IRM: “ISKCON CLIMBDOWN SPECIAL”

Climbdown -1:  Srila Prabhupada is the Guru

Krishnakant, editor Back To Prabhupada, IRM: In the battle between the deviated GBC and the Iskcon Revival Movement (IRM), three phases can be identified:

Phase 1: ISKCON’s leaders claim the IRM is wrong.
Phase 2: ISKCON’s leaders agree with the IRM (but still continue their guru hoax).
Phase 3: ISKCON’s leaders actually start to follow the IRM, and dismantle the guru hoax.

As we have been documenting via the BTP Special issue 2, and many recent BTP issues, ISKCON’s leadership is clearly entering phase 2, wherein they have continued shifting philosophical ground more and more towards the IRM.

As more evidence of phase 2, we present 3 more pages of climbdowns from ISKCON. It is hoped that it is only a matter of time before ISKCON enters phase 3,
giving up their current Kali-yuga hypocrisy of saying one thing but doing another, and actually begin following the IRM’s position that Srila Prabhupada is ISKCON’s sole diksha (initiating) guru, just as many others, both within and outside ISKCON, have done and are doing.

1. HH Giriraja Swami

In the BTP 21 article,”The proof is before us every morning!”, we proved that the Guru-vandana prayers sung every morning by every ISKCON member refer exclusively to Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON’s diksha guru. In the wake of our exposé on his teachings in BTP 25, ISKCON guru HH Giriraja Swami (“GRS”) now appears to have adopted the IRM’s philosophy, as revealed in a question and answer session after a class he gave following the publication of BTP 25:

Gaura Bhagavan Das: “Every day in the Guru-vandana prayers we sing, sri-gur-carane rati,ei se uttama gati, ye prasade pure sarva asa:

“Attachment to the lotus feet of the spiritual master is the best means of spiritual advancement. By his mercy all desires for spiritual perfection are fulfilled.” So if someone is attached to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, he will achieve all perfection. He doesn’t need anything else but to associate with devotees who are attached to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada.”

Giriraja Swami: “I agree with you. What you quoted confirms what was said in the class.” (GRS Class, January 17th, 2010)

GRS agrees with the IRM that it is sufficient for every ISKCON devotee to only accept Srila Prabhupada as the diksha guru-spiritual master sung about in the Guru-vandana prayers and simply associate with other devotees who accept the same.

2. TV Climbdown

In the last issue of BTP, we demonstrated how the recent series of climbdowns by ISKCON’s leaders has expanded from the arena of public lectures to the medium of mass broadcasting via a public video proclaiming the IRM’s philosophical position that Srila Prabhupada is the current guru of ISKCON. We can now report that this climbdown has gone one step further, with an ISKCON television broadcast announcing:

“I received one book and this book was “On the Way to Krishna” and the moment I read this one line in this book I immediately realized, I said ‘This is the guru I have been looking for throughout my life.’ I met so many gurus, I met so many religious people, but nobody could convince me. But one line which Prabhupada (wrote), when I read. I immediately got convinced.

At that time I wanted to meet Swami Srila Prabhupada…so this was the person I want to see, but on the back of the book it was written ‘Srila Prabhupada departed in 1977′ and immediately tears started coming from my eyes – exactly like you’re feeling, I felt the same way.

But then I thought even Srila Prabhupada may have departed (in) 1977, but still his teachings would be there, […] so immediately I started reading these books.”
(Ramanuja Das, “Hare Krishna Culture”, January 3rd, 2010, MATV, audio can be heard here: www.iskconirm.com/sounds/ HKulture_MATV030110.mp3)

Produced by devotees from ISKCON UK HQ, with guidance and support from HH Giriraja Swami. Ref:
“Hare Krishna Culture Comes to Satellite TV’; ISKCON News Weekly, April 11th, 2009)

This televised admission makes it clear that though Srila Prabhupada may have physically departed, such is the transcendental potency of Srila Prabhupada’s words that just one line from his books is sufficient to convince one to accept Srila
Prabhupada as the guru one has been searching for throughout one’s whole life. No mention is made of the need for any other “living” spiritual master.

In this way it is describing Srila Prabhupada as one’s eternal bona fide spiritual master:

Indian Lady: … “is that spiritual master still guiding after death?”
Srila Prabhupada: “Yes, yes. Just like Krishna is guiding us, similarly spiritual master will guide us.”
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, September 23rd, 1969)

“Eternal bond between disciple and Spiritual Master begins from the day he hears.” (Srila Prabhupada Letter, September 4th, 1972)

Hence, Ramanuja Das, who has taken initiation from HH Giriraja Swami, is confessing on television that it is actually Srila Prabhupada who is his real spiritual master!

3. ISKCON Website

( http://iskconuk.com/?page_id=183 )

The new ISKCON UK website profiles Srila Prabhupada as “Founder and Spiritual Master of ISKCON”, as depicted above. This means that they acknowledge that we are all disciples of Srila Prabhupada, since Srila Prabhupada says:

“Yes, I am the spiritual master of this institution, and all the members of the Society, they’re supposed to be my disciples. They follow the rules and regulations which I ask them to follow, and they are initiated by me spiritually!’
(Srila Prabhupada Interview, 3.12.1968)

By referring to Srila Prabhupada’s status as guru for ISKCON in the singular, this must mean diksha guru, just as Srila Prabhupada states above, because whilst there can be any number of siksha gurus, there can only be one diksha guru:

“A devotee must have only one initiating spiritual master because in the scriptures acceptance of more than one is always forbidden. There is no limit, however, to the number of instructing spiritual masters one may accept.” (Sri Chaitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1:35, purport)

Climbdown – 2: No diksha guru successors

We analyse here two ISKCON gurus discussing the issue of succession in ISKCON, and which successors Srila Prabhupada had authorized.

“Become Guru” Order

Much of the GBC’s case that Srila Prabhupada had repeatedly authorized all his disciples to become diksha (initiating) guru rests on Srila Prabhupada’s many calls for everyone to “become guru”. Here he cited Lord Chaitanya’s same order given to the brahmana Kurma in Chaitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-Lila, 7:128 (“amara ajnaya guru hana” – “become a spiritual master”).

Indeed, the GBC’s official reply to The Final Order (the IRM’s position paper), Prabhupada’s Order, opens with a whole chapter giving these quotes, so central are these quotes to the GBC’s case. Unfortunately for the GBC, however, Srila Prabhupada uses these quotes to refer specifically to becoming siksha (instructing) guru – as we prove in The Final Order.

The brahmana Kurma is simply told by Lord Chaitanya to talk about Krishna to anyone he meets, and later on it states that Lord Chaitanya gave exactly the same instruction to “become guru” to anyone and everyone He met on His travels. And just in case there was any doubt that this is not an order for diksha gurus, the subsequent purport states very clearly, “It is best not to accept any disciples”, which irrefutably seals the case.

ISKCON Guru’s Confession

HH Partha-sarathi Das Goswami (“PSDG”), a GBC-elected guru hoaxer, has agreed with the above facts:

“Srila Prabhupada often quotes this verse, especially when addressing Indian audiences. The words “amara ajnaya” means “under My order” and “guru hana” means, “becoming a spiritual master”.

What type of guru is not specified because there is diksa-guru and siksa-guru. Srila Prabhupada writes, “It is best not to accept any disciples:’ (Cc. Madhya 7.130, purport).

Based on this warning it could be assumed that the words “guru hana” means become a siksa-guru. In the first line of Cc. Madhya 7.128, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says whomever you meet; tell them about Krishna… this also refers to siksha.

A doubt arose in my mind because Srila Prabhupada says, “it is best not to accept any disciples.” How can I justify my actions in initiating disciples?
One answer is that Srila Rupa Gosvami writes, “without accepting disciples you cannot increase the preaching mission:’

Also Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja, who I accept as a “nitya-siddha maha-bhagavata”, gave diksa initiation to many disciples. The fact that the GBC have authorized it doesn’t necessarily make it right. With the greatest respect to the GBC, they have made mistakes in the
past.” (http://www.psdgoswami.com/joss56.htm, archived February 23rd, 2010)

No Authorization

In the preceding statement, PDGS:

a) States that this order to “become guru” from Lord Chaitanya, which Srila Prabhupada repeats to his own disciples, refers to siksha.
b) Thus, PSDG admits his authority for becoming diksha guru is not from any order from Srila Prabhupda, but from his interpretation of a general statement from Srila Rupa Goswami, and by following the example of a fellow GBC-elected guru hoaxer.

This is an admission that neither does Srila Prabhupada authorise diksha gurus via his “become guru” orders, nor is becoming diksha guru in ISKCON based on any authority from Srila Prabhupada.

Yet, without such authority from Srila Prabhupada, no action can be justified, no matter what rationalisation is offered:

“The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life. Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless.”
(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 12:10)

No Successors

Another GBC-elected guru hoaxer, HH Bhakti Chaitanya Swami (“BS”), states the following in regard to who would succeed Srila Prabhupada after his departure:

“Narayana Maharaja’s followers did their level best it seemed to convince ISKCON devotees that he is Srila Prabhupada’s successor, and therefore they should take shelter of him. I really can’t understand how they come to that conclusion, as I was present when Srila Prabhupada was here, and never heard Narayana Maharaja mentioned even once by Srila Prabhupada or any of his assistants, all of whom I knew quite well.

When Srila Prabhupada talked about the future of ISKCON and its leadership he said that his faithful disciples would lead after he had gone. For example there is the following conversation on November 2nd, 1977, 12 days before he left this world:
Prabhupada: (They asked) “… after you, who will take the leadership?” And (I told them) “Everyone will take, all my disciples. If you want, you can take also. (laughter) But if you follow. They are prepared to sacrifice everything, so they’ll take the leadership. I may, one, go away, but there will be hundreds, and they’ll preach.”

(http://www.caitanya.org/wordpress/?p=354, archived March 4th, 2010)

The quote given makes it clear that after Srila Prabhupada, no one would be his successor, but rather EVERY one of his disciples would continue by preaching. He clearly says “all my disciples”, and “there will be hundreds, they’ll preach”.

If every one of his disciples is nominated to continue, then where is the question of Srila Prabhupada having already selected only 11 (“The Great Guru Hoax, Part 1”), or even 80 (“The Great Guru Hoax, Part 2”) diksha guru successors? Just as Narayana Maharaja was not mentioned by Srila Prabhupada as a successor, as BS correctly points out, neither were any diksha guru successors mentioned amongst his disciples. So neither has any authority – neither Narayana Maharaja or ISKCON’s diksha guru successors.

Conclusion

The IRM has all along proven that Srila Prabhupada had never authorised his succession as the diksha guru of ISKCON. Rather he had only ever authorised his disciples to act as gurus in the same manner as they were encouragec to do whilst Srila Prabhupada was physically present – by preaching and acting as siksha gurus. Due to our continued relentless preaching, ISKCON’s leadership is no only unable to offer any challenge to our arguments, but simply continues to agree!

Climbdown – 3: Book changes means defeat

One sign that ISKCON leaders are conceding defeat in the wake of the overwhelming evidence which the IRM has presented, is their attempt to simply get rid of this evidence by changing Srila Prabhupada’s words!
We present here two examples of their attempt to do this in regard to two of the IRM’s key arguments.

“Become Guru”

We highlighted in the previous article how the GBC’s authority for claiming diksha guru successors to Srila Prabhupada is shattered by the presence of the statement, “It is best not to accept any disciples” in the Chaitanya-caritamrta. Unable to rebut Srila Prabhupada’s clear words, ISKCON’s leadership has now decided to get rid of this troublesome quote by simply pretending it does not exist!

Book Change Attempt -1

GBC-elected guru hoaxer HH Bhakti Vikash Swami (“BVKS”) proposed eliminating this unanswerable quote by claiming one word had been incorrectly transcribed:

“After all, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ordered all his followers to become guru. So the ritvik-vadis say that that means you should become a siksha guru and not a diksha guru. And in Prabhupada’s purport to Madhya-lila verse 130, which comes just after that famous verse, amara ajnaya guru haya tara ei desa, “Become a guru and deliver this land”, there is a statement that “It is best not to accept any disciples”, it’s in Prabhupada’s purport.

I got the original transcript of this and there are mistakes in Prabhupada’s books made by his editors, especially in the Chaitanya-caritamrta, which was a rush job, and actually that should say that “It is best not…”, because Prabhupada dictated and the transcribers heard it and typed it and then they edited. That should be “It is best not to accept many disciples” not “any disciples”. One letter makes a lot of difference!”
(BVKS, lecture, February 9th, 2009)

So unable to deal with the evidence that effectively kills his bogus guru position, BVKS states that we should simply change the word “any” to “many”. He alleges he has proof to justify this change, but it is proof he has not presented, and we will see in the next section why.

Book Change Attempt – 2

BVKS forgets that earlier he had actually given a completely different reason for why this statement from Srila Prabhupada should be changed, as given below:

From: Dravida (das) ACBSP
(San Diego – USA)
Date: 04-Apr-07 17:06 (10:06 -0700)
Cc: (BBT) Errors (in) English Books [1385]

Reference: Text PAMHO:13303610
by Brahma Muhurta Das (NE BBT) Subject: Madhya 7.130
Received the following from Bhaktivikasa Swami on 1

March:
[Quotes Madhya Lila 7:130]
Relevant section from Anubhasya: ‘ami sarvottama

vaisnava sisya karile garvvarupa bhajana nasta

haya’– ei utkatabhaktabhimana tyaga kariya dainyera sahita suddhanamagrahanacara o suddhanama

pracararupa gurura karya karile jadapratistharupa visaya-taranga prabala haite pare na.

NB: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta doesn’t state not to accept disciples, but the opposite: to give up the mentality by which one prefers not to accept disciples.
Got of (see attached file), which confirmed BVK Swami 100%.

Your servant,
Dravida dasa

At 03:17 PM 4/4/2007 +0200, Brahma Muhurta Das (NE BBT) wrote is
»One should not try to be an artificially advanced devotee, thinking, “I am a first-class devotee.”

Such thinking should be avoided. It is best not to accept any disciples.« Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 7.130

should be

»One should not try to be an artificially advanced devotee, thinking “I am a first-class devotee, so it is best not to accept any disciples.”Such thinking should be avoided.«
Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 7.130

Dravida Prabhu,

Could you please explain why this has to be changed?

ysbmd

Here BVKS does not allege any error in transcription, but rather claims that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati gave a different explanation, and that’s why Srila Prabhupada’s words must be changed.
Whichever way you look at it, this does show that the Chaitanya-caritamrta, as it has stood for 35 years, states that “become guru” refers only to siksha gurus, and ISKCON’s leadership has recognized this, hence their desire to change it.

Srila Prabhupada must authorise

In The Final Order we show that any diksha gurus in ISKCON would need to be specifically authorised by Srila Prabhupada, by quoting the following verse from the Srimad-Bhagavatam:

“One should take initiation from a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession, who is authorised by his predecessor spiritual master. This is called diksa-vidhana.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.8.54, purport)

The key part of this quotation is, “who is authorised by his predecessor spiritual master”. This means that the GBC cannot palm us off with some vague notion that becoming diksha guru in ISKCON is “automatic”, or that it is a “timeless order”, or
that it is “tradition” and so on.

Rather, they need to show authorization from Srila Prabhupada directly, and without this their current bogus gurus program is smashed. And, as we have shown repeatedly, they have been singularly unable to provide such authorization. So what to do?

Simple. Just get rid of this troublesome quote! And that is exactly what Bhakti Charu Swami, another GBC-elected guru hoaxer, has done in his Bengali translation of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. He has simply deliberately MISSED OUT, “is authorised by his predecessor spiritual master”, when translating the verse above
— the literary equivalent of “splicing”. We say “deliberately”, because this mistake was pointed out many years ago, but the latest 7th edition, 2009, printing of the Bengali Bhagavatam keeps the omission intact, for obvious reasons.

Conclusion

The two quotes used by The Final Order discussed above, deliver a death-blow to the current ISKCON GBC guru system. Otherwise why try to change Srila Prabhupada’s words in those sentences instead of following them? Having realized that the game is up, ISKCON’s leadership can only resort to a last refuge – deliberate cheating – to try to prop up their unauthorized occupation of Srila Prabhupada’s position.