Have we thrown out the baby with the bath water? The danger of our over-reacting to our constant tirade against materialistic life is that we start to give credit where it is not due. We again become influenced by the pseudo-liberal, secular humanistic ethos that we were brought up in. So-called liberals recognize no absolute black or white, but prefer innumerable poorly defined shades of gray. "I'm OK, you're OK," is their motto. They deplore claims to absolute correctness: "I'm OK, you're not OK." If we become influenced by such apparent niceties we may also start to think that Prabhupada-style condemnation is "too much." We forget that in the fight against maya, attack is the best means of defense. Preferring to be "reasonable" on the mundane platform, we quickly become weak and compromised. Maya is so tricky that unless we are firm in our position against the mudhas, there is every danger of our again becoming mudhas ourselves. Unless our preaching is solid, our conviction will become weak. If we water our message down, we lose our integrity. Not to fight against bogus ideas means to compromise with them. Maybe subtly at first. But from the subtle comes the gross.
And anyway, however much we try to please the public, we will never be able to satisfy them all. There will always be demons who oppose the Krsna consciousness movement. Srila Prabhupada said that nondevotees are all madmen, whose opinions are not to be taken too seriously. Again, we cannot be wholly insensitive to public opinion, for we have to live among, preach to and uplift these mudhas. But Srila Prabhupada warned us not to change ourselves to suit the public, but rather to change public opinion to agree with us.
I am not much fond of the idea of changing things to accommodate the public -- better to change the public to accommodate us. letter, 28th December, 1971
(Non-devotees) are simply wasting their time and misleading their followers. When we point this out very plainly to an audience, members of opposing groups become angry at us. But according to the injunctions of the sastras, we cannot make compromises with these so-called jnanis, yogis, karmis and tapasvis. When they say they are as good as we are, we must say that only we are good and that they are not good. This is not our obstinacy; it is the injunction of the sastras. We must not deviate from the injunctions of the sastras. Adi 17.24 purport
The devotee has been ordered to preach Krsna-upadesa. He cannot avoid or edit such instructions of Krsna. Krsna calls non-devotees fools, rascals and the lowest of mankind. Even though the devotee may not have fully realized the words of Krsna, he has firm faith in them. That in itself is realization. And by explaining Krsna's words to others, the devotee's conviction and realization increases. A devotee who speaks forthrightly becomes surcharged with spiritual energy and conviction. While preaching to others, he also preaches to himself. Thus the mudha within him diminishes. On the other hand, if a devotee does not preach powerfully, he becomes weak.
Don't compromise. This principle must be observed. Then you'll remain strong. As soon as you compromise, then it is finished. 740702rc.mel
- From the "My Memories of Srila Prabhupada" by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami
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