Swamiji and Joe
Her name was Miss Josephile Macleod. Everybody fondly called her “Joe”. She was born and brought up in the lap of luxury and opulence.
A monk of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ISKCON, Amogh Lila Das, has questioned Swami Vivekananda’s divinity by raising a finger at eating fish. The video, like many other videos of Das, has gone viral. The ISKCON took note of the statements made in the video, and taking immediate action against him, has banned him for a month.
Das will now go for atonement (prayaschit) for one month to the Govardhan hills, the ISKCON said.
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“Koi bhi divya purush kisi janwar ko maar ke khayega? (Would a divine person kill an animal and eat it?) Will he eat fish? Fish too feel pain. And if Vivekananda ate fish, then the question is if a divine person can eat fish. A divine human being has kindness in his heart…can he.”
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Drawing analogies, he compared whether brinjal is better than Tulsi just because it satiates hunger. The other example he gave was whether playing football is more important than studying Gita?
“I have the utmost respect for Swami Vivekananda. Had he been here, I would have prostrated in front of him. But we should not believe blindly in everything he says,” Das said in the viral video.
ISKCON said the comments showcased a lack of awareness on the part of the Iskcon speaker on the “diversity of spiritual paths and personal choices”.
“We would like to emphasise that the views expressed by Shri Amogh Lila Das are not representative of the values and teachings of ISKCON… We condemn any form of disrespect or intolerance towards other religious beliefs and practices,” the ISKCON’s statement read.
Forty-three-year-old Amogh Lila Das is at present the vice president of the Dwarka chapter of ISKCON. His original name is Ashish Arora and he hails from Lucknow. He was an engineer before he took up the spiritual path and became a celibate.
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