My Spiritual Master Answers

H.H. Shriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Foreigners in ISKCON

I am very upset because my family members don't like ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness). They say that there are a lot of foreigners in ISKCON and that foreigners don't have the right to know about Indian religion. They say that you have to be an Indian to know Indian religion. I have also noticed that many Indian people also have the same idea. They look at the whole thing from the materialistic point of view. It pains me a lot. Please, Gurudeva, advise me what to do. Your servant, G.N.

Answer: Real Indians Share Their Culture

How poignantly ironic it is that they say that only Indians can know Indian religion when they don't even know the first thing about Indian religion. Not only is this ironic; it is downright shameful. As descendents from the greatest culture in the universe they should be doing their duty of spreading the teachings of Lord Sri Krishna all over the world to relieve the suffering world population from the ever-tightening knot of illusion and confusion. But when others come and do the duty that they are neglecting they criticize them instead of appreciating and assisting them. This is shockingly disgusting misbehavior on their part. Factually, it is the height of material consciousness to say that only Indians have a right to know about Indian religion. Any Indian who thinks like this is completely ignorant about his own scriptures. The very first point of the Vedic wisdom is that we are not these bodies, that we are eternal spiritual beings existing beyond these various bodily designations such as American and Indian. Indian religion sees everyone equally as confirmed by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita wherein He states that the learned man sees everyone equally. The famous deity of the Supreme Lord in Jagannatha Puri is known as Jagannatha, the lord of the entire universe. He is not known as Hindunatha or Indiannatha. Since He is Jagannatha, the Lord of the universe, He is worshipable by all living beings throughout the entire universe. He is not only meant for the Indians as is thought by foolish people who are on the material bodily platform who do not even understand the most basic aspects of Indian religion. You should tell your relatives that ISKCON is the best ambassador of Indian's wonderful spiritual culture and that if they are real Indians they will give up their ridiculous non-Indian mentality and join ISKCON to dive deeply into India's original culture and share this greatest of all treasures with the world. Sankarshan Das Adhikari   My Spiritual Master can be reached at: sda@backtohome.com. You may enrol with Him for a free online course in self-realization through Krishna Bhakti at: www.ultimateselfrealization.com