By Krishna Dharma dasa
It was good to see a scholar tackling the uncertain area of morality in Vaishnavism, as did Ms Chatterjee with her essay, 'The Chaitanya School: Role of Ethics'. I found her essay thought provoking and a valuable contribution to what I feel is an area requiring much discussion. Although, as Ms Chatterjee rightly pointed out, Vaishnavism holds that 'spiritual progress is hardly possible without moral endeavour', the first requirement being of course the 'four regulative principles', it is still somewhat hazy, especially amongst ISKCON followers, exactly what our code of ethics should be. Do we follow varnashrama dharma or not? Are Vaishnavas transcendental to all external designations and thus the duties pertaining to them? How much is a Vaishnava serving Krishna to be bound by codes of worldy morality? Of course, one would expect a Vaishnava to display the highest moral character, and indeed Ms Chatterjee's first point was that one who surrenders completely to the Lord will thereby attain similar qualities as those possessed by the Lord. In other words, by virtue of their surrender to God, Vaishnavas should naturally evince all godly qualities. She cites some of the many scriptural verses supporting this point, describing how a genuine sadhu or saintly person will evince superlative standards of morality.