Liar, Liar, ISKCON on Fire
BY: ROCANA DASA
Feb 22, 2012 — CANADA (SUN) — At the time of my last essay on Prabhavisnu’s circumstance (Prabhavisnu: A Fallen Prince), the GBC had only just released their own comprehensive explanation of the situation.
In his conversation with a Governor, April 20, 1975 in Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada said:
“…in the Jabalopaninad, Satyakama Jabala, he was also a prostitute’s son. And he approached Gautama Muni, “You kindly make me your disciple.” Gautama Muni said, “What you are?” “I am my mother’s son, that’s all.” “Then who is your father?” “That I do not know.” “Ask your mother.” So mother replied, “My dear son, I do not know who is your father.”
And he came and said to Gautama Muni, “Sir, my mother also does not know who is my father.” Then Gautama Muni said, “Yes, you are brahmana. Come on. I shall…” Because speaking truth. So unless you are a son of a brahmana, you cannot speak such secret truth. Nobody will say that “I do not know who is my father.” It is social scandal even up to date. But he plainly said that “My mother does not know who is my father.” So immediately Gautama Muni accepted him as brahmana: “You are telling the truth.” Satya samah damah. Because it is first qualification.”
In this conversation, Srila Prabhupada is making a very important philosophical point in Vaisnava siddhanta. Our spiritual leaders accept anyone, regardless of their position in material life, to be Vaisnavas, without any discrimination between caste or creed. But instead, the teachers/Spiritual Masters look for brahminical qualifications – truthfulness being the most important.
We are highlighting this example as it relates to the falldown of Prabhavisnu. When it was finally released, the official GBC letter was essentially based entirely on lies. Firstly, the GBC writers obviously know a lot more facts involving the history of Prabhavisnu’s falldown than they are choosing to reveal.
According to the letter, the head of the GBC Sannyasa Ministry, H.H. Prahladananda Swami — a supposed senior brahman of the ISKCON community — was deputed to examine circumstances involving this ISKCON swami’s reported falldown from his sacred vows. Prahladananda Swami was made aware of the most recent expose of Prabhavisnu’s deviant behavior, and arranged to interview Prabhavisnu in Australia.
After their meeting, according to this GBC letter, Prabhavisnu confessed that he has been engaged in secret sexual encounters since 2001. Yet in a meeting with the Australian devotees, the GBC Minister of Swamis reportedly lied to the “rank and file” members, stating that the local Guru/GBC’s falldown was all based on rumors, without any truth. Finally, after Prahladananda Swami and his associate were challenged by local devotees and confronted with details of the situation, he admitted that it was true – Prabhavisnu had indeed fallen down.
Over the past ten years Prabhavisnu had lied many times, denying that his sick deviation was repeatedly taking place, as many times the “rank and file” devotees were informing the appropriate authorities.
In all these cases, the truthful messengers were figuratively ‘shot down’ by the GBC. The personal friend of the fallen Prabhavisnu Swami, HH Prahladananda, apparently took his friend on his word, without any effort to properly investigate.
If Prahladananda Swami didn’t believe the sincere informers in what amounted to their word against the revered GBC/Swami’s, we can expect this would naturally result in the informant’s being ostracized.
The GBC’s official “Dandavats” letter is yet another proof positive of the standard GBC methodology, applied to similar situations since the time of Srila Prabhupada’s departure.
Let’s examine the contents of the GBC letter. The authors open with an outright lie, stating that it appears that from 1971 when Prabhavisnu joined ISKCON, until 2001 — in other words, for 30 years — Prabhavisnu was strictly maintaining his brahmachari and sannyasa ashrams.
This ‘truth’ is based on the declaration of Prabhavisnu. Yet he admitted that he had lied in 2001, when his illicit activities were reported by concerned ISKCON followers. Declaring with his hand on a Bhagavad-Gita, in front of the Deities, that he had not been having sex with Thai prostitutes… the informant was an envious black snake.
So, because he supposedly wasn’t caught before 2001, we are all ‘instructed’ by the GBC to accept the declared truth of the past strictness of this habitually lying swami.
Prahladananda Swami, the topmost GBC authority in these matters in ISKCON, didn’t take the truth spoken by a ‘commoner’ seriously enough in 2001 to do any real investigation. He chose, out of personal convenience, to just believe the denials of his friend. But let’s face the truth: it wouldn’t have taken much investigative effort to verify one way or the other whether all these rumors were true.
The GBC letter writers expect us ‘mushroom’ small-timers to swallow the implied historical truths — that Prabhavisnu enjoyed a long ‘drying off’ period, or a celibate interlude between 2002 and 2008, when he was again reported, and again lied, and again was permitted by the GBC to continue in his duties as a Sannyasi, GBC and Guru.
Of course, according to our siddhanta, the secretly fallen swami had no spiritual potency whatsoever. In other words, his disciples were not going to make any spiritual advancement by worshipping and serving this imposer.
The representatives of the GBC who penned the recent public letter also lied with respect to the unsubstantiated claim that all the monies Prabhavisnu employed in the pursuit of his multitudinous illicit sexual pastimes came exclusively from his inheritance monies.
The mention of a GBC requirement of yearly monetary reporting system for its members is also a bogus declaration – it cannot be proved or made public. It may be that there is a GBC mandate on the books with a weasel clause, that inheritance need not be included in the secret unaudited reports.
Of course, sastra states very clearly that Vaishnava sannyasis are obliged to embrace the concept that all things are the property of Lord Sri Krsna and their Spiritual Master, who in this case happens to be the Founder-Acarya of the mission that empowers them with position and prestige.
ISKCON’s entire monetary support program is based solely upon their followers having faith that the leaders will utilize whatever donations they receive exclusively for pushing on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sankirtan Movement.
The GBC Executive Committee, through the form of this public damage-control letter, is attempting to drive home the point that none of the money that was entrusted to their GBC representative Prabhavisnu was used to procure prostitutes. All these official statements are resting on the fact that he’s not lying.
It is an undisputed historical fact that the departed Tamal Krishna Goswami accumulated a great deal of money. What remained after he had financed his Harvard education was willed to his old friend, Giriraj Swami.
Giriraj Swami inherited another fortune from his deceased parents, and he’s now living in Santa Barbara like a retired raja. I could go on and on recounting the decadent pastimes of the rich and famous ISKCON sannyasis, both active and retired. Do any of them pay taxes on their ill-gotten gains, or even on their so-called inheritances?
Clearly the GBC wrote this letter in order to deceive the gullible readers, all based on the false notion that they are somehow or other protecting the religious institution known as ISKCON. Does this type of activity remind the reader of the actions of other religious “churches”?
If this was any other corporation or organization, then the inept ‘toothless tiger’, Prahladananda Swami would be fired. If he had any sense of honor he would have fallen on his sword and voluntarily resigned long ago, but such civility is not found in ISKCON.
I am well aware that the ISKCON apologists will paint me as a “shark looking for blood in the water”, but in all honesty, I am greatly saddened by the demise of an old friend, Prabhavisnu. Since the early days of the Zonal Acarya era, these so-called leaders discouraged and contaminated their junior leaders – temple presidents and even non-GBC swamis.
Through the trickle down syndrome, everyone in ISKCON was contaminated by their infectious association. The best phrase to describe these Zonals is one used by Srila Prabhupada – they were “Typhoid Mary’s”. And this is the truth written between the lines of the dishonored Swami’s own story. He was once simple and sincere, but he fell victim to all the allurements offered to him by the big leaders, in payment for his loyalty and silence.
None of us were or are pure devotees and by definition, we are trying to control our mind and senses by following Sastra and Guru. But when your heroes encourage you to disobey the pure and wise, and eat of the forbidden fruit, you are doomed.
How many more of these sense-gratifying swamis are destined to be exposed, their lives ruined? By his own admission, Prabhavisnu carried on deceiving his faithful followers for over 10 years, probably much longer. How painful is that?
We hear about the most prominent of the fallen leaders, but there are thousands of lesser known local leaders who have also been taken out of action by this black plague of bad association from those at the top of the ISKCON society. In reality, ISKCON’s early success was not due to the leadership of the GBC.
In large part, it was due to the collective dedication and austerity of the local leaders. For the most part they are all gone now, due to being contaminated by their trusted leaders. Within my limited experience, I can tell so many stories that serve as examples, including my own.
In place of the original, natural local leaders, these pompous potentates replaced them with blind followers. Was Prabhavisnu such a ‘see no evil’ type? Well, we haven’t heard any complaints from him over the years.
I have written several articles under the Princes of the Zonal Acaryas series, wherein I try to make the reader aware of the very similar, if not identical qualities and characteristics, habits and moods exhibited by the new age Acaryas, which can be mapped out in connection to the original Zonal Acaryas.
Is Prabhavisnu another sorry victim, or a willing participant in the current saga of deterioration of the glorious eternal Sankirtan Movement of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Mahaprabhu predicted the spreading of Krishna Consciousness throughout the planet and to fulfill His promise, He sent his trusted uttama-adhikari associates, successively adventing in the divine personalities of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and Srila Bhaktivedanta Thakur.
Can we hope to keep the mission and mood set down by these true and pure representatives? We can at least attempt to humbly tell the truth, thus allowing other future sincere followers some knowledge that might protect them from falling into the sway of bad association. By reading cover-up damage control letters sent out by the GBC, can sincere practitioners of pure Bhakti be protected from Maya?
My advice to the reader is to trust your own intelligence. If you are sincere, it’s coming from the original Chaitya Guru. Be pure in sadhana, and read the original sastra provided by the Sampradaya Acaryas. Unfortunately, no one can depend on ISKCON leaders to tell the truth.
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