Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

CHAPTER ONE

THEY WILL JUST BE SHOWBOTTLE

PURITY IS THE REAL FORCE

"Now I want that we shall concentrate on making our devotees Krsna conscious and ourselves becoming Krsna conscious, and not be so much concerned with expanding ourselves widely but without any spiritual content. just like boiling the milk, it becomes thicker and sweeter. Now do like that, boil the milk." (Rupanuga, 5/9/72)

"You mention you like to speak now very often, but the first business should be to preach to the devotees. It is better to maintain a devotee than to try to convince others to become devotees. Don't be too much concerned for the time being with non-devotees, now we must fix up what devotees we have got in the knowledge of Krsna consciousness, then we will succeed. What good are many, many devotees if none of them are knowledgeable?" (Satsvarupa, 6/16/72)

"I have divided these departments to solve problems, but if in the end they are all sent to me and I have to tackle, then just imagine what is my position. The best thing would be to stop all activities and simply chant Hare Krishna." (Brahmananda, 5/15/69)

Note: Here Srila Prabhupada is saying to stop everything and simply chant to become purified. The problems Srila Prabhupada was referring to here are not as significant as the problems which ISKCON is facing today. The leaders, however, still refuse to follow this instruction.

"I am glad to hear that you are now concentrating on improving the regulative life of the temple rather than so much advertising with brochures. This is very nice; this is what I want. A good example is better than precept. The pamphlet is precept, but if we don't follow the precepts ourselves then such advertisement is not good." (Mukunda, 2/7/74)

Note: You may ask: "How can distributing transcendental literature not be good?" Obviously, if someone reads a book, and, coming to the temple, sees hypocrites, who do not understand or follow the philosophy they are distributing, then the book distribution becomes counterproductive. If the newcomer is really intelligent, he may read the book and be able follow the instructions on his own. Generally, however, people will simply be repulsed by the hypocrisy. They will then often neglect the book or sometimes even throw it away. Why should Krsna send any sincere souls to ISKCON when ISKCON is not ready for them? So, as Prabhupada says above, if we cannot properly represent the truth, then better to stop all preaching and first become the proper example.

"We are not concerned with any other movement save and except Krsna consciousness in its pure form. In India it is said that a little bit of a pure thing is much better than huge volumes of impure, adulterated things. So please try to follow this policy..." (Brahmananda, 8/27/69)

Note: This is called simple living and high thinking. In many temples we see so much money coming in and so much opulence-especially the "gurus" quarters-but no real education system. Even the "gurus" themselves are unable to defend their claim of being bona fide gurus. They have yet to honestly defend their claim in any formal document compiled from Srila Prabhupada's teachings.

"It doesn't matter if things are going a little slow, but make everything slow but sure. That is a good principle. To do things hastily and incorrectly is not good. There is a proverb in Bengali; 'sabure mawaphale.' This means that all valuable nuts like almonds, macadamias, walnuts, coconuts, etc. all take a long time to fructify. Anything valuable takes a little time to come into existence. Therefore there is no harm in waiting for the best thing. But everything is well that ends well. That should be the principle." (Shyamasundar, 7/15/69)

Note: This statement "there is no harm in waiting for the best thing," is very important to new devotees. There is no rush to take initiation. Best is to study Srila Prabhupada's books and chant sincerely for some years and, only then, in knowledge, accept a bona fide guru. One must have faith in Krsna to send the guru. If we can become sincere, Krsna will send us a bona fide guru. This is the real process of getting a guru. First we must become sincere. Then we should know how to recognize a pure devotee. Otherwise, so many men will lure us to serve them and then cheat us as stated below.

"We will establish hundreds of temples, and they will all be very opulent. But if we do not follow the instruction of the Spiritual Master, they will just be showbottle. Do you know what showbottle means? It means colored water in a bottle which looks just like medicine, but which does not work." (Room conversation, NY, July, 1970)

"Now people are seeing how genuine our movement is, they are coming forward to offer us so many places. We simply have to maintain our strict principles, keeping ourselves pure. Otherwise, there are so many bogus institutions doing business in the name of God and simply cheating the people. We have to be careful not to degenerate like these others. Our strength depends upon regular chanting the required 16 rounds and rigidly adhering to the regulative principles. (Jashomatinandan, 1/9/76)

Note: Srila Prabhupada also defines bogus institutions as "Making a show of the Deity to cheat an innocent public." So, if the Deity doesn't make an institution transcendental, then what does? The purity of the followers and specifically the leader is the answer. ISKCON is bona fide because of Srila Prabhupada, not because of the "GBC." There are so many stories about all the "gurus" which point to the fact that the purity isn't there. Many such stories will be exposed in this book. Then, if necessary, we will continue to make the truth known until all of these new "vyasasanas" are removed from Srila Prabhupada's temples.

"However, don't create any awkward situation that may be criticized. Caesar's wife must be above criticism. Up to now as I have got respectable situation, I wish that all my disciples will have similar respectable position in society. That will keep my name good. Like father like son." (Caityaguru, 7/11/76)

Note: Prabhupada is concerned to keep his name good because he wants his books to be read for all time. However, there are a group of men today who have none of Prabhupada's divine qualifications but who are posing as saints all the same. This is the problem. By impersonating Prabhupada and doing all nonsense, these men are spoiling Prabhupada's good name. The innocent class of non-devotees will naturally think, "like father, like son." In this letter Srila Prabhupada clearly indicates the possibility that his initiates may misuse their opportunity and drag his name into their mud.

"Recently I have received from one Sannyasi complaint about another Sannyasi who is not chanting regularly. So our view is that we shall be strictly following the rules and regulations. Monetary matters are secondary. On principle, we should better starve than neglect our rules and regulations. We are trying to present an ideal society to the world, so although we are very rigidly following these principles, still, we are very liberal to everyone. For this reason we are being appreciated everywhere. So anyway, I am not at all dissatisfied with you, but it is my duty to point out the mistakes. You are in charge of the Germany organization. Please do it nicely there, not very much on the material side, more on the spiritual side. Example is better than precept. Everyone of you must be the perfect examples, then everyone will follow." (Hamsadutta, 4/11/71)

"Simply become more concerned with increasing the spiritual content of our lives, and in this way all other problems like management will be easily solved, not that they can be solved by making some legal formula and having big, big meeting and talks. The politicians have been holding such meetings and talks for some time now and the world is no better place for it, and they have only made things worse. We should not follow their example. The world is in a very precarious condition simply for lack of God consciousness, so this should be our point of stressing, that we should revive this emphasis on God consciousness everywhere in the world and that will be our contribution." (Jagadish, 5/2/72)

Note: If ISKCON cannot even clean its own house, then what is the possibility of its cleaning the world house thereby preventing these nuclear bombs from dropping? Still, every year, ISKCON has more and more big, big meetings with absolutely nothing sound accomplished. This year, 1985, some devotees were appointed to investigate the guru-issue and make a paper on it to be completed by next Mayapur. That was their initiative for this year. Last year, ISKCON spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a science magazine. ISKCON can't even set an example for sudras as to how to live in peace and harmony with Krsna in the center, but they can spend huge sums trying to preach to the intellectuals. This is the height of folly.

In other words, there isn't even the slightest trace of ordinary good manners evident in the behavior of most ISKCON "gurus," but they went to preach to the scientists. That magazine was a waste of time and money. As Prabhupada says below, some people may be attracted by shows such as this magazine, but that will not be a true attraction to spiritual life.

"So far the Road Show and the Yoga Village are concerned, these things should be stopped. Simply perform our kirtan. If we divert our attention in this way, the whole thing will gradually deteriorate. He is going far away. All these things are nonsense inventions. Such inventing spirit will ruin our this movement. People may come to see, some will become devotees, but such devotees will not stay because they are attracted by some show and not by the real thing or spiritual life according to the standard of Lord Caitanya. Our standard is to have Kirtan, start temples. What is this 'Road Show' and 'Yoga Village?' It will be another hippie edition. Gradually the Krsna consciousness idea will evaporate: another change, another change, every day another change. Stop all this. Simply have kirtan, nothing else. Don't manufacture ideas." (Sudama, 11/5/72)

"I know you are a musician, and naturally you have got a tendency for musical entertainment, but at the present moment our main business is to push the Sankirtan movement. So, as you are doing, take the Sankirtan Party to various places, and this will be the most appreciated. If you adulterate our Sankirtan movement with some business motive, then it will be spoiled immediately. Be careful in that way." (Mukunda, 7/1/69)

"I am pleased to note that there is interest in having our Sankirtan. Party perform in various public engagements. The same thing is going on here, and they have been invited to such places as Amsterdam and Germany. So if you can also do this, it is nice. But do not change our principles. Practicing is already done by kirtan. It is not required for us to become artists. Our main point is service to Krishna, not to please an audience. We shall not divert our attention too much to adjustment of musical sounds. People should not misunderstand that we are a band of musical artists. They must know that we are devotees of Krishna. Our devotional practice and purity should be so strong that wherever we chant there shall be immediately an impression in the audience for devotion to Krishna." (Tamala, 10/30/69)

"With regard to your question about Bengali style kirtan and mrdanga playing, one or two styles is best. To introduce more styles is not good. It will become an encumbrance. Who is that Krsna dasa Babaji who is teaching? If we introduce so much emphasis on style of kirtan, then simply imitation will go on. Devotional emotion is the main thing. If we give stress to instrument & style then attention will be diverted to the style. That will be spiritual loss. I hope this meets you in good health." (Satsvarupa, 6/30/76)

Note: It was because Prabhupada was tired of repeating himself so often on this point that he told the devotees to make some program to circulate his letters. Still, it appears that Ramesvara never understood this instruction above. Has he read these letters? In LA, they try to impress the Sunday guests with amplified stage performances. Many temples now support rock style bands. The LA Rathayatra in 1985 had two staged rock kirtan performances going on simultaneously with a handful of crazy hippies doing aerobics in the front. It was very embarrassing to see the Holy Name prostituted in this way. Because of the offensive atmosphere in ISKCON now, very few devotees are inspired to chant and dance. So, naturally, emphasis is increasing on the performance-type kirtan, the showbottle, which Prabhupada absolutely condemns.

"I am so glad to hear that our Philadelphia temple is running so smoothly, filled with love and truthfulness. Such an atmosphere is so congenial for advancement in Krsna consciousness and if the Prabhus there continue their devotional activities in such a spirit, so many people will be attracted." (Vrindaban-Candra, 1/8/71)

Note: This is what attracts people to Krsna consciousness and not the grand show of opulence. This paper will go into detail to show how love and truthfulness has all but disappeared from ISKCON due to the different warring factions.

"I have seen your advertisements as shown to me by Shyamasundar, and I think you have made the thing less important. This kind of ad is not good, it is not grave. Our process is to show Krsna consciousness as it is, not as others want to see it. By showing Krsna consciousness in this way, you are making the thing less important. It is not that we should change to accommodate the public, but that we should change the public to accommodate us.... These books are the best advertising, they are better than advertising. If we simply present Krsna consciousness in a serious and attractive way, without need to resort to fashionable slogans or tricks, that is sufficient. Our unique asset is our purity. No one anywhere can match it. That will be noticed eventually and appreciated, as long as we do not diminish or neglect the highest standard of purity in performing our routine work, not that we require to display or announce ourselves in very clever ways to get attention. No, our pure standard is enough. Let us stand on that basis." (Yogesvara, 12/28/71)

Note: Here is Prabhupada's plea. Purity is the force and the only worthwhile point of stressing, nothing else. Prabhupada often said that he was only building these large temples to engage us. They are not necessary for preaching. A simple and pure Sankirtan party will make more devotees than a mammoth temple structure; perfect proof of this fact is New Vrndavana. They have so much opulence and space there, but the overwhelming majority of the devotees who go there leave almost immediately with a bitter taste in their mouths. Since Prabhupada left the planet, not one Prabhupada disciple has gone there and stayed permanently. Most stay only a few months, proof of which is available by studying the vyasa-puja books. The purity is missing there (the full story is given in Chapter Ten). However, the small and simple temples of the early days made hundreds of devotees through chanting and philosophy with no material opulences. Simply there was a picture of the Pancha Tattva and kirtan. Those who were around in those days can well remember where the emphasis was placed and how enlivened all the devotees were. At New Vrndavana they practically have to hire devotees to perform kirtan for the tourists.

In this way ISKCON is not being very much appreciated these days by sane people. This is because Srila Prabhupada warned, in the above quote, that we have a tendency to diminish or neglect the highest standard of purity in performing our service. The chance to misuse free-will is there. Srila Prabhupada never said it would be automatic. The current ISKCON management, for whom setting the perfect example is of prime importance, is grossly misusing their power and opportunity to serve Srila Prabhupada. Therefore it is high time they were purified or replaced so that other devotees can be given a chance to utilize that opportunity to advance in spiritual life.

"One thing, if we are not very careful to always stick to the point of regulative principles and purest standards of high living, then everything will spoil very quickly and the whole show will be a farce. So impress this point in your preaching for training the younger devotees, they will follow your example in all respects." (Rebatinandan, 2/2/72)

Note: Prabhupada warned again and again that if the pure standards are not maintained, then everything would spoil. But, if we suggest that ISKCON has now spoiled, we are considered pessimists, blasphemers, enemies, etc. Prabhupada certainly didn't think it couldn't happen, so why should we?

"But we should never steal anything like money, food, water, gasoline, just to enhance our service to Krsna. That is too much dangerous, and if we are caught then all of our work is finished. just like in India recently, this Balyogi Guru Maharaja was detected by the customs authorities attempting to smuggle some small items into India. By this one tiny incident his entire effort for preaching, even he is rascal number one and his preaching is nonsense, even so the example is there, his work is now ruined and he is practically finished as the government will not grant him passport to leave India. So we shall always be careful to avoid any kinds of jeopardizing our high standing in the society by some foolish and small act of illegal stealing." (Sankarshana, 12/31/72)

Note: Many devotees don't seem to realize that Prabhupada did not approve of illegal collecting techniques. One reason for his disapproval is mentioned above. The other, and equally important reason, is that devotees are supposed to be developing good character. "Our devotees must be adored as honest." Virtually the only statement Prabhupada made, which could be misinterpreted as an authorization to "he," is quoted below. But he fully clarifies that a neophyte should not even consider lying to get money. Kirtanananda often quotes this letter below to justify his illegal dealings. This is a common ISKCON mentality. In many places, Prabhupada emphasizes honesty, truthfulness, humility, etc. In some rare instances (and often he clarifies the proper understanding) he says, "We may do anything for Krsna." All of a sudden anything goes. Murder for Krsna, counterfeiting for Krsna, dealing look-alike drugs that kill people for Krsna, prostituting innocent women devotees for Krsna, having homosex and sending young boys to the hospital with ruptured anuses for Krsna. These "gurus" justify so many activities, in the name of Krsna.

"So far this making some false story for collecting money or selling books, of course we may do anything for Krsna, but that is supposed to be reserved for the very advanced experts in Krsna consciousness, they know how to catch the big fish without themselves getting wet. So it is not very much advisable to make lies just to sell a book. If we simply stick to describing how wonderful is Krsna, then whatever we may lie or exaggerate, that will not be lie. But other things, lies, they will not help us to train ourselves in truthfulness. Lie to some, not to others, that is not a good philosophy. Rather the brahmins are always truthful, even to their enemies. There is sufficient merit in our books that if you simply describe them sincerely to anyone, they will buy. That art you must develop, not art of lying. Convince them to give by your preaching the Absolute Truth, not by tricking, that is more mature stage of development of Krsna consciousness." (Sri Govinda, 12/25/72)

Srila Prabhupada then delivered a final decision; issue a letter to all GBC to stop this disguising immediately. His Divine Grace said, "We shall not in any way sacrifice our standard. We must maintain our principles strictly. This dressing with long hair and karmi clothes is the tendency to once again become hippies. Because before you were hippies, that tendency is still there. So this should be stopped immediately."

He made the point still more emphatic by pointing to some poor people who were passing stool on the roadside quite openly in public and said, "They are not changing their standard, despite public opinion. We cannot maintain our standards as strictly as they are maintaining theirs?" (GBCs, 9/20/73)

Conclusion: In this way, the entire movement should immediately rectify themselves or stop "preaching." Hypocrites do more damage than good. The Society should come together, hold kirtana, chant 16 rounds together, study the books, have debates, make apologies, reinstate devotees, etc. and only then, when everyone is satisfied, should the precept be preached. "Example is better than precept." There is no point in doing any more preaching if our own house is unclean. It is doing more damage than good. Already it has become embarrassing to claim any affiliation with "ISKCON." Those who are not interested in cleaning our house, but are satisfied with their own little cults and worship, should be considered the real enemies of Srila Prabhupada's divine movement.

CHAPTER TWO

"DO NOT DISHONOR ME"

HOW THE PERSONAL AMBITION OF THE "TOP MEN" HAS RUINED EVERYTHING

"This Bon Maharaja, perhaps you do not know, has been rejected by Guru Maharaja. So I cannot recommend him as siksa-guru. I think that he has no actual spiritual asset. For spiritual advancement of life, we must go to one who is actually practicing spiritual life; not to some head of a mundane institution, not to one who has offended his spiritual master in so many ways. I do not wish to go into all details here, but I must inform you that this Bon Maharaja may be considered as a black snake, and at the time of His Disappearance, my Guru Maharaja did not even wish to have him in His presence due to the character of this Bon Maharaja..." (Hrisikesha, 1/9/69)

Note: Here Prabhupada is condemning Bon Maharaja for having offended his own Guru Maharaja some 40 years previously. A serious offense to one's own guru has no time factor. This is a very important point. ISKCON's new "gurus" actually think that their rubber-stamp from Sridhar Maharaja (who they also rejected later) makes them bona fide and therefore beyond criticism. But here we see that a serious offense to one's spiritual master can lead such an unfortunate person to become utterly rejected by the spiritual master. Bon Maharaja wrote in a preface to his own translation and commentary on Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu that he was very, very dear to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami. The actual truth is stated above by Srila Prabhupada. After reading this book, any sincere disciple of Srila Prabhupada should clearly recognize that the leading secretaries of ISKCON have perpetrated an offense of great magnitude against Srila Prabhupada and his self evident instructions. We should keep in mind this quote concerning Bon Maharaja. He continued to preach, he continued to make disciples, he continued to associate with other Gaudiya Vaishnavas, he continued to translate sastra, and he continued to think that he was very, very dear and special to his guru. But even as late as 1969 Srila Prabhupada is saying that Bon Maharaja must be considered a black snake for having made very serious offense to his guru.

"We have sacrificed our life for Krsna's service, where is there scope for sleeping and gossiping? You can see in my example, not a single moment is wasted. This idleness is the business of the karmis. They can be seen sitting in the park gossiping, "My son-in-law said this," "This man has cheated me" but it has no place in devotional service, so your suggestion is well made."

"The installing of telex communications for our main temples is not required. Then they will gossip more through the telex." (Gurudasa, 2/5/77)

Note: When Prabhupada says "they" he is referring to the "leaders," most of whom are still considered the "leaders" or even "gurus".

"Before coming to your country I took sannyasa in l959, I was publishing Back to Godhead since l944. After taking sannyasa I was more engaged in writing my books without any attempt to construct temples or to make disciples like my other God-brothers in India.

"I was not very much interested in these matters because my Guru Maharaja liked very much publication of books than constructing big, big temples and creating some neophyte disciples. As soon as he saw that His neophyte disciples were increasing in number, He immediately decided to leave this world. To accept disciples means to take up the responsibility of absorbing the sinful reaction of life of the disciple.

"At the present moment in our ISKCON campus, politics and diplomacy has entered. Some of my beloved students on whom I counted very, very much have been involved in this activity which I consider as disrespectful. So I have decided to retire and divert attention to book writing and nothing more.

"Please therefore let me know how far you can all help me in this connection and what are the manuscripts ready for printing. I think I shall now stop all other activities except publishing of my books." (Satsvarupa, 7/27/70)

Note: This is one of the heaviest letters Prabhupada ever wrote. We would like to briefly discuss four points made here.

1) It is clear from scrutinizing Prabhupada's letters that, from this point onwards, Prabhupada's primary concern was writing his books. He indicates, more or less, that the neophyte disciples were increasing. Thus his enthusiasm to take part in the practical aspects of ISKCON slackened. The leaders were manifesting neophyte ambition. There is a spirit of futility in this letter. He could see that they were going to do it their way. So he was requesting that, at least, he should be given full facility for his translation work;

2) In this letter, Srila Prabhupada directly states that the message he is conveying is far more important than making so many temples and so many disciples who are not able to come up to the mark. In other words, the purity of the Krsna conscious doctrine was more important to Srila Prabhupada than all the outward results. This is not at all what has been emphasized in ISKCON over the past years.

3) Srila Prabhupada uses the terms "politics and diplomacy." This is in direct reference to the leading secretaries of the movement. It will not be the only letter which explicitly reveals the existence of this dreadful disease. We shall soon see that Srila Prabhupada even disbanded the GBC for some time due to this contamination. But, what is not so well known, is the fact that Srila Prabhupada once, in utter disgust concerning the politics and personal ambition, directly told his GBC members that they could take the whole movement, and he would simply go his own way. They begged him not to do this, yet were still not sincere enough to stop the personal ambition, diplomacy, and politics.

4) Srila Prabhupada was counting upon his leading secretaries to properly manage his society. But they betrayed him. Therefore, this letter indicates that Srila Prabhupada had lost almost all hope that the "leaders" would ever become sincere enough to renounce the original sin, the tendency to betray the trust extended by the Supreme Lord through his dearmost servitor. Despite many heavy letters such as this one, Prabhupada was never actually relieved from management responsibilities. He had to tolerate innumerable offenses by his "leaders" just to keep the thing going long enough to finish his books. But now, some of these same leaders claimtobesoadvancedthattheydon'tneedtoreadPrabhupada'sbooksanymore. At one point Tamala Krsna demanded that Prabhupada's purports not be read during his classes-that his commentary alone was sufficient.

"Regarding the poisonous effect in our Society, it is a fact and I know where from this poison tree has sprung up and how it affected practically the whole Society in a very dangerous form. But it does not matter. Prahlad Maharaja was administered poison, but it did not act. Similarly Lord Krsna and the Pandavas were administered poison and it did not act. I think, in the same parampara system, that the poison administered to our Society will not act if some of our students are as good as Prahlad Maharaja. I have therefore given the administrative power to the GBC.

"You are also one of the members of the GBC, so you can think over very deeply how to save the situation. It is a fact however that the great sinister movement is within our Society. I have not heard anything from Krsnadasa or Shyamasundar, so all of you may try to save the Society from this dangerous position." (Hamsadutta, 9/2/70)

Note: Prabhupada is easily as good as Prahlada Maharaja, but, since he had given the movement to the GBC, he is saying here that they will have to become as good as Prahlada if they want to save the movement from certain destruction. He was prepared to wash his hands of the whole thing. This exact same sinister movement is still there, but it is no longer within the Society, it has become the Society and everyone else has fled for their lives. Naturally, everyone will point a finger at everyone else as to who these demons referred to here are, but with a little common sense endeavor, anyone can easily see who the agents of this "great sinister movement" really are.

"Of course, by Krishna's grace, the higher learned section is appreciating our books. That is the only hope for pushing on. But, I am very much depressed by the recent incidences in Germany. It is now evident that some of our top men are very much ambitious and there have been so many fall downs." (Bhagavan, 1/27/75)

Note: Notice in this letter that it is the top men that are the very ambitious ones. And also notice that the only hope rests on the higher teamed section, and not the so-caned top men.

"You have written: 'The BBT is capable of keeping up with Prabhupada's pace at this time and we humbly request all devotees to respect Prabhupada's desire to fulfill his dream of publishing and distributing thousands and millions of volumes of Srimad Bhagavatam in Twelve Cantos all over the world by not disturbing him at this time with problems and decisions that can be made by his direct representatives, the GBC secretaries.' Yes, this is wanted. I want to increase my work. Brahmananda Swami and Gopal Krishna were suggesting that I go to some other place in India, but if Tamala Krishna flies 10,000 miles to lodge some complaint against Jayatirtha what can I do? If you all leaders cannot work together, then how can you expect the others to cooperate with you? Differences may be there, but still you have to cooperate together, otherwise where is the question of my being relieved of so many problems and decisions?" (Ramesvara, 9/15/75)

Note: Here Ramesvara is referring to himself as a "direct representative" of Prabhupada whereas Prabhupada is indicating that such a "direct representative" is part and parcel of a group of so many other "direct representatives" who simply engage themselves in bickering and fighting. The side effect of this of course being that Srila Prabhupada was seldom left alone to concentrate on translating. In Mad 7, p.340 and Mad 1, p.131, Prabhupada warns his disciples not to be depressed by these "direct representatives," but to take directly to his books. In another place, Prabhupada says, "one must read all my books, including the Caitanya-caritamrta, or else one wig simply eat and sleep and eventually fall down." Only then will a devotee not be bewildered when he sees so much hypocrisy going on in ISKCON. We have personal experience of this fact. We were badly treated on numerous occasions by some "leaders," but we never held it against Prabhupada because we had read the entire Caitanya-caritamrta thoroughly. We therefore always understood that the "leaders" were simply being engaged according to their material propensities in a way that would satisfy their egos and keep them out of trouble. As Prabhupada once stated, "I have created these big positions for big egos."

"Now this displeasing of Godbrothers has already begun and gives me too much agitation in my mind. Our Gaudiya Math people fought with one another after the demise of Guru Maharaja but my disciples have already begun fighting even in my presence. So I am greatly concerned about it. 'Trnad api sunicena...'

"Please try to maintain the philosophy of unity in diversity. That will make our movement successful. One section of men have already gone out, therefore we must be very careful to maintain unity in diversity, and remember the story in Aesop's Fables of the father of many children with the bundle of sticks. When the father asked his children to break the bundle of sticks wrapped in a bag, none of them could do it. But, when they removed the sticks from the bag, and tried one by one, the sticks were easily broken. So this is the strength of unity. If we are bunched up, we can never be broken, but when divided, then we can become broken very easily." (Kirtanananda, 10/18/73)

Note: An important point in this letter is that spreading this movement all over the world requires "unity in diversity." Many disciples are under the impression that they can go out alone and start a whole new and pure movement just as Prabhupada did. As of yet, however, absolutely nothing substantial has been accomplished by any group, including "ISKCON." This is because we don't have the potency of Srila Prabhupada, and we need to accomplish this objective working cooperatively with Prabhupada's books to guide us. This does not mean we have to bunch up together in limited numbers of temples. It means we have to keep the nucleus of the Society pure and the many branches must support each other with various preaching tools such as books, typesetters, printers, videos, slide shows, puppet shows, drama groups, etc. Every disciple or group of disciples can have his own specialty, but there should be a pure and centralized nucleus to help make all the various preaching facilities and knowledges available to all, free from exploitation. At present, the GBC, which is supposed to represent the head or brains of the body, are the worst exploiters of all. Therefore the whole body is in chaos.

Since this letter was written to Kirtanananda Swami we will use New Vrindavana as a practical example to illustrate this uncooperative spirit. They have thousands of molds for making beautiful temple structures, but no one else can use them. Instead they sit rotting. One of the reasons for this is the belligerency of the leaders at New Vrindaban. If, somehow or other, other temples do manage to buy something from New Vrindaban, they get ripped off. We have personal experience of this fact since we worked in that mold shop for almost a year. An item that could be cast for a total cost of $150, New Vrindaban would sell it to another temple for $1000. Book publishing is another example of this lack of cooperation. The leaders vie with each other, so each zone has to set up his own book publishing house. This means each zone has to spend huge amounts of money on the exact same equipment because they cannot accept the principle of unity in diversity.

"In case you do not like this arrangement then you may keep the temple as your private property and as my disciple I will give you guidance, but you may not use the ISKCON name to collect funds or to take loans. In this connection, until this matter is resolved, no loan may be taken from the bank or elsewhere and all collections in the name of ISKCON must stop. If you desire to keep the temple as private property then Upendra dasa may return to Hawaii and ISKCON Fiji may be dissolved. If you want to consider this project as an ISKCON project then you must abide by the orders and direction of the GBC, which you do not like to do. Now whatever you like let me know." (Vasudeva, 7/29/76)

Note: Srila Prabhupada was never in illusion about the character of his GBC men. For many years they had been causing more trouble than relief for him. The reasons why Srila Prabhupada didn't disband them permanently is not so difficult to understand. For one thing he couldn't possibly deal with each temple individually. He was only one man. So he had to create some kind of governing body. The fact that most of them were neophytes and personally motivated ones at that, didn't stop him from encouraging them to advance. At the same time, he didn't expect his other disciples to have to suffer under such neophytes and so he wrote many letters like the one above. The activities of a pure devotee are impossible to fully understand but to a degree we can see these thing. Therefore he is saying that Vasudeva has his blessings to keep the temple privately and he will still be a bona fide disciple. In this way he is not demeaning the GBC, who he wanted to encourage, and at the same time he is telling Vasudeva that he does not have to abide by the GBC to be a bona fide disciple. This is a very important letter for all disciples who have been brainwashed into thinking Prabhupada is accessible only to devotees who surrender to the GBC.

Also important in this letter is the fact that ISKCON projects are not the property of individuals unless they develop the project independently the way Prabhupada is recommending Vasudeva do here. That means they don't use Prabhupada's name to collect funds, and they don't use Prabhupada's disciples either. If someone develops a community in this way then they can consider it their own independent temple and not have to abide by the order of the GBC. Certain persons, like Kirtanananda for example, think they don't have to abide by the order of the GBC, but this letter does not substantiate his claim. Kirtanananda was simply another worker who helped build New Vrindavana. Prabhupada's disciples and Prabhupada's name were both used to build the place so New Vrindaban is fully under the direction of the GBC. In this same way no one can think that any ISKCON project belongs to a personality. If a temple becomes someone's personal project, it does not represent ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada is the founder acarya of ISKCON only his personality should be worshipped in any ISKCON temple. If someone wants to be worshipped in a temple, he will have to build his own temple as Vasudeva is being encouraged to do in this letter.

There are a class of fools in almost all these ISKCON projects today who think that the projects belong to such and such "gurus." But for those fools who think that the inspiration behind any ISKCON project is from one of these personalities, other than Srila Prabhupada, then it is high time they wake up. It is only Prabhupada's purity that inspired anyone to do anything, even though some people have tried their best to capitalize on Prabhupada's legacy and properties. All of ISKCON's leaders were simply instruments to accomplish the will of Krsna through Srila Prabhupada. If one or several tools become rotten in the process, then they simply must be either cleaned up or discarded.

"...and my reply is that this sankirtana or street chanting must go on, it is our most important program. Lord Caitanya's movement means the sankirtana movement.

"Now you are my elder disciples and both of you are sannyasis and also advanced in Krsna consciousness, so these questions should not arise amongst you again and again. That means everyone is not conscientious. These things are not new to you-why do you continually ask these question? The GBC authority must be accepted under all circumstances, not that there will be fighting amongst you. This fighting spirit will destroy everything, but what can I do, you American and European boys are trained up in this fighting attitude. Now put it aside and simply work cooperatively for spreading this movement all over the world. The standards I have already given you, now try to maintain them at all times under standard procedure. Do not try to innovate or create anything or manufacture anything, that will ruin everything. Simply do as I am doing and be always serious and sincere to serve Krsna, and He will give you intelligence how to do everything." (Bali Mardan & Pusta Krsna, 9/18/72)

Note: Notice in this letter that Srila Prabhupada definitely states that ISKCON, and everything connected with ISKCON, can be ruined.

In Prabhupada's use of the English language, this is a very heavy letter, but for us, it apparently was not heavy enough since nobody seems to have followed it very nicely. The mood of this letter applies to practically all the leaders. They often quote the part about accepting the authority of the GBC, but they never quote the part about strictly maintaining the high standard Prabhupada set.

Prabhupada is also saying here not to concoct anything. In other words we are not qualified to adjust the devotional items for time and circumstance, at least not until we can stop fighting with each other. ISKCON's new "gurus" are not changing the method of guru worship. That standard they like very much and are maintaining to the letter. The problem is however, they have none of Prabhupada's qualifications. In other words, they take the part they like, the profit, adoration, and distinction, and reject the part they don't like, the lifetime of austerity and purification. In this connection Prabhupada gives this analogy:

"A farmer may consider: 'The front part of the hen is very expensive because I have to feed it. Better to cut it off.' But if the head is missing, there will be no eggs anymore, because the body is dead. Similarly, if we reject the difficult part of the scriptures and obey the part we like, such an interpretation will not help us. We have to accept all the injunctions in scriptures as they are given, not only those that suit us." (SSR, p.129)

"Now I have come back, so let me stay in India. I will remain in Bombay, Vrindavana, and Mayapur. As you have desired, now let me do that, to sit down tightly and concentrate on the translating business. But, if you disturb me, then my mind will be disturbed. I want that what I have established may go on nicely, but I see that some of the devotees are reviving their old 'good' qualities. That is the difficulty. If the old habits come back, then everything is finished. If my mind becomes disturbed in this way, then how can I concentrate on book writing. It is not possible. Better not to inform me anything, and let me sit in Vrindavana." (Hrdayananda, 11/13/75)

Note: Prabhupada here is practically begging Hrdayananda to just leave him alone to write his books, but Hrdayananda and the GBC refused. They continued to enact their petty enviousness right up until Srila Prabhupada departed this world. And, needless to say, the old "good qualities" came back.

Prabhupada's last wish was to see "ALL" of his disciples. This would have given everyone a last chance to offer their heartfelt thanks to Prabhupada for the blessings he had bestowed upon us. Tamala informed Giriraja, and that message was conveyed to Satsvarupa and Ramesvara in LA. But these two men decided they knew better than Srila Prabhupada. So they torpedoed that instruction on the plea that it would be too expensive just before the big Thanksgiving and Christmas pick. So even though Srila Prabhupada desired to see his real disciples, they never knew to come, thanks to these "direct representatives." We have testimony by several devotees that they had the money and were ready to go, but the "authorities" convinced them that it was illusion. They were told that they would please Prabhupada more by giving the money to the temple. Their reasoning however was invalid since Tamala used the same arguments directly to Srila Prabhupada at the time of the instruction. He argued that the expense would be too great. But Prabhupada didn't care for those reasons and Tamala was forced to send the message overseas. Satsvarupa and Ramesvara are the ones who must take the full brunt of the responsibility for this offense, which has hurt deeply so many of Srila Prabhupada's disciples.

Notice that again Prabhupada is warning that everything can become finished.

"Regarding the controversy that is going on there in Stockholm, what is the reason? This must be considered at a full meeting of the GBC. You may suggest a way to mitigate this difficulty and if it is not accepted, then both of them should resign. I know that Hamsadutta is very expert in selling books but books are not only for selling but also for reading. Now has the GBC become more than Guru Maharaja? As if simply GBC is meant for looking after pounds, shilling, pence. The GBC does not look after spiritual life. That is the defect. All of our students will have to become guru but they are not qualified. This is the difficulty." (Alanath, 11/10/75)

Note: Here Prabhupada clearly indicates the tendency of the GBC to try to become more than him. In the "Lilamrta," Prabhupada is said to have said that, "Even I must follow the GBC." Even if Prabhupada did say this, we should not accept it literally. They have clearly shown the tendency to think themselves more than Srila Prabhupada and also, as stated in this letter, to become absorbed in "pounds, shillings, and pence." Please just try and see what Srila Prabhupada is clearly saying! "The GBC does not look after spiritual life. That is the defect." This is staring us directly in the face. If this commission was so divine, as they now claim, why did Srila Prabhupada speak like this about it? Only two and one-half years after this letter was written they claim to have become so advanced as to accept the same kind of worship as Srila Prabhupada, in the same temples of Srila Prabhupada, by the same disciples of Srila Prabhupada. They went to Sridhar Maharaja, told him the big he, and eked out his rubber-stamp for appointing acaryas. Srila Prabhupada describes what they did as follows: "They declared: 'Come on, unfit persons, to become acarya.' Then another man comes, then another, and another. 'Now I am so advanced that I can kill my guru and then become guru.' (Bombay, 8/ 15 / 76) So when the GBC now makes their big claim that they must be blindly followed, we should remember this letter and understand that they have nothing whatsoever to do with Srila Prabhupada anymore.

"My only grievance is that I appointed GBC to give me relief from the management but, on the contrary, complaints and counter-complaints are coming to me. Then how my brain can be peaceful. Naturally, I want to see that all of my centers are going nicely, so it is not possible to mitigate the differences of opinion and work smoothly, conjointly. So best thing is that we wait for the Mayapur meeting and decide there combinedly what to do.

"The local management has to be done by temple president. GBC should see whether management is going on nicely, and if there are any discrepancies that will be discussed at the GBC meeting in Mayapur. That is the process. Sannyasis are meant for preaching only. That is the principle. But, contrary to the principle, if things are being embezzled then how can I save them. How one man can manage the whole world affairs? This is my concern. So far I know you are approved manager, so why complaints are there, I do not know." (Jayatirtha, 10/16/75)

Note: Prabhupada clearly says here that the GBC has not relieved him from having to deal with so many problems even though that was the reason why the GBC was created in the first place. Prabhupada is admitting here that he can't ignore the problems since he wants to see all his centers going on nicely and at the same time he says he cannot possibly manage the whole world. So he simply got more and more fed up with these "leaders" until he decided to leave the planet.

"I am in due receipt of your letter addressed to Rupanuga dasa dated September 16, 1975 and have noted the contents. Why is there this politics? This is not good. If politics come, then the preaching will be stopped. That is the difficulty. As soon as politics come, everything is spoiled. In the Gaudiya Math the politics is still going on. My Guru Maharaja left in 1936, and now it is 1967, so after 40 years the litigation is still going on. Do not come to this." (Gurukripa, 9/30/75)

Note: Did anyone notice any marked difference in these "leaders" between Sept. 1975 and Nov. 1977? Therefore we can easily understand why "everything is spoiled."

"Regarding your dealings with Bhagavan dasa, when two GBCs are concerned, the whole GBC must consider, what can I do? I have appointed the GBC not to fight amongst yourselves but to manage. If there is fighting, then how will you manage? So the whole GBC committee must decide if there is fighting." (Hamsadutta, 9/29/75)

Note: Here Srila Prabhupada indicates the futility of the situation. He has established this as his fundamental mood about the GBC ever since the 1970 LA lockup incident, where he was kept captive in a room in the LA temple for a number of days by his "dear disciples." Exact details of this incident are still unknown to us but the indications are clear that some disciples, specifically Brahmananda, wanted to control the movement better than, they thought, Srila Prabhupada was able to.

"Regarding the new New York house, yes, let me know when I shall have to go there to see. I have more houses than anyone else in the world, but I am not allowed to stay. The richest man in the world does not have such facilities. They have one or two, but in each place it is fit for prince, and they do not have as many as I have. And, the wife of Bali Mardan how was she giving such a bluff.?" (Rupanuga, 9/29/75)

Note: Prabhupada wanted to stay in one place to concentrate on translating books, but he couldn't. Why? Because he had to travel constantly to encourage the devotees; his so-called advanced leaders were not doing it."I came to liberate my disciples, they (GBC) have come to keep them in bondage." (Giriraja) Only one leader, Vishnujana Swami, was even civilized enough to deal with the general devotees at the time when Srila Prabhupada wanted to form the world sankirtana party. Prabhupada did not want all this traveling. Chanakya Pandit says: "Horses grow old by being bound; clothes grow old when left in the sun; women grow old when unmarried; and men grow old by traveling."

"Regarding your questions you say that amongst the elder disciples there are still symptoms of greed, anger, strife, bickering, etc., but you are one of them. You are one of the old students, so you fall in that group. So the fighting is among that group, but not amongst the real workers." (Krsna dasa, 9/9/72)

Note: Here Prabhupada is directly saying that "the real workers", the true disciples, are those who humbly serve and don't bicker and fight. The real workers are those devotees going out and distributing books day after day, or cleaning the temple, or worshipping the Deity. The real workers are not the big leaders always acting on the impetus of personal ambition.

"I have received your report on the telephone to Harikesh. This is very funny thinking in our society that you want t6 spend for this boat, and that Tulsi dasa wants to take sannyasa because he is feeling sex agitation. First of all there is no sanction to purchase this boat from the BBT. We are not interested.

"Tulsi dasa is affected by sex, and he wants to take sannyasa? This is nonsense. Is sannyasa so cheap? He will be a victim. He is not fit for sannyasa. His mind is not fixed up. Everyone wants to fulfill their whimsical desires; this is going on...

"Another thing, why are you always calling on the telephone? Are you such important men that you have to call all over the world? We are poor men sons, what can I do? But, why are you always calling on the telephone?" (Ramesvara, 11/7/75)

Note: There is an interesting story of Ramesvara's in this connection. One day Ramesvara was on the phone to Tamala when a devotee came in to inform him of the death of one of his "disciples," Sridhama dasa. He'd been in the morgue, unidentified, for several days, for several days. Ramesvara put the phone down just long enough to "meditate on the soul of my departed disciple and direct him to his destination." Many devotees were present in the room for this one. Here is how the tragedy is functioning. People are coming to ISKCON, brought by the message in Srila Prabhupada's books. Then they are victimized by becoming entangled with "gurus" who they are made to think are the pure representatives of that message. But these sense gratifiers do not even know when their disciple dies. They have to be informed. This man, Sridhama, must have performed a significant amount of selfless service for the cause there in LA and so Ramesvara gave him a minute by interrupting his umpteenth long-distance phone can for the day.

"One thing is, I have heard that Jayapataka is requesting Giriraja that Bombay should send maintenance allowance to Mayapur monthly. But I instructed in the beginning that Calcutta should maintain Mayapur. Also, you are not sending your collections regularly to Bombay, so how they can support you? If Bombay is maintaining, what are others doing, eating and sleeping? Why does Jayapataka want allowance? Anyone who cannot collect money, they should go to Mayapur and live there and simply eat and sleep, like women and widows. I shall arrange for their eating and sleeping. But in cities, those should live who can collect and earn. The widows are not earning in Hindu society, they eat and sleep at others' expense. So if you are not able to earn in Calcutta, better all go to Mayapur and eat and sleep and I shall accommodate all widows, women and others at Mayapur and Vrindaban. Otherwise why should we maintain such large establishment in Calcutta simply for eating and sleeping and spending. These two places will be reserved for those who cannot collect. For them I am making provision. Only the active members who can collect, they shall live in the city. Eating, sleeping members, they shall live in Mayapur, that's all.

"One thing, on the invitation card you have written All Glories to Our Guru Maharaja. This is impersonalism. As soon as we offer obeisances to Guru, the name should be there. We are strictly personalists. The sahajiyas write Glories to Guru. Why you are learning this impersonalism, who has taught you? Daily I am offering obeisances to my Guru by vibrating his real name, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, otherwise it is impersonal.

"Whether you can deal with so many problems? I am receiving so many letters daily from Calcutta. The temple officers are appointed to minimize my time, not increase it with so many letters. Best to stop expanding, or if you cannot raise funds there, close up the Calcutta center. It is not that the officers should be expert in one field only, they should be expert in everything." (Bhavananda, 7/14/72)

Note: There were very few letters to Bhavananda. You may consult Krta Kanna dasa, who is hiding in San Francisco under threat from Bhavananda, for more information. Bhavananda's defects have not been limited to impersonalism.

"I have got very good respect for Japanese people. So far I have met the Japanese boys and girls in our temple there, they are so well behaved that I was astonished that they were more respectful than my direct disciples." (Taittiriya, 9/15/74)

Note: Many of Srila Prabhupada's direct disciples, particularly the ones with big egos and big positions, did not have good behavior and manners. There are so many examples: we give a few specific instances, all verifiable if necessary. InVmdavana,whenHarikeshwasPrabhupada'ssecretary,hewasknowntohavesaid on several occasions such things to Prabhupada as, "It's your mess, clean it up yourself' or "This isn't dirt Prabhupada, it's Vrndavana dust." Srila Prabhupada once dispatched a letter to Guru Krpa Swami via Harikesh. The letter was very provocative to Guru Krpa Swami, especially the P.S. following the signature. So much so, that Guru Krpa Swami immediately flew from Japan to India. He went to his Guru Maharaja and asked whether or not the message in the letter was totally coming from him. It wasn't. Harikesh Swami was immediately removed from his duties of personal secretary and was exiled to Eastern Europe. He was also told to walk to Delhi from Vrindavana. Another incident, concerning Tamala, was just after the 1976 infamous GBC meeting when Srila Prabhupada exiled Tamala to go to China. Tamala became angry and pointed his index finger at Prabhupada."I will not go to China. Why should I go to China? I have my own party in America. You cannot tell me this. I am not going to go." One sannyasi also in the room protested, "You cannot talk to Srila Prabhupada like this." Tamala replied sharply, "Don't tell me what I can and can't do." Srila Prabhupada once said about another "acarya": "Hamsadutta is praying every night that I will die and he win become acarya." The fist of such quotes could fill a volume. We are only touching the top of the iceberg in this book. Almost without exception, the only outstanding feature all the current ISKCON "acaryas" have in common is their disrespect for Srila Prabhupada. At any rate, we see in this letter, that an ordinary Japanese citizen has better manners than some of Prabhupada's "direct representatives."

"In that trust you must be very careful to make sure that my name is registered there as the founder acarya and that I am to be the ultimate authority. In other words, in any case of necessity of vetoing or canceling any decision made by the other trustees, I should be able to do like that. My decision should overrule all the other trustees combined." (Kurusrestha, 12/28/74)

Note: Does this letter sound Eke Prabhupada had much faith in the combined purity of the GBC? The following incident clearly shows just how corrupt the GBC was/is. And those who weren't corrupt, how foolish they were/are. But today the GBC is still saying that their combined opinion is as good as Prabhupada's. Indeed, they go so far as to say, that even Srila Prabhupada was obliged to follow the GBC.

"YOUR MATERIAL LEGAL FORMULA WILL NOT HELP US ONLY OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE CAN HELP US I HAVE NO APPROVAL FOR ANY THESE PLANS STOP HANSADUTTA MUST RETURN GERMANY IMMEDIATELY DON'T LEAVE AGAIN STOP ATREYA RISHI HAS NO AUTHORITY FROM ME TO MANAGE ANYTHING REMOVE HIM ACKNOWLEDGE CABLE URGENT RENNY STREET PADDINGTON SYDNEY BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI." (Copy of telegram sent to Hansadutta, Rupanuga, and Karandhar, 4/6/72)

"Sriman Atreya Rishi dasa may be very expert, but without my say he has been given so much power and this has upset my brain. I also understand that immediate actions are going to take place even prior to my permission, and that, also, 'without divulging to the devotees(!)

"I do not follow exactly what is the motive of the so-called GBC meeting, therefore I have sent the telegram which you will find attached herewith, and I have received the replies as well.

"Under these circumstances, I authorize you to disregard for the time being any decision from the GBC men until my further instruction.

"You manage your affairs peacefully and independently, and try to improve the spiritual atmosphere of the centers more carefully. I shall be very glad to know the names of your assistants such as Secretary, Treasurer and Accountant.

"Finally, I beg to repeat that all GBC orders are suspended herewith by me until further notice." (Letter to all temple presidents, 4/8/72)

"...that is my hope. But I have been very much disturbed recently by the meeting which you all have had in New York, wherein you have passed so many resolutions and elected Atreya Rishi to GBC secretary, and made so many other changes. I am very much puzzled by the whole business. Therefore I have not approved of it and you may by now have received my letter why I have temporarily suspended the GBC. Let us not revive this old matter, but I want to know from you what is your opinion of the matter, and how is it that Hansadutta and Atreya Rishi were able to persuade you all senior leaders of the Society to follow their foolish activities? Kindly inform.

"From now on, the temples will operate independently and try to improve their spiritual life more carefully, so there is no more need for such financial arrangement of centralization, as you have proposed...

"So far your statement, "our final success will be when you actually sit tight and translate books and let us manage successfully," yes, that is my desire, but if you can do it or not, that has again disturbed me very much. Now I have given you everything, but I do not see that even the basic principles of advancement in spiritual life are always there, and sometimes there is tendency to neglect what is our real purpose of life, namely, to become mad after Krishna, and instead we become carried away by big, big talk. So I am still thinking how things will go on." (Satsvarupa, 4/10/72)

"And I am surprised that none of the GBC members detected the defects in the procedure. It was detected only when it came to me. What will happen when I am not here, shall everything by spoiled by GBC? So for the time being, let the GBC activities be suspended until I thoroughly revise the whole procedure. In the meantime, you do your duty as president of Hamburg Temple, and try to improve spiritually, Our spiritual way should strictly observe the following points especially: 1) Neatness and cleanliness of all personal bodies. (I still see those who are initiated as brahmins, they do not even wash their hands after eating even; of course, there may be so many defects due to your births in non-brahmin families, but how long it shall go on? It is very easy thing.) 2) Chanting 16 rounds daily. (I don't think everyone is following these principles.) 3) Temple worship, which should be performed rigidly between four and ten AM.)

"I find that the devotees are still sleeping up to six, seven o'clock. So in the GBC agenda I do not find any such programs for reforming our past bad habits. So kindly as President o Hamburg center you try to observe yourself all the regulative principles and see all the members are following." (Hansadutta, 4/11/72)

"I think it is best thing if the GBC members always travel on Sankirtan Party in their zone and go from one village to another and visit the temples to see how the students are learning and do my work. In this way, they will avoid the propensity to sit down and plot and scheme how to eat and sleep. So you can advise them all to travel extensively on Sankirtan all over their zone." (Karandhar, 5/4/72)

Note: We would like to summarize, very concisely, the most important points made in these revealing letters and telegrams. 1) Legal formulas cannot replace true Krsna conscious behavior and endeavor. You cannot make a man Krsna conscious by legal formulas. Obviously, the GBC was thinking that possible; 2) Prabhupada exposes the GBC's tendency not to divulge their insidious schemes to the general devotees. We do not claim to have exposed, in this document, all their treacheries. Seeing how many we have exposed, just imagine how many there actually were! 3) The GBC had a tendency to enact legislation, plans, and money manipulations prior to Prabhupada's sanction, but the constitution of the GBC incorporated the necessity for Prabhupada's approval in all such important decisions; 4) The argument is sometimes raised, and Srila Prabhupada is said to have said, that the GBC, as a combined unit of over 20 men, cannot make a wrong decision due to the group influence. But Srila Prabhupada asks how two men, one of whom was not even a GBC, could push their concoction past the other members. It is simply not a fact that numbers alone can prevent deviation and group treachery. One powerful enticement can pollute all the remaining members; 5) Srila Prabhupada says that the GBC has a tendency to neglect the fundamental principles of Krsna consciousness and get carried away by the so-called big picture even though the fundamental principles are not even being followed by the leaders. 6) Srila Prabhupada directly doubts whether there is any possibility that the management will carry on after his de

6) Srila Prabhupada directly doubts whether there is any possibility that the management will carry on after his departure. We can see that his doubt was not only utterly justified, but was directly a wanting to us all. 7) Srila Prabhupada specifically states that the whole movement may become victimized and spoiled by the GBC. It has come to take place; 8) Srila Prabhupada specifically states that the GBC men, who call themselves Srila Prabhupada's "direct representatives," have a propensity to simply plot and scheme. In this section, we are exposing many of those plots and schemes. We ask you also to expose these to all those who are sincere enough to hear and benefit from these truths.

"...if he received the vote, why you have opposed? You must be impartial. My recommendation is that he must be the president. He has been chosen by the vote, and I am giving the casting vote for him. He is doing things very nicely there, so he must be the president, Prabha Vishnu should go on Sankirtan, and Madhavananda should be president. Everything must go on. The women are doing nicely so why are they being changed from the pujari to the Sankirtan? These things should be done by the President. These are internal things, and you should not interfere. I do not approve of your changing the women. It should be the choice of Madhavananda who should be the pujari.

"Why did you close Edinburgh without asking me? Paramahamsa reports that you have closed the Edinburgh temple. Edinburgh was doing nicely. You can't close a temple without asking me? Is it too much to do this? Our propaganda is opening temples, and you are closing them. We are not for closing but for increasing. I do not approve of this. If possible the Edinburgh temple must be re-opened again. (Ed. note: It was re-opened.)

"If you close the temple, what is the management? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu pushed the Sankirtan movement, but He never said to close the Jagannatha temple or the Govindaji temple. In Edinburgh we had a nice house, why you have closed it? Why you have whimsically done this? If possible the Edinburgh temple must be reopened. Don't do anything whimsically without consulting me.

"I made the GBC to give me relief, but if you do like this, then where is the relief.? It is anxiety for me. This is the difficulty, that as soon as one gets power, he becomes whimsical and spoils everything. What can I do? " (Hansadutta, 9/12/74)

Note: A very important point in this letter is that the GBC must not interfere with the internal dealings of a temple. That means they are not insiders but outsiders simply observing the activities of the temple. If they detect deviation, they may recommend replacement. That's all. Not that they have anything to do with a temple's preaching activities. The President is the leader of any temple, and the GBC has nothing to do with his plans or preaching desires, unless they go against Prabhupada's instructions. Most of the GBC don't know those instructions however, so basically every temple is on its own. If a temple president doesn't want any of these rubber-stamped "top" men to perch up on big seats in the temple, then he has the right to nip that imposition. This is now happening in ISKCON's first liberated temple, Berkeley. Hopefully many more win follow that shining example.

As stated in a previous chapter the cause of disturbance in ISKCON is ignorance. That is clear. But there is also another cause as mentioned in the following letters: personal ambition. If the current leaders are sincere, then we can easily remove this disturbance by bringing out knowledge through discussion and debate. But if ISKCON's disturbance is an intentional display of personal ambition, then it has to be removed by other means. You can only wake up a sleeping man, not a man pretending to be asleep.

Srila Prabhupada here confirms the famous quote that power corrupts, and so naturally, absolute power corrupts absolutely when the "schemers" are not in absolute knowledge.

"Our life is very short. The Krsna consciousness movement is not meant for fulfilling one's personal ambition, but it is a serious movement for the whole world." (Satsvarupa, 7/31/70)

"In my books I have tried to explain clearly this simultaneously one and different philosophy, 'acintya bheda bheda tattva', propounded by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But sometimes it happens that this philosophy is given a self-interested interpretation. As soon as personal motivation comes in it is not possible for one to understand our Krsna consciousness philosophy." (Ishan, 9/70)

"As alleged by you I have received complaints against Bali Mardan and his wife, so seriously so much so that the girl has declared that Bali Mardan is an incarnation of bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura on my name. In India some of the important members they have collected huge amounts in the name of the Society and spent it luxuriously. I wanted you all my experienced disciples should manage the whole institution very cleverly without any personal ambition like ordinary materialistic men. The Gaudiya Math institution has become smashed, at least stopped its program of preaching work on account of personal ambitions.

"So whatever is done is done. I shall request you all not to be personally ambitious. I shall do everything in my power to fulfill your personal ambition, but that will be done in due course of time when you are fully trained up and following the regulative principles and chanting 16 rounds." (Karandhar, 10/8/74)

"We have worked very hard and established a great institution, but if we think for our personal benefit then it will become ruined. This is my only concern." (Chayavana, 11/1/74)

"Regarding Brahmananda, he is actually surrendered soul, but Maya is so strong that on account of association he has even fallen down. So these two things are always side-by-side: Maya and Krsna; Krsna is service and Maya is sense gratification, so every moment we are prone to be subjugated by either of them. Our duty is therefore to be very, very careful. The poison is personal ambition. So everyone has the chance, therefore one should not be complacent. Doubts may come about, but one should be firmly fixed up that there cannot be any doubt on the Spiritual Master or Krsna. (Satyabhama, 11/7/70)

Note: These letters indicated the razor's edge. Unfortunately, the leading secretaries have all fallen off the edge. They are now completely entangled, having been carried away by personal ambition. The facilities they took to exploit various situations have degraded them beyond hope. That is the penalty for falling under Maya's enticement in the form of the lure of personal ambition. We should not remain sentimental. Srila Prabhupada did more than just warn us; he stated clearly that these things were happening. It has not been rectified. On the contrary, it has become far, far worse. We should stop being ostriches. Srila Prabhupada now goes on to describe all these personally ambitious "disciples."

"I am hearing so many things about management. My request is that until I am able to return to the USA you all please work peacefully. At our next annual meeting at Mayapur all complaints and counter complaints will be heard in the presence of all GBC and I will also be present. In the meantime work peacefully without disturbing the situation.

"In Bengal there is a proverb that even if there are some dead metal utensils but when they are together they make so much noise, so what to speak of living utensils. So this is natural, but since we are all pledged to work for Krsna, we should follow the principle of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu; trnad api... This is Vaisnavism. So my request is do not be agitated. Let us do our duty honestly. Krsna will give us the intelligence to do everything nicely.

"Europeans and Americans are very agitative, but since we have all taken pledge to the service of Krsna we have to change this habit for the peaceful service of Krsna." (Ramesvara, 9/15/74)

Note: "Noisy living utensils" do not qualify as gurus. Ramesvara is still so agitated that he now has all sorts of nervous disorders, including serious ulcers. His nickname has become Rage-esvara. It is also well known that Rage-esvara is very fond of going to movies, especially science fiction movies. He was recently seen standing in the line for the movie "Dune" and it is said he has seen "Star Wars" five times. Of course many devotees, having been forced out of their father's temples, go to movies nowadays for lack of any kind of an organized society to take shelter within. A man wishing to take the responsibility of guru, however, should not be interested in such mundane things. Prabhupada was lenient with the congregational devotees, especially householders, but the leaders he insisted be exemplary.

"The future hope of solid standing of our mission is on the proper management of our governing body. Now we are increasing in volume. The area of our activity is expanding. Under the circumstances, if our management goes on nicely to maintain our prestige and good name, that will be our success. Such status quo can be maintained only on our being freed from any kind of sense gratifying attitude, because pure devotional service means: 'anyabhilasita sunyam,' or without any other desire than to satisfy Krishna." (Bhagavandasa, 2/16/71)

Note: The GBC's duty is supposed to be to make sure the purest standards are being followed by everyone, especially themselves. That's all. The householders will naturally be on all different levels of austerity, as stated in the next letter, but the leaders have to be purely following. If the leaders themselves are agitated sannyasis with no real freedom from desires for household fife, then how can they lead a community of householders? Some of these sannyasi leaders, the homosexuals especially, haven't the faintest idea of what a healthy Krsna conscious community is. Therefore, they cannot possibly help the householders. On the contrary, they are very expert at creating disturbances amongst them. In normal circumstances, sannyasa is a graduation from householder life, not something to accept if you are too irresponsible to be a householder. This is all clearly explained in Chapter 9.

"So far Dayananda, I have no objection if the grihastas live outside and earn money, but I do not want them to leave. The strict temple procedure is only for those who live in the temple. Grihastas should live outside, and they cannot follow strictly everything, but why they should give up altogether their devotional procedures? So many big stalwart devotees are leaving, why is this? Advaita, Uddhava, Krsnadasa, and now our Dayananda and Nandarani. I have sent them each one letter, so if you find them, you may deliver them my letters. This is not at all good if our big devotees fall down so easily and go away. Try to save them." (Karandhar, 7/14/72)

Note: This is called expanding to wider and wider circles as Prabhupada wanted. It is not necessary that everyone who is interested in Krsna consciousness be expected to "follow strictly everything." ISKCON's current leaders are very casual about their own tendencies, but if the "common, insignificant devotees" break a regulative principle or two occasionally, then they are quick to castigate such devotees, even to the point of destroying their families. Such leaders who have this tendency to destroy families, and thus create varnasankara should be utterly rejected. In some circumstances, when the destruction is deliberate, execution is justified in sastra. (BG, 1.36)

"I have also received the enclosed pictures of the proposed house. I am thinking that you are a very sincere devotee. I am remembering that during my recent visit there in Australia how during the kirtan you were seeing to my personal and not letting anybody come forward and still leading the kirtan. When you begin the chanting, everybody becomes captivated, and you can go on without stopping. I feel happy that even after my departure, things will go on. I am happy that I have got so many sincere devotees who will carry on. That is my happiness." (Madhudvisa, 9/18/74)

Note: According to this letter, Madhudvisa should be appointed a guru. After all, Prabhupada is saying here that, after he leaves, Madhudvisa will carry on with the mission. The point is, devotees may receive very encouraging letters from Srila Prabhupada, but it does not insure that they will continue on the straight-and-narrow path. We do not question Madhudvisa's faith. He is a devotee. But one can lose staunch sincerity despite the best encouragement, and where it has happened the worst is with those who pose and impose themselves upon the innocent devotees.

"The Miami situation is a great discredit for us because we have made such a bad impression on the neighbors that they have had us )kicked out. This is because of nasty management. Rupanuga was the GBC, and now you are, why it cannot be made clean? Avirama has proved his poor management, so he must be replaced... One thing is though, if the management continues to be so nasty, then that place will also be ruined. Management must be done very nicely otherwise it is useless." (Satsvarupa, 6/4/75)

"Now by the grace of Krishna we have got sufficient properties all over the world, so there cannot be any diplomacy or conspiracy by any sane man. All these properties and opulences, whatever we have got, this will not go with me when I go away from this world. It will remain here. I am training some of my experienced disciples how to manage after my departure. So if instead of taking th etraining if in my life time you people say I am the Lord of all I survey, that is dangerous conspiracy." (Karandhar, 10/8/74)

Conclusion: From these letters it is clear that Prabhupada was not very pleased with the GBC. He just wanted to retire to his translating and not have to deal with them. But then "Tamala would fly 10,000 miles to lodge a complaint against Jayatirtha." So what could he do? He had given us plenty of books, lectures, and letters, and he knew that if just one sincere soul would actually read them, then everything would go on. So he decided to leave.

Sane men do not engage in diplomacy and conspiracy. The pull of opulences and properties is illusory. No one can keep the control forever. It was not that simply some small section of devotees was trained by Srila Prabhupada. The training was open to everyone and still is. In Srila Prabhupada's personal presence, those "top men" he hoped to train instead became enwrapped in personal ambition. They have been thinking, for some time now, that they are the Lord of all they survey. This GBC has become a Gang of Blasphemous Conspirators. It is a very dangerous conspiracy. The Krsna consciousness movement, as established by Srila Prabhupada, is vital for the upliftment of the entire world. Now it has become almost completely spoiled by the GBC and particularly the guru sub-section. Of course they required help and so there are many fools keeping the thing propped up. And many innocent people, because of their ignorance, are also allowing this conspiracy to stay in power. We can only pray to Lord Sri Krsna, and to the real guru parampara, that some sincere disciples of Srila Prabhupada will intently read these letters, as presented above, and, without prejudice, recognize the legitimacy of our explanations concerning them. Then the duty becomes obvious.

Comments, inquiries, or donations toward this book, of which this is a rough advance copy, may be sent to: Steve Bryant (Sulocana dasa), 2124 Kittredge #32, Berkeley, CA 94794. Thank you.

CHAPTER THREE

CHEAP GURUS, CHEAP DISCIPLES

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL MASTER

"The first thing, I warn Acyutananda, do not try to initiate. You are not in a proper position now to initiate anyone... Don't be allured by such Maya. I am training you all to become future Spiritual Masters, but do not be in a hurry... You don't be attracted by such cheap disciples immediately. One has to rise gradually by service... These services are most important. Don't be allured by cheap disciples. Go on steadfastly to render service first. If you immediately become Guru, then the service activities will be stopped; and as there are many cheap gurus and cheap disciples, without any substantial knowledge, and manufacturing new sampradayas, and with service activities stopped, and all spiritual progress stopped up. You have already mentioned one such non-bonafide sampradaya, Jaya Sri Sampradaya. So let me know immediately what you are going to do, in respect to my above three important businesses entrusted to you..." (Acyutananda, 8/21/68)

Note: Of course ISKCON's "gurus" say: "We were not in a hurry; we waited until six months after Prabhupada's departure to officially declare ourselves worshipable spiritual masters." It takes eight years to earn a license to pug teeth or practice medicine-but getting a throne in ISKCON less than that. Maybe that could be advertised. It could attract a huge following, which is the verification of a bona fide movement. Right?

"As for your next question: 'Can only a few pure devotees deliver others?' Anyone, if he is pure devotee he can deliver others, he can become spiritual master. But unless he is on that platform he should not attempt it. Then both of them will go to hell, like blind men leading the blind." (Tusta Krishna, 12/14/72)

Note: Pure devotees of Krsna are not a dime-a-dozen as in ISKCON today. Even the madhyama status of devotee is difficult to attain. The topmost platform of pure devotee generally takes a lifetime of sincere, humble, and serious hard work, and only one among thousands achieves it. (BG, 7.3) Prabhupada was a pure devoteefrombirthbuthesettheexampleforusbywaitingelevenyearsbeforetakingfonnalinitiation. Why today this impatience? Initiation is a serious matter and not something one does whimsically. No sane person rushes into such a commitment. Chant, study, and serve Prabhupada through his books with a competent, humble devotee. Then you are safe. Krsna will personally send a pure devotee when the sincere seeker is ready. Getting a bona fide guru is not a process of seeking outside oneself. It is an internal process of purifying one's motive. Then the guru will appear just as Narada appeared to Dhruva in the forest. The only endeavor required is trying to become sincere.

In the broad sense, very little changed when Prabhupada left the planet. He had long since placed the fate of his movement in the hands of his books. More and more he saw that his leaders were not following them or even reading them. The GBC was out of hand."What can I do?" Some of them could hardly wait to divide up the pie and start being worshipped.

"Yes, I am so glad that your center is doing so well and all the devotees are now appreciating the presence of their Spiritual Master by following His instructions although He is no longer physically present; this is the right spirit." (Karandhara, 9/13/70)

Note: Adherence to the guru's instructions is the most important measure of the legitimacy of the devotees.

"Regarding the action of Bon Maharaja: We shall discuss the matter when we meet. For the present, you may know that this gentleman is very much materially ambitious. He wants to utilize Krsna consciousness for his material name and fame. Sometimes he greatly offended our Guru Maharaja, and it so happened that at the last stage, practically Guru Maharaja rejected him. And the result, we can find that instead of becoming a great preacher of Krsna consciousness this gentleman has become artificially a head of a mundane institution. To become a very important man in the mundane estimation is not success in Krsna consciousness... On the whole, you may know that he is not a liberated person, and therefore, he cannot initiate any person to Krsna consciousness. It requires special spiritual benediction from higher authorities.

"The statements of Thakura Bhaktivinode are as good as scripture because he is liberated person. Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord; but anyone who follows the principles of such ever-liberated persons is as good as one in the above mentioned group... A person who is liberated acharya and guru cannot commit any mistake, but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession..." (Janardana, 4/26/68)

Note: This is one main basis of the ISKCON "gurus.. claim to acarya-ship. It is an undeniable truth that if someone is strictly following his guru, then he may act as guru himself. But here Prabhupada uses the word I/act." It clearly implies that, in the absence of a liberated acarya, a devotee on the neophyte platform, who, by definition, is strictly following the principles of the ever-liberated acarya, can "act" as the via medium of the parampara. He may be considered a pure devotee, but not a liberated pure devotee. He is on the level mentioned above. Such an "acting" guru is not beyond falling down and so must be very careful to strictly follow the real pure devotees instructions, not try and imitate him. He must not concoct anything. He must five very humbly and not allow pompous worship of himself, for that is reserved for those who are actually in complete touch with the Supreme. His followers must clearly understand that their "acting"-guru is a completely pure devotee, and that he can only advance so far under such limited guidance. (NOI, 6) Prabhupada recommends that if one is serious, he should not take initiation from anyone but the topmost pure devotee. And, solidifying that instruction, he recommends that unless one is such a topmost devotee, he should remain simple and humble and preach to friends and relatives at home (Cc. Mad, 7.130). So, in light of these instructions, a sincere devotee "acting" as guru is really a siksa-guru and should be respected as such. Not a diksa-guru. The purpose of this book is to make it clear that ISKCON's "appointed gurus," who are being worshipped as though they were uttama-adhikaris, are not strictly following Prabhupada's instructions and so they are not qualified to "act" as acarya or siksa-guru or any such thing. They constantly commit serious mistakes and offenses because they are neither liberated nor humble.

Only one who is very strictly practicing himself can be considered as good as the ever-liberated devotees. But if he stops strictly following the basic principles of austerity and humility, then he falls down immediately. Then all one's service to him is in vain. This is common sense and can be illustrated from the following example.

If one is going to law school, it is understood that he is going to be a lawyer in due course of time. Young women tend to loiter around the law school campuses to attract such a potentially rich husband. He is not rich yet, but they know it is just a matter of time before he will be rich. In the absolute sense, if he is strictly on the path, he is already rich. It is only a small matter of time that separates, and time is relative. But, if in the meantime, the young girls distract him by their feminine, alluring behavior, and he consequently gets absorbed in such pleasures, thereby neglecting his studies, then he is not going to be a lawyer or a rich man. The foolish girl who marries him will be poor for her whole life.

So, in this exact same way, if one finds a devotee who is very serious about Krsna consciousness, then such a seeker may assume that that devotee is going to be a topmost pure devotee in due course of time. In this way, he may be considered "as good as the ever-liberated group." You should offer him obeisances and take guidance from him. But, because he is not fully liberated, he cannot be pompously worshipped, or he will get carried away. He has to be very humble so that he can make further advancement. Srila Prabhupada says: "One should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or mahabhagavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation he will eventually become degraded." (NOD, 6)

In other words, if he imitates the position of a completely liberated soul immediately by accepting the service and worship which is reserved for the uttama-adhikari, he deviates. A deviator is guaranteed to fall down. Some of these ISKCON "gurus" may have been strictly following at one point; some of them never followed strictly. Some of them may have possessed some humility; some never did. But now all these men have changed their face and are heading straight downhill. Some have gone completely insane, as the recent Harikesh scandal has revealed.

So, for the aspiring devotee, it is better to continue to study and follow Prabhupada's teachings sincerely. Then, later, when Krsna sends him to you, take initiation from a liberated devotee. There is no rush. This rush consciousness was created by the "GBC". Nowhere in Vedic literature is such a concept preached. Guru, sastra, sadhu, is the formula. Guru is only one of the three. We have sastra-Prabhupada's books. We have sadhu-the sincere humble devotees. All we don't have at present is guru. So we must wait some tune. Krsna will not neglect any sincere seeker."Guru Krsna Prasad." Krsna is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord's mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide Spiritual Master" (Mad, 19.151). That is the essence of this very important letter. If anyone disagrees, then let them state their position. We shall debate it.

"To answer your last point, one who teaches can be treated as Spiritual Master. It is not that after we become initiated we become perfect. No. It requires teaching. So if we take instruction from them, all senior Godbrothers may be treated as guru, there is no harm. Actually you have only one Spiritual Master who initiates you, just as you have only one father. But every Vaishnava should be treated as prabhu, master, higher than me, and in this sense, if I learn from him, he may be regarded as guru. It is not that I disobey my real Spiritual Master and call someone else as Spiritual Master. That is wrong. It is only that I can call Spiritual Master someone who is teaching me purely what my initiating Spiritual Master has taught. Do you get the sense?" (Sri Galim, 11/30/71)

Note: Here again Prabhupada is making the clear distinction between the "real Spiritual Master" and one who "may be regarded as guru." There is only one guru and that is the uttama-adhikari. That is still Srila Prabhupada. Anyone else, appointed or not, if he is strictly following Srila Prabhupada, he may be "regarded as guru" but not worshipped as though he were an uttama-adhikari unless he actually has been benedicted in that way. We have been told specifically by Sriman Rohini Kumar Swami that Srila Prabhupada informed his movement that there would be no more uttama-adhikari acaryas in the immediate aftermath of his disappearance (Conversation, NY, 1968). From practical experience, we have all good reason to believe that this remains so.

"I understand that one devotee is engaged as Taittireya's personal servant. No devotee can be engaged as personal servant in this way. Otherwise everyone will do this.

"From Madhavananda I have heard that there is some worship of yourself by the other devotees. Of course, it is proper to offer obeisances to a Vaishnava, but not in the presence of the spiritual master, it will come to that state, but now wait. Otherwise, it will create factions." (Hamsadutta, 10/1/74)

Note: Prabhupada is not saying here that after his departure anyone and everyone should be worshipped no matter how bogus they are. He is indicating that his disciples will no doubt start their own temples, etc. This is not only expected by Prabhupada, but it is Prabhupada's order. The sons naturally become fathers. Inevitably some devotees will not follow so strictly and will form factions. Others will more purely represent Srila Prabhupada. The GBC's job was not to control the different disciples' preaching projects but to make sure the ones not representing Prabhupada purely are not called ISKCON. But before the GBC can do their job, they themselves must know what it means to represent Prabhupada. Semen-drinking "gurus" do not represent Srila Prabhupada, and ff anyone says that they do...

"I am enclosing herewith a letter from Krishna devi which speaks for itself. Please reply her that she cannot take charge of one of our centers because she has violated the regulations of our society. In spite of having her duly married husband, she indulged in illicit sex life, so this is willful violation of our rules and regulations. So far her Krsna conscious activities are concerned, she can execute nicely wherever she lives, and I have all blessings for her, because the door of Krsna consciousness is open for everyone, but when one has to take charge of a center, he has to become completely above suspicion." (Brahmananda, 3/12/68)

Note: From this letter it is clear that none of the current "gurus" are qualified to be a temple president, what to speak of being a GBC or "Guru," because they are not in any way, shape, or form above suspicion. The misbehavior has been blatant and the suspicion is intractable because of it.

"In your letter you have made it clear that you are finding some difficulty with sex desire and have asked guidance from me to instruct you how to handle this problem of the material body.

"First of all I think you should know that such problems are not very unnatural because in the body the conditioned soul is very prone to failure. But also we must remember that such failure will not discourage us from executing the most important mission of our life, to become fully in Krsna consciousness. So whatever falldown has been, you should be regretful about it, but it is not so serious nor is it a permanent disqualification. But you must try to check yourself from such artificial things and take full shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna..." (Upendra, 12/9/68)

Note: Many of today's "gurus" use concessions like this one to justify their debauched behavior. They say that even though they commit the most abominable actions, they are saintly because they are rightly situated. Were they humble, and not posing as uttama-adhikaris, that may well be true. But a guru cannot use such verses as an excuse. A guru must be exemplary. What they are really doing is called committing offenses on the strength of chanting the Holy Name. In many places Prabhupada refers to ones weaknesses and minor falldowns as "a child kicking in the womb." He never really condemned such failure-prone children, but he never said that such pups could pose as pure devotees, either uttama or madhyama.(See Appendix 22, Part Two, for an in-depth analysis of this syndrome.)

"Simply because there is no stock of books, we can do anything whimsically??? Is this logic? Gita is not spoken in Vrindavana, it is spoken on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, but this is Vrindavana picture. That chariot driven by 4 horses, that is the real Kurukshetra picture. It is not that because there is no stock we can do whimsically as we like and lose the idea, that is rasa bhasa. Because there is no bread so you will take stone??? The front picture is most important thing and you have changed it." (Bhargava, 5/29/76)

Note: This analogy is very appropriate to the "guru-issue" in ISKCON. So they now think that simply because there are no pure devotees around we can do anything whimsically??? Is this logic? Pure devotees are not appointed, they are self-manifesting, but these men have appointed them. Pure devotees are seen by their having no material desire, they have all good qualities, and they never deviate from the authority of Guru, sastra, sadhu; that is the way to recognize a pure devotee. It is not that because there are no devotees around with these qualities that we can do whimsically as we like and lose the idea of what a guru is. That will pollute everything. Because there is no bread, you will take stone to eat??? There are no pure devotees, so everyone is worshipping any Tom, Dick, or Harry who's up on an opulent seat??? The qualifications for being a guru are the most important thing. But they have changed them.

"My advice is always chant l6 rounds minimum and follow the fou rregulative principles. All of my disciples must agree on this point, otherwise they are not my disciples. Let one live anywhere,but stick to the principles. Disagreements will continue in this material world. So one may live in a suitable place, but one must follow these five principles. My disciples must follow these five principles living either in heaven or hell." (Raja-Laksmi-dasi, 2/17/76)

Note: It goes without saying that if one who took formal initiation is not following strictly, and is therefore not a disciple, then one who did not take formal initiation, but is following strictly, is a disciple. You can live anywhere, but to be a disciple of Prabhupada, here are the qualifications. There are real disciples of Prabhupada all over the world who may have never been to a temple, but have gotten hold of a book and are following. Prabhupada says here that one may even be living in hell, but, if he is following, he is a disciple. The question of whether or not one needs a physically present guru to go back to Godhead is not the ultra crucial question. Guru is one. This means that if one follows Prabhupada's instructions strictly, then Krsna will send him a bona fide guru in due course of time. That bona fide guru is also non-different from Srila Prabhupada. So in that sense, while following Prabhupada's instructions, one is automatically linked up with Prabhupada and the whole parampara system. That is made clear from letters shortly following.

"You have asked 'How serious would it be for me if I should miss the golden opportunity to become your initiated disciple?' You should know that the value of accepting a bona fide spiritual master is more than we can calculate. It is not a mere formality. Of course everyone is encouraged to chant Hare Krishna, but until one gives up sinful activities and become determined to serve Krishna through His representative, then the firm fixing up of devotional service will not take hold, and there is every chance that one will fall prey to all sorts of material desires and have to come back again in the next life, and one cannot guarantee that he will be born in the form of life he may desire.

"I know you have been attending our temple in Boston sometimes, and that you wish to be a sincere devotee of Krishna. So go on faithfully with your chanting and pray to Krishna to give you strength for advancing in His service. It is a fact, however, that we must become free of all material desire before going back to Godhead, and this can only be achieved by following the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master." (2/12/74)

"It is a basic principle that one must accept a bonafide spiritual master in order to achieve the highest perfection of life, love of God. I thank all of you very much for accepting me as your spiritual master, and I promise that I will take you back to home, back to Godhead. I ask you all to promise me to always chant at least 1 6 rounds. Follow the regulative principles, read our books and try to preach this Krsna consciousness movement all over the world. So far my qualifications are concerned, I am simply trying to carry out the order of my Guru Maharaja." (Nityananda, 11/12/71)

Note: In the above three letters, the real qualifications for being a disciple are spelled out. Prabhupada never stressed in any place, in letter, book, or lecture, the absolute necessity of physical diksa. He stressed the instructions. Otherwise why would he be so concerned with writing his books? He knew he wouldn't be physically around much longer. He certainly knew his disciples were not qualified to become gurus yet. The fact is, Prabhupada is still as much with us as ever, actually more so. Before Prabhupada left the planet, devotees were under the illusion that Prabhupada was present where he was living. How the devotees are able to appreciate Prabhupada the way Prabhupada wanted to be appreciated, in his instructions. He is factually there in his books. Anyone who takes up the books wholeheartedly is a disciple of Prabhupada, whether he ever saw Prabhupada or not. If anyone asks such a person: "Who is your guru?" he can say in all honesty, "My guru is His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada because I have accepted his instructions as my life and soul." This point is clear from the following letters.

If such a devotee meets a more elevated disciple of Srila Prabhupada and develops full confidence that that higher devotee truly represents Srila Prabhupada, such a sincere seeker may elect to move close to Srila Prabhupada through the subjective instructions of such a manifest guru in Srila Prabhupada's line.

"Regarding your question about the disciplic succession coming down from Arjuna, it is just like I have got may disciples, so in the future these many disciples may have many branches of disciplic succession. So in one line of disciples we may not see another name coming from a different line. But this does not mean that person whose name does not appear was not in the disciplic succession... Another point is that disciplic succession does not mean one has to be directly a disciple of a particular person. The conclusions which we have tried to explain in our Bhagavad-gita are the same as those conclusions of Arjuna. Arjuna accepted Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we also accept the same truth under the disciplic succession of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Things equal to the same thing are equal to one another. This is an axiomatic truth..." (Kirtanananda, 1/25/69)

Note: So if anyone is preaching and following the exact same thing, then he is a bona fide disciple in the disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya and Prabhupada, whether he is a direct disciple or not. This is again stated even more clearly below:

"Regarding the disciplic succession coming from Arjuna, disciplic succession does not always mean that one has to be initiated officially. Disciplic succession means to accept the disciplic conclusion." (Dinesh, 10/31/69)

Note: This is the key letter. It should be memorized by anyone wishing to be a disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Our only warning in this connection is that this liberal opportunity is only applicable if a true disciple is understanding the message properly and acting in accordance with the message, free from any and all motivated rationalizations. This is no easy task. Naturally such a person should be well-versed in scripture to substantiate his position in the parampara.

"So far personal association with the Guru is concerned, I was only with my Guru Maharaja four or five times, but I have never felt any separation. I have never left his association, not even for a moment, because I am following his instructions. There are some of my Godbrothers here in India who had constant personal association with Guru Maharaja, but who are neglecting his orders. This is just like the bug who is sitting on the lap of the king. He may be very puffed up by his position, but all he can succeed in doing is biting the king. Personal association is not so important as association through service." (Satadhanya, 2/20/72)

Note: We can't think of any more appropriate analogy than this to describe the position of ISKCON's current "gurus." They often say that they are the most advanced devotees, because they had the most personal association with Prabhupada. But here we can see that such a consideration is not only meaningless, but often becomes a disqualification. Chanakya Pandit warns that one should not live too close to a woman, the king, the fire, or the master (guru). Neither should one live too far away, for then he doesn't get the benefit. He recommends one deal with them in the middle way. Similarly, connection with the blazing sun can work in different ways due to different connections. The sun can give us warmth and health as it shines on our head, yet the same sun can bum the soles of our feet as we walk on the beach. Association with the ever-liberated saktyavesha-avatara is a razor's edge. It can give the highest benedictions, but if the personal secretaries, servants, and "big" devotees become familiar with the spiritual master, that close association degrades them.

"Unless there is connection with a bonafide spiritual master, coming in the line of disciplic succession, there is no Possibility of making progress in spiritual life. So I have established ISKCON centers for the purpose of catching up the Lotus Feet of Krishna by intimate connection with the spiritual master. These are my authorized centers for that purpose. You say that whatever I instruct you, you will carry out, so again my instruction is that you abandon this independent scheme and join your good Godbrothers and sisters at some one of our ISKCON centers." (Friends, 5/23/72)

Note: In many letters, including one quoted earlier, Prabhupada says one can live anywhere but just follow the principles. In this letter, however, it appears that living in an ISKCON temple is absolutely necessary. Is this a contradiction? One consideration is that this letter was written in May 1972. That is still a little early. In later years, as the politics increased, and purity decreased, Prabhupada did not stress moving into a temple as much. Instead he emphasized following the instructions wherever one may be. In the Caitanya-caritamrta Prabhupada says: "If one thinks that there are many pseudo-devotees or nondevotees in the Krsna consciousness society, one can keep direct company with the Spiritual Master, if there is any doubt." (Mad 7, p.340). Reading Srila Prabhupada's books, listening to Srila Prabhupada's tapes, serving Srila Prabhupada's desires, meditation on the form of Srila Prabhupada, and following Srila Prabhupada's many instructions are all non-different from direct association with Srila Prabhupada. In many cases, Prabhupada actually asked devotees to come and live with him personally when they were in difficulty with the "leaders." This instruction also means taking shelter of Prabhupada's books independently, since they are non-different. We are never obliged to enter into any so-called temple in which serious deviations are incorporated in either the philosophy or management. Never.

"That there have been no newly initiated devotees from Japan is all right. It doesn't matter whether they are initiated or not. If they are coming in large number, that is the success of our mission. We are not after making initiated members very many but our concern is that people understand this philosophy in wider circles. Initiated members are for managing the temples and preaching work, but our program is to invite people to our feasts, let them hear our philosophy and dance and chant. That is the basic principle of our philosophy in preaching work." (Sudama, 4/11/71)

Note: This letter is very clear and difficult to misinterpret. The important thing is understanding the philosophy and acting on it. All these people who are hearing the philosophy and dancing and chanting have good opportunity to go back to Godhead, not those who took "initiation" but change the instructions. In an old Back to Godhead article Prabhupada says: "Initiation is a formality. If you are serious, that is real initiation. If you have understood this Krsna philosophy and if you have decided that you will take Krsna consciousness seriously and preach the philosophy to others, that is your initiation. My touch is simply a formality. It is your determination. That is initiation."

"The problem that your followers want to accept you as guide in spiritual matters is not objectionable if they are sincere. If they have sincere faith in you, it may not be disturbed, rather it can be fully utilized. My main purpose is to propagate the teachings of Lord Caitanya or Krsna consciousness. I am not after recruiting some disciples; but for preaching work we want some assistants and if somebody offers voluntarily his service it is welcome. So the best thing will be that you become a regular disciple of me and you can teach your followers in the same principles." (Sai Siddha Svarupananda, 1/8/71)

Note: This letter farther qualifies the last one. It is not initiating people that matters but getting people to follow the instructions, whether coming directly from Prabhupada, from his books, or from a disciple who is preaching the exact same thing. Guru, Sastra, Sadhu. Here Prabhupada is recommending that Siddha Svarupa become a fixed-up disciple. As long as he preaches the exact same thing, then his followers will go back to Godhead, if they are sincere. Prabhupada was not interested in owning many temples and controlling millions of disciples in order to enjoy "nice eating and sleeping" like so many of his Godbrothers were doing. His vision was very broad. He wanted to preach to the whole world with everyone chanting Hare Krsna and living like human beings. As explained in Rohini Kumar Swami's paper (consult Appendix 8), Prabhupada was a great acarya, like Ramanujacarya or Madhavacarya. He appeared to set the devotional standards for the entire age, according to time and circumstances. Pure devotees of the caliber of Srila Prabhupada are very rare. We cannot overestimate the gravity of offending Prabhupada as ISKCON is now doing.

"The eternal bond between disciple and spiritual master begins from the first day he hears. just like my Spiritual Master. In 1922 he said in our first meeting, 'You are educated boys, why don't you preach this cult.' That was the beginning, now it is coming to fact. Therefore the relationship began from that day.

"If you think of me and work for me, then I am in your heart. If you love somebody he is in your heart. It is common thing, everyone understands it. If I hate somebody or if I love somebody he is also in my heart..." (Jadurani, 9/4/72)

Note: The spiritual master accepts the sinful reactions of the sincere disciple. If one is not sincere, then he is not a disciple. Sincere disciple means strictly and humbly following the instructions of the spiritual master. As Prabhupada said earlier, "It is not simply a formality." The spiritual master accepts the sincere and humble service of the disciple. Out of compassion, he absorbs the disciple's sinful reactions. This is not a cheap trick or something one can buy, but a natural occurrence when one humbly serves another. Chanakya Pandit says: "The king suffers the sins of the state, the priest suffers the sins of the king, the guru suffers the sins of his wife." So if one humbly serves Prabhupada's instructions, always praying for Krsna's mercy to descend in the form of His bona fide representative, then he is creating a situation whereby Krsna will send the pure devotee to help that sincere soul. It's the intense prayer of the aspiring devotee that forces Krsna to send a bona fide guru. Nothing else. This is the formula.

A neophyte can accept service and bad kanna for awhile. His hmits are very restricted. If he goes beyond them, he will fall down. He simply doesn't have the purity to absorb unlimited sinful reactions. When this "guru" fags down, the disciple is back on his own. AH that time and service becomes wasted and he has to start over again, except that he may be clouded with so many misconceptions and bad experiences picked up during his entanglement in the bogus spiritual master/disciple business. lf we are sincere, but need help, we should best approach a pure devotee who can really help us. In the meantime, we should take instruction from any senior devotee who is strictly following. Krsna will send the spiritual master at just the right moment. Read how He sent Narada Muni to Dhruva Maharaja in the forest.

"Yes, I want that you give me that facility to write my books, but I can attend some meetings of important people and elites. You have taken the right view of the importance of my books. Books will always remain. That was the view of my Guru Maharaja, and I also have taken it. Therefore I started my movement with my books. And we shall be able to maintain everything with the sales of the books. The temples will be maintained by the book sales, and if there are no more temples, then the books shall remain." (Hamsadutta, 11/8/73)

Note: Here also it is clear that whether or not "ISKCON" remains as we know it, or if it takes an unmanifest form for some time, that doesn't matter. As long as the books remain, people will be able to go back to Godhead by reading and following them. But this will not take place if the books are changed in the form of additions, and unauthorized editing. And, alarmingly, this process has also been put into gear by the current conspirators.

Prabhupada has recently said, "I know those that are sane, they will accept. No one is distributing so much quantity of religious books. Therefore I challenge all these fools and rascals...... After eighty years no one can expect to live long. My life is almost ended, it is ended. So you have to carry on. And these books will do everything...... Simply by bluffing words, these bogus gurus and yogis are nothing. But when the people read our books, then they will get good opinion." (2/18/76)

Note: It is the books that will save this movement, not the bluff of the GBC. The fact is that these men have not yet presented an authorized and logical philosophical basis for their "guru" imposition. So the above letter ironically included them.

"Regarding the Sannyasis, they should be independent. Why they should take help from you? They are strong men, so they should manage on their own strength. That is the test of their effective preaching work." (Rupanuga, 11/13/70)

Note: What is the test of one's preaching work? These ISKCON "gurus" have built very little on their own. They simply exploited Srila Prabhupada's legacy and unauthorizedly usurped his properties and temples. They tried, with mixed success, to usurp his devotees too. They didn't establish it all on their own. They had some ability to imitate and cut profile. They should have gone out on their own, independently, and preached. They could have attempted to establish their own centers on the power of their own charisma. If they were actually pure, they would have attracted a following. Not that everyone else sets them up on a throne and says, "Look, there is a pure devotee. Can't you see by his opulence. He must be pure! Right?"

We were in Bombay right after the "appointment," and personally noticed how Tamala couldn't attract the Indians to follow him. Yet he managed to spend a lot of Prabhupada's money fixing up a luxury suite for himself in Prabhupada's established temple.

"I am very sorry to inform you that the London management is not going on nicely. I have received so many unfavorable reports and the most astonishing report is that our small van which you had purchased in my presence has been taken away by the proprietor on account of payments not being made properly. So we have lost all the money that we have already paid." (Mukunda, 3/17/71)

Note: This concept has a relevance to today's catastrophe. We are an very sorry to see that the management has not been going on nicely. The most astonishing report is that almost an of Srila Prabhupada's disciples have left in disgust. The nasty managers, the GBC, have appointed "gurus" even after Prabhupada directly told them not to do this (see next letter). So now we have lost practically all of the disciples on account of this offensive behavior.

"I do not wish to discuss about activities of my Godbrothers but it is a fact they have no life for preaching work. All are satisfied with a place for residence in the name of a temple, they engage disciples to get foodstuff by transcendental devices and eat and sleep. They have no idea or brain how to broadcast the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. My Guru Maharaja used to lament many times for this reason and he thought if one man at least had understood the principle of preaching then his mission would achieve success. In the later days of my Guru Maharaja he was very disgusted. Actually he left this world earlier, otherwise he would have continued to live for more years. Still he requested his disciples to form a strong governing body for preaching the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He never recommended anyone to be acarya of the Gaudiya Math. But Sridhar Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja, and he and two others who are already dead, unnecessarily thought that there must be one acarya. If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acarya he would have mentioned. Because on the night before he passed away he talked of so many things, but never mentioned an acarya. His idea was acarya was not to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said openly you make a GBC and conduct the mission. So his idea was amongst the members of GBC, who would come out successful and self-effulgent acarya would be automatically selected. So Sridhar Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acarya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acarya even though they may be kanistha-adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acarya is being changed three times in a year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp. Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya. So it is better not to mix with my Godbrothers very intimately because instead of inspiring our students and disciples they may sometimes pollute them. This attempt was made previously by them, especially Madhava Maharaja and Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja but somehow or other I saved the situation. This is going on. We must be very careful about them and not mix with them. This is my instruction to you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are very competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful about them." (Rupanuga, 4/28/74)

Note: The Gaudiya Math deviated by centralizing all the authority on the shoulders of the great scholar named Vasudeva. They appointed one acarya who later fell down badly in Vmdavana. They were utterly embarrassed and exposed. ISKCON claims not to have done this. But actually they did the exact same thing, only in a different, roundabout way. They selected eleven "acaryas" instead of one and gave each of them a sovereign territory to rule over. Actually, the Gaudiya Math's Vasudeva was far more advanced intellectually than all these eleven men put together. ISKCON claims that they have not made the same mistake as the Gaudiya Math. They claim this is so because they have kept everything under the control of the GBC. That is a complete hoax. The only difference between ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math is that these men deviated in eleven ways instead of one. They divided up the whole world into eleven territories and they each exercise absolute control in their zones with an iron fist. The only time the GBC exercises its "authority" over them is when a "guru" gets so far out of hand that his behavior cannot be covered up anymore. Even then the GBC's power to remove him is limited as is clearly evidenced by how long Hamsadutta remained on his throne after his debauchery was exposed.

"I am sure Visvambhar Goswami is educated, and advanced in judgment and I am pleased he is not disturbed. But Dr. Kapoor can expose Purushottam Goswami about his deal with the late Puri Goswami of the Gaudiya Math. If the mystery of his acquiring 50,000 rupees of books from Puri is exposed then his so-called leadership will come to an end. He knows better than I and you can ask him about Purushottam Goswami's acquiring books from Puri-which is a mystery not yet disclosed, but every Gaudiya mission man knows the incident." (Gurudasa, 4/24/74)

Note: Here it is very clear that Visvambhar Maharaja is taking the passive stance by advising not to expose Purushottam Goswami and thereby make waves. But Srila Prabhupada is not so sentimental. He is saying that is should be done anyway. Of course, he is saying it in very gentlemanly way so as to not offend Visvambhara's sentiments, which are not bad. But they are not as realized as Prabhupada's judgment on the matter, either. In other words, Prabhupada is saying that just because Visvambhar is not disturbed, that does not mean we also have to be undisturbed about this cheating. This is a very, very important letter. It reveals the practical mood of a real preacher.

Similarly there are many "mysteries" surrounding these new "gurus" which we are not at all afraid to expose, just as Prabhupada was not afraid to expose Purushottam, Bon, Tirtha, or Sridhar, etc.

To give one very graphic example, several devotees have testified that Kirtanananda told his women to "do the needful" in regards to Jadurani's getting her head kicked in and covered in blood in the 1980 incident (full story in Chapter Ten). Does anyone think Prabhupada would have like that action? Ironically, in 196768, when Kirtanananda was venomously attacking Prabhupada and actually deserved a beating, Prabhupada told the devotees, specifically Jadurani, "Do not have him beaten but defeat him with philosophy." When these two women who beat Jadurani first went to Kirtanananda to receive permission, he also could have told them to defeat her with philosophy. However, since neither these women nor Kirtanananda could actually defeat her, he had her beaten instead. He never apologized for this. In fact, afterwards,when asked about it, he said he was pleased by it. This is an example of very sinful violence and not violence used to curtail aggression.

"Even they have changed her face, still it was not possible to hide the fact that she is old, like great grandmother. Because you are a devotee you could not tolerate the nonsense. You are a very good boy." (Gopal-Krsna, 11/28/74)

Note: Again, a real devotee cannot tolerate nonsense going on in the name of religion. A sentimental devotee, pretending to be on the uttama-adhikari platforrn, will say: "Peace brother, live and let live. Let God handle it. It's all one. Become perfect yourself before casting the stone. Let them dig their own graves. Don't make waves. Let's just get high,etc." This is all sentimental weakness. Where is Gopal Krsna now that the face of ISKCON has so dramatically changed. He is one of the "gurus" doing the chiseling, that's where he is.

"It is very good that the New York temple life is now much improved. What is very pleasing to me is that they have confronted the nonsense. They are sound devotees, otherwise they would have been carried away by this wrong propaganda." (Satsvarupa, 11/28/74)

Note: This is such an important letter. It appears that almost all of ISKCON is carried away by the wrong propaganda, but so few are willing to "confront the nonsense." How can it be that everyone is so carried away? It is one thing to be a householder with job, wife, and children etc. and not come forward to fight against this conspiracy, but what about all the sannyasis who are supposed to be the powerful, celibate men preaching our philosophy? Are they all so eager to be appointed "gurus" in a future Mayapur meeting? Or do they all fit into the category described below?

"Asvatthama was condemned by the Lord Himself, and he was treated by Arjuna just like a culprit, not like the son of a brahmana or teacher. But when he was brought before Srimati Draupadi, she, although begrieved for the murder of her sons, and although the murderer was present before her, could not withdraw the due respect generally offered to a brahmana or to the son of a brahmana. This is due to her mild nature as a woman... Asvatthama proved himself to be an unworthy son of Dronacharya or a brahmana, and for this reason he was condemned by the greatest authority, Lord Sri Krsna, and yet a mild woman could not withdraw her natural courtesy for a brahmana.

"The specific words used in this sloka are vama-svabhava, "mild and gentle by nature." A good man or woman accepts anything very easily, but a man of average intelligence does not do so. But, anyway, we should not give up our reason and discriminatory power just to be gentle. One must have good discriminatory power to judge a thing on its merit. We should not follow the mild nature of a woman and thereby accept that which is not genuine. Asvatthama may be respected by a good-natured woman, but that does not mean that he is as good as a genuine brahmana." (SB, 1.7.42)

Note: It is almost inconceivable how so many men have been ripped-off, exploited, discouraged, had their families destroyed, found out their "guru" is gay, or on drugs, or having sex with his disciples, ad nauseum, and still remain unable to recognize Asvatthama for what he is. And, astoundingly, it only requires "average intelligence" in order to see this imposition for what it is! Time to break the spell.

"There is a Sanskrit proverb; sati shatvam samacharit, and this means that if somebody's cunning, we must also become cunning. To a cunning person we must not be a simpleton. Krishna conscious devotees are expected to be very intelligent, so we have to work very intelligently to prove our advancement in Krsna consciousness." (Hamsadutta, 6/8/69)

Note: The simple-minded and honest devotees have had a hard tune comprehending how these supposedly advanced men became so enwrapped in plotting and scheming to exploit Srila Prabhupada's legacy and disciples. Now we must follow Prabhupada's instructions and be cunning ourselves if we are to survive, save, and push on Prabhupada's mission. We must try and always remember that they, the "GBC," are thinking that the Krsna consciousness movement should be "run Machiavellian." For the information of our respected readers, Machiavelli was an Italian political thinker during the time of the Renaissance. He wrote one (in)famous book called The Prince. This book contains political methodologies comparable to Chanakya's artha sastra, only exactly the opposite. It employs evil techniques for evil ends. The subtitle of this book goes, "The Man Whose Name Has Become Synonymous with Evil." Tamala Krsna used to distribute this book amongst "the leading secretaries" and insisted they study it. Bhagavan especially was keen on it. Interestingly, ISKCON Italy has purchased Machiavelli's castle in Florence for their center. We would not be at all surprised to find out Bhagavan is the reincarnation of Machiavelli.

"Regarding the matter with Purusottama dasa. You immediately go and take back whatever books of ours that he has in his possession. You may inform him that we do not require his editing, neither should he correspond with our men in Los Angeles. He is a very heinous man. He wants to become more important. Who sent him books from Los Angeles without asking me? Who has given him the books he now has? You take them back immediately. If this man comes to see me in Vrindavana, I do not wish to see him." (11/7/75)

Note: "He wants to become more important." Earlier on Prabhupada said "Has the GBC now become better than Guru Maharaja?" As such, these same words, "a heinous man," can be applied to anyone who claims they are beyond the injunctions in Prabhupada's books, as ISKCON's "gurus" claim.

"We find from the history of Mahabharata that the battle of Kurukshetra was because of the belligerent attitude of Duryodhana. So such war as it was conducted under the advice of Lord Krishna is not bad, but war declared and executed by demonic politicians is certainly very bad. A Krsna conscious person like Arjuna is not inclined to the activities of warfare, but when there is a necessity for peace in the world to educate men to become Krsna conscious, a Krsna conscious person does not lag behind." (Bibhavati, 6/12/69)

Note: Naturally, most of the devotees in ISKCON are not inclined, for one reason or another, to the activities of warfare. But if we want to call ourselves disciples of Srila Prabhupada, we must not "lag behind." We must fight for what is right, or we should "decide to die rather than not execute Prabhupada's mission properly." (SB, 4.28.48)

"According to Vedic injunctions, there are six kinds of aggressors: (1) A poison giver, (2) One who sets fire to the house, (3) One who attacks with deadly weapons, (4) One who plunders riches, (5) One who occupies another's land, and (6) One who kidnaps a wife. Such aggressors are at once to be killed, and no sin is incurred by killing such aggressors. Such killing of aggressors is quite befitting for any ordinary man, but Arjuna was not an ordinary person. He was saintly by character, and therefore he wanted to deal with them in saintliness. This kind of saintliness, however, is not for a ksatriya. Although a responsible man in the administration of a state is required to be saintly, he should not be cowardly. (BG, 1.36)

Note: Many devotees within "ISKCON" have been attacked with deadly weapons. Indeed, Chakraddhari was murdered at New Vmdavana by Daruka and Tirtha with the help and inspiration of the Temple treasurer, Dulal Chandra. This incident is well-known to all at New Vmdavana, so much so that Kuladri was having to make frequent announcements to the devotees during Prasadam: "If the police come and ask any questions regarding Chakraddhari, you don't know anything." We personally heard this said. And, of course, many devotees have had their wives stolen from them by ISKCON's sexyasis. This also merits the death penalty. There are literally thousands of examples of these aggressions that it is not possible to do justice in relation to any of them in this document. Eventually, however, they will all be heard and the guilty parties punished, either by us, or by Yamaraja.

The Impersonal Idea of the Origin of the Soul

(Taken from Sridhar Maharaja's book, Search for Krishna)

"There are two classes of souls, jivas, who come into this world. One class comes from the spiritual Vaikuntha planets for the necessity of nitya-lila, the eternal pastimes of Krsna. Another comes by constitutional necessity.

"The Brahmajyoti, the non-differentiated marginal plane, is the source of infinite jiva souls, atomic spiritual particles of non-differentiated character. The rays of the Lord's transcendental body are known as the brahmajyoti, and a pencil of a ray of the brahmajyoti is the jiva. The jiva soul is an atom in that effulgence, and the brahmajyoti is a product of an infinite number of jiva atoms.

"Generally, souls emanate from the brahmajyoti which is living and growing. Within the brahmajyoti, their equilibrium is somehow disturbed and movement begins. From non-differentiation, differentiation begins. From a plain sheet of uniform consciousness, individual conscious units grow. And because the jiva is conscious it is endowed with free will. So, from the marginal position they choose either the side of exploitation or the side of dedication... The fallen souls come from the marginal position within the brahmajyoti, and not from Vaikuntha.

"In the brahmajyoti, we are equipoised in the marginal potency as an infinite number of pinpoints of spiritual rays, electrons of consciousness. Consciousness means endowed with free will, for without free will, no consciousness can be conceived. An atomic pinpoint of consciousness has very meager free will, and by misuse of their free will, some jivas have taken their chance in the material world. They refused to submit to the supreme authority. They wanted to dominate. So with this germinal idea of domination, the jiva enters into the world of exploitation... Upon retiring from the world of exploitation, the soul may return to his former position in the brahmajyoti as spirit. But, if the soul has gathered the tendency of dedication through his previous devotional activities, he does not stop there; he pierces through the brahmajyoti and goes towards Vaikuntha...

"The responsibility is with the soul, otherwise, the Lord would be responsible for his distressed condition. But Krsna says that the soul's innate free will is responsible for his entanglement in the material world. The soul is conscious, and is atomic, his free will is imperfect and vulnerable. The result of that free choice is that some are coming into the material world, and some are going to the spiritual world."

But Srila Prabhupada says:

"As living spiritual souls we are all originally Krsna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter from time immemorial, our consciousness has now become polluted by the material atmosphere." (Original Hare Krsna album)

"As soon as we try to become Lord, immediately we are covered by Maya. Formerly, we were with Krsna in His lila or sport. But this covering of Maya may be of very, very, very, very long duration-therefore, many creations are coming and going. Due to this long period of time, it is sometimes said that we are ever-conditioned. But this long duration of time becomes very insignificant when one actually comes to Krsna consciousness.

This Brahma-sayujya mukti is non-permanent. Every living entity wants pleasure, but brahma-sayujya is minus pleasure. There is eternal existence only. So when they do not find transcendental bliss they fall down to make a compromise with material bliss. Unless one develops full devotional service to Krsna, he goes up only to brahma-sayujya but falls down. But after millions and millions of years of keeping oneself away from the lila of the Lord, when one comes to Krsna consciousness, this period becomes insignificant, just like dreaming. Because he falls down from brahma sayujya, he thinks that may be his origin, but he does not remember that before that even, he was with Krsna." (Lecture in Australia)

"The conditioned living being has forgotten his eternal relationship with God and he has mistakenly accepted the temporary place of birth as all-in-all... The living entities are not without spiritual senses; every living being in his original, spiritual form has all the senses, which are now material, being covered by the body and mind. Activities of the material senses are perverted reflections of spiritual pastimes." (Sri Isopanisad 11)

"Real sense enjoyment is possible only when the disease of materialism is removed. In our real, spiritual form, free from all material contamination, pure enjoyment of the senses is possible." (Sri Isopanisad, 11)

"This attachment of the devotee to a particular form of the Lord is due to natural inclination. Each and every living entity is originally attached to a particular type of transcendental service because he is eternally the servitor of the Lord.

"Lord Caitanya says that the living entity is eternally the servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, therefore, every living entity has a particular type of service relationship with the Lord, eternally." (SB3.9.11)

In an attempt to minimize or nullify all of the above truths, our impersonalistic adversaries are fond of quoting part of one purport from Srila Prabhupada's commentary on Sri Isopanisad. It reads as follows:

"The all-pervading feature of the Lord-which exists in all circumstances of waking and sleeping as well as in potential states and from which the jiva-shakti (living force) is generated as both conditioned and liberated souls-is known as the Brahman. (Sri Isopanisad 16)

Regarding this quotation, the "all-pervading feature" can refer to either Brahman or Paramatma. "Potential states" is referred to in the Vedanta Sutra. For example, the state of a coma is a potential state. There are others. "Jiva shakti is generated" does not mention the adverb "originally". Generated can mean several things. Already Srila Prabhupada has said in the Australian lecture (above) that the living entity may descend (generate) many times from the Brahma-sayujya, but that is not his original home.

If we consider the all-pervading feature to be the Paramatma, Maha Vishnu is the original Paramatma, and Brahma Samhita states that innumerable jivas come from Maha Vishnu. Thus this purport says that liberated souls are also generated from the all-pervading feature of the Lord, and it is a fact that the Avatars come from Ksirodakasayee Vishnu, the Paramatma. The last word of the purport, namely "Brahman," the key word stressed by the impersonalists, can refer to either the Brahmajyoti, the Paramatma, or Bhagavan. In Vedanta Sutra, Brahman almost exclusively refers to the Bhagavan feature. So our point is that this segment of the Isopanisad purport does not in any way indicate that jiva souls originally emanate from the Brahmajyoti. However, Sridhar Maharaja's statements above very definitely tag the jiva with an impersonal origin.

So this discrepancy is very, very important. It conclusively proves that Sridhar Maharaja does not have a personal relationship with Krsna. And that makes all the difference in the world. We have heard some devotees of Sridhar Maharaja try to brush this discrepancy off as insignificant, quoting the above Isopanisad purport by Srila Prabhupada, but actually, it reveals the heart of the whole problem. It clearly shows the difference between a completely pure devotee, who knows Krsna personally, and one who is still interested in his own happiness and mental speculation.

The impersonalist's dilemma is almost identical to that of the evolutionists. The impersonalist cannot explain why the jiva soul first became envious. Sridhar Maharaja uses the words: The jiva's "equilibrium is somehow disturbed." He cannot explain how or why. Similarly, the evolutionists say there was a big bang out of nowhere. They also cannot explain how or why. Both concepts are totally illogical. For the soul to become disturbed in the first place, he has to have an innate nature of something other than non-differentiated existence. Otherwise, what is there for him to become disturbed about? And the second problem with this philosophy is that the soul, in order to be able to make a fair choice of going either to Krsna or matter, would have to have full knowledge of the two choices. Sridhar Maharaja says that he may make the wrong choice due to his being "irnperfect and vulnerable." But that is not the case. Prabhupada often explains that the soul is Sat Cit Ananda, and so he is in full knowledge when in his original position. The soul is perfect. He does not come to this world by some unintentional mistake. He does not come to this world of free will, an intentional act of envy and pride. Or as the Christians say, "He ate the forbidden fruit." One may say that his ability to become envious is a fault, but, factually, that is due to his having free will. If he did not have free will, that would be a fault.

So the only logical explanation for the souls coming into this world and having to undergo suffering is that they became envious to Krsna and proud of their own glories ("Why is Krsna enjoying like this, and I cannot; I'm as good as Krsna"). So they decided to chance it on their own. The original misuse of free will does not lead to utter degradation. When the soul first falls, he does not go to the demoniac species. He takes his birth as a demigod. As long as we follow the rules, and do not try to exploit others, we can live quite happily there. But if we become greedy and commit sins, we go down into the lower species. One may argue, "If God is so kind, then why doesn't he create a place where we can live separate from Him and not have to fall down into suffering where we can be little gods ourselves and have control of our environment? But the answer entails the question, "Have full control of what? If you have control over other living beings, then you are denying them the freedom you so badly want."

So then if you say, "Well, He may not let us have full control, but we should be able to live in perfect harmony with everyone else." That place does exist. It is called the spiritual world, or Vaikuntha. Even in the spiritual world there are degrees of surrender to the personal God. The shanta rasa is often described as an impersonal type realization of Krsna. Not everyone is equally in love and surrendered to the personal feature of Krsna even in the spiritual world. So going back to Godhead is a personal thing and very difficult for the impersonalists to understand or accept. Therefore, they try to rationalize that they came from the brahmajyoti by dint of their being "imperfect and vulnerable" and that their going to Krsna is not a matter of begging forgiveness and surrendering to a person, but simply a matter of moving to where the grass is greener.

Say, for example, a citizen becomes envious of the King and decides to go out to become a King himself. But he doesn't have the qualifications of a King, and so he suffers in a foreign land where no one speaks his language and where he has no friends. He wants to go back to his own land where his friends and family are, but he knows that he will have to personally confront and make amends to the King first. That is difficult. Even though he is suffering, and he wants to go back, his false prestige won't easily allow him to humbly beg forgiveness from the King. The King is a very kind person and is eager to forgive the foolish citizen, but the citizen has lust in his heart and so cannot bring himself to make amends. So, in utter frustration, he may try to merge into a void state by taking intoxication to sidestep his current suffering and postpone his dilemma of having to surrender to the King. This appears to work for some time, and he gets some temporary relief from pain. Eventually, however, because he factually is a person, he again desires to enjoy with family, friends, etc. So, he again tries to get situated in this foreign land. Again he suffers, and again he is given a chance to surrender to the King. This can go on many, many times until he finally realizes that he cannot live separate from his real home and, naturally, from the King. So finally, after many, many ups and downs, he realizes that he must go back and beg forgiveness from the King. Then the King sends his representative to guide him in how to rectify himself. And he is tested to make absolutely sure that he is finally ready to come home and not simply eager to exploit the King. Eventually he is able to go right up to the King, with tears in Ws eyes, and beg forgiveness. The King naturally is very compassionate on his fallen friend and so not only forgives him,but awards him great happiness. Thus the citizen is fully satisfied and never again thinks he can be happy in another land. But to approach the King he must give up his pride.

ADVANCE COPY FROM AN UPCOMING BOOK BY SULOCANA DASA - JULY 22nd, 1985

CHAPTER SEVEN

A VERY HUMAN STORY

THE LILAMRTA-PLANTING THE WEED

Devotees often react to our statement that Lilamrta's portrayal of Srila Prabhupada's life is bogus and offensive with the following rationalizations:

"If all the struggles and difficulties which Srila Prabhupada went through were actually not struggles at all, but Krsna's lila, then won't that discourage devotees from struggling to serve Krsna? In other words, if devotees see that only a mahabhagavata can do something wonderful, since Krsna only works directly through him, then what is the use of my struggling? I am not a pure devotee."

"If Prabhupada set the example of struggling in Krsna's service in order to encourage us to struggle for Krsna, then what is the point of minimizing his example? He wanted us to see him struggle for Krsna. Otherwise, why would he do it? If we say that Prabhupada never really struggled, then don't we negate his personal example? Isn't that offensive and impersonal?"

"If you say that Srila Prabhupada only pretended to be struggling, so that we would follow his example and struggle for Krsna, then isn't that the same as saying Prabhupada was simply playing a role to trick his disciples into working hard. Doesn't that negate his great achievement and make him out to be a duplicitous person, another offense?"

These are admittedly powerful and logical sounding arguments, but they do not have shastric backing. Obviously, had Srila Prabhupada mystically manifested everything he needed for preaching, without ever appearing to struggle or be in want of anything, then what would have been the reaction in his disciples' minds? They would have thought: "Why should I go out and work hard when my guru can manifest a beautiful temple or a mountain of gold instantly just like Kardama Muni manifested a city in the sky?" The disciples would not want to work for Krsna but instead would want to enjoy Krsna's opulence. Such disciples, seeing this opulence, would only become envious of Prabhupada and crave those mystic powers themselves. Srila Prabhupada instead wanted to give us the desire for the humble service of the Lord. Although to some, this may appear less valuable, it is a far greater opportunity. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada only rarely manifested his mystic potency. He did not want to attract cheap followers. At the same time, he gave stern warnings that the disciple is never to think that the spiritual master is under the laws of material nature. Hence an apparent contradiction.

The pure devotee has the powers and opulences of mystic yogis given to him by Krishna directly, but he does not want our unpure minds to become enamored by it. At the same time it is a serious offense to think the pure devotee is not in complete control, but instead is under the control of the material energy. So how to reconcile this?

According to sastra (scripture), one should not view the spiritual master from the bodily platform. That would include viewing his history from the eyes of a book like "Lilamrta" which accentuates Prabhupada's bodily relationships and tends to bring him down to the level of the conditioned devotee, struggling to do his service to God. In this connection, Chanakya Pandit warns us:

"One should not get too close to the fire, a woman, the King, or the spiritual master. Neither should one remain too far away, for then one cannot get the benefits to be derived. One should deal with these four in the middle way."

This is an excellent example. Everyone can understand the example of fire, a woman, and the King. Fire is the most obvious. Similarly, women are known to be able to lead a man astray and be quite ruthless at times. Kings are known to have a man's head severed at the drop of a dime. But here the Pandit includes the guru in this example. Why? Prabhupada gives the answer in numerous places: The guru is directly connected to Krsna and thus an offense to the guru is extremely dangerous, much more dangerous than offense to the other three combined. They can only harm one's body and mind. Offense to the Guru, however, can completely check one's spiritual progress for many lifetimes. There is no way to calculate the severity of gurvaparada in terms of lifetimes, or hellfire, etc. The damage of becoming too familiar with the guru is compared to a mad elephant entering a china shop or a nicely trimmed garden. They are both utterly destroyed. Therefore, one is advised never to become familiar with the guru. One is only meant to become very well versed in, and familiar with his instructions, not his apparent bodily and mental "needs." But in "Lilamrta," Satsvarupa has described Srila Prabhupada's thoughts and emotions as though he were in a direct link to Prabhupada's head. This is extremely dangerous and offensive. Perhaps this explains why Satsvarupa is now suffering such severe headaches that he has become practically incapacitated. No devotee in his right mind should read even one page of "Lilamrta," and those copies that have already been distributed should be recovered and burned.

So, in dealing with Srila Prabhupada's life in the middle way, some of the main occurrences in his life, such as the childhood Rathayatra festival, his early enthusiasm to worship the Radha-Krsna Deities, his first meeting with his Spiritual Master, his enthusiasm to preach and publish Back to Godhead, etc., could be described. Srila Prabhupada set that example for us. He never went into a detailed description of his own Guru Maharaja's bodily history. Bhaktivinode Thakura had eight children. Should we go into his history with his family? Of course not. So why should Satsvarupa and the GBC think that they can set a new standard? Were Satsvarupa actually a liberated soul, he would have seen Srila Prabhupada's true platform. He would not have been interested in the history of Prabhupada's so-called physical and emotional "needs." Such a history is clearly viewing the pure devotee from the material viewpoint. Aside from provoking the ocean of material emotions within the hearts of women, sudras, the less-intelligent, etc., (the audience the book was geared toward), it can accomplish nothing but the destruction of our transcendental awe and reverence and faith in Srila Prabhupada.

One may argue that such mundane sentiment, since it is directed toward Srila Prabhupada, is actually transcendental and will elevate us to a higher level of devotion and even award liberation. At first this may sound logical, but it is not the conclusion of sastra. Sastra unequivocally states that the pure devotee should never be seen from the mundane or bodily-mental-intellectual point of view. Satsvarupa has projected him in this way, although the author tries to deny he is doing it in some places. If Prabhupada is seen in that way, it is compared to a mad elephant entering the garden. One's spiritual life is finished. He immediately falls down to spend his lifetime in useless speculation.

Many devotees agree with the above conclusion, but they argue that Satsvarupa has made this error unintentionally. But this is not the fact. The GBC, particularly Satsvarupa and Adi Keshava, deliberately decided that the best way to preach via an autobiography of Srila Prabhupada was to project him to the masses as a great man. This was supposedly done for the purpose of preaching, since the masses could never accept Srila Prabhupada as being the sum total of all the demigods. This kind of reasoning is external and is an insufficient excuse for committing such an offense to Srila Prabhupada. A more insidious motive is clearly evident. If Srila Prabhupada is viewed as having been chock full of human weaknesses, then, when these bogus gurus of ISKCON display their weaknesses, such as agitation, fear, sex-desire, ignorance, mistakes, illusion, etc., they will have their excuses in the apparent example of Srila Prabhupada as put forth by "Lilamrta," and the less-intelligent will be unable to distinguish between the two.

The following are some scriptural quotes which substantiate our conclusion. There are many more references; we are only quoting a few:

"When one actually engages in unalloyed, uncontaminated devotional service, he is already liberated. Krsna's devotee is not subject to material condition, even though his bodily features may appear materially conditioned. One should therefore not see the pure devotee from a material point of view. If we consider the bodily defects of a Vaishnava we should understand that we are committing an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava. An offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava is very serious. Indeed, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has described this offense as hati-mata, the mad-elephant offense. A mad elephant can create a disaster, especially when it enters a nicely trimmed garden... One is forbidden to observe the activities of a pure Vaishnava from a material point of view. For a neophyte especially, considering a pure devotee from a material point of view is very injurious. One should therefore avoid observing the pure devotee externally but should try to see the internal features and understand how he is engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. In this way one can avoid seeing the pure devotee from a material point of view, and thus one can gradually become a purified devotee himself." (NOI, p. 60-63)

"'Acaryam mam vijaniyat.' One should consider the acarya to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In spite of all these instructions, if one considers the spiritual master an ordinary human being, one is doomed. His study of the Vedas and his austerities and penances are all useless, like the bathing of an elephant. An elephant bathes in a lake quite thoroughly, but as soon as it comes on the shore, it takes some dust from the ground and straws it over its body. Thus there is no meaning to the elephant's bath. One may argue by saying that since the spiritual master's relatives and the men of his neighborhood consider him an ordinary human being, what is the fault on the part of the disciple who considers the spiritual master an ordinary human being? This will be answered in the next verse, but the injunction is that the spiritual master should never be considered an ordinary man..." (next verse) "Similarly, if the family members of the spiritual master, who is the bonafide representative of the Supreme Lord, consider the spiritual master an ordinary human being, this does not mean that he becomes an ordinary human being. The spiritual master is as good as the Supreme Lord, and therefore one who is very serious about spiritual advancement must regard the spiritual master in this way. Even a slight deviation from this understanding can create disaster in the disciple's Vedic studies and austerities." (SB, 7.15.26)

"When one serves a Vaishnava unknowingly, one still gets a good result, and if one unknowingly insults a Vaishnava one suffers the bad result. A Vaishnava is especially favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Pleasing him or displeasing him directly affects the pleasure and displeasure of the Supreme Lord...by pleasing the spiritual master, who is a pure Vaishnava, one pleases the Personality of Godhead, but if one displeases the spiritual master, one does not know where he is going." (SB, 4.9.23)

"It is therefore said, vaisnavera kriya mudra vijna na bhujhaya. A highly advanced Vaishnava lives in such a way that no one can understand what he is or what he was. Nor should attempts be made to understand the past of a Vaishnava." (SB, 7.13.14)