A question for ALL HINDUS- Is it important to be an ISKCON follower to become a devotee? I may or may not be?

Question

a devotee but i am a servant of my God and Guru. My Guruji is true and one of the greatest of gurus like Krishna himself but certain people have advised me that I cant become a devotee unless I dont read the scriptures of ISKCON and follow only thier gurus and learn what they preach. I want to become a complete devotee but they say that a complete devotee is only a Vaishnava and not a Shaiva along with it. But my Guruji didnt teach me this. He said that I should worship all forms of God whether Krishna, Sain , Shakti or Shiva.
What is your view?

O.K. PRAHLAD YOU REFUSE TO BELIEVE A TRUTH THEN WHY DONT YOU ASK YOUR FRIENDS ON YAHOO. SINCE CHILDHOOD I HAVE BEEN READING SRILA PRABHUPADA'S BOOKS AND HAVE ALWAYS HELD HIM AND THE DEVOTEES IN GREAT ESTEEM.
PLEASE TRY TO FIND OUT WHO SAID THAT AND DONT ACCUSE ME BECAUSE I AM AN HONEST PERSON

YOU WANT AN EVIDENCE GO AHEAD AND CHECK MY ANSWERED QUESTION YOU WILL KNOW WHO DID IT

YOUR PEOPLE ACTUALLY HAVE DONE A PUBLIC OFFENCE AGAINST ALL HINDUS. WHY DONT YOU QUESTION OR REBUKE THEM INSTEAD OF SOMEONE WHO IS TELLING A FACT

AGHOR I KNOW THAT SRILAPRABHUPADA NEVER SAID THAT. HE WAS A GREAT SAINT. I HAVE LEARNT A LOT OF THINGS FROM HIS WORDS TOO. BUT HERE I AM TALKING ABOUT "CERTAIN" PEOPLE WHO ARE SPREADING FALSE NOTIONS IN YAHOO NOT ONLY ABOUT GOD,SAINTS AND GURUS BUT ALSO ISKCON ITSELF. THEY ARE THE REAL ENEMIES NOT ME

NARKESHU MY QUESTION DOESNT RAISE A FINGER AT ISKCON BUT THE FANATICISM THAT IS BEING PROPOGATED BY SOME OF ITS MEMBERS. MIND YOU "SOME" AND NOT ALL

Answer 1

Your Guriji is a light and you need to search God with his help. Siva and Krishna are all forms of Nirguna Brahman. Why do you want to hear to those people who are not your Guru? The philosophy of Sankaracharya and Madhavacharya were different but were equally good at taking us near to God. There should be no mutual ill-feelings between Shivites and Vishnavites.

Tamil proverb:
Harium haranum onnu adhu theriyathavar vayil mannu

~meaning: Hari and Haran(Lord Shiva) are same. Those who dont know that have soil in their mouth.

Answer 2

It is not important to be an ISKCON follower...that is just another path for some (Vaishnava).

If you are devoted to God and Guru, you are by definition a devotee. If you completely surrender to them, that is a complete devotee.

Your guru is right, worship all forms of God - whether Krishna, Sain, Shati, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, etc, etc. Ultimately, there is only one God...we just name the various masks God wears.

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 3

There are many roads that lead to Rome, and many ways to skin a cat. No matter which system you learn, the components of the systems are the same.
My view is that your Guruji has hit the nail on the head.
No matter what you call God, he is the same personality.

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada promotes all seekers of the truth to find a bono fide spritual master (s) to help you in your path. However, he never suggests that Vaisnavism is the only path to the truth.

It is better to start learning one system in order to form a foundation (as every house requires foundations). Once the foundations are built, one can build the house using many different materials. In fact, a house made of many materials is a more comfortable house. It does not matter which foundation you choose.

Answer 4

Srila prubhupada or chaitanya mahaprabhu have never said such words anywhere . They only talked about dasya bhakti towards krishna . May be the present organisers have newly added these to join more people to the organisation. So that they will get more marketing exicutives to sell their insence,calenders,books and collect more funds to build concrete tempeles. Forms of god wether it is krishna or shiva is just for our mind to idolise . The truth lies in purifing ourselves by unconditional love for every being.Whenever there will be money in religion the religion will be spurious.Religion is not a business enterprise.

Answer 5

I have lot of respect for iskcon,but i disagree here if someone said that.

This is against the basic principles of hinduism, which respects all faiths and believes that all faiths are pointing towards truth as all rivers are rushing to the ocean

I am sure some wise iskcon member will clarify

Answer 6

Unless we ourselves know Krishn we can not do propaganda for Him. And we have to know Him through a ' shrotriya brahmnishtha' Mahapurush.

Shrotriya means one who is theroretically adept in the knowledge of all Vedas and Shaastras and upnishads. He should be able to quote from any scripture in the world. And with abounding knowledge to explain. And ability to do the reconcilliation between all that is practiced in this world. He should just be ' superb', that's all.

Brahmnishtha means a Mahapurush who has come personally face to face with Krishn. He is permanently in divine ecstacy, yet looking to be a normal person like you and me. He doesn't act ecstacy, but only some times despite His efforts to be inconspicuous, the overwhelming emotions get the better of Him and those who are worthy can see Him in that divine ecstacy.

Are we looking for that Mahapurush or something else?

Answer 7

I believe that we should worship all forms of God, because this broadens our understanding of the vastness of God, and helps us know more about who He/She is in fullness. It is natural and good to choose one form that you especially can feel devoted and close to, but this does not mean you have to deny the other forms, in my opinion.

In my temple, we pray to Venkateshwara and say:
"Vinaa Venkatesham na natho na naathah
Sadaa Venkatesham smaraami smaraami
Hare Venkatesha prasiddha prasiddha
Priyam Venkatesha prayachchha prayachchha"

"There is no Lord for me other than Venkatesha
I think of Venkatesha all the time
May Venkatesha be happy with my prayers
May Venkatesha be pleased to bless me forever."

So we say there is no Lord for me other than Venkatesha. But this does not stop us from praying to Ganesha, Shiva, and Shakti. This is because God is God, in all the forms. The same Lord of whom there is no other in Venkatesha, is also the same Lord of whom there is no other in Krishna, Ganesha, Shiva, Sain, and Shakti.

I am not very familiar with all of ISKCON's teachings. Perhaps it is just their chosen path to concentrate all their prayers, thoughts, and devotion on only their particular gurus and Krishna. This is fine, because they will reach God-realization by this means. But I don't think that it is necessary to follow only theirs, unless that is your chosen path. I don't see why you can't be a complete devotee and listen to your Guru and worship all the forms.

Answer 8

"If our worship of Lord Shiva is only limited to the idol of Shiva then that worship is only in the begining stage. But if the worship of Shiva is done even by looking and feeling him from anything and everything then that worship is advanced."
Swami Vivekanadha
"First get realization of God, then he will reveal us his world"
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

If we are devotee of God. Then jus seek him from and through all ways. We are ready to accept All is One but many time fail to recogonise One is All.
Hope u got the spark.

Answer 9

following two Statements by aradhana

1. """"I cant become a devotee unless I dont read the scriptures of ISKCON and follow only thier gurus and learn what they preach"""""

2, """"but they say that a complete devotee is only a Vaishnava and not a Shaiva along with it. """""
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i don't believe that any ISKCON member can pass such a cheap statements to anybody, not even a newly joined ISKCON member.

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your question only represent your enviousness toward ISKCON.
you are doing a public offence to the people connected with ISKCON.

i would suggest you to follow your guruji without putting others down.

Answer 10

Yes even I was said this many of times.
They even said me for enlightenment or spirituality there are four schools, i even dont remember them.
So I thought not to fight and reduced to go there.
Yes I bought total Bhagawatam, and many other books from them.

ISKCONers Don't feel bad but this is what i experienced.