“The World Has Enough Caste Brahmins”

BY: TRISHULADHARA GOSWAMI

Feb 11, 2011 — VRINDAVAN DHAM, INDIA (SUN) — We have received certain objections to our article, “Radhanath Should Keep Prabhupada’s Faith Alive“, which we list herewith and respond to as follows.

First the Objections:

– Our tirade was “narrow-minded;”

– We ourselves have never personally caused the spreading of the Holy Name in America for if we had, we would be “lauding Gauravani’s penetration of the most popular ‘yoga scene’ because Gauravani (and others) are infiltrating the yoga world.”

– Said Hare Krishna infiltrators are re-creating the image of ISKCON which was viewed prior as “a strange marginalized cult.” Notwithstanding my critic’s own oblique criticism of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON, we ourselves should not dare to criticize such “cutting-edge forerunners of the grass-root kirtan revolution (as Radhanath and Gauravani).”

– We don’t sound at all Vaishnava-like, but rather we sound more like some “caste brahmana” of which “the world has enough.”

– That said, I am challenged to “convince even a single non-Indian to take up the chanting of Hare Krishna.” My generous critics have graciously offered to speak with me further once I accomplish that.

– Lastly, I should heed “a final word of wisdom, and that I am to “read a thousand times” Srila Rupa Goswami’s definition of yukta-vairagya.” Only then will I be “blessed with the capacity to understand just how much these two souls [Radhanath and Gauravani] are pleasing Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya.”

Reply by Trishuladhara Goswami to My Respected Critics

Let me thank you for sharing your thoughts as well as for reading mine. It is widely known and understood that sadhu-sangha means quite naturally a divergence of opinion. As Vaishnavas our objective is to make room for such variance as long as we remain faithful to shastra. Notwithstanding that, departures from the scriptural injunctions of Shri Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, the spiritual guide of us all, shall be discarded wholesale as unwanted refuse. So as gentlemen who agree to disagree as it were, let us embark on that accommodative guiding principle lest emotionalism send our reckoning facilities off on a tangent.

First you have dubbed my writing “narrow-minded” and to this I heartily agree. I am too old and have no room for what Prabhupada called inventive “concoctions, mental speculations or intellectual adjustments.” Our road is both narrow and broad, and therein lays the conundrum. In order to see the expansive picture one must focus one’s intellect narrowly upon that marg which is as thin as the proverbial razor blade; lest the resultant cuts caused by deviation from the principle hobble the seeker by the wayside.

Probably there is no harm if you “cutting-edge forerunners of the grass-root kirtan revolution” wish to sing in imitation of American pop and / or country singers like Dolly Parton or Kenny Rogers, but the message should be a genuine one.

Simply “keeping strong and coming together” in a hippie celebration of feel-good oneness was never the principle upon which our Srila Prabhupada departed Vrindavana for the West. Your narrow-minded characterization of Srila Prabhupada’s first generation ashramites as members of a “strange marginalized cult” I hold as most offensive, and if I were to hear such words my hands would run to my ears. Neither do I deem that any seasoned disciple who came forward to serve the representative of Shri Vrindavana Dham in the West in its heyday will much appreciate such acerbic idiom.

Naturally we congratulate Sri Gaura Vani das and his “penetration of the yoga scene,” but my impression of Srila Prabhupada’s expectation of disciples was that they should be leaders and not mere “scene penetrators” for the sake of some reputation and personal glory. We can penetrate any suchlike scene as per our own whimsy, but if we are vilified by the modes of material Nature in our endeavor, then we become merely wounded combatants lost to the battle.

This is very much danger. Illusory Nature is most profound, and falling victim to the vagaries of her modes through reckless fantasies regarding the achievement of celebrity status through associating with the ambitious will never spread one centimeter the doctrine of Mahaprabhu. The Holy Name sung for personal adoration (gratification and physical enjoyment) cannot transform the consciousness of any listener. This is definition of sahajiya, the use of kirtan for profit.

My critics’ choice of terminology in using the word “infiltrating” is most telling. Are devotees initiated to merely “infiltrate”, or rather to speak the message of Bhagavad Gita to a world steeped in ignorance? My critics say that Radhanath and Gauravani wish only to re-create the image of ISKCON. But it is widely known that image means “imagination.”

As Srila Prabhupada made abundantly clear when he was giving his discourses on Srila Rupa Goswami’s Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu discourses in Vrindavana, Krishna consciousness is not an imaginative process. When the shastras have given direction, what is there a need for tailor-making some new-fangled image? What is wrong with the eternal understanding of rising to the occasion as servant of the Lord Sri Krishna? Can Gauravani and Radhanath manufacture something higher than that?

My critics have mentioned a kirtan revolution in America. Let me honestly declare that I have heard abundantly from all quarters that there is, in fact, no kirtan revolution as you speak of, but rather the sad demise of this spiritual phenomenon in America.

Congregational chanting of the Holy Names of Sri Hari as was in vogue in the day of Srila Prabhupada has practically been terminated in America due to the lackadaisical attitude of leaders of ISKCON, and this spiritual revolution has been replaced by Kirtan Rabbis and professional strumming songsters. As an example, please refer to your ISKCON website, www.planetiskcon.com, which now has the following post at ISKCON’s impersonal-sounding Atma Yoga Center:

Atma Yoga, Brisbane, AU: Kirtan with Dave Stringer (3 March 2011)

“Stringer’s sound marries the transcendent mysticism of traditional Indian instruments with the exuberant, groove-oriented sensibility of American gospel, and he is regarded as one of the most gifted singers in the genre. Stringer, who is also an accomplished composer and multi-instrumentalist, has a special ability to bring people together and inspire them to sing. His work intends to create a modern and participatory theatrical experience out of the ancient traditions of kirtan and yoga, open to a multiplicity of interpretations, and accessible to all.”

Perhaps my critics could explain what “open to a multiplicity of interpretations” means? That does not sound like a revolution to me. Perhaps it is a revolution in a new Mayavadism within ISKCON. I have noted that the price is $30 at the door. From where does charging someone $30 to hear kirtan assimilate with my critics’ mention of a kirtan revolution?

Who can afford such a revolution of kirtan for the rich? When did Mahaprabhu or Prabhupada charge money to hear the Holy Names of God? Yes, as my critics have conceded, “These people may not be Chaitanya Vaishnavas.” In fact, they are not any Vaishnavas. And, sadly enough for their supporters and for historical veracity, suchlike non-Vaishnavas cannot spread the glories of Vaishnavism, nor even the bare essence of Brahminical culture.

For the information of my critics, entertainers who are void of devotional principles are mere shudras, and the world has a weakness for glorification of shudras who have but a modicum of talent. Shudras will naturally glorify other shudras, and that is the system of vox populi in a nut shell.

In fact, the world does not have enough brahmanas, but has more than enough shudras. Srila Prabhupada’s name and reputation were besmirched by many caste brahmanas here in Vrindavana as well as elsewhere when he said he would create brahmanas out of mlecchas.

Now if you wear the sacred thread of yagnopavit, then you must behave in that capacity, not as mere shudras singing for the sensual pleasures of a fawning audience who have paid large fees to be entertained.

The truth is that the world does not have enough real brahmans, which ISKCON devotees are meant to represent. In fact, what the world has far too much of is puffed-up arrogant shudras with a smidgen of talent applied uselessly for the upliftment of no one.

As far as my personal qualifications or lack thereof, which my critics have duly called into question by characterizing me as a caste brahmana, yes that is a fact that suchlike was my birth situation for better or worse, and what can be done. One cannot unborn oneself, but one can become reborn and that is the meaning of dwija.

Suchinam shrimatim gehe… As Prabhupada taught, that which is the essence of everybody’s physical situation — (this body) whether a brahmana or swapacha body — is the vilest of ingredients. So I could reply by mentioning that the body is by and large the same, even for those who have been born as cow-eating mlecchas or dog-eaters or shudras. What is the difference, if this rare gift of a human form of life is not incorporated into the spiritual marg that Prabhupada called Krishna Consciousness?

I am challenged by my critics to make one American chant Hare Krishna. Well in answer to that challenge, where are Gaura Vani and the others on the KEEP YOUR FAITH ALIVE video chanting Hare Krishna? Do you have some other version I did not see? Neem Karoli Baba never taught his hippies the mahamantra, and this should be the endeavor of ISKCON’s new kirtan revolutionaries rather than performing soppy and sentimental ditties in some philosophy-free zone of Mayavada.

And where is Sri Gaura Vani chanting Hare Krishna when he was the master of ceremonies at this ISKCON event? Rather he was making a grand and embarrassing whoop-dee-doo about his leather shoes on stage, while half-naked ladies danced in their brazier-like cholis.

Incidentally in the above video, hostess Shri Devi made a most humourosly unwelcomed slip when she blurted, “I can’t wait for the show to be over.”

As the viewer will see, they had rolled out the red carpet in imitation of Hollywood and Bollywood. But as it was a gurukula get-together, it seemed more like Gollywood. In fact, ISKCON’s diminishing number of friends amongst the brahmana community in particular and the world in general — those who are tired of seeing ISKCON become everything it once preached against — can’t wait for such shows to be over, either.

On that point, there appears to be an inner-society conspiracy afoot to undermine like creeping decay the work of the genuine respected Acarya, as anyone with a computer is free to see the dirty laundry. Those locked into the ashram politics of the situation may be heedless to the disgrace under their nose.

Nor do they recognize that the swelling of the floodwaters will wash out to sea everything Srila Prabhupada worked to accomplish, replacing his strenuous efforts with another form of deluded social activity in the name of Krishna consciousness only.

That is why you need genuine brahmanas to come forward and point out your deviations. Just see the Kali Yuga praise of evil and addictive killing cigarettes written by Satsvarupa, ISKCON’s “retired guru,” posted yesterday on the www.planetiskcon.com site:

“Once I sat in Great Kills station. Smoked a cigarette for the first time (thirteen, fourteen years old). L&M and Marlboros were just coming out. Winston, Chesterfields, and Kools were popular. Now years later you sat, and you were a devotee identified with the group. I don’t know what to tell you.” www.sdgonline.org

Here then for the pleasure of my critics are some photos that are found today on www.planetiskcon.com. Perhaps my critics might condescend to tell me what they mean, since for my critics, my criticism constitutes a baseless offense by a caste brahmana.

I beg the indulgence of my critics. Is this why Srila Prabhupada left Vrindavana to go to the West?

Regarding my critic’s point regarding Srila Rupa Goswamipada’s concept of yukta-vairyaga, I will close my reply with some words from Srila Prabhupada’s talks in Vrindavana in 1972 while lecturing on the topic of Rupa Goswami’s Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (Nectar of Devotion) . Let my readers and my critics who read these words consider whether Srila Prabhupada is describing the same persons that are in engaged in misguiding ISKCON today.

“So the more you be engaged in Krsna consciousness, as Krsna says, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru. “Always think of Me.” Man-mana. Mad-bhakto. “You just become My devotee.” It is very simple thing. To become Krsna conscious is possible by everyone. And actually, it is happening. We are preaching this Krsna consciousness movement all over the world.

So these boys, they’re coming from different religions, different countries, different nationalities, different faiths. But actually, because they’re accepting Krsna, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, they’re happy. There is no difficulty. And people are accepting it. As if just they were ready to accept this cult. This is our experience. Any of our students can be questioned why he has accepted this Krsna consciousness movement. He’ll explain.

So although Krsna consciousness movement is not a movement by any particular person, nation or religion, but still, because Krsna appeared in India, Lord Caitanya appeared in India… And Lord Caitanya says that anyone who has taken birth as a human being in the land of Bharatavarsa must take the responsibility of spreading this Krsna consciousness movement for the benefit of all world.”

(Lecture on Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (Nectar of Devotion), Vrindavana, 17 Oct. 1972)