I don't think anyone thinks you are anything but sincere. But we all need to learn, so if someone you respect has criticized you in a way that you find meaningful, then take it to heart and try to make the necessary adjustments.
There are too few raganuga-hearts out there for us to turn anyone away.
Dandavats. All glories to the Vaisnavas,
I feel absolutely horrible now. My post in response to Tarun Krishna’s thread was not meant to be taken all that seriously. When I read TK's post I thought it was a bit much but nothing to really take note of. So I wrote a post that would express that while being lighthearted about the situation and how far it could go. I used various statements from different posts and input them in my note. It was my way of being playful back to TK. I was not offended by his post. It is a tough position because obviously sarcasm doesn’t translate well over a keyboard and now I have made some devotees uncomfortable and that was not my intent.
One thought is that many times we say heavy things or are aggressive with others because we have been molded by the experiences we go through to act a certain way. If someone comes off a bit heavy it is because they have been treated in the past a bit heavily. I am sure that TK did not mean to hurt or disturb anyones feelings. He was probably just having fun and it was taken out of context.
I really appreciate this website and am very thankful Madhava, Jagat and all of the wonderful devotees here that have inspired me.
Aspiring to be a servant of the Vaisnavas,
Rasaraja dasa
QUOTE(Rasaraja dasa @ Nov 21 2003, 10:37 PM)
Dandavats. All glories to the Vaisnavas.
I feel absolutely horrible now. My post in response to Tarun Krishna’s thread was not meant to be taken all that seriously. Originally when I read Tarun Krishna's post I thought it was a bit much and I wanted to express that while keeping it lite hearted and obviously that didn't work out well.
I used various statements from different posts and input them in my note. It was my way of being playful back to Tarun Krishna. I was not offended by his post. It is a tough position because obviously sarcasm doesn’t translate well over a keyboard and now I have made some devotees uncomfortable and that was not my intent.
I am sorry.
Aspiring to be a servant of the Vaisnavas,
Rasaraja das
If it's any comfort, I did recognize your post as an attempt at sarcasm/silliness.
I wonder whether Madhavanandaji might want to consider adding a new Forum section titled "Humor" or "Silliness" or something similar, so people wishing to "vent" or attempt a hasya-rasa moment could have a place to go and be sure they would not be misunderstood. Surely there would still be a need for some decorum there, and deleting the occasional "over the top" post -- but if your post had appeared, word-for-word, in a forum titled "Silliness" it would have been far less likely to be misunderstood or be a source of upset.
We're all learning to get along with very different people here, so it is natural that there will be some misunderstandings. Actually, I think this is one of the greatest benefits of www.raganuga.com. Most of us "grew up" in religious institutions that taught us to "smash the demons" -- to treat people disrespectfully when they disagre with us.
Here, by contrast, we are united by our affinity for Mahaprabhu's life and precepts, not divided by our differences. Part of the lesson we can learn here is that we can genuinely respect, admire and appreciate devotees who disagree with us on some pretty substantial ontological details (e.g. one eternal svarupa or two? Exactly who is Gadadhara Pandit in the eternal lila? Which aspects of Vaishnava sadacara are required of Westerners, and which practices are forbidden to Westerners? And so on...).
As a community of people with divergent views, we also need to develop the habit of not taking offense when others SEEM to be offending or attacking us. As such, Madhavanandaji's intervention was a nice Vaishnava reaction. You didn't mean to offend with your post. Tarun reacted not with offense, but with humility, to your post. It took Madhavanandaji to intervene on behalf of Tarun, who was more interested in rectifiying a perceived mistake than in defending himself. All three of you acted like exemplary Vaishnavas.
That's something to feel good about, even though it came about through a series of misunderstandings.