His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami
(September 1, 1896–November 14, 1977)
A Note of Accusation From a "long time friend"
I just received an anonymous snail-mail note today that I thought worth commenting on. It was sent to my previous PO box and just arrived in my new box today. As there is no name and no return address I can't reply via snail mail. Assuming the author regularly reads my blog, I'd like to encourage you to contact me direct so we can discuss this. In the event that the views expressed in the note are shared by others, it seems worthwhile bringing this issue up as well.
The unedited note:
John...you are very disrespectful of Srila
Prabhupada...it is obvious that you went
astray as your arrogance and huge ego come
through in everything you write. Please stop
trying to do so much damage on behalf of
your self-serving interests.
From a long time friend of yours
The postmark says San Jose Ca. and is dated June 7, 2007.
First, I invite anyone who agrees with this "long time friend" of mine to show a single example of my ever disrespecting our Diksa Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada!
In my opinion our Srila Prabhupada was one of the most spiritually potent religious leaders to appear during this age of kali Yuga! I offer my unworthy dandavats to him a billion times over!For those unfamiliar with Srila Prabhupada:
His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami is known around the world as Srila Prabhupada, a title of endearment bestowed on him by his early disciples. Srila Prabhupada brought the Hindu sect of Bhakti Yoga known as Gaudiya (ie Bengali) Vaisnavism to the western world. Vaisnavism is one of the major branches of Hinduism. Srila Prabhupada established an international religious society known as ISKCON, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, better known perhaps as the Hare Krishna Movement although this sect is but one of many branches of the Sanatana Dharma (greater Hinduism) to worship Sri Krsna.
I was fortunate to receive first initiation from Srila Prabhupada as I recount in my autobiographical section. Our beloved Guru Maharaja left his body (died) on November 14, 1977 before I was able to request second initiation. I received second initiation by the mercy of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja, acarya and spiritual master of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math and appointed successor to Srila Prabhupada's most senior godbrother, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaja.
Prior to Srila Prabhupada's passing he issued clear instructions about how his Movement was to continue after his departure. He also stated very clearly what was not to happen.
What was NOT to happen was ISKCON employing the same structuring system unsuccessfully tried by the Gaudiya Matha following Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's passing (our Srila Prabhupada's guru's organization). That system lead to the collapse of the Gaudiya Matha into rival factions and Srila Prabhupada felt that this system of many diksa (initiating) gurus weakened the Movement's ability to advance the cause of Lord Caintanya's prophesied Golden Age. Despite Prabhupada's clear rejection of this system, this is precisely the structure used by ISKCON today! Srila Prabhupada specifically rejected this system!
Our Srila Prabhupada wanted the Movement to remain one organization under a single acarya. This was his clear instruction to his followers and the ISKCON GBC (Governing Body Committee)
If I am at times harsh it is of this violation of Bhaktivedanta Swami's clear instructions in this matter.
What Srila Prabhupada instructed the implementation of a temporary structure known as the rikvik system.
Srila Prabhupada made it very clear that NONE of his disciples were qualified to lead ISKCON as a diksa guru. NONE of us. History has more than vindicated his opinion! The most senior of his disciples had only been initiated for about 10 years at that time, most not nearly even that long. This was not nearly long enough for any of them develop the skills needed to lead an international spiritual order, let alone to become an uttama adikari (Prabhupada said only such a fully realized master was qualified to lead ISKCON). Srila Prabhupada was a very practical man. Realizing none of us were ready, he instructed the GBC to handle the organizational affairs, as they had been doing for years, and that eleven of his key disciples would continue to do the initiations and teachings ACCORDING to his books, as they had been doing for years. In other words, the same system was to continue. The Eleven, continuing their roles as ritvik gurus, would initiate Srila Prabhupada's disciples in his physical absence. This is why he so often stressed that the Guru never dies and that he would continue to live and teach through his books. Following his departure (a true guru never "dies") these ritvik gurus, these representatives of the Diksa (initiating) Guru (ie Srila Prabhupada) would then be responsible for the decision of who to initiate and when. New disciples would STILL be initiated as disciples of Srila Prabhupada, just as before. Only Srila Prabhupada's physical presence on the earth was changed and most of his disciples never even saw him in the flesh anyway; Srila Prabhupada lived in his books (mainly translations and commentaries of the scriptures).
As I say, this plan was to be temporary. Never had the Gaudiya Vaisnavas used this ritvik system and Srila Prabhupada wanted it used as an interim system only. Unlike Christianity that teaches that Jesus is the eternal initiating guru (although of course not in those words), Gaudiya Vaisnavas have always believed a living physically present guru is best. Srila Prabhupada foresaw that at some point in the future the GBC and the majority of devotees would see in one of the eleven ritvik gurus (or perhaps someone else) the necessary qualities of an uttama adhikari and sole ISKCON acarya. AT THAT TIME the GBC (and it was assumed the rank and file devotees) would accept this person as the new ISKCON guru/acarya. As before, ISKCON would be a unified Religious Movement, managed by the GBC, under the parampara (disciplic succession) of a single fully authorized acarya. This was his system but ISKCON's GBC rejected his orders.
Until such a fully qualified guru appeared, Srila Prabhupada instructed that ISKCON could ask his Gaudiya Matha godbrothers for advise if needed, however his disciples were to remain within ISKCON and abide by his instructions as found in his books (ie not join the other mathas).
Those who argue that Vaisnavism never used the ritvik system (other Hindu groups have and do) and therefore can't miss the point. It was to be temporary, AND more importantly, Srila Prabhupada (both Bhaktivedanta and Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada) did MANY things that Vaisnavas had never done before... including in initiation! Very few of Srila Prabhupada's disciples were personally initiated by him.... that was all but unheard of!
This ritvik system was to be a temporary exception to the norm intended to make sure the devotees were properly lead and ISKCON continued to grow under authorized spiritual guidance.
However even before Srila Prabhupada left his body the Eleven ritvik gurus fell from their noble positions and began fighting one other for power.
After Srila Prabhupada's departure, almost immediately after, these men forged a VERY badly spliced tape supposedly by Prabhupada appointing the Eleven as 'zonal acaryas'. These unworthy disciples divided the world between them and ran their areas as minor fiefdoms. Some, like Hansadutta and Ramasvar, waged literal turf battles! Some went literally insane, some were revealed as chronic, malicious pedophiles, murderers, drug and prostitution runners, confidence men and were jailed and fined... on and on the list goes. Last I heard ISKCON is still paying off millions of dollars in legal fines and fees over these abuses.
Perhaps it will be assumed that I am exaggerating here, I am not. There was for a time a most excellent website that listed many of the offenses carried out by the Eleven. That website is now gone for some reason but an off-line friend who claims to have been associated with it sent me the following synopsis. Some of the following links work, some do not. When I have the time I'll try and clean this up more. It is posted here as I received it. The wording and certain of the, in my opinion, prejudices contained within this piece bothers me, however for those who want to understand what happened to the International Society for Krsna Consciousness the information is worth having in my opinion:
Much of what follows I can personally attest is accurate:
Was Srila Prabhupada correct that none of these men were ready to be the spiritual master of ISKCON? I think that's fair to say, yes! And yet the GBC backed them until the court cases started to threaten ISKCON's very survival:
John...you are very disrespectful of Srila Prabhupada...it is obvious that you went astray as your arrogance and huge ego come through in everything you write. Please stop trying to do so much damage on behalf of your self-serving interests.
Who is disrespecting Srila Prabhupada here? Those of us who point out the truth of this betrayal or those who would cover it up?
While there were already wrongs afoot before Srila Prabhupada left his body, after these men conspired to take over Prabhupada's Movement and disobey his direct instructions, many of them literally went mad. This madness is known as Vaishnava aparadha. I have committed this sin.
This disobedience and dishonoring of the Guru Maharaja got so bad that there are even accusations that Srila Prabhupada was murdered by these men! Personally, I'm not convinced he was murdered (nor that he wasn't), but it would answer certain nagging questions! For more on this allegation click here. Those devotees who believe this certainly do make a strong case for their views!
A friend of mine, Solocana dasa, who tried to point out these abuses was murdered for speaking out. His story is the subject of the book Monkey on a Stick (click here).
You can read Solocana's book, The Guru Business on-line for free HERE
Due to these countless abuses the vast majority of Srila Prabhupada's disciples left ISKCON. Some went to other Gaudiya Math groups, many joined other branches of Hinduism, many adopted Buddhism or other religions, while most merely merged back into the dominant culture. In my case, the eclectic nature of my beliefs lead me to many diverse places, including the Gopinath Gaudiya Math.
My interest in spirituality and religion was even more enlivened by my ISKCON experiences and I expanded my spiritual experiences outward into many different Hindu forms. I was initiated by various yogis such as Swami Brahmananda (Dr, Mishra), Swami Muktananda, Sri Ramana Rai and others. I also received second initiation from His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja as mentioned above. I went into many non-Hindu religions as well. Despite this, part of me was jaded by what happened with ISKCON. Since that time I am more skeptical of those claiming spiritual authority, but perhaps this is a good thing.
Just to be clear, my beliefs and practices remain very eclectic, or what I call "AllFaith Spirituality" and should NOT be taken as those of Srila Bodhayan Maharaja or the Gopinath Gaudiya Matha or any other group. My beliefs and teachings are my own, inspired from many sources. Nonetheless, I do have tremendous respect for Srila Bodhayan Maharaja and were I to devote myself to Gaudiya Vaisnavism again it would absolutely be through his matha.
Srila Narayana Maharaja probably has more of Srila Prabhupada's disciples than ISKCON does today.
To my knowledge, the ISKCON GBC has never apologized, explained or even admitted any their many abuses (out of court) and yet because of them Srila Prabhupada's Movement was severely harmed and the faith of countless thousands of devotees was crushed or wounded.
Of course just to be clear there are ALSO MANY solid and righteous devotees within ISKCON today and I offer them my sincere dandavats (bows of respect). There are also several diksa and siksa gurus within ISKCON who are becoming true masters, some few of them may even have attained enlightenment by now, I don't know. I acknowledge this, even as I wish they would come clean about the past and the unauthorized system of organization ISKCON continues to employ to this day. ISKCON needs to do a major and public historical confession before its too late to matter. Until they do, their hands will remain soiled by Vaishnava aparadha in my humble opinion.
Because I was there (and often on the 'fringes') during much of the abuses that took place within ISKCON and do not shy away from sharing what I saw and know of them, I do have certain ISKCON devotees who do not like me. I can understand this, the truth hurts. Most of Srila Prabhupada's disciples have given up on ISKCON. Frankly, this includes me.
HOWEVER it is NOT accurate to accuse me of Vaishnava aparadha with regards to Srila Prabhupada! It is the GBC and the gurus of ISKCON who dishonor him by not following his clear demands and by attempting to hide ISKCON's true history of Guru betrayal.
To show the type of person our Guru Maharaja was, there is a story I've heard often enough from diverse devotees to believe it true:
Srila Prabhupada, a very deeply honored and elderly teacher in poor health had been driven to Chicago's O'Hare airport to fly out to his next engagement. It was late and night, there was little traffic and it was snowing and raining hard with sever winds. The devotee driver pulled the car into a red zone before the airport entrance for Srila Prabhupada to get out. Another devotee hurried around to open his door and assist him. As the car door opened Srila Prabhupada looked down at the curb and saw that they were in a red zone. He stayed in the car and demanded the driver find a legal space to park! When the devotee tried to explain that it was OK to stop for a just a moment under such conditions, it is said that Srila Prabhupada replied, "If we will not obey man's law how shall we obey God's?"
ISKCON failed to obey God's law by directly and intentionally disregarding Guru Maharaja's instructions and from there proceeded to violate man's laws as well in countless cases. Srila Prabhupada refused to accept this course of action, ISKCON should do the same.
As for the second point in the note, that 'my huge ego comes through in everything I write,' my readers must decide that for themselves. False modesty can be just as egotistic as an inflated ego. I speak the truth as I see it in honesty and frankness. I do have certain beliefs that I have developed over the years, conclusions I have drawn, however I don't consider myself arrogant... perhaps that is true arrogance...
And for the final point, that I have some self-serving interests, you will need to explain to me what those are. I have nothing to sell or gain from anything I do on line. I am pushing forward no set agenda or movement. My point in everything I do teaching-wise is as follows:
For More on the Controversy on the Possible Murder of Srila Prabhupada THINK FOR YOURSELF
As always, I am ready to discuss this issue. You can contact me.
The Glorious Lord Sri Krsna and Srimati Radharani
Ki JAI!
Om
Jai Jagannatha!Sri Jagannatha.com Home Page Bhagavad Gita translated by Jagannatha Prakasa Gitabhasya of Jagannatha Prakasa
