Krishna devi dasi: So where does Narayana Maharaja get such knowledge?

Siksha on the Sly

BY: KRISHNA DEVI DASI

Oct 27, 2010 — USA (SUN) — I would like to address the “Stay within ISKCON” instruction given by Gour Govinda Swami.

Almost immediately after the disappearance of Gour Govinda Swami, there was a political upheaval in ISKCON Bhubaneswar, with the Oriyan disciples pushing the Western disciples out and assuming responsibility for all areas of temple management.

Madhavananda and Bhaktarupa prabhus took guidance from Dr. Fakir Mohan Das, a Vaishnava friend of Gour Govinda Swami. Eventually, this relationship became more formal, with the little group of Western Gour Govinda disciples in Bhubaneswar hearing Bhagavatam class daily and taking siksha from Fakir Mohan Das, formerly of the Gaudiya Mission.

Something happened a few years ago, and they stopped publicly supporting Fakir Mohan prabhu. By then however, Fakir Mohan prabhu had been introduced to many ISKCON leaders and devotees.

I see that Fakir Mohan Das has lectured in ISKCON temples, including Amsterdam. You can read more about Fakir Mohan Das from Bhaktarupa prabhu here. There are also several YouTube videos of Fakir Mohan Das. My point being that even some of Gour Govinda Swami’s followers go outside ISKCON, despite their external allegiance to the ISKCON GBC. If ISKCON devotees bring outside influences into the institution, then what does “Stay with ISKCON” mean?

It was known amongst the intimate disciples of Gour Govinda Swami that he himself took siksha from Oriyan babajis and saints. Otherwise, where did he get the things he preaches? Not from our Srila Prabhupada! And why do Gour Govinda and Narayana Maharaja’s teachings so closely resemble each other? Again, it’s the babaji connection. Narayana Maharaja likes to say that Gour Govinda Swami secretly took siksha from himself, but there is no proof or witnesses to such events.

Gour Govinda Swami preached “stay within ISKCON”, but what does that really mean? It appears that the idea is to publicly affiliate yourself with your spiritual master’s math, but privately take siksha from wherever it comes, even outside your institution.

Bhakti Prajnan Kesava Maharaja, Narayana Maharaja’s guru and our Srila Prabhupada’s sannyasa guru, was very strict about discussing rasa tattva or permitting disciples to read raganuga literatures. So where does Narayana Maharaja get such knowledge?

From outside the institution of his spiritual master. At an earlier point in Narayana Maharaja’s life, he left the math of Bhakti Prajnan Kesava Maharaja and went to Radha Kunda to take shelter of the babas there. He talked privately about this with his early ISKCON followers like Tamal Krishna Goswami, Giriraj Swami, Sivarama Swami, etc.

Although Narayana Maharaja may disagree with the babajis publicly, privately he took their siksha for rasa tattva and raganuga sadhana. In fact, some of Narayana Maharaja’s writings are directly plagiarized from the commentaries of Sri Ananda Gopal Gosvami and Sri Ananta Dasa Babaji, renowned Radha Kunda babajis.

There continues to be crossover between Narayana Maharaja’s devotees and the siddha pranali lines, with Premananda das (BV Tirtha Maharaja now) giving siddha pranali diksha or directing devotees to raganuga gurus in the babaji line for siddha pranali diksha. It is an open secret that a few advanced Indian disciples in Narayana Maharaja’s camp are getting siddha pranali.

Narayana Maharaja, on the other hand, preaches that if he is not permitted to preach and canvass in ISKCON temples, then ISKCON devotees should leave their gurus and come to his camp. To solve the dilemma of “stay within ISKCON”, he states that he himself “is ISKCON” and the “real successor” of our Srila Prabhupada.

To address our Western attachment to “honesty”, Narayana Maharaja’s camp preaches: “Krsna is very tricky. Therefore, raganuga devotees are also very tricky.” Or, “If you have greed for raganuga bhakti, you will do whatever necessary to obtain your goal, prema-bhakti.” So it’s considered a sign of advancement that a devotee will be a powerful devotee in his math, but slip away for siksha from a babaji or saint on the sly.

The point being: “Stay within ISKCON” or “Stay within your guru maharaja’s math” is a public stance meant to preserve a connection for a variety of reasons. The downside of this is that Srila Prabhupada’s teachings in ISKCON are being weakened by the introduction of outside elements from caste Goswami or babaji lines.