In this age of Kali-yuga Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave us the easiest method for self realization of Sankirtan which is the chanting of Hare Krishna.
He rejected the caste system and the violent corporal punishment for sins in previous ages in most case.
Lord Caitanya advised us all to chant Hare Krishna.
He also personally preached to many Muslims who joined his merciful Sankirtan Movement.
Lord Caitanya emphazised to "hate the sin and NOT the sinner".
In a morning walk in Vrindavana Prabhupada tells a devotee that Manu Smrti (Samhita) rules and regulations are not meant to be implemented in Kali-yuga -
"Do not mention Manu Samhita, it is a code of behaviour not a religion for Vaishnavas".
Devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu are way more merciful than devotees in previous ages who simply practised rules and regulations.
Although Prabhupada does mention Manu Samhita often in his purports and even call for it to be followed in many purports, he also keeps reminding us that Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a very rare merciful expansion of Lord Krishna come to deliver the MOST fallen.
Hate the sin save the sinner with the chanting of Hare Krishna.
Keep in mind punishment for stealing in the Manu smrti is having one's hand cut off. Do you really want to intoduce such harsh punishments in the Golden Age of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's great Sankirtan Movement of mercy?
No, to a devotee we hate the sin, NOT the sinner and KILL that demonic desire with mass Sankirtan chanting Hare Krishna and not the person.
We must take up the mood of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in this rare Kali-yuga He has kindly appeared beyond following all previous vedic rules and regulations.
"Patita Pavana" means Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the deliverer of the MOST fallen living entities trapped in decaying material bodily vessels.
We are all trapped in a material bodily container and foolishly think "We are these gross material bodily container".
Our ONLY mission in this Kali-yuga is preaching the UNLIMITED MERCY OF FORGIVENESS found in Lord Chaitanya's Patita pavana philosophy meant to deliver the most fallen souls in Kali-yuga.
If the Manu Samhita was so important in this age f Kali-yuga, Srila Prabhupada would of translated it.
However, he knew most of it is NOT applicable to this age we are in.
And yes, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings are "totally separate" from the hash rules and regulations of the Manu Samhita.
If ISKCON ever tried to fully introduce the Manu Samhita in a package with Varnashrama in this day and age, with its rules of corporal punishment (hands cut off for stealing) and women not allowed higher education, will destroy the simplicity of what the SANKIRTAN movement stands for, the congregational street chanting of Hare Krishna by all
People do not like to see any form of discrimination today.
Therefore even women should be encouraged to reach their full potential as a Vaishnava doctor, teacher even an architect if they choose to learn these trades to serve Krishna.
Prabhupada told Yamuna dasi you are not a women you are a Vaishnava
One 19 year old Gurukuli is now studying at University and preaches their to other students.
Many of our women are highly intelligent, why suppress that just because the soul is in a woman's body?
Also Manu Samhita encourages all girls should be married by 11 or 12 years old.
And also allows polygamy.
Both are banned today not only by the present day Indian Government but by Governments around world.
And marrying a man at 22 years old marrying an 11 year old girl was acceptable well into the 20th Century in India, in fact this is the age Prabhupada was married.
However, in India today child marriages have become corrupted with exploitation, greed and the exchange of money bribes and wealth.
Therefore to stop all that, the legal age for marriage is 16, not earlier.
Infact marriages under 16 is a criminal offense and considered child sexual abuse by Governments around the world today.
And Polygamy here in my Country is an offense that carries and 8 year jail sentence.
Now all the above goes against the teachings in the Manu Samhita.
And the punishment for killing cows in that Book will never be introduced anytime soon.
We are at the beginning of a Golden Age of spiritual revolution, how future Vaishnava leaders in one thousand years from now will govern society WILL be based of SANKIRTAN and the merciful teachings of Lord Chaitanya and NOT rules and regulations in the law Book of Manu.
The entire caste system was rejected by Lord Chaitanya in His time.
Yet Prabhupada said eventually a time will come when ISKCON's maturity is strong enough to again present the Varnashrama system in this Kali-yuga.
Varnashrama must be again eventually introduced free of fanaticism, corruption and class distinction.
Instead this version of Varnashrama will be based on the "ocean of mercy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu great Sankirtan Movement
Thus making Varnashrama in this Golden Age within Kali-yuga unique and different from previous ages.
One cannot force the teachings of Manu Samhita on Society in this age.
In 1974 fundamentalist devotees after reading a copy of the Manu Samhita tried to blow up the Slaughter house in New Zealand and instead blew themselves up killing 3 devotees, the bomb went off on the way to the Slaughter house.
This terrorists event greatly affect ISKCON in New Zealand and Australia for many years after.
Prabhupada was furious at this and said our only weapons are Books and Sankirtan NOT the teachings in Manu samhita.
By all means basic truths from the manu samhita can be introduced
Therefore if ISKCON does not want to be seen like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brunei etc who implement Sharia law, then just stick to Lord Chaitanya's teachings of Sankirtan side by side with Prabhupada's instructions of mass book distribution.
Thanks for posting the article...
ReplyDelete