Deconstruction
Welcome.
One way of defining Krishna consciousness is that it is a life dedicated to shedding illusions. If we are determined to shed illusions, which entails both our private and our social or group illusions, we must learn to discern keenly between truths, half-truths (which are also half-lies), and utter falsities.
This means we cannot take anything at face value. If we are to penetrate the deceptions that coat almost everything that is believed in this world, we are duty bound to go beneath the surface of things. In the global Vaisnava community, we tend to recognize this need to be a critical thinker with respect to the world at large or to mainstream society; but we often neglect the practice of looking behind the appearance of things within our own community.
We cloak this laxness, this neglect, in virtuous language. For example, we say we are "not as critical with devotees" in the name of Vaisnava gentility, or in the name of being lower than a blade of grass, or being more tolerant than a tree, or because of eagerness not to make Vaisnava aparadha, or "I’m not into politics" and so on. Actually, when these rationalizations are put under scrutiny, we find that none of these virtues are our true reasons for our neglect to be more discriminating. Under scrutiny we find out that the real reasons for our laxness are either laziness to sift the data of life or we have been misguided in our understanding of Vaisnavism.
A Vaisnava is one who does not deceive others; but a vital part of that ability is that a Vaisnava is also not deceived. At least a Vaisnava is not easily deceived. If I’m deceived, then I may unwillingly participate in deceiving others, for by seeing my example others may emulate me, and thus may be deceived as well. So while it is important that I not deceive anyone, it is equally important that I not be deceived. And when we accept responsibility for this, then there is no question of neglecting to be uncompromisingly critical (as in analytical) about all data of life. It is a regular daily function, like the act of breathing.
It is in our interest to detect evil, swindle, destructiveness, selfishness and other kinds of personal agendas, not only when they are obvious, but in the various disguises and rationalizations that invariably accompany such motivations.
No doubt this takes a determined effort. In the beginning it can be quite laborious. But with practice it becomes easier. However, many do not want to live life in such an alert fashion. After all, it takes effort, and we often conceive of spiritual life as something that should require only the minimal effort, which is a mistake. To become fully aware, fully awake, demands maximum effort from our side plus the Lord’s grace from his side. Yet we often learn to be comfortable with being half-wake even as we extol the virtues of being fully awake and cite scripture etc.
In addition to a determined effort not to accept things at face value, but to go under the surface, to examine the data of life, we need a particular orientation inwardly that sets us in the right place. Erich Fromm termed this "cynicism", but it is a special type of cynicism. It is one in which one accepts full responsibility to examine everything. One accepts nothing blindly and one rejects nothing blindly either. He called this hard-headed realism. It is interesting to note that as examples of such hard heads, Fromm mentioned several spiritual figures—the Buddha, Jesus, and the biblical prophets. We must add the Six Gosvamis and their true followers to his list of hard heads. They were not "softies".
Prabhupada has endorsed hard-headed realism in teachings. In his Gita commentary when he says, "Nothing should be accepted blindly. Everything should be accepted with care and with caution," he is asking that we become hard-headed realists. A devotee of God is a realist. That’s what it means to shed illusions: one becomes a realist.
So, the idea behind the "deconstruction" feature of this website is to show readers how to go beneath the surface of things, now to become a critical thinker, a hard-headed realist, how to practice independent thinking. Prabhupada wanted his followers to become "independently thoughtful" as much as possible. This entails a capacity for clear, de-fogged thinking. And on this site we want to encourage this by practical examples . . .
The point of these examples is to expose illusions of all sorts, not to denigrate people. Therefore, except in cases where the material we deconstruct is in the public domain, we shall not name the names of the authors or perpetrators. In any event, the aim is not to target persons but to target illusions, which is our duty in parampara.