By Kesava Krsna dasa
There exists an enormous market in the genre of gossip and rumour, which explains the great popularity of TV soap operas the world over. Repetitive themes of spiritual scandal, heresy, and deviation make for indulgent absorption, especially for one experiencing a dreary devotional continuation. Such curious excitement about the who’s who in spiritual circles issuing from suspect forums can be the stuff that kills the cat of the devotional creeper without even knowing it. Exercising the right for free speech and discrimination and disguising all manner of invectives and negativity with polished philosophy and zealous concern, these expressions are intended to destroy tender faith, and help harden the heart to repeat the abusive cycle of fault-finding in others. Faultfinders are fond of using various tactics to impose their superiority in argument, but when pitted against proper adherence to vaisnava culture these same tactics become their downfall. The use of certain types of logic though appealing to many, in fact lay bare the inner workings of a distressed condition, much like seeing an ugly tortoise without it’s shell.