Why Do I Have to Hide?

If the Qataris can openly and freely wear their traditional dress, why do I have to hide mine when I am visiting their country? Here in Qatar even while working their ordinary jobs at the airport I see so many Qatari men and women dressing in their traditional garb. But yet Hare Krishna devotees are advised here not to openly show anything publicly of their culture even tilak, what to speak of wearing a dhoti.

(Editor' note: Tilak is the marking worn on the forehead by devotees of Krishna. And a dhoti is the traditional robe worn by male Hare Krishna devotees.)

This all stems from a sectarian conception of religion in which one thinks that his way to God is the only way to God. Such a sectarian conception is killing actual religion. It's time the world wakes up and realizes that religion is the science of re-connecting with God. It is not a sect.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Qatari Dress

Qatari Dress

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Pure Vs. Pseudo Surrender

When can someone know his/her worth and readiness for an eternal commitment and pure surrender to a guru where there will not be any inner conflict after the surrender (or pseudo surrender)? How pure should the devotee be? And how complete without any chance of reservations about the self and also the guru should a devotee be prior to initiation?

Sobha

Answer: Accept Krishna's Order

Your inquiry is very nice. You want to know the difference between pure and pseudo surrender. To know this difference is very important. Otherwise how can one make genuine surrender to the Lord, the prime duty of the human form of life?

The first thing is that one should thoroughly study the spiritual master to make sure that he is indeed bona fide. He must be a humble servant of the Lord coming in an unbroken disciplic succession of spiritual masters originating with Lord Krishna whose only desire is to engage his disciples in the Lord's service. He must speak only the teachings of Krishna as given in the Bhagavad-gita without addition or subtraction. If he does not present Bhagavad-gita as it is in this way, one should immediately reject him because he is not a bona fide spiritual master.

You also want to know how a person can understand if they are ready for taking complete shelter of the bona fide spiritual master by initiation. If one is willing to dedicate one's entire life for following the spiritual master's instructions, he or she is ready for initiation. The vow the spiritual master will ask the disciple to make at the time of initiation is that for the entire life the disciple will strictly avoid illicit sex, intoxication, meat eating, and gambling and chant at least 16 rounds daily of the Hare Krishna mantra on japa mala beads. To make sure that the prospective disciple is ready for initiation the spiritual master requests that he or she should be recommended for initiation by the local ISKCON leader.

The purity required is that one has been able to strictly follow the above principles for at least one year. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that we should cast aside all of our reservations and surrender to Him through the process of taking shelter of the bona fide spiritual master. So, if we are truly dedicated to Krishna, we will accept His order and accept initiation from the bona fide spiritual master. In this way we will avoid pseudo surrender and become purely surrendered to Sri Guru and Sri Krishna.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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