Just offer respects to them according to their level. If you don't know their level then just remember that Radha Krishna is in their hearts and respect that. In any case, no harm or loss on your part for showing respects.
QUOTE(Govindaram @ Mar 3 2004, 11:11 AM)
Hare Krishna
If you were to offer respects to somebody, and they are not a pure devotee and you yourself think this in your mind, is that an offence? There are many aspiring devotees I see, so how can I offer respects fully, if I am having these thoughts?
Dandavats. All glories to the Vaisnavas.
We do not simply offer respects to "pure devotees' or even just those we deem as being more advanced. One should offer respects to all Vaisnavas regardless of what we perceive to be their level of advancement simply because we cannot truly know their level of advancement. Offering respects doesn't mean that we accept every word they speak or action they partake without question. We offer respects as it is both rare and glorious that one aspires to serve Sri Radhika and Sri Guru. It is also through the well wishes and grace of the Vaisnavas and Sri Guru that Sri Radhika takes notice of us. Irregardless of how advanced an aspiring Vaisnava is we will never suffer due to our ability to respect them.
We do not need to confuse respect with authority. They are two very different things.
Aspiring to be a servant of the Vaisnavas,
Rasaraja dasa
QUOTE(Rasaraja dasa @ Mar 3 2004, 07:39 PM)
We offer respects as it is both rare and glorious that one aspires to serve Sri Radhika and Sri Guru.
Thankyou, that is very nice.
jai sri gaurachander
QUOTE
We do not need to confuse respect with authority. They are two very different things.
Jai Nitai everyone.
I think it is worthwhile to practice giving respect to everyone and everything. Everything is a creation of God and everyone is a vaishnava, Vishnu sitting in their hearts, and in every atom. Even though I cannot do it on a continuous level with human beings, there is a lot of inspiration and sanga from such approach, sanga especially from the less conscious forms of being, trees, mountains and so. Respect, inner submission to others, not externally expressed, leads to an inability to do anything to them that is incongruent with that understanding. (I certainly could not sell people a Hongkong painting or do any other form of cheating.) The feeling, that I am really nothing in respect to a devotee that I meet, leads to an acceptance and withholding of possible judgements. My experience with the Internet however is that this is more difficult, because here there is this immediate mental stimulation aspect and an immediate mental response to an information.
What is also beneficial is giving respect to formed matter in the form of machines, a PC, car, a spoon, a plate since I receive their service and am dependent on them. Greeting them makes one feel blessed.
The experience in the Holy Dham, when walking on the sacred ground, is a little troubled thru the constant aspect of being defined as a foreigner and a dollar-wielder and having to shield oneself off from intrusion. But it is easier there to give respect to everyone and everything because it is definitely part of their culture. What I like here in my home-country, is to greet everyone I meet (on the road without addressing them), this is a common habit here, and it helps to giving that respect consciously. What I notice is how my being is touched when someone greets me without my having noticed them or when I was distracted, especially when children on the road greet me.
There is a special level of this when considering all the molecules and atoms that make up one's own body. Giving repect to them, and all the beings living in this micro-cosmos... actually one does practice this respect-giving when one feeds them with prasad. This is like a whole grand prasad-distribution program... There are more independent living entities just living in our intestines (the intestinal flora) than there are cells in our bodies! Naturally I don't want to respect my body and every other being too much in the form of constant attention, but in the form of acknowledging, just as people in India do when they offer prayers to the Ganga, to the Sun, to all living beings etc.
Certainly giving respect to a vaishnava, let alone one's guardians, and other highly realized ones in the Dham and on the net is an intensified form of all this.
Personally I do not see a problem in accepting everyone as authority over me. It does not override my own understanding of things or my own spiritual connections. Actually everyone I meet is an authority over me, since they face me in a way I never can, as part of their encounter. They read my facial expression, my physical presence, my non-verbal communication. They can tell me alot about myself. They could author a book about me. They have authority over all kinds of behaviour toward me. Due to their graciousness they are kind to me and let me live my own life. That is a present, a divine grace acting in their deeds. Not every being does that with its encounters. Seeing that as a grace requires a special endeavour.
Life is a mystery. Let us bow to life.
Jai Nitai.