RSE perverts the meaning of ancient scriptures

[joe sz]

G2G. Your comments on the 'Gita' in realtion to how RSE behaves shoiws a remarkable insight. The common cults tend to pervert the meaning of the ancient scriptures for their own ends. I recall an ex-Hare Krishna man I know wh was in the group for 10 years and studied the Gita there say that the ISKCON cult tended to use it as a "war manual." What he meant was that one should follow what Krishna teaches to Arjun that he should do his just duty or "dharma", not to worry about the outcome [who dies] because it is all predetermined anyway---iow, the "Lord" will take care of the BIG stuff, you just do your duty.

What my Krishna friend discovered is not that the Gita was wrong but that it should not be an excuse for getting away with anything. His guru, Bhaktivedanta Swami, had a fundamentalist and selfish way of interpreting the Gita. Duty under him therefore was entirely a restricted to HIS way of thought duty, aka Dharma.

I personally see an incredible sophistication and beauty in the Gita philosophy, which when compared to an equally sophisticated view of Christian philosophy reveals many parallels [not identifications] but one has to be careful. There is a deterministic quality in the Gita that can, like I said, cause one to think that one can get away with anything as long as one thinks it is "my truth", "my path" "my dharma." That immature selfishness is not the case in essential Hinduism. Just as Christianity can lapse into off doctrines like predestination under Calvin, so can Hindu sects fall from the grace of the philosophy as with Bhaktivendanta.

Stupid is as stupid does.....to quote an American icon's mom.