Question: How can a devotee know when they are being fanatical? How do we gauge fanaticism within ourselves? Answer by Srila Acharyadeva: When trying to define a word, I usually start with the dictionary, since dictionary writers already worried over these things. So, fanatic = “a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, esp. for an extreme religious or political cause.” The two negative qualities here are “excessive” and “single-minded.” Thus if one falsely claims that one’s viewpoint is the only valid viewpoint, that would be fanatical. Of course there is a positive sense of ’single-minded’ — to be fully focused on one’s duty, for example, and in some situations there may be a single reasonable conclusion to draw. But in other cases there are nuances, facets, and varieties. One requires intelligence to know the difference. With best wishes, Hridayananda das Goswami
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:50:57 +0000