On doubts and its consequences

"Tradition is very important, but tradition itself must be evaluated and must be relevant. We do not just accept a belief because our ancestors have passed it down to us; rather, we should be ready to have our beliefs tested, adjusted, and altered." Bhakti Tirtha Swami

Devotees speak superficially when it comes to doubts. Doubts are seen as negative elements for spiritual progress, which I believe is wrong. To doubt means trying to understand. It is like asking a question. This psychology is explained from the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, when Maharaja Parikshit finds it difficult to understand the reasoning of his master, Sukadeva Goswami. His doubts force him to ask for clarification. In this case, doubts are signs of intelligence.

Part of the Hare Krishna philosophical system is to nail down into your brain the forcefully mantra that no doubts are allowed, be it towards the process, the scriptures or the master. The belief is that we will conquer the world's intellectuals with such an absurd dogma. No wonder if it is not working. 

 Frankly, how can a devotee think by himself in this case? He thinks only the way Krishna wants him to do so. Of course. In logic -and reality-, it means the spiritual master's way. Once you've surrendered, you give your soul to him, to the scriptures, and to God. There is no independent thinking. It is a gregarious culture. All groups have their own guru and codes. When you visit one of them, the ethic obliges you to comply with their moral rules. You don't ask questions or talk about subjects that interfere with their guru's realization. He is the ultimate reference. 

Srimad Bhagavatam says: "Doubt is one of the important functions of intelligence; blind acceptance of something does not give evidence of intelligence. Therefore the word saṁśaya is very important; in order to cultivate intelligence, one should be doubtful in the beginning. But doubting is not very favorable when information is received from the proper source. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that doubting the words of the authority is the cause of destruction." (3.26.30)

Before trusting, you verify. You have to learn how to doubt and question adequately, without being intimidated. "The study to determine whether one’s identity is spiritual or material begins in doubt." Srila Prabhupada wrote. 

They say temples and farms are Vaikuntha, the spiritual world. Doubts never arise in the mind of submisive listeners. They are told it is bad, it's non vaishnava to doubt. Stay humble, Krishna will take care. Every morning they recite a list of offenses, aparadha, devotees should not commit at any cost. It is a great fear that hangs over their heads like a sword of Damocles. Therefore, everyone keeps silent and quells any doubts that come to the mind.

How can there be devotees who dislike or ostracize someone who doubts the words of the guru and ISKCON's organization as a means of getting clarification? If you had to do it all again, now that you are aware of this disastrous experience consisting of sending children to gurukula, would you be more careful and insist that Srila Prabhupada hears your doubts? Or do you think that one’s spiritual master should not be bothered by these questions that would appease your skepticism?

"In his Upadeśāmṛta, writes Bhaktivinod Thakur, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has instructed the practitioners of devotional service to be confident. Until this confidence is achieved, one will remain doubtful. Doubtful persons never have auspiciousness. How then will they have faith in unalloyed devotional service when they are doubtful at heart?" *

In Bhaktivinod's time, sahajyas were all over the place. When someone is sincere, he follows all the rules and regulations, and in good progress he becomes an authority or a guru. There were so many of them. So many sects. Once somebody is attracted to Krishna, he puts his faith in one of the gurus available and soon he achieves confidence. 

Then, his son took birth, Srila Bhaktissidanta. What he sees as practitioners of bhakti horrifies him. He denounces the false spiritualists openly. Fights start between sects. 

AC. Bhaktivedanta Swami, our Prabhupada, was discouraged by his own congregation and moved to America, creating his own movement. Sometimes after, the same pattern of deception and abuse took place. ISKCON is being destroyed by practitioners who had full confidence in the process... being destroyed by those to whom Prabhupada gave sannyasa. The rest of the story, everyone knows, if they allowed themselves to have doubts. Otherwise, their lives are full of auspiciousness, sadly. 

What makes the great and crucial difference between religion and science is the place given to doubt. Religions are wary of it like the plague, but in the scientific field it is a sign of intelligence and insight.

Reading carefully all Srila Prabhupada books.

This text comes from Dialectic Spiritualism, and the chapter is on Rene Descartes. 

Syamasundara dasa: He [Descartes] had an obsession for the need of absolute certainty because he felt that all the conclusions of the philosophers before him were dubious. He believed that every idea must be subjected to doubt until the truth or falsity can be ascertained, just as a mathematical formula can be ascertained. Every idea must be subjected to cross examination.

Srila Prabhupada: But when will these doubts be finished? Your standard of understanding self-evident truths may be different from mine. So what is the standard? He must give some standard.

Syamasundara dasa: When Descartes meditated on the first philosophy, he concluded, cogito ergo sum, "I think; therefore I exist." He felt that everything was subject to doubt with the exception of the act of doubting itself. Since doubting is a part of thinking, the act of thinking is an undeniable experience. Therefore he concluded that because I doubt, I think, and because I think, I exist.

Srila Prabhupada: That is a good argument. If I do not exist, how can I think? But is he condemning doubt or accepting doubt? What is his position?

Syamasundara dasa: He accepts doubt as the only real fact. Because I can doubt that my hand exists, it may be a hallucination, a dream. I can doubt that everything perceived exists because it may all be a dream, but the fact that I am doubting cannot be doubted.

Srila Prabhupada: So what is his conclusion? Should one stop doubting or continue doubting? If I doubt everything, I may come to the truth and then doubt the truth.

Syamasundara dasa: His point is that the truth cannot be doubted, but that to discover the truth, we have to doubt everything. When we come to the truth, the truth will be undoubtable.

Srila Prabhupada: But how do you come to the truth if your business is simply doubting? How will you ever stop doubting?

Syamasundara dasa: Well, I cannot doubt that I am, that I exist. That truth is undoubtable. So he proceeds from there to the fact that since I exist, God exists.

Srila Prabhupada: Then his point is that by doubting, we come to a point where there is no more doubt. That is good. Doubt in the beginning, then the truth as the conclusion. But in any case, that doubt must be resolved. I doubt because I am imperfect and because my knowledge is imperfect. So another question is how we can obtain perfection. As long as we are imperfect, there will be doubt.

Syamasundara dasa: He says that even though I am imperfect, there exists perfect knowledge, or a self-conscious awareness of perfect ideas within myself. Knowledge of the perfect is innate within me, and I can know it through meditation.

Srila Prabhupada: That is also acceptable.

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