Sit Properly

There was an article that posted to the Sampradaya Sun earlier this past week admonishing devotees for siding with the Republican party in America. I couldn’t agree more with that.

How some devotees support ideas like intelligent design is mind-boggling. We clearly do not believe the same thing that Christians do when it comes to creation. The only similarity is that they are both God-centered. The Christian believe is that the world was created in six literal days and that the earth has only been around for 8,000ish years, barely longer than our Kali-yuga. Yet some devotees side with them due to the dangerous philosophy of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

However, the article in question is a thinly veiled defense of Barack Obama. Previously, a devotee published an article ripping apart Obama for his unvaisnava qualities. Rightly so, I suspect, since Obama isn’t a vaisnava.

But this most recent article, while claiming the left wing (democrats, etc) to be “bad,” actually defends Obama. He references Obama stating that Christ’s Sermon on the Mount should guide American policy.

Now, I’m a rather large fan of the Sermon on the Mount. You know, “blessed are the peacemakers, meek, etc.” And while it’s definitely a good idea to use these principles to manage your life, there is certainly no way in hell that America (or any other government, for that matter) would use them to guide policy. And if you believe that, you are being duped in some pretty nasty ways.

I’m very sick of devotees following the Republican party. But I’m equally sick of devotees following the Democrats (possibly more sick, to be honest).

In Aprilish, a devotee blogger even compared Obama to Brahma. Yeah, Lord Brahma. There were other postings gushing about how super awesome Obama was and how Krishna is blessing us with him. Someone certainly drank the Kool-Aide on this one.

He was the same devotee who gave the Obama “Hope” poster vaisnava tilaka, marking Obama as a devotee of Lord Caitanya. It is hard for me to think of something more lame than that. I’ve tried, not possible.

So will someone please tell me why so many devotees find it necessary to affiliate themselves as members of some political party? Aren’t we supposed to be above that? And fine, if you want to be a democrat or a republican and vote for “the lesser of two evils,” go for it. But why in all that is holy do you try to co-opt them and “make” them part of Krishna consciousness? Seriously, cut it out.

We are devotees. We are above this. Governments in Kali-yuga are corrupt through and through. However, the Bush administration was no more corrupt than Clinton or Grant (back in the 1870’s) or George Washington’s for that matter.

The government is made up of cheaters. The followers of either party are the cheated. We are devotees, followers of Lord Caitanya. We are not the cheaters, nor are we the cheated. We have a higher purpose.

Even our Srila Prabhupada has said, “This democracy is a demon-crazy. It has no value. It is simply waste of time and effort and no feeling, demon-crazy.” He said this many times in reference to American democracy. So why should we support it?

And so, dear vaisnavas, how about we stop wasting time supporting this demon-crazy government, or any government, and start focusing on spirituality, ok? Srila Prabhupada has given us everything we philosophically need. Why would we want to support some politician whose views cannot possibly be our own? Why settle for the “lesser of two evils” when we have Krishna consciousness? Through this we can help society, spiritually and materially, much more than lofty and soon-to-be-broken campaign promises.

Revatinandana: The symbol of the Democrat party in America is the ass.
Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Because they are asses.
- Room Conversation — December 13, 1970, Indore