letter to Brahmananda (11/15/69)

"This is called Vaikuntha attitude. In the Vaikuntha factually there is

no fault in anyone, but there is another type of competition. The

competition is that one devotee thinks of other devotees how nicely they

are serving the Lord. In the material world the attitude is that

everyone likes to think that I am doing better than others. This is

material conception. In the Spiritual Sky it is just the opposite:

Everyone thinks that my contemporary devotees are doing better than me.

We are trained to address Godbrothers as Prabhu, which means Master.

This means we shall try to find out always the serving side of our

Godbrothers. Sometimes there are misgivings, but we should try to

overlook."

 

Otherwise...

 

Letter to Tamal Krsna (8/23/73) [73-8-26]

"I have received one complaint from an Indian devotee at Mayapur,

Prabharupa Das Brahmacary, that he is maltreated by our American

devotees. Kindly inquire into this matter and do the needful. Either

Indian of foreign whoever joins us they are not under any obligation,

our only tie is Love of Godhead. It should be our definite policy that

nobody is ill-treated that he may go away. We recruit a person to join

us after spending gallons of blood. Everyone comes for reformation, you

cannot expect everyone to be perfect, rather it is our duty to make

everyone perfect as far as possible. So we shall be very much cautious

and careful in this connection."

 

(Devotee misbehavior) Letter to Upendra (8/18/70)

"Kindly observe the regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds regularly

and see that all your other assistants are doing the same. If someone

is lacking, try to induce him peacefully."

 

SP Letter to Bhavananda (10/28/70)

"Regarding some misbehavior, that we have to check by training

peacefully. Your attitude of tolerance and kindness is very nice, so

train them in this way."

 

SP Letter to Upendra (3/11/69)

"Yes, a new man may commit blunders in the beginning, but that does not

mean we may be too impatient with him. After all, training means the man

does not know, so you should train him nicely. A Vaishnava is expected

to be humbler than the blade of grass, so when you train some new man

you should not get agitated with him. After all, we are preachers, and

we do not expect our audience or candidates completely respondent to our

call. If everyone is trained [already] then what is the use of our

preaching?"

 

SP Letter to Hansadutta (9/29/74) "Mend it; Don't Break it"

"Try to settle up amicably and correct yourself. One man is trained up

with great difficulty, especially in spiritual life. Everyone has got

some weakness and deficiency. It is better to correct or mend it than to

break it."

 

SP Letter to Nara-Narayana (2/7/69) "Let The Authority Handle It"

"I beg to thank you very much for your letter pointing out some of the

discrepancies of many of the devotees in New York. You are correct

regarding the items which you have stated, such as sleeping in front of

the deities, taking of unoffered foodstuffs, drinking water from the

bathroom, and non-chanting of rounds. But the thing is discipline can

not be observed unless there is obedience. As you are obedient to me,

you should be similarly obedient to my representative. Your statement

about Brahmananda that he is a wonderful devotee is 100 percent agreed

by me. He is in charge of the New York center, and therefore, if proper

obedience is not given to him, it will be impossible for him to manage

affairs of the temple. Under the circumstances, the discrepancies you

have observed in the temple may be referred to him, and he is quite

reasonable, and will handle the matter with the respective devotees."

 

SP Letter to Madhumangala (11/18/72)

"Regarding general state of affairs at Amsterdam temple, I can

understand there is some disturbance among you, but that is not to be

taken very seriously. Real business is preaching work. And if there is

full attention on this matter only, all other businesses will be

automatically successful. Fighting amongst ourselves is not at all good,

but if our preaching work is neglected, or if we fall down in following

the regulative principles -- such as rising before four, chanting 16

rounds, like that -- if these things are not strictly observed, then

Maya will enter and spoil everything. So my best advice to you is to

strictly observe these things yourself and be the example so that all

others may follow. We should not criticise each other as Vaisnavas,

because there is fault in everyone and we may be ourselves subject to

criticism. Best thing is to be above suspicion ourselves, then if we see

discrepancies and make suggestions, the others will automatically

respect and take action to rectify the matters. Otherwise the whole

thing is doomed if we simply go on fighting over some small thing. So

try to organize things and preach together in this spirit and that will

please me very very much."

 

SP Letter to Vrndavanesvari (7/28/69)

"You have mentioned about some criticism made by Jayagovinda which upset

you. I do not know exactly what is the point, but if there is some

honest criticism, there should be no cause of becoming upset."

 

SP letter to Goursundar (8/26/72): THE DEFECT LIES WITHIN YOU

"If there is some incident and I claim that no one is cooperating with

me or no one will work with me, that is MY defect, NOT THEIRS. The

Vaisnava devotee must think like this. We should not find fault with

others and criticise and go away. That is not the Vaisnava way. Better

we should always be willing to offer all respect to others and consider

them as our superiors always."

 

<font color="green"> From Vaisnava Etiquette by Bhakti Caru Swami.. </font color>

 

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[gHari]

Hell; ain't we elegant.

 

 

Damn, that post was so perfect, I am unable to ridicule, denounce, demean, defame, tar and feather, chastise, correct, persecute or even snub you for it.

 

I will have to go elsewhere.

 

Dirty Hari

 

[gHari]

I think the author's name is Bhakti Caru Swami. A little typo in an otherwise objet d'art; simply footprints of a rabbit on the moon.

 

Couldn't resist the humour. Love ya, Ram Ram.

 

[livingentity]

heh heh

 

I couldn't resist either. LOL.....

[Govindaram]

Hare Krishna

 

/images/graemlins/confused.gifI think

 

I corrected the error, can i get 1000 lakmi points please.

 

And your blessings? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

Please? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[gHari]

Our blessings you've got always, but nada on the points. Need to ask Maharaja Prithu about that.

 

 

[Guest guest]

I was actually asking myself this question about correcting others.

 

I'm wondering if someone who sees a behavior that needs to be corrected in another devotee could be considered envious of that devotee if that person doesn't act to help this devotee.

 

Is it that people are afraid to correct others of that they just don't care enough? A person may see a devotee falling away from proper behavior but doesn't act on it, I feel this is another act of violence. (I remember reading Prabhupada's purport talking about violence... can't remember where exactly)

 

On the other hand maybe I have a serious social problem.

[Govindaram]

 

 

2. To correct a devotee one must be:

(a) non-envious

(b) <font color="red"> desirous to practically assist the devotee in his Krsna consciousness. </font color>

© in a position spiritually or managerially which justifies

and/or necessitates such intervention.

 

Point No.2 looks good, what do you think Guestji?

 

 

[Guest guest]

2. To correct a devotee one must be:

(a) non-envious

(b) desirous to practically assist the devotee in his Krsna consciousness.

© in a position spiritually or managerially which justifies

and/or necessitates such intervention.

 

Point No.2 looks good, what do you think Guestji?

********

 

I guess it is hard to explain my situation, I'm actually the same guest who wrote: "becoming a demon". The way I've been feeling is that I've made offenses, but no devotee is kind enough to tell me whatever I've done wrong.

 

I'm always asking my superior Vaisnavas to tell me whatever I'm doing that is improper, but they always tell me nothing is wrong. I do have a feeling I'm commiting offenses because my desire to chant the holy name is diminishing, my desire to associate with devotees is almost nil. All lectures I've heard say these are symptoms of aparadhas.. but what aparadhas am I doing? nobody tells me.

 

I'm actually afraid to go to my local temple because I don't want to offend more and never realizing it. Yes I'm just a fool, maybe even hopeless... or maybe like I wrote I have serious social problems.

[Govindaram]

 

Haribol Prabhu

 

First of all, you already have a humble attitude, with what you say in your post, 2nd. Krishna and His name are non-different, so each time you chant, imagine the humbleness coming over you, and think of the privilege, that Krishna is soo kind that He has manifested Himself in His name. How do you feel now?..also spiritual duties never end, so no matter how much you chant it is never enough, think about this.how long have you been serving Maya, you bored yet?

 

There is no comparison to spiritual life.

 

I hope this meets you well, hare krishna.