Srila Prabhupada is calling you again. Can you hear him?

Harinamananda das (ACBSP), Costa Rica: Sometime in the past there was a conversation between two ISKCON gurus. The content of this conversation is real and there are witnesses who can corroborate its veracity. The author has only presented the facts in a literary form. The names of the persons in this narration are omitted to protect the innocent. This article reveals the way some ISKCON gurus see the sacred relationship between guru-disciple.

I know this article will make some people angry, especially the blind followers of the degraded initiation system established by the GBC. But I also know that there are sincere disciples who will agree with what it is being exposed, for having themselves endured similar awkward experiences. They are going to connect with my history even though they not yet ready to admit the truth openly. Maybe they are not ready to come forward, but they are listening. This process of de-fogging the mind, of coming to terms with the bitter truth, takes many years, sometimes decades.

Finally there are thousands upon thousands of ex-disciples who, after so many setbacks and disappointments, have finally exercised their common sense and put and end to this mockery in the name of devotional service: “Enough is enough! I am not going to foolishly initiate again with another pretender, following the advice of the GBC. All those years, I have spent most of my time praying to the Lord to skip my guru’s fall down. This is nonsense! From now on I am going to take shelter exclusively in Srila Prabhupada. He would never let me down, he would never treason me. He is the original and true guru of ISKON, the Sampradaya Acarya. No more cheating!”

I have witnessed devotees undergoing this unnecessary but acute pain, and to tell you the truth, I personally do not want this to happen anymore to anybody. This is more excruciating than to lose your dearest family member or being cheated by your own spouse. There are lots of these poor disciples who have gone through the same suffering over and over again. There are many cases of disciples who have being force to reinitiate up to three times. They have to go through this bitter experience over and over again. That is, if they have chosen to stick to the movement founded by Srila Prabhupada.

You can’t help it, but the truth is that the majority of them are or were neophytes. What you cannot really do anything about is the fact that many thousands of them are gone for good. You are never going to hear from them anymore. They have vanished forever! They became devotees attracted by Srila Prabhupada’s books and his presentation of Krishna consciousness, but the prabhus in charge, the nowadays “one and only ultimate ecclesiastical authority of ISKCON”, cheated them by giving them fake gurus. What would Srila Prabhupada say after witnessing the massive spiritual “genocide” the GBC has perpetrated on his behalf? Most probably His Divine Grace would cry. And believe me: he is very angry at them.

Having said that much as an introduction, I narrate now the conversation between two ISKCON gurus. My sole motivation in transcribing this event is to expose the truth, with the conviction that knowing the truth will set us free.

Last century a conversation happened between two ISKCON gurus, two of the original eleven gurus who proclaimed as such after Srila Prabhupada’s untimely tirobhava. We will call them Karuna Sindhu Goswami Gurudeva and Nitya-siddha Swami Vishnupada. This conversation happened in the tranquility of a luxurious residence owned by Karuna Sindhu Maharaja. Nitya-siddha had arrived to town to pay a visit to his illustrious Godbrother. The disciples of Karuna Sindhu welcomed him on the street with an uproarious kirtana. Then they escorted him to the living room and proceed to perform the formalities required by Vaisnava protocol, such washing his feet, putting around his neck beautiful garlands made with fragrant flowers, offering him guru-puja, and throwing flower petals while touching the feet of the grand acarya.

There were a few who presented Nitya-siddha the thing he wanted the most: nice sealed envelopes containing a good amount of money, fruit of the hard-earned collection they sweated out the day before. Afterwards the devotees made both stars sit on very soft cushions wrapped in deep blue velvet (they knew red and blue are the most opulent colors in Vedic culture.) Then they went ahead serving them enormous plates of maha-prasadam, each with more than twenty succulent preparations. After finishing taking their meal, Karuna Sindhu invited Nitya-siddha to the privacy of his bedroom. The former allowed only a handful of intimate Godbrothers and disciples to enter the room. After Karuna Sindhu lay down in his comfortable bed and Nitya-siddha sat in a rocking chair located directly in front of him, they began to discuss the latest news and developments.

Nitya-siddha: “Maharaja I notice a dramatic decrease in the number of your disciples…”
Karuna-sindhu: “Well, what happened is…”
Nitya-siddha: “You used to have a big number of initiated disciples. Once you told me you have more than five-thousand. Why now do you have so few of them? What happened with your semper fidelis Ekalavya and Maha-gurukula?”
Karuna Sindhu: “Well…, you know how things are. You have to do your best to keep the disciplic succession going on. The majority of these disciples do not have the spiritual level you are expecting from them. To tell you the truth, after experiencing this fact thoroughly, I can assure you most of them are less than sudras!”
Nitya-siddha: “But Marahaja we all know that in Kali-yuga most of the population are sudras. Frankly, I don’t understand why you are having such a huge desertion, how come so many disciples have left you…”
Karuna Sindhu: “You know one thing, …disciples are recyclable! They come and they go. I can swear to you I have been doing a great effort preaching in my zone, practically sleeping in airplanes, running from temple to temple, and assuming all kinds of roles just to solve their problems. As a result of it, now I have serious health problems! But all these so-called sisyas, they are just a bunch of ungrateful people! They do not appreciate at all the sacrifice I’m selflessly doing for them…”
Nitya-siddha: “Well, I must to admit you have a point here. I have also beaten myself preaching and setting the ideal example, but all these people are only interested in eating, sleeping and sex. Nevertheless, we have to keep on pushing Srila Prabhupada movement, even though we recruit only this kind of persons. Better something than nothing…”
Karuna Sindhu: Yes! …They are recyclable! Let them go away. Let them go to where they really belong to, to maya! You cannot change the leopard’s spots. To cut a long story short, I tell you definitely they are a bunch of ungrateful people! At least we gave them something, nehavikrama-naso ‘sti.”
Nitya-siddha: The same thing is happening to me, although there are some differences because my zone is in America. Look, Maharaja, when you initiate a disciple in the beginning he is very enthusiastic. He goes out daily to distribute books and does whatever you ask him. He offers you all the money he collects. He surrenders to you unconditionally, even he is ready to lay his life for you! [laughs.] But then his enthusiasm begins to wear down. In my personal experience, these people have a good performance for two to three years. No more than four. After that period they fall in maya again. They get married and become useless. Then they work just to pay for their sense gratification, for maintaining their families. In other words, these people have a service life averaging only three years. That’s all!”
Karuna Sindhu: Good point. Yes, it is a fact. I have noticed the same tendency. You are right, these people only endure three years, full swing.
Nitya-siddha: So the gist of this affair is to squeeze them to the max for the first three years after giving them initiation. Because you already know they have a 3-year service life, you have for to extract the juice out of them in these years, for their own benefit. Later they lose their enthusiasm, get married, and become useless. It’s amazing! We are really in Kali-yuga. So the policy should be to initiate the largest number of people, squeeze them for their own good for the first three years, and then forget about them…
Karuna Sindhu: I’m telling you, these disciples are recyclable! They just can’t appreciate the sacrifice we are making for them, neither they have the sincerity to follow the process. They are a bunch of useless, ungrateful people!

While the two ISKCON gurus philosophized in this way, the little group of Godbrothers and disciples seated on the floor of the bedroom looked amazed at their heroes and nodded their heads in agreement.

End of the conversation

After reading this true episode, probably some of you will react with skepticism, some may get angry, and some will scoff at it in denial. But overall I’m one hundred per cent sure that that most of the readers will agree with me. From the end of the 1970’s and throughout the ’80’s there was a fierce battle between the first eleven self-proclaimed acaryas of ISKCON. Each was trying to emerge as the most prominent guru, the next “self-effulgent” acarya. Although publicly they would eulogize one another, privately they would despise and insult each other out of envy and anger. They fought among themselves to show the whole ISKCON congregation who was the “ripe mango,” as Tamal Krishna used to say-the one who hankered the most for this acknowledgment. How could you prove this? Of course, the best way was “Tell me how many disciples you have, and I will tell you what kind of guru you are.” That was the standard. Huge numbers of disciples meant lots of money, power, and prestige, and par excellence, that would prove to the others: “I’m the most prominent.” This fever lasted until they began to fall down, one after another. The GBC, through speculation and politics, ushered more voted-in gurus into this tragicomedy. These new spiritual masters by decree were more cautious, but no less ambitious. With the exception of just two or three of them, the cycle of mediocrity and shame is repeating once again.

ISKCON has become like a corporate organization. The fight to climb the corporate ladder is constant and tenacious. All have to abide by the standing rule of submission and conformity. In exchange you get protection and a lifetime guarantee for your post, no matter how bad your performance is. Amid this elite group there is a constant striving for consolidating power. The power is measured by the amount of money and the number of followers. The same thing as the multi-level system of the transnational AMWAY: you succeed by the amount of money produced and the size of your organization. You work hard to get to the level of ‘Diamond’. But unless you have the support and blessings from the older Diamonds, you soon you are going to realize that you are worth nothing. You are an insignificant Zircon!

You are insignificant, and in order to guarantee your survival in the organization you have to submit and to plea allegiance to the big fat Diamonds of the system. You cannot criticize them. You cannot go against their will. Even if you know they are violating the rules of the game, or even transgressing ethics and moral values. Similarly in ISKCON, the newly anointed gurus soon realize their affiliation depends on how much skill and expertise in politics they have to survive in a highly competitive and corrupt atmosphere.

According to our Vaisnava tradition, the relation of guru-disciple is sacred. To discharge in an exemplary manner the grave function of a guru you have to display -not mimic, not a show-bottle enactment- the twenty-six qualities of a self-realized soul. You cannot improvise overnight these qualities. These qualities are exhibited in a natural way, not magically attributed to someone based on his time of service, “loyalty to the institution,” asrama, or whatever other material considerations. The type of guru not only our Srila Prabhupada recommends, but also the clear-cut sastras and the saintly sadhus, is an uttama-adhikari bhakta:

krpa-sindhuh su-sampurnah
sarva-sattvopakarakah
nisprhah sarvatah siddhah
sarva-vidya-visaradah
sarva-samsaya-samchetta
‘nalaso gurur ahrtah

One who is an ocean of mercy, who is qualified in all respects, who has all good qualities, who works for the benefit of all souls, who is free from lust, who is perfect in all respects, who is well-versed in the scriptures, who knows the science of Krishna, who can remove all the doubts of his disciples, and who is always alert in the service of Krishna is known as a genuine guru.
(Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa 1.45, 46, quoted from Visnu-smrti-vacana)

On the other hand the would-be disciple has to have a good grasp of the scriptures and enough common sense to identify this pure devotee. He must exhibit an intense desire to surrender to Krishna. His mains qualifications are a service attitude and submission born as a conscientious act, not blind faith. He must be inquisitive.

tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te janam jnaninas tattva-darsinah
(Bhagavad-gita 4.34)

When both guru and disciple are not qualified, you see the laughing stock ISKCON is now. Pretty similar to what was narrated in the above-mentioned conversation between two so-called gurus. They dress in saffron cloth, they present themselves as mendicants, and they have no scruples at all to sit on the seat reserved only for the perfect representative of Vyasa. However, many have millionaire bank accounts, properties in their personal names, fancy vehicles, and some of them have female personal attendants. In most cases, they do not do any preaching anymore. They do not organize a single Harinama Sankirtana or push book distribution. So their disciples very soon realize their gurus are not qualified to discharge honorably and aptly such a serious responsibility.

And because these gurus elected behind closed doors are unable to remove the anarthas of their disciples, they will take advantage of the situation to satisfy their old, deep-rooted material desires due to a lack of a genuine spiritual experience. This is why the majority of devotional services formerly performed ad-honorem in ISKCON, now are paid regular jobs. In whatever positions they may be, they inevitably imbibe the fruitive mentality of their gurus. They also want a piece of the cake too!

A mission with this mentality soon is going to become a “big corporate” business aiming only at profit and adoration in the name of religion. The spirit of preaching will disappear. The gurus will initiate disciples only to guarantee their sustenance and a comfortable retirement. On the other hand, the disciple will struggle to climb the corporate ladder no matter what, and his goal will be money and recognition. No more nectar of devotion.

This is the scenario Srila Prabhupada wanted to avoid. This is exactly the reason he left us so many general and specific instructions. At all costs, he wanted to avoid the fiasco ISKCON has become today.

So I ask you again, my dear prabhu, my dear mataji: don’t you think it is the moment to do something? Srila Prabhupada is calling you again. Can you hear him?