Back To Prabhupada, Issue 49, Autumn 2015
rila Prabhupada explains that sahajiyas, a deviant sect of pseudo-devotees, are illiterate:
"Rascals, they are all... These sahajiyas, you'll find most of them illiterate. Not a single of them is even literate, they are so low class."
(Morning Walk, 12/8/76)
And therefore when it comes to matters of philosophy, they avoid engaging in them by criticising real devotees as being philosophers and scholars, whilst claiming they are acting on the level of devotion, or bhakti:
"The prakrta-sahajiyas sometimes criticize pure devotees by calling them philosophers, learned scholars, knowers of the truth, or minute observers, but not devotees. On the other hand, they depict themselves as the most advanced, transcendentally blissful devotees, deeply absorbed in devotional service and mad to taste transcendental mellows."
(Cc., Antya-lila, 20.28)
We find the same sahajiya tactics employed by the GBC-elected guru hoaxers in relation to the philosophical arguments put forward by the IRM. Unable to actually respond philosophically, they simply similarly criticise that the IRM are just "expert in argumentation", but do not have "bhakti". The quotes in the shaded boxes below are from a lecture given on 24/3/15 by GBC-elected guru, HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami ("BVKS").
"[...] Kutarka, bad reasoning. Because of that their heart becomes hard like a thunderbolt. [...] This word kutarka is also very much applicable to these rtvik-vadis. They make this very convoluted system of argumentation in which they take one quote from here...one quote out of context from one place [...] So they're very expert in argumentation, but the result is they don't get any bhakti. They may be convinced they're right, but by such paralogical argumentation their hearts simply become hardened."
BVKS claims the persons putting forward the philosophical arguments of the IRM (whom BVKS calls "rtvik-vadis") construct very convoluted arguments by extracting out-of-context quotations and use "bad reasoning" and "paralogical argumentation" (i.e. argumentation which is illogical). However, BVKS claims that using such illogical and badly reasoned arguments is "very expert"! Thus, it is actually BVKS who is using bad reasoning and being illogical by claiming that using illogical and bad arguments is "very expert". And it is because BVKS is unable to give a single example of where we quote out of context, or where our arguments are paralogical and badly reasoned, that he is forced to concede that our arguments are "very expert"! Then, to counter this, all he can do is claim without any philosophical evidence that we do not have any "bhakti".
Yet, Srila Prabhupada states that bhakti (devotion) is based on "reason, argument and knowledge", without which it becomes a disturbance to society:
"Nor does knowledge come from sentiment. Devotion is not sentiment. It is a science. Srila Rupa Gosvami says, "A show of spirituality without reference to the Vedic knowledge is simply a disturbance to society." One must taste the nectar of devotion by reason, argument and knowledge, and then he must pass it on to others. One should not think that Krsna consciousness is mere sentimentality."
(On the Way to Krsna, Chapter 4)
And BVKS displays such illiterate sahajiya sentimentality by not being able to counter the IRM's arguments with reason, argument and knowledge, and instead relying on simply claiming that we are bereft of bhakti.
"They think, "O, we defeated them!". Because after some time people get fed up of arguing with them, and then they just don't reply. And they say "We never got any reply". You're not going to spend your whole life wasting your time with these useless people."
BVKS then goes on to defend not responding to the philosophical arguments put forward by the IRM by claiming that people are "fed up" of arguing with them, and that it would be "wasting your whole life" to argue with such "useless people". However, the reality is that it appears the only reason people may be "fed up" with arguing with the IRM is because every time they even attempt to do this, they only end up agreeing with the IRM!:
1) The Final Order ("TFO"), the foundational paper of the IRM, presented a response to the GBC's position on gurus. This position at the time was encapsulated in a GBC paper called On My Order Understood, which the GBC said "establishes as ISKCON law the final siddhanta (conclusion)" for their position. TFO comprehensively showed that the conclusions and arguments of that paper were false. The GBC effectively agreed with this, in that in 2004 it withdrew the very paper TFO was commissioned to respond to, accepting that it contained "lies", and that it "stretches the truth and contains poor logic". Please see here: www.iskconirm.com/defeat
2) In 2012, due to illiteracy and desperation, BVKS foolishly endorsed a paper, "Defeat of Rtvik-Vada", claiming it defeated TFO. But this paper actually ends up conceding all the key conclusions of TFO as well as stating that BVKS is an unauthorised deviant! Please see here: www.iskconirm.com/illiteracy
3) In 2014, the GBC issued a "Foundational Document" which they said definitively set out Srila
Prabhupada's permanent position for ISKCON. In this they ended up conceding TFO's position that
Srila Prabhupada will always be ISKCON's diksa guru by dint of his position as ISKCON's Founder-Acarya. Please see here: www.iskconirm.com/FA
Thus, they do not reply, not because they do not want to "waste time", but because they can't! Indeed, every time they even attempt to reply, they end up agreeing with TFO!
Srila Prabhupada states that those espousing false philosophies should be confronted and defeated with logic and reasoning:
"Similarly, those who are Krsna conscious should also kill -- not by weapons but by logic, by reasoning, and by education."
(Teachings of Queen Kunti, Chapter 24)
Thus, those who hide behind the "no philosophy, only bhakti" smokescreen are simply illiterate sahajiya sentimentalists attempting to cover up their inability to respond to the IRM's position.
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