Marginalization and Ostracizing Within the Spiritual Society

         Marginalization and Ostracizing Within the Spiritual Society

By: Babhru Dasa (BVKS)

Introduction:

From time immemorial it has been the instinctive nature of the human species to condemn that which is not perfectly acceptable as “normal.” As the centuries go by, we can see, even from within the limited scope of our modern historical vision, there has and always will be certain societal, political, and religious trends that pervade large numbers of the public. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse.

The citizens within these groups largely identify with that so called feeling of “knowing who they are, and what they stand for.” Unfortunately as we’ve seen throughout the ages, this tends to lead to a rather confined and limited perception of reality. And more often than not, brings about violence and destruction, thus hampering the evolution of the human race, materially, but much more importantly, spiritually.

However, one very interesting manifestation that often occurs in such circumstances is that a few very unique and outstanding individuals come forth with and present a revolutionary outlook within these groups.

Almost always such individuals are at first looked down upon, and even in many cases have become recipients of great harassment and even malicious physical violence, many times leading to death.

However after some time, whether it be a few years, decades, or even centuries later, these individuals seem to always find a place in history as wonderful and extraordinary people. Many schools of philosophical thought have modeled after and taken inspiration from such people, and some of these individuals are even taken to be the greatest of saints!

One of the more famous examples can be seen in the life of Jesus Christ. In his time, he put forth philosophical and cultural ideas which were very revolutionary and radical according to the status quote. In a short time Jesus gained many followers, but there were many more people whom hated his teachings and wanted to kill him. Eventually his opponents did kill him, but as we can see, throughout the centuries, billions of people have recognized him to be a great saint and have become his “devout followers.”

Materially and Spiritually this has happened many times, and it would simply increase the volume of this article to include more examples.

Since this article is mainly being written to address a problem which is ongoing within religious and spiritual organizations, the focus will be to address this sort of condemnation and marginalization of “uncommonly gifted” people within spiritual settings.

As we can easily understand by looking through the worlds many regions, when a spiritual practice becomes prominent amongst a larger group of people, an organization or institution and governmental structure is surely on its way, and rightfully so. Such a structure has many benefits, but also, as we’ve seen, can have many downsides.

Once again, not to increase the size of this article, this point will not be elaborated on, save and except for the one topic which this article is actually meant to bring light to. (Marginalization and Ostracizing Within a Spiritual Society)

Before getting into the main topic, we feel it is important to understand some of the circumstances and factors within a society that can easily become the breeding ground for such unfortunate events to occur.

Among the more common of manifestations that happen within growing spiritual and religious organization, is that they often become overly “unified” due to such a previously mentioned “governmental body.” In many cases such a governmental body dictates how the spiritual populace acts externally, and thinks internally.

Such unification of action and thought which is based on the spiritual lineage’s, preceptorial teachings, can of course be greatly beneficial to achieving the society at larges desired goals.

However, the downside is that oftentimes in such growing societies, the members get so caught up in achieving the unified goals of the society,  which in many cases involve expansion and acquiring more facilities, that their energy towards achieving “higher internal development” slackens or in some cases, even forgotten about all together.

It is quite frequent that the governmental body and “higher rung” members of the society consider the “individual development” far less important than the so called, “good of the society.” In many cases senior members even teach that working for the expansion of the society is the ONLY method to attain internal advancement. This concept is not completely wrong. It is correct in the sense that working for the greater mission greatly strengthens one’s selfless service attitude and compassion for other souls. Of course these traits are very favorable for a spiritual aspirant to cultivate. The expansion of the society may also be among the more prominent desires of the original spiritual preceptors, which should always be taken into account also.

Keeping this in light, we should fully understand that the other limbs of devotional life should never be rejected, because if they are, almost inevitably we will become imbalanced and fall from our position. We have seen this time and time again in large spiritual movements.

The founding Spiritual Master (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has emphasized this point many times in throughout his teachings and letters. The following are just a few of them.

“Yes, you have got the right idea when you say that your preaching work shall be directed toward the children and the devotees and not so much to the Dallas public. We may thin the milk till it becomes useless, or we may boil it until it becomes thick and sweet, so now we have got enough followers, let us train them up perfectly in the philosophy and activities of Krishna Consciousness way of life. Unless all of my students become very much fixed up in their spiritual progress, what is the use of so many programs for expansion?”  -Letter to Stokakrsna, Los Angeles 20 June, 1972.

“Better to develop the small number of devotees we have, make them truly Krishna conscious boys and girls than to go on getting many followers who do not understand and practice the real principles.”  -Letter to Damodhara, Honolulu 9 May, 1972.

The following is an excerpt from Nectar of Devotion regarding hearing and studying. This quote also brings to light the importance of deepening ones prayer and meditation on God.

“One should feelingly pray and become eager to render his particular type of service to the Lord. 

This is the teaching of all great devotees, especially Lord Caitanya. In other words, one should learn how to cry for the Lord. One should learn this small technique, and he should be very eager and actually cry to become engaged in some particular type of service. 

This is called laulyam, and such tears are the price for the highest perfection. If one develops this laulyam, or excessive eagerness for meeting and serving the Lord in a particular way, that is the price to enter into the kingdom of God. Otherwise, there is no material calculation for the value of the ticket by which one can enter the kingdom of God. The only price for such entrance is this laulyam lalasamayi, or desire and great eagerness.    -Nectar of Devotion, Page 75

For further exemplification of this point we can see the following verse written by Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura in Sri Prema Bhakti-chandrika:

“The essence of sadhana-bhakti is to carefully consider and follow the path of the previous mahajanas. One should not neglect the practice of remembering the pastimes of the Lord, for devotional service should be performed with the mind as well as the body.”

Actually, it should be understood that the real measurement of a spiritual society’s worth can only be seen by the number of people who have actually attained the ultimate goal of life, namely love of God. It should also be understood that a genuine spiritual seeker, is always eager to attain realization of God as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, it is common for religious groups to promote the idea that attainment of love of God, or realization of God, comes after death. This idea is very conducive for people whom are generally dogmatic and fully willing to be a blind follower. Such blind followers don’t expect any practical realization, and are usually satisfied with the external affairs of their religious activities. However this article is not being written to condemn “blind-followers,” and to not increase the length of this article, this point will not be elaborated on.

Sometimes we see spiritually pure organizations can become overly political and even more dangerous is that the spiritually pure philosophy of that lineage can become “changed or tainted” whether intentionally or not. We see this time and time again within spiritual movements around the globe, and to avoid this, members should know the philosophy very thoroughly by reading all of the revealed scriptures under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual mentor.

“Every day you have to read, study, and learn my books just like a lawyer learns the law books. You must know everything, chapter and verse. If you do not know, how will you preach? Unless you know my books how will you teach these men?”   -A.C. Bhaktivedant Swami Prabhupada 

When dealing with larger societies, more often than not the governmental body’s many different positions and views while dealing with variegated topics are to be taken as the “be all, and end all. This is often where things become “sticky” and spiritual practitioners should be increasingly mindful and cautious. There are many controversial aspects to this “all acceptance,” but only one aspect will be discussed herein.

As mentioned before, blind-following is often the direct bi-product of such “over-unification.”  “Over-unification” tends to lead to the members of a spiritual society not being able to “independently” think and rise to the level of maturity needed to advance properly. In this context, “independent” means being self motivated, not being dependent on outside parties. However it should be strictly noted that while acting according to ones unique karmic background and conditioning, one should always be under the guidance of an expert spiritual teacher, whom one fully trusts. These truths can be clearly understood by examining the following passage.

“Everyone has to take care of his own plane, and if there is any danger, no other plane can help another in that condition. Similarly, at the end of life, when one has to go back home, back to Godhead, everyone has to take care of himself without help rendered by another. The help is, however, offered on the ground before flying in space.”      -Srila Prabhupada pp. SB 1.15.50

That being said, it is interesting to note that within such overly unified spiritual organizations, most of the members will externally and internally manifest very similar good and bad qualities.

Unfortunately, this means if there are philosophical misconceptions, they are often deep rooted and may even increase through a spiritual aspirant’s life due to the ongoing fortification by ill-informed leaders, advisors, or peers.  Such misconceptions may propagate unnoticed for many years, decades, or even lifetimes!

Such misconceptions often lead to the development of members whom have a sub-par understanding of their lineage’s authentic teachings and especially those teachings which are considered to be of a “higher level.”

As mentioned before, it is very easy for a person living in a society to be engrossed by dogmatism, and be impregnated with overwhelmingly fanatical stances on certain issues (due to the widespread support of other members), thus they generally accept “hearsay” philosophical discourses as the complete truth and never even bother looking into the source materials which such discourses are supposed to be based on.

This can have detrimental effects on the world outside (who we are supposed to be helping and teaching), but actually the greater effect is  seen on the internal members.

The Main Issue:

After bringing the above mentioned topics to light, we can now discuss the main issue of this article, which is “Marginalization and Ostracizing of Members Within a Spiritual Society.”

In spiritual life, we all understand that each individual is unique and is at a different level of advancement from anyone else. Since spiritual life is a multi-lifetime process, and we know progress on this path is never lost, it is a philosophically sound proposition for us to say that any person of any age can come into such a spiritual organization at any stage of their spiritual evolution. More often than not a “newcomer” will enter a society being at a lower stage of advancement than senior (by material time calculation) members, but can certainly come to the organization being at a higher stage of advancement than many of the members (wether they be slightly or vastly senior.)

The following quote gives scriptural evidence for the the appearance of a young devotee who has attained “advancement” in their previous birth. The following quote is from Srila Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thakura’s,  Raga-vartma-chandrika.

“There are again two kinds of mercy bestowed by a devotee:

(1) mercy bestowed by a rāgānugā devotee in a previous life – praktana

(2) mercy bestowed by a rāgānugā devotee in the present birth – adhunika

The praktana devotee takes shelter of the lotus feet of a rāgānugā guru after the greed has arisen in him, and the adhunika will get that greed only after having surrendered to the feet of such a guru.”

Before continuing, we should clarify the word “newcomer” and other similar terms as referring to those whom have joined a spiritual society recently, up to members of 5 years experience. Although, a member of a society can (and there are certainly many cases) be condemned even if they have 30+ years experience!

It can also be said that most, if not all spiritual practitioners accept the truth that any practitioner can make quick or slow progress on the spiritual path. Such progress fully depends on that person’s intensity of spiritual enthusiasm(greed) and degree of absorption in their worship. Often times the revealed scriptures declare the authenticity of such rare and wonderful circumstances.

The following is an anecdote that happened in ISKCON about 40 years ago. This was recounted by a devotee named Nalini Kanta Prabhu when he was a new devotee at the LA temple. The following gives support for both aforementioned spiritual truths.

Once in LA in Srila Prabhupada’s room, I asked him (brazenly), “If we are just neophyte devotees but we feel a relationship towards Krishna in a certain way, is that our maya or should we practice it, or what?” And his eyes opened large like they do at times and he replied, “OH, that is what is wanted!”

To further support this point, Srila Prabhupada writes in a purport in Chaitanya-charitamrta:

“The secret is that one must submissively listen to those who know perfectly the science of God, and one must begin the mode of service regulated by the preceptor. A devotee already attracted by the name, form, qualities, etc., of the Supreme Lord may be directed to his specific manner of devotional service; he need not waste time in approaching the Lord through logic. The expert spiritual master knows well how to engage his disciple’s energy in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and thus he engages a devotee in a specific devotional service according to his special tendency.”    –C.C. -1.1.135

However, since it is far more common for a newcomer to be on a stage of advancement less than that of the senior members of such a society, it generally becomes the “normal” and/or “acceptable” trend.

Seemingly disregarding the many scriptural injunctions that prove the possibility and even sure occurrence of the surfacing of those few uncommonly advanced souls. The general mass of societal members will look down upon them even though they may exhibit great enthusiasm and desire to make advancement and understand the philosophy in full.

Generally the society will consider such rare souls to be taking the process cheaply or even to be imposters looking for some adoration and distinction. Unfortunately, there have been many cheaters in the past and there will be in the future. Such cases are noted and discussed much more frequently than circumstances involving genuine aspirants, and thus cause further forgetfulness of the appearance of uncommonly gifted souls.

When such a genuinely advanced newcomer does appear in the society, it is common that senior members may be frightened by such individuals, due to their own lack of internal advancement. Sometimes senior members may think, “I have been practicing for “X” amount of years, and I am in “X” position. This new person has only been here a short time, therefore it can not be possible for this person to be more advanced than me.”  Generally this mentality is not outspoken but is an internal manifestation rooted in the bodily concept of life.

Such a mentality can also be rooted in fear and false pride.  This occurs due to a senior members following what they had been taught by their trusted superiors for several or many years, thinking it to be completely infallible. As mentioned before, this is one of the very possible bi-products of “blind-following.” If some of those teachings were incorrect or if due to mis-application, did not reap the fruits of actual spiritual advancement and progression on the path of devotion, such leaders may feel embarrassed, or even ashamed. What to speak of admitting to themselves and others of their unfortunately slow progress and advancement. As we know, the identification with the false ego is the last barrier between our conditioned and liberated state and is a major stumbling block to many intelligent and sincere people.

“This tight knot of false ego is due to ignorance. As long as one is ignorant about his identity, he is sure to act wrongly and thereby become entangled in material contamination.”    – Nectar of Devotion

Another common cause of misidentification of an advanced devotee, is a persons lack of purity and qualification, which both enable them to “see things as they are.”  It should be noted that ones purity and qualification will exactly correlate to their freedom from material contamination and mundane speculative perception. We often hear, “it takes a pure devotee to know a pure devotee.” However, if a spiritual practitioner is lacking in such qualification, but equipped with proper knowledge, sobriety, and rational discernment, it would be possible for them to detect such great personalities.

The following is a powerful statement from HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:

“Sastra-caksus means one who sees through the eyes of the authorized scriptures. Actually, any man of knowledge and experience should see everything through these books. For example, with our naked eye we perceive the sun globe simply as some glaring substance, but when we see through authorized books of science and other literature, we can understand how much greater the sun globe is than this earth and how powerful it is. So seeing things through the naked eye is not actually seeing. Seeing things through the authorized books or authorized teachers is the correct way to see.”    -Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 21

There has been many examples of people not recognizing the topmost exalted souls. In many cases, the general public will see the topmost spiritually advanced persons as sentimentalists, madmen, imposters, or worst of all, gross materialists.

To substantiate this point, just a few brief examples will be given from Gaudiya Vaisnava history:

“When I saw all the luxurious paraphernalia surrounding Pundarika Vidyanidhi I was convinced that he was a materialistic vaishnava given to the pleasures of life. You could read my mind and being a great magnanimous soul you revealed to me the unlimited extent of Pundarika Vidyanidhi’s love for God, yet today I have been offensive and the extent of my offenses can only be mitigated by your mercy.”

                           – Sri Gadhadhara Pundit from Chaitanya Bhagavata

This pastime occurs specifically to show that devotees should be very cautious about jumping to conclusions and furthermore to show the importance of immediately begging forgiveness from those souls who we do offend. In this instance, it was by the mercy of Mukunda Dasa that Pundarika Vidyanidhi revealed his true nature.

“Unless Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu discloses the fact, no one can understand who is actually a great devotee of the Lord engaged in His service.”    “The activities and plans of a Vaiṣṇava cannot be understood by ordinary men.”   -Purport by HDG ACBSP CC. Madhya-lila 15.120

The above mentioned quotes are in regard to the pastime of Mukunda Dasa (the royal physician), coming before the muslim king. As we can see in the above mentioned quotes, it is again stressed how difficult it is to understand a devotees true position.  Srila Prabhupada is even saying that unless Krsna Himself reveals the glories of the devotee, they can never be understood.

Fortunately for us, it is a fact that the revealed scriptures and the pure devotees are both in direct connection with Krsna. Therefore by coming in contact with the representative of Krsna and hearing from him, or by studying and understanding the revealed scriptures, one can realize the true glory of other devotees.  Although ultimately, as Srila Prabhupada is saying, all of this is arranged and revealed by the guidance of Krsna Himself, and without his divine sanction nothing is possible in this regard.

Understanding the above mentioned examples are in regards to “pure devotees,” it should be carefully noted that the principal of “seeing according to ones qualification,” is a far deeper truth that can and should be applied to more “common” circumstances. The above quote mentions the highest level of this truth, but this truth also applies to devotees on a lower stage of advancement which fall short of “pure devotee,” or one at the level of “bhava” or “prema.”

For example, if one devotee is at the stage of spiritual progression known as “bhajana-kriya” or “anartha-nivritti,” it would be very difficult for them to understand who is actually at the higher stages of “nishta, ruci, or asakti.” This is especially true if the individual has not thoroughly studied and understood the revealed scriptures which describe the symptoms of such persons whom are at these stages. As mentioned before, further barriers are often manifest when a “materially senior” person is judging a devotee of a “ materially junior” position.

Not understanding the above mentioned truths properly, a senior member of a society will often try to marginalize an unusually advanced newcomer into the conglomeration of the other neophytes. This marginalization process can happen confidentially but in most cases it becomes a public issue. This generally leads to the devotee gaining an undeserved bad reputation and more often than not, this info will become widespread amongst other members of the society.

Being targeted by such marginalization, the young devotee will often times feel depressed and even confused in such circumstances. When such a member reads the details of the revealed scriptures, hears from the authorized sources, experiences symptoms of a more advanced person, and feels them-self to be fixed, inspired, enthusiastic, and confident in their practice (yet criticism is coming from senior parties), bewilderment and confusion are almost certain.

Unfortunately, due to societal and peer pressure, misinformation, fear, and other factors, such a soul will be encouraged to and will usually try to suppress such manifestations thinking them to be illusory. Through the process of artificial suppression of such internal feelings, they will most likely seem and act “like everyone else of their age group.”

However, inevitably after some time, usually a few years, they will be unable to suppress such manifestations and will come to a spiritual crossroads in their life. Understanding their situation with much more clarity and gravity and seeking out the guidance of those they deeply trust, they will surely be able to find the correct course of action.

At this time, depending on the degree of intensity of these persons desires to pursue their “higher internal aspirations,” and change their external engagement either slightly or drastically, they will create the impetus for their being ostracized from the society.  Often times “well-wishing” members of the society will “reach out” to such an individual and more or less explain that if they do not concede to fit into the “societal norm” and guidance of the general mass of members and leaders of the society, they will surely be cast out and condemned.

In the case of ostracizing, which is common, the general mass of members will unfortunately commit many offenses against that ostracized devotee. As everyone knows, making offenses to any living entity is bad, what to speak of spiritualists, and further more, those whom are advanced servants of God!

In the past, this has proven very detrimental for the growth of many spiritual societies and it’s individual members. In many cases such circumstances will even lead to others leaving the society because of feeling events have unfolded unjustly towards one of their companions or mentors.  This often causes “splinter groups” to manifest and from this point on, problems just keep increasing for the society at large.

Thus keeping the above mentioned information in mind, and culturing cautious behavior when dealing with such circumstances, we can all grow as spiritual personalities, and as a larger worldwide spiritual community.