Why we are going to Vrindavana rather than Navadwipa for Gaura Purnima
by Bhaktivedanta Vaikhanas Swami
This is a post to the sanga at large. It does not represent the opinion or decisions of all the sannyasis and senior devotees within our sanga. These can only be resolved at times when we all meet together as a full group. These official meetings are meant to take place twice a year in Vrindavana and Navadwipa. Recent events have compelled a number of us to take action outside of this normal format. We pray that the sanga at large sees the seriousness of the situation and acknowledges and understands our decision.
As most devotees know by now, after Vraja Parikrama 2012, the sannyasa board whose membership is BV Madhava Maharaja, BV Vana Maharaja, BV Sridhara Maharaja, BV Tirtha Maharaja, BV Padmanabha Maharaja, BV Nemi Maharaja, BV Suddhadvaiti Maharaja and BV Vaikhanas Maharaja; resolved by ¾ majority (6 yes, 1 abstain, 1 no) to impose sanctions on BV Tirtha Maharaja in order to correct his documented misbehavior with ladies.
It was agreed that in order to rectify his character, that he should refrain from giving initiations, not travel outside of India, and not take a prominent role in the parikramas in Vrindavana and Navadwipa. These actions would demonstrate a proper mood of remorse as well as respect for the sannyasa ashram, his role of initiating guru, the instructions Srila Gurudeva gave regarding becoming a guru, and the sensitivities of the devotee community. This period of rectification is to extend for 5 years, with an annual review taken up by the sannyasis.
Initially, BV Tirtha Maharaja agreed to whatever restrictions the senior devotees requested of him and he wrote two letters of apology to devotees whose trust and faith he violated. Unfortunately he is now refusing to go along with the restrictions and is criticizing the sannyasis who recommended these guidelines. A letter was sent by BV Tirtha Maharaja to the sannyasis. The letter contained his own version of recent events and was highly critical of his sannyasa godbrothers and those that wanted him to correct his behavior. It would not be appropriate at this time to print the letter. To read such words of criticism is painful and creates long term impressions. It is possible that BV Tirtha Maharaja may regret writing such words, so it is best that they not be indelibly placed within our hearts. However, we are prepared to print it at anytime if it becomes necessary.
Unfortunately, at the end of the letter BV Tirtha Maharaja states that he will participate fully in the upcoming Navadwipa parikrama and will not adhere to any restrictions. He further states that if anyone wants to take initiation from him that he will give it freely. It is sad that he has changed his mind. Being a guru and taking disciples is a very serious matter and has grave consequences for both the guru and the disciple if done improperly by unqualified persons.
Full article with all comments
Bhakti Gaurav Goswami Maharaj: Since this had been presented today, I feel it is better if we wait for the response from BV Tirtha Maharaj. Maharaj, has he been contacted or he still has his head on the block and not ready to shift. I hope he and all those who are supporting him soften and follow the sannyas council as this is causing the sanga to split. This is definitely going to put Srila Gurudev in tears. I can see that this has certainly reached the peak, this is time for BV Tirtha Maharaj and his supporters for a final WAKE UP CALL. Haribol.
Nityananda Das: I feel sad about such politics, but I accept them as part of the process of “natural selection” that seems to carry its course since the past two to three years.
I am not participating in the Navadwip Parikrama for this Gaura Purnima 2013, rather we will have programs with the local devotees and members of the congregation.
I wish the best for the devotees that will participate in Navadwip or Govardan, they aren’t different from each other.
Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtana.
Mithiladhisa Stein Those of us who were present after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, witnessed so much deviation on the part of numerous leaders of the society. We wish to not witness this again as far as possible. Sri Krishna tells in Bhagavad-Gita 3:21 and Srila Prabhupada comments:
“yad yad acarati sresthas tat tad evetaro janah
sa yat pramanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate
TRANSLATION
Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.
PURPORT
People in general always require a leader who can teach the public by practical behavior. A leader cannot teach the public to stop smoking if he himself smokes. Lord Caitanya said that a teacher should behave properly before he begins teaching. One who teaches in that way is called ācārya, or the ideal teacher. Therefore, a teacher must follow the principles of śāstra (scripture) to teach the common man. The teacher cannot manufacture rules against the principles of revealed scriptures. The revealed scriptures, like Manu-saḿhitā and similar others, are considered the standard books to be followed by human society. Thus the leader’s teaching should be based on the principles of such standard śāstras. One who desires to improve himself must follow the standard rules as they are practiced by the great teachers. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also affirms that one should follow in the footsteps of great devotees, and that is the way of progress on the path of spiritual realization. The king or the executive head of a state, the father and the school teacher are all considered to be natural leaders of the innocent people in general. All such natural leaders have a great responsibility to their dependents; therefore they must be conversant with standard books of moral and spiritual codes.”
Personally I have seen many times over that even if the followers are unaware of the specific actions of their leader, still they are affected by his behavior even if hidden. When we open our hearts to someone, their consciousness tends to flow to us. Thus we always seek sadhu sanga of any pure devotee, liberated soul, always situated in prema bhakti. On the other hand, if someone is not of proper behavior and we associate closely, that character will tend to infect us. Those who wish to make progress in Krishna consciousness should know these things and choose their associations carefully.
Bhaktivedanta Vaikhanas Swami: No one is “playing the victim” here Pankaj prabhu. Kindly open your eyes for a moment and see this from the perspective of Srila Gurudeva’s two daughters and their family who are real victims in this case. Please try to understand the real trauma- physical, emotional and spiritual- that they are experiencing as a result of placing their faith and trust in someone who abused it so callously. Your regard for the well being of our sanga and of Tirtha Maharaja is commendable. However- neither will benefit short term or long term by disregard for the genuine principles of compassion and right conduct that we stand for. Look at what happened in the Catholic church as a result of misplaced priorities in regards to sexual abuse. Look a little closer to home and see how divisive this issue still remains in Iskcon because of their inability to deal with it adequately. Many of us have been trying a very long time to “work together” on these kinds of issues. However this requires cooperation from all parties. Some of us are still trying. There comes a time when you have to take an action and speak in a way that wakes people up to the seriousness of the issue. Our stand here is a small and non-violent protest to the attitudes and behavior of some devotees in our sanga. And the larger devotee community has the right to know what is going on and what is being done about it. We will all have to answer for our choices in this life.
Brajanath Das: dear Chandra Kala didi, kindly be realistic, I assume you are a lady your self so you must understand how shameful it is to become the object of public opinion; you may read the news about the Culture of India and observe how 6 men lured into their vehicle, gang raped and killed one young lady, whose only fault was that she was out on the street trying to catch the bus – even though accompanied by her male friend who also was abused and inured by the same 6 men; although the family of this young lady has been in the news big time still they have never mentioned the name of their most unfortunate daughter; how would you feel if your daughter’s name is public property because she was abused by those she has placed her faith in??? even more so if these same persons deny the obvious.
(SP Lec May 21, 68)
Dear devotees, obviously you have been fooled! Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja’s utmost concern was and is: Vaishnavas of Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtan movement should first of all cling together and cooperatively conduct efficient global preaching projects (“missionary activities”) for uplifting suffering humanity.
If we simply go on creating camps with our rock star psychosis of having living jagat-guru acaryas then this might be the cause of kali-yuga throwing our competing mini missions in a well and closing it with a lump of rock. Already people in general can’t hear anything Hare Krishna anymore. Influence of western Vaishnavism is dead. Kali-yuga has won, Prabhupada’s former triumphal procession of Harinam Sankirtan was thwarted by all this false guru madness. So don’t waste time before it’s too late!
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta: Adi-lila by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
Yes, people should cooperate to promote the acharya. Unfortunately, the post-1936 Gaudiya Matha, and persons like Sridhara Maharaja, Professor Sannyal, Madhava maharaja and the Gaudiya Matha leaders in general, they all supported false acharyas which divided their mission; and subsequently created falling down gurus; and subsequently created murders of dissenters; which then created horrible newspaper media stories that exposed these murders and so forth.
After 1977 Sridhara maharaja and Narayayan maharaja propped up the GBC’s false acharyas, and divided the ISKCON mission. And we then had the same types of murders of dissenters, falling down gurus, bad media and so on. Now the Narayana Maharaja camp is dividing because they are concocting the same exact deviations, making false messiahs there as well. This means the harinama samkirtana movement is being hi-jacked by these bogus clowns, fools and wanna be Jedi-masters, agreed. So we should expose these fools and at the same time create our own independent movement based on the real ideals, and we are doing just that.
Srila Prabhupada told us that Professor Sannyal was one of the dear most servants of Srila Saraswati. So after 1936, after Professor Sannyal started to promote the false guru Ananta Vasudeva, Srila Prabhupada said, Professor Sannyal was killed shortly after that by Krishna, to stop him from making further offenses — of promoting a false guru — and going down more and more.
Srila Prabhupada said that is one of the reasons we know Professor Sannyal is very dear to his guru, he was killed so he would not go down and degrade further into more offenses by promoting a false guru. The other God brothers were not so dear, so they lived onward and went on committing more offenses, so that means, they did not get the mercy that Professor Sannyal did, of being killed by Krishna. Srila Prabhupada told us this in India. “He was more dear to Krishna. So he died very mysteriously, actually, he was killed by Krishna. So he would be saved from committing more offense.” That is what he said.
So apparently, the people who promote false gurus and are not killed for doing that by Krishna, are not very dear to Krishna, so He allows them to sink and degrade further and further into the lower regions of the universe. Unfortunately, when they sink, they take many folks with them, that is why these false gurus are called “the most dangerous elements in human society who are destined for the most obnoxious regions.” They are going down because they take down many others, “killers of the soul” as they are described in shatra, and they even take down entire missions and drag the whole thing to the lower regions. So we are very fortunate to have even survived combating “the most dangerous elements in human society,” Krishna has blessed us to just have us just breathing at this juncture. So we are winning and these fool acharya programs are fighting among themselves now, they are going down, plain and simple.
ys pd
Cooperating — but under what principle?
“Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively.”
So here is the crux, present Vaishnava institutions are not ready to form a bona fide governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively.
They argue election by unqualified people creates corrupt leadership. But this is what election is all about. As soon there is election it so happens that an incompetent candidate wins and people have to suffer.
However, the blame is shifted to those who voted for this man. Additionally, when people figure they elected the wrong person they can pass resolution of no confidence and have snap elections.
Point is, the blame of mismanagement is shifted to voters. In this way they can’t blame anything but themselves. Not previous acarya, not sastra and not Krishna.
At one point they will vote those who are good leaders, bona fide Vaishnavas.
That was Prabhupada’s intention when he introduced chosen by vote.
This is not about guru-tattva, it is about how to form a bona fide elected governing body (GBC, TP, temple commander) and “conduct spiritual projects for uplifting suffering humanity cooperatively”.
Cooperating — but under what principle?
Answer: Prabhupada has given the formula. Just stick to what Prabhupada instructed.