Sit Properly

My friend Rati is stirring up some much-needed talking points over in the Sampradaya Sun area of the interwebs. A few people are now openly discussing the fact that Srila Prabhupada said that no wages should be paid to temple residents/staff, etc.

A point was raised by Matsya das in his article “Salaries for Sudras” (a rebuttle to “Wages for Sages”)¹ that temples are monasteries. Monasteries do not pay salaries.

While writing the Prajalpa Retreat article for The Hing, I got to thinking “why aren’t the japa retreats at a temple? A monastery setting would be the perfect place to be spiritual, no?

Well, in the case of our Krishna consciousness movement, no. Temples are simply not spiritual places.

If you venture into a Buddhist or Catholic monastery, you suddenly feel this deep “energy.”² It’s heavy and thick and you can’t help but whisper and feel in awe of your surroundings.

But in many, many Hare Krishna temples, it’s chaos or there’s simply nobody there.

Sure, I realize that we basically have no brahmacaris. And the ones we do have are mostly over in India. Sannyasis too (maybe India pays them better). Why not spread it around?

Wouldn’t it be great if you’d enter an ISKCON temple and immediately were sent reeling, back on your heels, nearly floored with awe? Not awe for how dirty and rundown the place is. Not awe for how not a single devotee will acknowledge you (unless you’re Indian-bodied and have a fat wallet). But awe for Krishna. Awe for the devotion of the monks. Awe at how the whole thing makes you want to be a devotee too.

But sadly, at the present state, that cannot happen. The monks don’t really exist. The temples are simply whorehouses pimping out the deities with “puja thalis” and “maha kalasha.” The temple residents are temple employees because it seems like nobody will do service for the sake of bhakti.

And if this is brought up, you receive a chorus of “but prabhu, if we did not do this, how would we keep the temple open?” What that really means is “if we did not do this, how would I get paid? I’d have to get a real job!”

It’s amazingly simple and easy to not really care if some temple employee has to get a real job. And it’s getting easier and easier to not really care if they have to close a temple. Or even most of the temples. If they’re not spiritual places of pilgrimage (and I mean real spirituality, not this weird little spiritual materialism plague that’s infested most of North American ISKCON) let them close before they do any more damage.

And in their place, there will always be a core group of dedicated devotees who are willing to preach, distribute prasadam and books. These are the devotees that hold the future of ISKCON and Krishna consciousness, not some well-paid GBCs. The temples may close, but Krishna consciousness is always open.

1. “Wages for Sages” is such a cute term! It rhymes and therefore must be bonafide! Sort of like “Share Your Care.” [↩]
2. I swear, I’m not a hippie [↩]

On October 18, I’ll be hitting the road, heading west with Smartz on our move to Seattle, Washington. What a great time of year to move to the Sunshine City! Rain and clouds for the next five months! But this is how it’s worked out, so who am I to complain?

For the first night, we’ll be heading down to Rati and Dwija’s and spending a day with them at New Vrndavana. Then, we’ll take four or so days to cross the country, bringing us to Seattle around October 24ish. Give or take a few days.

And that’s about it. I’ve got a bunch to do before I leave and there are a bunch of people I’d like to see as well. If you want to hang out prior to my leavings, let me know, ok?

It’s finally time and I’m all sorts of nervous and excited. When I get to Seattle, I really have no idea what I’ll be doing. I hope to meet up with some devotees and scooters (wouldn’t it be neat if I’d be able to meet up with some devotee scooterists in Seattle?). In Seattle, I know that the devotees run a free cafe called My Sweet Lord. They have Gita classes there on Thursdays. I plan to show up.

I’ll be honest, I’m a little leery on the temple scene in Seattle, but I’m also willing to give that a try without prejudice.

I’m sure I’ll be talking moving stuff quite a bit from now till then, but since just today we figured out a schedule, I thought I’d let everyone who cares to know be in the know. Any questions or comments? Just ask!

Synthpop act DEVOtee Target of Envious False News Story

SIMI VALLEY, CA – Earlier this week, noted ISKCON historian, Bhakta Charlie, reported in his article “Meltdown… So What? on Sampradaya Sun, that he was aware of senior devotees, who, when “faced with the Y2K (year 2000) crisis/impending doom, went so far as to purchase rubber Radiation Suits.”

While the fact that senior devotees purchased radiation suits is undeniably true, also true are the allegations that Bhakta Charlie purposely failed to state that these senior Srila Prabhupada disciples actually bought the radiation suits to complete the costuming of their Krishna conscious Devo cover band.

Click here to read on…