 Rocana das |
After seeing and revealing the hoax Rocana dasa was trying to perpetuate with his DOR, I rarely read anything that Rocana writes anymore. As I have some lingering affection for him, left over from my bhramacari days when we served together for some time in Seattle, I check up on him from time to time, hoping to see that’s grown tired of his own bull crap and finally come up for air. Sadly to say, after reading one of his recent articles I came away shaking my head, concluding just the opposite, for from the reading of it, it appeared that Rocana dasa had only sunk even deeper, that tormented by whatever demons drive him, that he has gone from only picturing himself a the great destroyer of the Rtviks, but into picturing Srila Prabhupada dead.
“Those devotees who like to adamantly state that Srila Prabhupada is ‘still alive’, and ISKCON should just go along as if that were the assumption, are fools. This is just one of innumerable circumstances where Srila Prabhupada stepped in and saved not only the money, but the movement. It was his ability to function in the real world and his perception about who was a devotee and who was basically a demon that saved the day, and was a great contributing factor in the amazing expansion of Krsna consciousness during that period, when Srila Prabhupada was directly overseeing of the movement. Of course, he is still with us in his vani legacy, but there is no replacing his actual physical presence with us to guide and solve problems, hands-on.
Rocana dasa, posted on the Sampraday Sun on April 10th, Deconstructing the Lilamrta – Part 55\
He reasons ill who tells that Vaishnavs die
When thou art living still in sound.
The Vaishnavs die to live and living try
To spread the holy life around!
Bhaktivinode Thakur
I am sorry for Rocana that he sees his spiritual master as being dead, sorry for anyone who has ever lost someone that they loved, but the spiritual master is not a normal man, so I am sorrier still for those who are taken in by those who him as being one, as Rocana dasa is.
In the above noted article Rocana dasa tries to present Srila Prabhupada as being indispensable for his expertise is material affairs, such things as business and real estate dealings, etc. The possession of business acumen or expertise, while characteristic of a pure devotee of Krsna, who is, after all; the “sum total of all the powers of the demigods”, are not what qualify him as a spiritual master and are not essential to such a function (although he may display them for a time. The idea however, that Srila Prabhupada still needs to be physically present to help us with our real estate deals and other business fumbling’s even just in itself, what to speak of as being essential to his qualification as a spiritual master is so patently ridiculous that that one has to laugh at it and cry for the silly ass that accepts it. For those who try to perpetrate it though, such actions carry their own reward.
The problem I had Rocanas argument initially, was that I could not believe that I was reading such an argument from him. Why? Because he knows better. Everyone (or at least everyone who was in the movement then), as both Rocana das and I were, knows that Srila Prabhupada was training us to take over such material affairs in order to free him to do what he himself considered to be most essential to his task of being our spiritual master, which was to write more books, more Krsna conscious transcendental literature to guide, not just us, but all the world. That Rocana dasa would or even possibly could ever forget this defied imagination, it could not happen, it could not have happened…and therefore (a light dawned on me), it hadn’t happened and yet here was Rocana dasa, writing as if he, or rather the audience that he was writing for, were completely unaware of this fact.
The understanding that every old devotee, including Rocana dasa himself, was aware of what I was aware of helped me to understand that Rocana dasa really wasn’t writing for the fewer and fewer of us who are left every day, but for the more and more people coming to the Krsna consciousness movement every Sunday, none of them having any clue of this or quite a number of things and all dependent upon whoever it is being presented as being a figure of authority, for “the truth”.
Undoubtedly Rocana dasa has a few readers who see him as being different than ISKCON or the GBC for his repeated harping on things done by them that most everybody knows of already and do not see him as being one of them, just one who is presently using his abilities to make himself a big enough pain in the ass to them that they will “negotiate” with him. To be returned just to a position of being in good standing is not however what I believe that Rocana is after, rather he is hoping to be given a position closer to the top. To this end Rocana das appears to me to be doing the best he can to make himself appear valuable to the most powerful people in ISKCON, functioning perhaps as their hatchet man, for we see how he is always going after the self same people or groups that they consider to be their own very worst enemies, other powerful factions or groups such as Narayana Maharaja ‘s math was formerly and of course, the Rtviks, who continue to be, I think the greatest threat to the GBC’s gurus and thus to ISKCON.
I realized that the only persons who might not be aware that Rocana dasa was misrepresenting the truth would be the people who had not been around there at the time and who were therefore not Srila Prabhupadas initiated disicples, and probably not the disciples of anyone, as yet, just people who had wandered into some local temple and then perhaps gone up to the web and found Rocana, an “alternate voice” or devils advocate if you will. Innocents in other words who hadn’t had time enough to examine Rocanasa writings critically enough to see that in many cases that far from proposing a different view than the GBC is, that with but a little re-arranging to accommodate his own pet theories that Rocana dasa is saying the same thing.
Once I had seen this it seemed all to obvious that Rocana dasa target audience were those who had not, as yet, accepted a spiritual master, either through ISKCON’s or one of the other sub-groups offerings, or through the Rtvik method by which a person is initiated by a Rtvik priest upon Srila Prabhupada’s behalf and then becomes Srila Prabhupada’s disciple, and that these were the people who’se decision he was trying to influence. Rocana dasa argument was therefore aimed at discouraging anyone who might be, or might be in the future considering accepting the Rtvik offering and by by so doing of not onlt being lost as a possible resource to ISKCON but also by accepting and becoming one of Srila Prabhupadas disciples, equal to Rocana dasa.
Within the body of Rocanas article I found something else that suggested strongly to me that Rocana was being disingenuous, that he did not in reality think that the things that he was claiming that it was so important for a spiritual master to be, were in actuality very important, if at all. This related to Rocanas second indispensable quality of a spiritual master, his ability to “see” who was a demon and appraise us of this fearful thing. What appraised me of this was something that no one else would be aware of for it was something that Rocana had said to me privately in an e-mail several years ago, something that revealed what he really thought about not only demons, but also devotees. Here it is:
“You’ve gone so far as to suggest that *********** is demoniac.
Yes, we are all demons here in Kali Yuga, but really prabhu, I think it’s an over-reaction.”
Rocana dasa 4/26/2011 to Bhakta George
What made me recall this conversation was an old friendship with the only person who had ever received a degree on demonology from an accredited university. Isaac Bonewits, from U.C. Berkeley. Sigh, like many of friends who I haven’t heard from for ages when I looked him up I found that he had passed away. The point germane to this however is that the ability to see who is and who is not a demon is far from a necessary ability for even an ordinary person to possess, much less an essential ability of a spiritual master that can only be found in one who is still living if all the demons are already known, as they would be, if what Rocana dasa is saying here is correct and everyone is demoniac, including all of the devotees. For the record I do not agree with Rocana dasa that everyone, including all of the devotees are demoniac, but I’d certainly be willing to entertain the consideration that he is, but suffice to say from this little blurb we can see that Rocanas entire claim to considering the ability to see whether or not a person is or is not demoniac as an indispensable quality that a living spiritual master must possess is either complete b.s., or that it is written from the perspective of one who however snakeily already thinks that he possesses it and thus that he himself fills the bill by half at least of being a qualified living spiritual master.
This went into my file as one of the “couple of things” that I intended to bring up, and then I went back over he article again in order to determine what other tricks Rocana dasa was, to my way of thinking, attempting to employ to steer the devotees into accepting his view. Over the years my skills have gotten a bit rusty or my brain has adeled a bit more, perhaps a bit of both. The point is that I do not still always see what in my younger days would have been glaringly obvious upon a first or initial reading of an article. As I read Rocanas words again I saw how Rocana had been employing one of the oldest rhetorical or dishonest reasoning tools in the book in an attempt to confuse his audience, by employing the fallacious reasoning technique referred to as muddying the waters so as to confuse his audience as to what the essential qualities of a spiritual master were so as to get them to accept non-essential qualities in their stead and by so doing agree with his conclusion that anyone who is presently serving as a spiritual master must possess them (and because Srila Prabhupada was no longer present, that they must dismiss him from any possible consideration of their acceptance of him as their guru through Rtvik initiation).
By attempting to substitute material qualities of temporary manifestation for spiritual essentials of eternal duration, the real things that are essential to the function of a spiritual master and things that Srila Prabhupada continues to possess and give to us the benefit of, Rocana dasa was indeed attempting to muddy the waters by substituting non-essential for essentials in order to try to get us to accept his conclusion that we could not accept Srila Prabhupada as our Srila Prabhupada as a spiritual master, but had to accept someone else, such as Rocana dasa himself perhaps who possessed at least one if not both of the essential qualities of a spiritual master according at least to himself.
Once Rocana had convinced his target audience that such material qualities such as business acumen and the ability to judge a person as being demonic were indispensable to us in the person of another (and in this case in the person of a spiritual master and in this case again in the person of Srila Prabhupada), that due to his not being physically present and in such close proximity as to be able to display such abilities, Johnny on the spot, to step in and save our asses, each and every time, then following the acceptance of such a conclusion the rejection of anyone, including Srila Prabhupada for his not being physically present in order to display such abilities follows automatically.
Rocanas argument, besides being what appears to me to be use logical fallacy in a deliberate attempt to convince you of something untruthful, is silly on the other hand for the simple fact that even Superman cannot be everywhere at once, that sad to say, that while he’s off somewhere saving the planet that there is some poor cat stuck up in a tree that someone is going to have to call the fire department in order to get down. Srila Prabhupada was there for us many times but what Rocana suggests is basically that the Spiritual master must be present always to make up for our lack in each and every case, that Krsna, in fact must depend exclusively upon his pure devotees to serve Him or come down and serve Himself because we’re never going to be ready, willing or able to do it. Just another absurd argument from Rocana but his manner of presentation is sophisticated enough to allay the suspicions of any hen wandering into the hen house that had never seen a fox. That is at least, what I think of Rocana and Rocanas article.
YS George A. Smith
Certainly, no doubt, you are absolutely correct when you say this about Rocana dasa ;
” ……………….. it appeared that Rocana dasa had only sunk even deeper, that tormented by whatever demons drive him, that he has gone from only picturing himself a the great destroyer of the Rtviks, but into picturing Srila Prabhupada dead. ”
Why ? Because Rocana dasa does not see and read what he writes contradictory in his own comments http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/11-07/editorials2217.htm
” …………………………….. Of course, he is still with us in his vani legacy, but there is no replacing his actual physical presence with us to guide and solve problems, hands-on. ”
In his above mentioned comments Rocana dasa does accept the presence of Srila Prabhupada via His VANI which is non different than His Physical presence as Srila Prabhupada Himself has said many times during His manifested lila, and yet Rocana dasa dares to contradict the statement of Srila Prabhupada by saying ; ” ……. but there is no replacing his actual physical presence with us to guide and solve problems, hands-on. “.
Srila Prabhupada has spoken many times that all the answers to the questions are there in His Books, letters, lectures, recorded messages along with His senior devotees out of whom Rocana dasa is one of them himself to guide the new seekers in the future.
Alas….. since Rocana dasa refuses and rejects to accept Srila Prabhupada’s Instructions- VANI particularly the Initiations Instructions which has been practised during Srila Prabhupada’s presence or absence, therefore, unfortunately out of his sweet will, he chooses not only to contradict himself in his preaching but to mislead and misguide also hundred and thousands of innocent people unnecessarily who reads his contradictory writings on his web site mentioned above.
That is why Srila Prabhupada’s Ritvik Instructions – VANI drives Rocana dasa INSANE and he does not see and read CONTRADICTORY what he writes against Srila Prabhupada’s Instructions – VANI.
Hope it helps and clarifies the Readers.
Hari BOL.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
MONEY speaks many languages. Rocana is trying hard to please the PAYMASTERS the bogus GBC. He nor the bogus GBC PAYMASTERS can defeat Srila Prabhupada’s Ritvik ORDER. Why? because the order IS THE ETERNAL SPIRITUAL MASTER: Srila Prabhupada.
Adi 1.35 The Spiritual Masters
The service of the spiritual master is essential. If there is no chance to serve the spiritual master directly, a devotee should serve him by remembering his instructions. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL MASTER’S INSTRUCTIONS AND THE SPIRITUAL MASTER HIMSELF. IN HIS ABSENCE, THEREFORE, HIS WORDS OF DIRECTION SHOULD BE THE PRIDE OF THE DISCIPLE.
AND Srila Prabhupada being the REPRESENTATIVE OF KRSNA the ORDER comes FROM Krsna. ALL the Anti Ritviks will die in time BUT the RITVIK ORDER(July 9th 1977) REMAINS AS LONG AS THERE ARE SRILA PRABHUPADA BOOKS ON THE PLANET.
Just look at the HOW Rocana and his bogus Anti Ritvik GBC are DEFEATED here:
Mahesh Raja: Only Maha-Bhagavata is Diksa Guru
http://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/?p=41422#more-41422
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reply to Rocana Dasa on his COMPLETE MISUNDERSTANDING of BOTH the Guru and Ritvik Issue
http://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/?p=41135#more-41135
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bhaktivedanta Manor Accounts SALARIES
http://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/?p=38907#comment-24810
http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends49/0000259649_ac_20111231_e_c.pdf
Hare Krsna,
I’ve spent sometime with Rocana dasa on a personal level. I’ve witnessed his character personally and that of Susan, his partner. On the whole I can say with complete certainty, that he does not have much spiritual shakti at all. He seems to be on the mental platform. He had the fortune to meet his then girlfriend who was adept at html code at time when few people could build websites, so he has been typing away by himself for a very long time, but like I said, he’s basically a loner with a keyboard, no shakti.
pamho agtACBSP,
caturdasi ki jai
When we get completely clean and pure in Krsna consciousness we can see everything as it is,unless one is pure whatever he say under the polluted and temporary influences of the factor time entagled with the three gunas is subjected to disappear again, i mean is destined to be forget.
Almost everyone is trapped in the bodily concept of life by struggling though fake reflections coming from false designation because of lack of sukrti pious activities, therefore almost everyone departs from this world of living dead with empty hands because it is taking many lives before one gets complete detachment from prajalpas anarthas jnana kanda karma kanda etc… forgetting all the troubles of the past by ignoring the troubles stored for the future by argue and fight in flickring things is the classic behavior of the first class sudra,vaco vegam manasa krodha vegam jibya vegam, your same silly tongue vibration will kill through your uncontrolled tongue, think twice before to say something about great personality as HDG ACBSP.
You are just a envious snake you are dead and SRILA PRABHUPADA is alive murkh number one is easy from your guna and karma of snail face may be you will be lucky enough to get that one of a snake because you are in the wrong rotten body machine yantrarudhani mayaya at the present moment.
Anyway we should not waste more time by sharing our worthy company with this unworthy wretch just let kala jara and mrityu to finish this useless and insignificant low class living entity.
agtSP
ys haribol
…Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is based on the transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, entourage and variegatedness of the Supreme Person, and it is spoken by the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Vyāsadeva. Pastimes of the Lord are executed in cooperation with His pure devotees, and consequently historical incidences are mentioned in this great literature because they are related to Kṛṣṇa. It is called brahma-sammitam because it is the sound representative of Lord Kṛṣṇa-like the Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-GITA IS THE SOUND INCARNATION OF THE LORD because it is spoken by the Supreme Lord, and ŚRÍMAD-BHAGAVATAM IS THE SOUND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LORD because it was spoken by the incarnation of the Lord about the activities of the Lord. .. (SB.2.1.8. Purport )
“…Śukadeva Gosvāmī, is ready to recite exactly what he has learned from his great father Śrīla Vyāsadeva, and the disciple, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, is a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is he who believes sincerely that by becoming a devotee of the Lord one becomes fully equipped with everything spiritual. This teaching is imparted by the Lord Himself in the PAGES OF THE BHAGAVAD-GÍTA, in which it is clearly described that the Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) is everything, and that to surrender unto Him solely and wholly makes one the most perfectly pious man…( SB.2.1.10. Purport )
“…One who is actually interested in the Bhāgavatam, therefore, must not play with it BY READING OR HEARING a portion from here and a portion from there; one must follow in the footsteps of great kings like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa or Mahārāja Parīkṣit and hear IT FROM A BONA FIDE REPRESENTATIVE OF SUKADEVA GOSWAMI..”
(SB.2.1.10. Purport )
———————————————-
A bonafide guru ‘ s Words , His Books, Photos of Him , His Murti, tapes recorded of His Voice, Personal belongings …etc. are energy. This energy is not material energy but trascendental energy.
———————————————-
All Glories to Sríla Prabhupada !
“For the love of money is the root of all evil”. What does it mean? It means that for LOVE OF MONEY they will DENY Srila Prabhupada THE MASTER. Money is not evil BUT because they will do ANYTHING EVIL FOR MONEY THAT is the ROOT of ALL EVIL. Jesus Christ was Betrayed. Srila Prabhupada was Betrayed. ISKCON is now a set-up of many GUNDAS screwing MONEY. Srila Prabhupada said NO SALARY they do NOT want to obey. For this they REJECT Srila Prabhupada. By MANIPULATING innocent devotees they send them to the BIG CONDITIONED SOUL BABOONS who want to be worshiped AS GOOD AS GOD (so called Diksa gurus rubber-stamp manufactured by bogus GBC). Do these people have ANY conscience in them? We FEEL when somebody harms us. But do these people have ANY FEELINGS for DESTROYING innocent devotees lives by SLAVERY? Why do they have NO GUILT? When we do something wrong to someone we FEEL bad and TRY to rectify the wrong. These people have NO EMOTIONS. WICKED – very much like PSYCHOPATHS who are looking for an OPPORTUNE moment to do HARM. Psychopath takes one into confidence FIRST then he ABUSES the person at an OPPORTUNE moment. They have NO FEELINGS. NO EMOTIONS. Are these ANTI RITVIK people devotees?
Bg 16.4 T The Divine And Demoniac Natures
dambho darpo ‘bhimanas ca
krodhah parusyam eva ca
ajnanam cabhijatasya
partha sampadam asurim
SYNONYMS
dambhah–pride; darpah–arrogance; abhimanah–conceit; ca–and; krodhah–anger; parusyam–harshness; eva–certainly; ca–and; ajnanam–ignorance; ca–and; abhijatasya–one who is born of; partha–O son of Prtha; sampadam–nature; asurim–demoniac.
TRANSLATION
Arrogance, pride, anger, conceit, harshness and ignorance–these qualities belong to those of demoniac nature, O son of Prtha.
PURPORT
In this verse, the royal road to hell is described. THE DEMONIAC WANT TO MAKE A SHOW OF RELIGION AND ADVANCEMENT IN SPIRITUAL SCIENCE, ALTHOUGH THEY DO NOT FOLLOW THE PRINCIPLES. They are always arrogant or proud in possessing some type of education or so much wealth. THEY DESIRE TO BE WORSHIPED BY OTHERS, AND DEMAND RESPECTABILITY, ALTHOUGH THEY DO NOT COMMAND RESPECT. Over trifles they become very angry and speak harshly, not gently. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT SHOULD BE DONE AND WHAT SHOULD NOT BE DONE. THEY DO EVERYTHING WHIMSICALLY, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN DESIRE, AND THEY DO NOT RECOGNIZE ANY AUTHORITY. These demoniac qualities are taken on by them from the beginning of their bodies in the wombs of their mothers, and as they grow they manifest all these inauspicious qualities.
“Those devotees who like to adamantly state that Srila Prabhupada is ‘still alive’, and ISKCON should just go along as if that were the assumption, are fools”
Rocana dasa
ISKCON is guilty of making and acting on it’s own assumptions and it is they who are foolish for thinking that that they can “get away with it” for Yamaraja will make sure that they don’t. But as they wait for sentencing, let us look at this so called assumption that Rocana is accusing us of making and telling us that we are fools for making it, and let us see whether it is indeed foolish, or even whether it is even an assumption at all, or whether it is instead the very appreciation of reality as it is that Rocana claims to be much more in the possession of than we are.
First of all, it is more correctly stated that we appreciate that since before the time of Srila Prabhupadas disappearance that ISKCON has been doing things that Srila Prabhupada did not approve of and apparently could not always even stop and that since Srila Prabhupadas disappearance ISKCON has continued to do such things and shows no sign that it is ever going to stop. Let’s just look at the general facts of the matter, the specifics, if you will, the particulars of which one can look up for oneself anywhere up on the web in case one is not aware of them, one having have been living in a cave for the last forty yeaars or so,or having but newly come to the Krsna Consciousness movement.
Let’s just look at some of the things that ISKCON was doing then, when Srila Prabhupada was still with us physically that they are still doing today and which they also show no sign that they will ever stop doing. .
Well, during Srila Prabhupada’ s physically manifest lila, the GBC were continually getting out of hand and not carrying out Srila Prabhupada’s wishes or instructions, even to the point that he considered doing away with it completely and if memory serves me, for a short time, doing so. Also, some devotees were at the time changing Srila Prabhupadas books and even how Krsna consciousness was being presented, even to the point of introducing into it Mayavadi teachings and concepts, and they were doing such things without even asking Srila Prabhupada’s permission. Some devotees were also pretending to be as qualified and or even more qualified than Srila Prabhupada and some would even mimic his way od speaking an mannerisms. Some devotees were also mismanaging the movements assets, even stealing from ISKCON, while others were abusing women and children, even to the point of beating and raping them and, oh yeah, let’s not forget that some devotees devotees were actually even trying to control Srila Prabhupada and, if such things are to be believed; were even trying to murder him and actually did. Fast forward almost 40 years after Srila Prabhupadas physical disappearance and tell us Rocana dasa, what has changed prabhu?
So Rocana should see that in reality that it is we who are the realy the realists and that he is the one who is doing the assuming and that it is perhaps the one doing the name calling who is the real and worst type of fool also for knowing not what to do, Rocana goes on to do omething anyway.
Although we recognize this about ISKCON what Rocana dasa obviously doesn’t understand is a lesson that we never seem to learn, it is a lesson about history repeats itself, that lesson and another one that seems very much to apply in Rocanas instance, that lesson being that the only thing that we ever learn from history is that we never learn anything from history.
The only thing that is different about the movement today that wasn’t true in Srila Prabhupadas time, is that after his physical disappearance most of the devotees who loved him and really cared about Krsna consciousness, about pushing the movement on were gotten rid of, they left or were driven out. Some went mad and blew their brains out or fell into old bad habits and drank or drugged themselves dead, many just disappeared as realization dawned and some who had been away for a while returned to this:
“My master dead, murdered? His children, all the devotees who truly loved him? Robbed and beaten, raped and then driven out of their masters house to perish in the waste when they had nothing left???!!”
What’s a person to do with such pain when self slaughter is not an option? Did you ever stand upon that cliff? Did you ever spin the chamber of the gun before holding it up to your head and hearing it go click? Or did you ever just go home to your parents house, into the garage, to the car and just get in and turn the engine on and sit, like Swapna did, chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare in the way that he always did, until his master called him back home.
Back to looking at ISKCON as is was and stillcontinues to be, and this really is a prime example of there being nothing new under the sun and of history repeating itself. ISKCON going on and on and on repeating itself, doing the same crazy and counter- productive (from a spiritual standpoint) things that it was doing while Srila Prabhupada was physically present and showing no indication that it will ever stop doing them.
But the saying that history repeats itself does not enlighten us as to the cause of suc repetition, the who of it, the why of it, the cause that causes history must repeat itself, going on and on and on, burying everone.
History repeats itself because human consciousness continues to remain the same, the same as it has been for a long, long time. Therefore, to change history you must first change human consciousness. To stop ISKCON from going on and on and on in the same way it has been going since before Srila Prabhupada left us and to put it on fast track in the direction it should be going, you have to change the consciousness of its members to consciousness of Krsna, they must become Krsna conscious, but the laugh track comes on at this suggestion because they think that they already are, that Krsna loves them already, so whats for them to fix? According to them we are the only ones in illusion or denial, or foolish, like Rocana claims.
Hare Krsna,
George Smith
skanda says:
11. June 2014 at 11:05 pm
Hare Krsna,
I’ve spent sometime with Rocana dasa on a personal level. I’ve witnessed his character personally and that of Susan, his partner. On the whole I can say with complete certainty, that he does not have much spiritual shakti at all. He seems to be on the mental platform. He had the fortune to meet his then girlfriend who was adept at html code at time when few people could build websites, so he has been typing away by himself for a very long time, but like I said, he’s basically a loner with a keyboard, no shakti.
Swahna, how is she?
Rocana and his women, well, he certainly never lacked for them, but can he even stand today or feed himself without them these days? He certainly didn’t have to back then when he was the head of an all women traveling sankirtan party in Seattle.
There was a time that I remember in which Rocana (or they),would dress up in silken cloth of gold so as to look so pretty for them and then they would dance around him in the temple room, six or seven of them, all young ladies from his traveling sankirtan party, pretending that he was Krsna or something, I do not know as I and the two other young bhramachari’s, Krsna Chandra and Stubyadeva, who happened upon this scene, back pedaled out of there so quickly. We were in such shock by the sight of it that we never brought up the subject or spoke about it to one another.
Susan I do not know her, except for a brief unpleasant enterchange in which she insulted my intelligence, but most of the others, the main ones, Rocanas “shaktis” I knew. Funny how close the meaning, the concept is to the Sumerian word Ti, which also means “rib”. The word took on the connotation of “stumbling” in the later Hebrew creation story, the myths in Genesis, wherein Eve is created from such an inconsequential part of a man as his rib and is ultimately and historically made to pay the price for his downfall, whereas in the original creation myth of the Sumerioans, woman is not even made of the clay of the earth as man is, but is formed instead from Gods living breath which gave man to live.
Here in the West following from the Hebrew and continueing through the Christians, we do not in generally think of our women so nobly as the more ancients seemed to have, holding them responsible for our falldowns instead of praising them for the glories that without them we would be unable to attain and for their love and devotion to what is often the most rediculous of things, service to a man who isn’t even Krsna conscious and has no desire of becoming so. We do not always treat them very well, even our own wives and that is a shame, and a crime and unfortunately this continued into ISKCON.
Swahna, that was his first wife and with Rocana gone almost all of the time out with his traveling sankitan party and Swahna always in the kitchen and there being no bhramachari program at the temple, Swahna was more a mentor to me then than Rocana ever was telling me about Krsna and Srila Prabhupada. Indeed, it was due to her instruction as to why I never became formally initiated as Srila Prabhupadas disciple. She was a great help to me and will always be appreciated and in my prayers and to this day I think that I would give up my life just for one more taste of that delicious eggplant subji she used to make for Srila Prabhupada and her sweet Lord Krsnas pleasure. There was a lot of love and devotion there. Rocanas other woman, the one that controlled him mostly at the time drove her out from what I’ve heard, though I had left by that time.
Padjavali, the other woman, who Rocana blames today for many of his own “mistakes” Funny thing, for if he’d been enough of a man then back to be in control of himself then today he’d have no one to try to shuffle off all the blame. “I was just following orders” is not exactly a line that commands respect.
Padjavali, now there was a living flame. God she was incredible. She was a diminutive woman but her passion for pushing on the Krsna consciousness movement was gigantic and her loyalty to Srila Prabhupada unflinching. Sometimes her feelings were so powerful that they overcame even her gifted intelligence and sad to say, pushed her even into acts of cruelty and intolerance, even savagery, from what I’ve heard, but all that I ever received from her was kindness and respect. Rocana was certain no match for her, but no shame to him on that part for I think few men could have been, this was however at the time to my advantage, and probably Rocanas too, because she liked me and Rocana, dear Rocana, didn’t seem to like any other young men being around who might distract the young ladies from their fixation upon him. Had I liked him I might have told him that by reducing the amount of ugly expressions that he allowed his face to make when speaking disparagingly about others that he might have increased his attractiveness, but I doubt that that would have done any good as just as today, a lot of what he says or writes seems to be to reflect the same profound lack of self confidance that he seemed to be suffering from in the good old days. Perhaps that’s always a consequence of puffing yourself up so big that you cannot possibly stretch yourself all the way around it and of being afraid that others will discover what you already know, which is that it’s all a bluff. Anyway, that’s my thoughts on the matter. Anyway she stopped Rocana from tossing me out as he wanted to although a couple of months later shortly before Srila Prabhupadas dissapearance I think she felt betrayed when I left on my own volition, something that I had always told her that I might have to do when my father died, but none the less.
Rocana isn’t just a man with a keyboard, hes a man with an agenda, which, as one of its key components requires getting rid of the Rtviks. For the longest time I had hoped that he’d simply grow out of it, espeially since he had already conceded the point that I had made to him, which was that accordig to Srila Prabhupadas exposition on guru tattva a spiritual master could accept disciples after his physical “death” , although Rocana didn’t like it very much that he did and that he had accepted that it was valid through Srila Prabhupadas acceptance of it as being so, being a bit obtuse he offered up some silly sectarian onjections in the after math to which I ptiently responded but to which he never answered back..
This was also one of Narayana Maharajas central themes or key components in his strategy and probably for the same reason that Rocana and ISKCON want to see the Rtviks out of the way, because the Rtviks offer to be a continual thorn in the sides of anyone who tries to replace Srila Prabhupada with any other person for always the Rtviks are going to compare whoever is presented to them with Srila Prabhupada and interpret them through Srila Prabhupadas words instead of their and thus, to people like Narayana Maharaja, ISKCON and Rocana also, I am sad to say, the Rtviks are indeed poison as Narayana Maharaja called them right in front of me, poison to their dreams of ever replacing Srila Prabhupada with their unworthy and undeserving selves. That is what I think, which will, along with three dollars fifty, get you some stale cookies at the Sunday feast. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Haribol.
George Smith
Make no mistake, interpreting to people through Srila Prabhupadas words instead of their so called leaders, spiritual masters, gurus of all kinds both in the present Iskcon and the GM leaders in order to replace Srila Prabhupadas with any other person or persons have been the main objectives through out in their respective efforts including Rocana dasa to drive Srila Prabhupada’s Ritvik system out of their way by hook or crook.
That is why these people remain unworthy and undeserving selves. As such their dreams of ever replacing Srila Prabhupada will be shattered as long as HDG. Srila Prabhupada’s VANI – Instructions remain available on this planet earth.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Hari BOL. OM TAT SAT.