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Pankaja_Dasa

Is preaching boring?

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"Is preaching boring?"

 

that depends who's preaching /images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

but seriously. preaching to the wrong crowd can be tireing. and also sometimes we just need to associate with devotees more.

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It's when you present so much information. But still nobody seems to listen. Some do I guess, but esp. On HIndu Forums they are the most difficult to contend with, the arrogance they show sometimes is amazing. They have forgetton about Vedic Culture yet say they are actually following it?

 

So in that way I am bored that nobody seems to be changing. And your right about assocation with devotees, i think that is why I am bored. I only know handful of devotees, I don't seem to see them as often, I associate with devotees who are on same level as me [NOT a good idea]. So I think that's why I feel so bored.

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People that are very attached to a certain religious path and refuse to see value in anothers approach can quickly give you the feeling you are beating you head against a wall, because you are.

 

There are many innocent people. Also I find boredom quickly comes when I am trying to just make them change their beliefs. Why do we approach people in the first place? Do we know why we do what we do? If we are intune with the purpose of the Lord and try to assist in that then is no consideration of boring. If we can assist in showing another person that there is the Lord in their heart and further if we can help inspire their turning towards Him even briefly the Lord will be pleased with us and show us something of Himself as well. Then what can be boring. Boring means stuck alone in our own minds.

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then you can be a leader. Be a devotee first, and then you too can be a teacher. Don't ape SP, you're not qualified. Why preach when you are not even a fraction of what SP was?? It shows you aren't interested in serving krsna but serving yourself.

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Why preach when you are not even a fraction of what SP was??

 

 

Actually I am trying to follow what Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada said by preaching. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

There's no question of greatness, because if you become pure then you realize that actually your not that great. You servant of Krishna, so I guess when you have factual knowledge, like i.e Fire is hot. You never think Fire is cold. So when you think YES I AM SERVANT OF KRISHNA. Then there is nothing to worry about...!

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Try selling books on the streets to Americans and Brits and being told all kinds of rude things. Really gets you on the road to "straw on the street" realization.

 

But boring. Nooooooooo.

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Preaching is devotional service. But one cannot preach what they want to realize, this is just wishing along with the preached to, and is hypocracy, per King Yudhisthira.

 

Bhakti yoga preaching means you give the prasadam you have tasted for yourself. You cannot tell another a gulabjammon is good if you never ate one. So, one cannot explain the required disciplines of the sadhana bhakti process is one is not a disciple (meaning practicing the disciplinesw desribed to others.)

 

hare krsna, mo latah, yo bro, mahaksadasa

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That is why I only "preach" the struggle involved in approaching God. Struggle is all I have realized. The path of bhakti-yoga is the King of all struggles. We are all struggling so why not struggle for something that is worth the bother. That is my main message. "Please brothers and sisters join this struggle and feel my pain." lol

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To so and so, who doesn't seem to like me-

 

 

Hare Krishna, Jaya Nityananda! Jaya Gauranga!

 

 

Hello, I don't know who you are but I would like to say that 'Hinduisum' as you call it is thought of as a Myth by many people, esp Christians and Muslims, and maybe visa-versa. This is a normal point of view as lesser class of devotees are prone to being sectarian, and thinking that God only exsists in thier part of the country or under thier flag be in Islam or Christianity.

 

Hinduisum is really very vast and would take ions to know what it is all about, right now nobody has any power of Brain to understand, anything, due to the fact that society is so degraded, what with the meat-eating, cows-killing, etc. So we are recommended by the Vedas in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam to chant the Holy Names of God, i'e Krishna or Jehovah or Christ [Christ being name of God, given by Lord Jesus] so in this way we can become purifed to understand who God is? Becuase to tell you frankly Lord Jesus didn't reveal anything about God beyond the fact He is in heaven. But at that time nobody would have been intelligent enough to know that God has actitivites, he plays with His devotees, He has intimiate connections. Even now nobody realises these pastimes, in fact in Vaishnava [which I am in] Sanatana Dharma, we are forbidden to read these pastimes or discuss some of them, because without purification you CANNOT understand God..

 

Unless you get the mercy of your Gurudeva i.e Jesus. But it seems you do not follow the tenants of Jesus, its like you are contaminatting your consciousness everyday by eating meat. Give up eating for a FULL Year [it's not impossible] don't drink alcohol. Don't indulge in so much sex. Then you will see that infact Jesus teachings are True. Then you can come to know that Krishna is Jehovah. But unfortuality you will cannot know, a person who Blashpheme Krishna will not likely get the mercy of Jesus Christ until some time in the future..

 

If you displease your own Spiritual Master, then you cannot know Krishna, a Guru gives mercy sure, but at least the disicple [meaning you] must be willing to take that mercy, and Jesus is merciful, I too have Read Bible, and I feel lots of love for Jesus.. I feel His mercy in my heart..

 

BUT if I abuse this mercy and carry on in my wicked ways and distations of my mind, then that mercy will ...? Think about it, don't just reply with some notes on why Hindusium is a myth etc, think about why you are not progressing, why you don't know anything about Jehovah, why Jesus is not giving you His blessings. Don't just think 'I am soo happy!'. Knowing God is about progression, you can't know the Supreme so easily, because once you do you PURCHASE Him, then you can tell God what to do! Just as devotees of Krishna do. Krishna loves His devotees like His very self. Haribol

 

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The point was nicely explained, on the first occasion I saw Srila Prabhupada (ca 1970, LA temple). He was really thankful for all the guests who showed up for a thursday night address, and he explained that even a very beginner can be a "first class preacher". To do this, he explained, was that someone who only once shows up at a Sunday feast, even if the person is lost and doesnt have a clue where he is, that person is accepted as a first class preacher of Bhakti yoga if he goes home and tells family members and friends that the food was tasty, the songs were pleasing, and the devotees were willing to be friends without motive. These are things that a one-time attendee of Srila Prabhupada's program "KNOW", because they have experianced and tasted, and have a desire to let others know. Srila Prabhupada went on to even say these folks were considered "gosthyanandis", preachers of the bhakti cult, and following sincerely Lord Krsnas directives to Arjuna concerning those who are very pleasing to him.

 

So, no one should ever think that devotional service cannot be preached, nor should one falsely think that they have nothing to give. I gotta song Ill punch up later this week, but can be accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/mahaksadasa/all.html

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

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<center><font color="blue"><h3>All</h3>one sure way to be pleasing to your teacher

learn all the lessons, then pass them along

bring your light into the darkest of caverns

all who have eyes will see what is going on

 

the greatest musician taught you to play

all who have voices will want to sing along

the greatest of scholars gave you the words

all who have ears will surely hear your song

 

after hearing philosophy and putting it to the test

all who have feeling will win this holy war

when the gift of pure love is placed at one's disposal

all who have heart will never cry any more

 

if you proclaim and sing the ballad of your master

all who have minds will know what this life is for

don't hold back now, not after what you have been given

all of the world is needy and at your front door</font>

 

 

1993-mahaksadasa

</center>

 

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I think many times I forget what I am doing, and go off on a tangent, forgetting I am to REPEAT what I have heard from Gurudeva. If I don't then it's impossible for anybody to change, I say this because Paramatma changes the person from within. Guru is outside representative of Paramatma. So repeating EXACTY what you heard from Guru is the same as if Paramatma was speaking to that person. They will change, but will may take some time depending on what Paramatma has in store for them /images/graemlins/grin.gif

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I like that idea. We should all preach in Bengali or with a strong Bangla accent. Tike.

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What is the motive behind our preaching? Are we moved at all by the suffering of others?

 

When we are in a foreign land and don't speak the language and we notice a house on fire we still manage to communicate that fact to someone else. We don't immediately run off to school to learn their language. Perhaps the problem is we don't see even one soul caught up in birth and death as an intolerable emergency. We can tolerate the suffering of others.

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What is the motive behind our preaching? Are we moved at all by the suffering of others?

 

 

<font color="red"> Well if one is honest one has to admit that ones house is on fire as well. But one has to follow the order of Mahaprabhu and ones guru to preach. And thus preaching is done for self-purification. Not as a condescending act of benevolence from a far-to-reach acarya position, everyone will see that you are not... </font color>

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I seem to people thrown at me, who don't want to listen. I had this ex-hindu who's now a Christian saying everything about Hinduisum is not based on fact but is all false. And only Christianity is right, anyway..

 

I suggested she give up meat for a week after about 3 hours I wasted talking to her, her responce was I was an imp.

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Not as a condescending act of benevolence from a far-to-reach acarya position, everyone will see that you are not...

 

 

Actually I am speaking of something just the opposite. If someone is thirsty and you see someone hand them a glass of water do you consider that a condescending act of benevolence coming from a far away position?

 

If you do then it's no wonder you misinterpret my simple statement.

 

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You are fighting against Supersoul at that point. The right to hear is the same right as not to hear just excercised differently.

 

Long before the third hour you knew it was hopeless but you kept at it. Why?

 

On a public forum such as this it sometimes makes sense to keep battling points because others may be listening but why continue to speak if the person does not want to hear?

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They do not have the sincerity that will take them beyond words. Therefore all they have are words - words different from yours.

 

If I had the misfortune to have heard those words from that unfortunate woman I might have said, "Oh, I see you are not yet sincere about finding the Kingdom of God. We all have so many priorities that burden us so. In the Bhagavad-gita, God teaches many effective methods to develop sincerity, to lift our burden so we can see what is important. If you ever become serious, this would be a good place to start. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna".

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One thing we should consider if what we each mean by the word. I've placed my preference in bold. What's yours?

 

 

Main Entry: preach

 

1 : to deliver a sermon

2 : to urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action; specifically : to exhort in an officious or tiresome manner

 

1 : to set forth in a sermon <preach the gospel>

2 : to advocate earnestly <preached revolution>

3 : to deliver (as a sermon) publicly

4 : to bring, put, or affect by preaching <preached the... church out of debt -- Amer. Guide Series: Va.>

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I think preaching is presenting to an entity exactly what caitya-guru would like them to have from you at that moment. They say you can't preach to an empty stomach, so sometimes 'preaching' could just be helping to remove someone's burden that keeps them down. Removing burden could be as simple as"You look nice today, Jennifer" or "Poverty's nothing. Do you worry about having enough air to breathe? .... Well God knows you need money too". If we accept that caitya-guru is always working on us, then this definition seems pretty good.

 

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