Most people dread fanaticism, for our world is scarred by many religious conflicts.
What makes religious practitioners fanatical?
Obsession with the externals of their path without understanding its internals.
The externals of a spiritual path are often customized to best attract its potential practitioners, so the externals are normally context-specific. Beyond such contextual externals is the universal essence: the principle of progressively elevating people from whatever level they are presently at to the zenith of spiritual perfection.
Seekers who focus on this principle of progressive elevation steer clear of the pitfall of fanaticism. The Bhagavad-gita (02.46) commends such focus using a rural metaphor: in a society where different wells are earmarked for different purposes, the flowing river can serve the purpose of all. Similarly, in a spiritual supermarket where different paths are customized for seekers of different natures, those who know the essential principle underlying these paths can harmonize their seeming contradictions. As an example of those who miss the essence, the Gita (02.43) reproaches as non-discerning religious materialists who insist that there is nothing to scripture beyond their understanding of it.
For contemporary bhakti practitioners, the differences in the presentations of bhakti teachers of different generations present an opportunity to focus on the essence. Exalted spiritual teachers of each generation present the eternal message of Krishna’s love according to their specific contexts. Those who try to freeze the bhakti tradition to a form in which it was presented in a past historical context strip the tradition of its relevance, gradually reducing a living tradition to a dead artifact.
The Gita’s emphatic focus on the essence equips discerning practitioners to resist the temptation of fanaticism. With this focus, they can practice and share Krishna’s eternal message in a way that reveals his all-attractiveness intelligibly, appealingly and transformationally.
Explanation of article:
The eternal film of Back to Godhead consists of many frames. To grab one frame trying to capture the entire film is impossible.