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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00060 May 2001

 
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Hare Krishna.

Dear Murali Sampath Prabhu,

This mail is directed at your goodself.

> Looks to me like most of you missed the point in my earlier message. I do
> not contradict the shastras and agamas nor what most of you have written
> about vegetarianism. Matter of fact I myself am a vegetarian.

Very good. We are glad to know that you are a vegetarian but that is not
vaishnavism's ideal.
Vaishnavism's ideal is to be come Krishnatarian or who who only accepts
foostuffs offered to Lord Narayana.
It is best if we could all come to that platform. Vegetarianism or
meat-eating is not our business.

>I do not eat at McDonald's nor french fries or meat. If only those of you
who wrote back,
> cared to read my first posting on this topic, you would have noticed that
I
> had let be known that Dannon Yogurt contains Gelatin and that I contacted
> the FDA regarding this. I would not have wasted my time calling Dannon and
> the FDA if Gelatin was not there in the yogurt.

Thank you for yoru efforts. We perfectly understood your intentions. We were
merely reiterating our points
and qualifying the fact that statements made must ultimately corroborate
with shastra.

> All that I was trying to point out was that it is for one to decide what
> they want to eat, when to eat, what to eat and where to eat.

Yes, most certainly. That is common sensical and all of us are aware of
this - that ultimately
it is up to the individual to decide. But I would assume that we are all
aspiring to be servants of the Lord
and hence have relegated our independence to that of the will of the Lord.
As such, at least we as aspiring Vaishnavas should know what to do and what
not to do. The choice is personal but the proper standards cannot be so.
They apply to one and all. It is a lack of such proper standards that has
led to so much decadence today. All wishy washy substandards are being
broadcast as perfectly fine and that is the first step to start the
degradation. Let the proper standards be properly established. whether
people follow or not is not the issue here. we must act to please the Lord
and the Acharyas and let at least those who are sincere in following have
the guidance and standards for them. Otherwise that select few we may lose
to frivolous sub-standardisation.

> I never said that one should not follow or learn what's in the scriptures
or the vedas
> and more. When I wrote it is a "matter of personal choice", I meant that
it
> is for the individual to decide whether they want to read, listen and
follow
> what our respective elders, scholars and others have given to us. This is
> akin to grooming our kids - telling them what to do and not, with a hope
> that when they grow up they will have a nice life. We strive and try to
> discipline them. Beyond this we pray to the almighty that our kids take to
> the right path in life. We make all efforts by caring for them and showing
> them the right path, just like our Acharyas lead us. But the point here
is,
> even despite parents advices and teachings, if the kids go out and choose
> their own life style, it is they who made that choice. We did our best but
> the choice was theirs. Our influences was only to help them make a better
> choice. But eventually what they chose remained a decision made by them.
You
> and me can only influence them but the final decision is theirs. Likewise,
> we have the Shastras, the scriptures, our Acharyas, Gurus, elders and more
> all pointing to how we should lead our lives, what we should eat, what we
> need to wear for the temple, what we can do to help others, and so on,
which
> you may be knowing much more than I do. Whether one wants to follow these
or
> not is something that the individual decides. And this person shoulders
the
> responsibility for having made such a decision. By this I do not mean to
say
> that no one should be advised or helped or guided. It would be wonderful
to
> learn all great values and practise these. One may even be willing to
listen
> and learn all these but may end up not following them. It's his or her
> decision.

Yes, yet again this is already understood. But let us at least set that
standard before praying to the
Lord for further help ! that is why this list and so many other such lists
are there ! not to take pity upon ourselves and cry but to save the
situation to the best of our abilities. These days even vaishnava parents
are sleeping at times or becoming lax in the name of adaptability in this
regard. Then when the child finally breaks all barriers they sit and cry !
what is the use ? let us first do our duty before saying ultimately upto the
Lord and the individual.
we are not to promote a sense of helplessness in the name of individual
choice.

> Learned friends, I do find some of you getting offended for no reason at
> all. Your outbursts! Does it help you?

None of us are getting offended here. Kindly do not likewise feel offended
when nothing of that nature has been intended in any of our mails. We have
merely been firm in asserting what is shastric and what is ashastric. There
is no explosion or outburst on the list at all, unless you have created one
in your imagination. There is nothing we can do about that.
Anyway, we are all learning - no malice intended. :-) Nothing that has not
been created by us has the need to help us.

dasan
R. Jai Simman
Singapore






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