TEXAS FAITH: What words of religious faith should politicians really hear and heed?

Dallas Morning News,

Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

Dick Thornburgh, former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. attorney general, gave a speech last month entitled “The Role of Faith in Public Service.” In it, he said not only that his religious faith was important to him as a lawyer, governor and cabinet member under two presidents – but also that he tried to keep “a particularly instructive passage of scripture” in mind. It was Micah 6:8, a well-known passage for many Jews and Christians: “Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”

In his speech, Thornburgh explained why he tried to keep that particular passage in mind.

As a prosecutor, Thornburgh said the idea of justice meant making a good-faith effort to combine the toughness necessary to govern with a compassion for people in need. Of kindness, he said: “This admonition encompasses the highest claim upon those of us in public life – that of assisting others.” As for walking humbly, that sometimes means admitting when you’re wrong.

Every faith and spiritual tradition has its verses, phrases, expressions, central ideas. The Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, Tripitaka, myriad religious texts and spiritual beliefs – each has what Thornburg calls a “particularly instructive passage” providing guidance for people in public life.

The Faith Panel took up the question —What single passage from your faith tradition would you recommend to elected officeholders and those who advise them? Their answers were varied, similar, extraordinarily diverse and amazingly consistent.

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

"Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues." Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 3.21

People require leaders who can lead by their practical example. A leader who smokes cannot teach his followers not to smoke. Therefore honest persons do not take the position of leadership without first behaving above moral scrutiny. A leader must not only be an exemplary example but also their leadership should be guided by transcendental wisdom. If the leader does not have a complete understanding of the self he will not be create a peaceful situation. For only the self-realized are peaceful and satisfied.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

Santa in the Bhagavad Gītā

"The devotees of the Supreme Lord, or the persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, are called santas, and they are always in love with the Lord as it is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38): premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. The santas, being always in a compact of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda (the giver of all pleasures), or Mukunda (the giver of liberation), or Kṛṣṇa (the all-attractive person), cannot accept anything without first offering it to the Supreme Person." -  Bhagavad Gītā purport 3.13

TEXAS FAITH 115: Where was God in the ordeal that young Lauren Kavanaugh faced?

Dallas Morning News,

Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

 

Lauren Kavanaugh

Over the last week, the Dallas Morning News has run a series on the story of 20-year old Lauren Kavanaugh. In “The Girl in the Closet”, you will read a devastating, demoralizing account of depravity. (To access these stories, go to the chapters portion on the toolbar.)

The report tells the story of how young Lauren was locked in a closet, deprived of food and sexually abused by her mother and stepfather over several years. It will tell you how she rose above that horror to later be sexually abused again in her teen-age years. Throughout the story, you will learn of the rise and fall and rise of this young girl. You also will hear many an expert say this was as bad a case of victimization as they have seen.

Here, then, is my question:

Where was God in the ordeal young Lauren faced?

Of course, this is an age-old question, but I would like to hear your views.

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

My sister died when she was just two years old when I was a young boy in middle school. She suffered terribly in the hospital for two years and then passed away. For that reason, I also had this same question.

It is like if you were to walk into a grocery store and the cashier twists your arm behind your back and pushed your face hard down onto the table, all under the purview of the manager. If the manager did nothing to stop this mistreatment, naturally you would see this as bad management, neglect, or cruelty. In this same way, Mother Nature can be seen as the cashier and God is her manager.

Omnipotent means that God not only has the power to stop mistreatment but rather everything happens by His own sanction. Omniscience means that God knows all that is happening. And finally omnibenevolence means that God is the most kind and loving. So how does one resolve this great contradiction?

Since God is the most intelligent, shouldn't there be an intelligent answer? If that person who was at the grocery store was there the day before and they were shoplifting, then it would not be seen as cruelty, mismanagement, or neglect of the cashier and manager, if he were to be accosted and  arrested. Similarly, the only answer that gives a logical framework to the suffering of children and the existence of an all loving God, is that everyone bears the burdens of past karmas of previous lives. Otherwise a solid case for neglect and cruelty could be made against the Supreme Lord.

Why karma, what is the benefit of karma? Karma is material actions of the past that come with their concomitant material reactions. When one acts fully in God consciousness there is no karma, no reactionary bondage to their actions. Karma reminds the soul that the material world is not its home.

The true saint feels compassion and pain towards all other's suffering. A saint will teach by example one how to become fully God-conscious and thus destroy the problem of suffering at its root.

 

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

Walking Dead Carrot - Prahladananda Swami

TEXAS FAITH 114: Did JFK have a greater impact on religion than any modern president?

Dallas Morning News,

Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

The nation and certainly the city of Dallas are coming upon the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. There are many parts of his presidency and death that our paper and others are starting to examine, from the legacy of his foreign policy to his imprint on civil rights to his use of television to communicate.

One area that hasn’t gotten much coverage is John F. Kennedy’s impact on religion in America. Often, we read about how Jimmy Carter and then Ronald Reagan awakened evangelicals and changed the face of religion in America, particularly in politics.

But did JFK have a greater effect than perhaps any modern president on religion in America?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

Yes he did, but how so? He was a young, attractive man with an attractive wife and nice children. He had wealth, fame, power, and presidency. He had many people protecting him and his wellbeing. He worked hard to achieve all this but lost it all in just a second.

This predicament affected the lives of many and some that I know began to inquire if life had more to offer than just wealth, fame, power, family, and comforts. Will these temporary things truly fulfill the heart of an eternal being?

Some wise souls began to ask, "Should I be investing in the temporary, am I am actually eternal?" Likewise, they asked, "If the President could lose all that he had worked for throughout his life in a second then what about me?"

For these rare souls his untimely departure was more profound than the works of his life. -Nityananda Chandra Das

 

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.