braindeadbhakti.com

Someone wrote me the following message a while ago:

“I read all your page,very fascinating.
I like how you state why you have this myspace page.
I often wondered why Hare krishna people have myspaces when would’nt the internet and myspace be something material just like I wonder why some Hare Krishna Woman dress their kids in Burberry and Benetton,makes little sense to me but your page is nice and makes sense : )”

It made me think about idealism and hypocrisy. (it also made me think that I’m not a Hare Krishna, but that’ll be another blog)
They really go hand in hand. If you don’t have ideals, it’s very hard to be a hypocrite. You just enjoy your beer and the Super bowl on your widescreen, you totally practice what you preach: lighten up, enjoy life, follow your instincts.

But the higher your idealism goes, the greater the possibility and temptation for hypocrisy. We are human. We screw up and are weak by constitution. Idealism in one sense means going against your nature in order to change it, to attain something more valuable, to replace the old nature. Idealism is a declaration of war and the opposing army won’t shoot blanks. It’ so hard to change your nature, no matter how it would make sense to move on. Those damn old habits. . .

Gaudiya Vaishnavism is idealism to the extreme, at least from a worldly perspective. If you are a vegan, a neo-nazi or a eco-activist, the idealism only deals with a part of your being, but Gaudiya Vaishnavism, when taken to its essence, is a total shift of perception and attitude on all levels. We want to completely undermine and blow to pieces the foundation that our lives are now based on. We want to become completely free from the exploiting tendency that almost all human activities are motivated by, and become lovers in the real sense, lovers of reality. There’s nothing that would be more radical or revolutionary. This really is the real revolution, the never ending guerilla war in the heartland. And it’s so easy to be a hypocrite. I admit, every day I fall short. If not in my actions, then in my thoughts or in my focus.

How can anybody bear feeling inadequate every day? Doesn’t it smash your self-esteem and make you another one of those traumatized victims of religion?  This is where a double-standard has to step in. We understand the extremely elevated goal of our path and feel drawn to it, but if we are honest we know we are light years away from it. It’s a very high and rare thing to be a real Gaudiya, but instead of beating ourselves on the head about not being able to come up to snuff, we will just keep the goal always in focus and go from where we are now. What else could we do? Nonetheless, my opinion is that just to have this as your ideal, no matter how short you fall, is way more valuable than being honest and in ignorance. It’s so hard to be a true Gaudiya, but why not try? Even failing on this path is glorious!

So if you see Gaudiyas who don’t fully walk their talk (and there are many), please give us a break. We are practically shooting for the impossible, but we just can’t be satisfied with anything else either.