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Vrindaban Nothing scheduled today. The

January 30th, 2001

Vrindaban

Nothing scheduled today. The devotees can revisit their favorite places, shop, or spend the day back reading. It’s been a wonderful tour. It will officially end in two days. I am now beginning to hanker for time to myself. I therefore literally plan to not leave my room for at least two weeks after the tour. Today, however, I will visit some old friends in Vrindaban to free myself of any last obligations.

At one place, I unexpectedly meet a former gurukula student and am quite surprised that he has now taken initiation for a local babaji. I am surprised because this young devotee?s father is a very staunch disciple of Srila Prabhupada and?practically from his very birth?this student always loved Srila Prabhupada deeply, like a grandfather. We talk. Interestingly, it seems that his love for Srila Prabhupada, and his tacit rejection of him (by accepting a teacher opposed to the authenticity of our parampara), are not at all a source of conflict for him. I surmise he has conveniently put these two cherished opposing ideals, his new guru and Srila Prabhupada, in two different non-overlapping compartments of his mind so that they do not clash and force him to make choice between them. Somehow Indians seem to have an expertise in doing this, where Westerners tend more toward reductionism. For the Western mind, everything that doesn’t exactly fit together logically leads to agonizing conflicts and difficult “it’s one or the other” choices. We continue our cordial talk. He has left the line of Srila Prabhupada, and that is disturbing, but he no longer takes drugs, says he’s happy, and I see that he is very enthusiastic for practical devotional service. His life is better now so I can’t condemn him.

I’ve also learned the art. He rejects Srila Prabhupada, but he’s doing better in devotional service. I fit them in two separate compartments of mind and I leave it at that.

God is causeless. Logic deals with cause and effect. Therefore the nature of God’s existence is beyond logic. It is therefore helpful sometimes, in some circumstances, to learn the art of acceptance beyond logic.

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