IRM — As with all our articles in this section, the one below was first published in the IRM’s official magazine Back To Prabhupada (issue 25). BTP is being distributed for free to ISKCON devotees and people interested in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings worldwide. If you would like to receive BTP at your home, simply send us your full name and street address via the following email address: irm@iskconirm.com.

If you have any questions, comments or criticisms, please do not hesitate to write us. We welcome all correspondence and are looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you & Hare Krishna

Readers’ questions and challenges

“So much quarreling in Kaliyuga, this cannot be avoided but through a high level of Krsna consciousness, and since we don’t have that we must be merciful. A Vaisnava without mercy is one in name only. So please whatever the controversy one should act in a non-offensive way.”

– Dayanidhi Das, California, USA

Editor replies:
You are correct that a Vaisnava is supremely merciful, and we try to act in such a merciful and non-offensive way by ensuring that everyone receives the truth both about Srila Prabhupada and the guru hoax that is preventing conditioned souls from receiving his mercy. To keep everyone in ignorance regarding Srila Prabhupada’s most munificent position as the saviour of the whole world would be a very non- merciful act.
Srila Prabhupada himself states that real mercy means to direct people to the bona fide Vaisnava initiating guru, and at the same time warn people to neglect those who are offensive towards and envious of such a bona fide Vaisnava initiating guru. Furthermore, he stated this in respect of his ISKCON movement, of which he is the bona fide initiating guru:
“The spiritual master initiates the disciple to deliver him […] A mundane person in the dress of a Vaisnava should not be respected but rejected. This is enjoined in the sastra (upeksa) […] A preacher’s duty is to [..] show mercy to the innocent and reject or neglect those who are envious or jealous. There are many jealous people in the dress of Vaisnavas in this Krishna consciousness movement, and they should be completely neglected.”
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 1.218, purport)

“The truth is already presented in the very first issue of BTP (and in TFO) and the same is repeated in Special Issue-1. I just wanted to know the need for new issues, because the fact is already clear that Srila Prabhupada is Diksa Guru of ISKCON for its lifetime.”
– Rakesh Vaiwala, Surat, India

Editor replies:
It is a fact that the BTP Special Summary Issue and The Final Order (TFO) are enough to convince a person that Srila Prabhupada is the Diksa Guru of ISKCON. But presenting the conclusion from different angles of vision serves a dual purpose:
a) It strengthens the faith of those who are already convinced.
b) It helps convince those who are not already convinced.
And this can be confirmed by reading the many appreciative letters we get after each issue. In addition, BTP is going deeper into the subject matter with each issue, as well as providing evidence regarding other deviations from Srila Prabhupada’s orders. Furthermore, devotees derive inspiration from reading about other devotees and reading what is happening regarding the IRM’s progress. Also, if a person has faith in certain ISKCON gurus, then exposing the arguments of these “gurus” helps that person surrender to the real guru – Srila Prabhupada. And, of course, we always need to answer questions from devotees and give them an opportunity to express their realisations.
So taking all these different reasons, it is clear that BTP will still be needed for quite some time. When all our readers begin writing to us that they have nothing further to learn from BTP instead of appreciating it, then we can see about stopping it. But we are nowhere close to that point yet.

“Please, please, please can we begin to see some uplifiting and inspiring Krsna-katha for once. When, oh when will we be reminded of the glories of Vaisnavism? No wonder Westerners are failing to join, internal strife is driving them to Buddhism for shelter!!!”
– Jayavati Ninaraighe, Co. Cork, Ireland

Editor replies:
Your letter provides an interesting contrast to the overwhelming volume of correspondence we receive stating the complete opposite of your complaint (please see the Letters pages of each and every issue). While you call for “some uplifting and inspiring Krsna-katha”, a couple of our readers in this issue, for example, have written to us stating:
“I’ve been reading BTP forsome time now and it is very uplifting” and “I am very much inspired by the magazine”
Of course, if you want to specifically read about the pastimes of Lord Krishna (Krsna-katha), we are very happy to direct you to the books of our Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada, which are full of nectarean Krsna-katha. Through BTP we are also reminding everyone about the “glories of Vaishnavism” you speak of, since we are presenting and defending the teachings of the most glorious Vaishnava devotee of the Lord – Srila Prabhupada. Westerners are failing to join ISKCON because ISKCON has kicked out the Guru – Srila Prabhupada – and decided to instead become a commercial enterprise whose main business is collecting money in the name of Vaishnavaism (please see the articleon page 12 of this issue – “Their puja goes to hell!”). The IRM and BTP exist to preserve and propagate the original, pure teachings of Srila Prabhupada, and thereby bring everyone, including Westerners, under the shelter of his lotus feet.

“Why don’t you add to your magazine stuff with practical recommendations, like how to perform kirtan etc?”
– Dima Muzhetsky, Haifa, Israel

Editor replies:
Thank you for your suggestion. However, the focus of the magazine is to combat an emergency situation – the hijacking of the ISKCON movement and the seat of its Spiritual Master – His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada – by unauthorized “gurus”, as made clear in the IRM Mission Statement on page 10 of every issue. No other publication or institution on the planet is currently doing this on a global, organized scale. The practicalities of how to perform kirtan, offer food to Krishna, set up an altar at home, and to practice other Vaisnava teachings can be learned from any experienced devotee of Srila Prabhupada, or better still, directly from Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, which are full of practical instructions on how to perform devotional service. But all of this is of no use if one first does not even know who the Guru is, since devotional service cannot be performed directly to Krishna without the via medium of the bona fide spiritual master; neither can it be performed by worshipping a bogus guru. For example, in ISKCON you will be taught how to practically chant the mantra of an unauthorized “guru”; how to offer food via an unauthorized “guru”; and how to set up an altar with the picture of an unauthorized “guru” to worship!
So BTP is first trying to establish that point without which Krishna consciousness cannot be practiced: that Srila Prabhupada is the only bona fide and authorized guru for ISKCON.