ROCANA DASA, Jul 17, CANADA (SUN) — This follows a recent article by the same title, which briefly appeared in the Sun before being replaced by a correction notice. We will begin again, hoping to offer a more accurate statement.
A few days ago, we received an article submission from Sushen Krsna das of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, who is a disciple of HH Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami, entitled “West India Preaching Programme“. At the top of the article was a picture of the disciplic succession (shown below), the composition of which concerned us very much. It depicts our Sampradaya Acaryas, Their Divine Graces Srila Jagannath das Babaji, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Sri Gaura Kishor das Babji, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. But strangely enough, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is not pictured. In his place is Srila Sridhar Maharaja, followed by another personality, who at first glance we took to be HH Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami. Beneath the picture was the caption, “All Glories to Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga”.
We were quickly advised by several readers that the picture on the far left was not Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami, but was actually Srila Govinda Maharaj of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.
Upon receipt of the submission, we sent the following letter to the contributor:
Dear Sushen Krsna das,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you for your article submission, which we’ll publish in today’s Sun. But prabhu, I have to point out that the picture you’ve included at the top of this article is very disturbing. Your Guru Maharaja (my godbrother) HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami is a direct disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Yet you include in your article a picture of the parampara that includes your Guru, but not Srila Prabhupada! In his place, you show B.V. [typo… should be B.R.] Sridhar Maharaja. What is the message you’re conveying, exactly? I personally take this as a great affront to Srila Prabhupada, and I ask that you provide a serious explanation on the matter.
Thanking you in advance,
your servant,
Rocana dasa
We found it difficult to comprehend why such a picture was being distributed to the press with an official missive about preaching activities going on under the name of Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami, being promoted by an associate of Bhaktivedanta Institute. Assuming, as we did, that the person on the left was Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami, we could only wonder why Sridhar Maharaja was put in Srila Prabhupada’s place.
Now that we stand corrected and realize it was Srila Govinda Maharaj of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math pictured on the left, we are still left to consider the meaning of a picture of the parampara being distributed by the Bhaktivedanta Institute that does not include Srila Prabhupada among the Sampradaya Acaryas, but instead includes Srila Sridhar Maharaja.
Keep in mind that the Bhaktivedanta Institute was founded by Srila Prabhupada who, in 1974, put Svarup Damodara dasa in charge as Director. He served in that capacity until his unexpected departure from this world in 2006. On the Bhaktivedanta Institute website, we find a page dedicated to the Founding Director of the BI, which includes a picture of HH Bhakti Svarup Damodara in non-devotional clothing, behind a lectern. Nowhere on the page is his devotee name mentioned – only his karmi name, Dr. T.D. Singh.
Svarupa Damodar dasa was initiated into the order of sannyasa by Kirtanananda Swami on September 3, 1979, during the dedication of Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold at New Vrindaban. At that time, the name “Bhakti” was added as a prefix, thus the Swami’s commonly known name, HH Bhakti Svarup Damodar.
While we awaited an explanation on the matter from Sriman Sushen Krsna das, we spent some time exploring the Bhaktivedanta Institute website, interested to learn who is currently managing their activities and, we assumed, the use of Srila Prabhupada’s funds which go to support them? Who among the GBC is responsible for the Bhaktivedanta Institute’s activities?
A look at the Contact page of their website provides four contact names, for their offices in Kolkata (the headquarters), along with Denver, Rome, and another joint office. None of the individuals named as contact persons have devotee names.
And on the subject of names, we had in the past had concerns about the nomenclature used in previous articles coming from the devotees at Bhaktivedanta Institute. Most of these names were unfamiliar to us, but we assumed they were ISKCON devotees. For example, we recently published a multi-part series on their South India preaching tour. The articles are found to be replete with titles like “Sripad”, and other such honorifics being appended to the names of our contemporaries, although that practice is specifically disallowed by the GBC’s rules on the matter. Further, we had identified (and corrected) various statements in their articles that referred to Srila Prabhupada in a manner that we felt diminished or offensively minimized his exalted status, particularly in comparison to the Swamis and other personalities who are today preaching under Srila Prabhupada’s great umbrella. We had called these concerns to the attention of the contributing BI authors, asking that in future, greater care be taken in that regard.
Having now received a detailed reply from Sushen Krsna dasa, we understand that many of the devotees referred to in previous articles were Gaudiya Matha devotees, not ISKCON devotees at all, as we had assumed. And as the reader will see in the letter that follows, there is a very good reason for that: Srila Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Institute has now come under Gaudiya Matha influence and management.
Letter received from Sushen Krsna dasa:
Jul 16 2009
All Glories to Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga.
Respected HG Rocana Prabhu:
Please accept our humble obeisances.
Respected Prabhuji we are feeling fortunate that your grace has given us blessings and love. You are Godbrother of our Guru Maharaj Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaj and hence we consider you also as good as our spiritual master. This example is shown by Mahaprabhu Himself and we can find the same in Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Antya 8.46
prabhu guru-buddhye karena sambhrama, sammana
Translation: When they met (Ramacandra Puri and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), the Lord would offer him respectful obeisances, considering him a Godbrother of His spiritual master.
Your grace has given us this service to answer some of the question that you have sent to us by email. Thus by following your grace’s order we are answering them. Please correct us if we commit any mistakes and forgive us if unknowingly we did any offenses to anyone due to our deep ignorance.
You grace have asked us that “However, I still do not understand why you would promote this picture. How can anyone purporting to be serving under the auspices of Srila Prabhupada’s own Bhaktivedanta Institute be promoting a picture of the disciplic succession that does not even have Srila Prabhupada in it?”
Our response, (PDF File): The relation between Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is very intimate. After the divine disappearance pastime of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada many problems arouse in Gaudiya Maths and due to those difficulties Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada came out of Gaudiya Maths together.
When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada disappeared at that time Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was in grihasta ashram. He provided a place to Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj in his own house. He was staying with his family in the ground floor and provided the place for Srila Sridhar Maharaj on the top floor. Srila Sridhar Maharaj was staying in the house of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada with his disciple Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj who is the present president Acharya Dev of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Everyday Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was hearing and learning Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and many literature that are produced by our Gaudiya Guru Varga from the divine lotus lips of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj was getting the association of both Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. After sometime, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj established Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, at Navadwip in the year 1941. 32 years later Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established ISKCON at Mayapur in the year 1973.
Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada went to Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to get sannyas initiation and Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told your family members are so intimately connected with me and if I give Sannyas to you then they will be very upset with me. Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said I am giving you the Sannyas name Bhaktivedanta Swami but you take sannyas from my sannyas disciple Srila Kesava Maharaj and it is as good as taking Sannyas from me. Srila Prabhupada after establishing ISKCON many times took intimate association with Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He openly declared that Srila Sridhar Maharaj is my Siksa Guru and said my Gurudev Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada wanted Srila Sridhar Maharaj to train me as Acharya for my services to my Gurudev. Thus we are connected to Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj through the chain of disciplining succession which is coming to us through Srila Sripad Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada.
Bhaktivedanta Institute is founded by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and thus it is the property of Guru parampara, the chain of disciplic succession which Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada belongs to. There is no difference between diksa guru (initiating spiritual) and siksa guru (instructing spiritual masters). In this connection we can read the Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 1.32 , 1.33 , 1.34 , 1.35 , 1.36 and 1.37 . We are mentioning CC Adi 1.35 below
mantra-guru ara yata siksha-guru-gana
tanhara carana age kariye vandana
Translation by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: “I first offer my respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of my initiating spiritual master and all my instructing spiritual masters.”
Also in CC Adi 1.47 it is mentioned that
siksa-guruke ta’ jani krsnera svarupa
antaryami, bhakta-srestha, – ei dui rupa
Translation by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: “One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the Personality of Kr?s?n?a. Lord Kr?s?n?a manifests Himself as the Supersoul and as the greatest devotee of the Lord.”
Srila Prabhupada openly accepted that Srila Sridhar Maharaj is his siksa Guru. Here Srila Krsna Das Kaviraj Goswami says that “One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the Personality of Kr?s?n?a.” We know that Krsna is the source of everything and He is the proprietor of everything. Thus there must not be any doubt about Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s connection with Bhaktivedanta Institute.
In the Bhagavatam 11.17.27 it is said:
acaryam mam vijaniyan navamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta sarva-deva mayoguruh
“One should understand the spiritual master to be as good as I am,” said the Blessed Lord. “Nobody should be jealous of the spiritual master or think of him as an ordinary man, because the spiritual master is the sum total of all demigods.”
All the missions of Mahaprabhu are to be considered as divine mercy of Krsna who came in this age as Sri Krsna-Chaitanya to distribute freely the Krsna prema. Thus we must give all respect to the dear most devotees of Lord Gaura Sundar and by their grace only we can get the favor of Mahaprabhu.
As we mentioned before Gurudev Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaj (Srila Sripad Maharaj) instructed us to take guidance from Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj to carryout the Bhaktivedanta Institute services. Gurudev Sripad Puri Maharaj is a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada and also Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. We a few disciples of Srila Sripad Maharaj have taken the shelter of Sripad Puri Maharaj and the training that was given by Guru Maharaja is continuing under the able authority of Sripad Puri Maharaja by the will Guru Maharaja for scientific preaching seva. We are getting the same message from Sripad Puri Maharaj what we were getting from Srila Sripad Maharaj. Sripad Puri Maharaj guided us to Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj for our further progress in spiritual journey.
We are carrying out the Bhaktivedanta Institute services under the divine direction of Gurudev Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj for the pleasure of Gurudev Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaj and all the guruvarga. Srila Prabhupada himself has a lot of love and appreciation for Gurudev Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. One of the letters of Srila Prabhupada to Srila Govinda Maharaj can be found on this page where he has given a lot of blessings to Srila Govinda Maharaj. Gurudev Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj also worships Srila Prabhupada as his own siksa guru. The West India Preaching Programme will be carried out under the direction of Gurudev Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj to serve the mission of Bhaktivedanta Institute and Mahaprabhu for the pleasure of all the Guruvarga. Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj is a diksa disciple of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and thus what photo we have sent in our message is the disciplinic succession of Gurudev Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Our intention is not to omit anyone. If by placing this photo in our message unknowingly we hurt anyone then we sincerely ask forgiveness form all the vaisnavas so that they kindly forgive us and we pray for their blessings.
Jay Sripad Puri Maharaj
Jay Srila Sripad Maharaj
Jay Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Jay Srila Prabhupada
Jay Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.
Your humble servant
Sushen Krsna Das
While we appreciate Sushen Krsna das’s response, his letter is evidence that our serious concerns are warranted. This is demonstrated from the very beginning of the letter – the salutations and the mood being presented are of a very different flavor than Srila Prabhupada’s. It will be obvious to anyone who’s had any history or experience that the writer of this letter has been significantly influenced by another camp – in this case, Srila Sridhar Maharaja’s camp. We hear this very same mood coming from Tripurari Swami’s camp, and often from those in B.V. Narayana’s camp.
There is no offering of respects to Srila Prabhupada specifically – not the traditional “All glories to Srila Prabhupada”. Instead, “All Glories to Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga.” In ISKCON, particularly during Srila Prabhupada’s lila, when this generic salutation is employed, it typically means that the communication is not happening between two followers of Srila Prabhupada, thus the etiquette of eliminating the glorification to a specific guru’s name. In this case, of course, Sushen Krsna das is the disciple of my godbrother, Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Swami, and there is no question that Srila Prabhupada should be specifically glorified in his salutation to me. The reason he is not properly glorified is made clear in the content of the letter that follows.
Unlike devotees in the Tripurari and Narayana camps who were once Srila Prabhupada disciples, but have now adopted Sridhar Maharaja or B.V. Narayana as their siksa (and primary) guru, by Sushen Krsna das’s example we see that the second generation disciples of Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami have no qualms about expressing their real affiliations. There is no attempt to hide or explain anything. In fact, this prabhu seem almost proud of the fact that he is giving this perception, and I’m guessing he would be happy to have everyone share in it, and would think it quite proper. It’s not a matter of him wishing to convince us, it’s simply a matter of him assuming that we all share (or should share) the same historical perspective – namely that Srila Prabhupada is inferior, or subordinate in spiritual stature to Srila Sridhar Maharaja.
Given the nature of this letter, we must assume that Sushen Krsna das speaks here on behalf of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. In fact, this letter is akin to a policy statement from the BI. He tells us that Srila Prabhupada “openly declared that Srila Sridhar Maharaj is my Siksa Guru ” and that Srila Prabhupada was ‘everyday hearing and learning sastra’ from Sridhar Maharaja. Of course, there’s abundant evidence in letters and statements that Srila Prabhupada made which do not indicate this at all – in fact, some indicate that Srila Prabhupada thought Sridhar Maharaja had failed in the mandate given to him by their Spiritual Master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, to go out and preach in the way that Srila Prabhupada did. I won’t digress here into a discussion of the fact that Srila Prabhupada is nitya-siddha, but suffice to say from that standpoint, the idea that he was “hearing and learning sastra” from Sridhar Swami takes on a very different meaning.
Sushen Krsna das elaborates by saying that at the time, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev was getting the same daily instruction and association from Srila Sridhar, and that he went on to establish the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. And the specific point is made that “32 years later Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established ISKCON”. There is a clear, albeit subtle inference here that it took Srila Prabhupada many years to go out and do something with all the instruction he received, which I find very offensive, and indicative of the sort of history that is regularly perpetuated by members of the Sridhar camp. It also seeks to equate the Chaitanya Saraswat Math with ISKCON, and this is another well-known tactic.
Not surprisingly, Sushen Krsna das mentions Srila Prabhupada’s sannyasa initiation pastime, and that he wanted to take sannyasa from Sridhar Maharaja, but he essentially refused, referring him to Srila Kesava Maharaja instead.
We also note the statements that report how Srila Prabhupada took “intimate association” with Sridhar – not that Sridhar took intimate association with Srila Prabhupada. Sushen Krsna then tries to bolster all these positions by using the sastric references quoted in his letter.
The Sridhar Swami camp in particular likes to emphasize the fact that siksa and diksa are non-different. Of course, their twist is that Srila Prabhupada essentially took the equivalent of diksa from Sridhar, even though he was his godbrother, and this message is subtly, but regularly put forward in their writings.
The most revealing aspect of this letter is that it states for the record that the followers of Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami claim that he instructed his disciples to work under the guidance of Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj, who is described as being “a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada and also Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.” What that means, exactly, is not made clear. In part one of their recent South India Preaching Report, we read that Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami, by his will and instructions, made Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj the President of Bhaktivedanta Institute.
We are told that Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj’s guidance for the Bhaktivedanta Institute devotees is that they take further instruction from Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev, who is the successor head of Srila Sridhar’s matha,
So the conclusion of all this is that under the posthumous direction of Bhakti Svarup Damodar Swami, as Founding Director of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Institute, the BI has now essentially been placed, apparently fully, under the spiritual guidance of the Gaudiya Matha. All this is “for the pleasure of the parampara”, and that “parampara” as pictured above does not even include His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
This phenomenon is explained by Sushen Krsna das:
“Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj is a diksa disciple of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and thus what photo we have sent in our message is the disciplinic succession of Gurudev Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Our intention is not to omit anyone.”
And the point is further made clear in this statement:
“Bhaktivedanta Institute is founded by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and thus it is the property of Guru parampara, the chain of disciplic succession which Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada belongs to.”
Sushen Krsna prabhu closes his letter with this list:
Jay Sripad Puri Maharaj
Jay Srila Sripad Maharaj
Jay Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Jay Srila Prabhupada
Jay Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.
We note, of course, that the list of five is composed of four “Maharaja’s”, along with Srila Prabhupada (not Maharaja).
Not being informed of the activities of the Gaudiya Matha (because time does not permit us to even give our full attention to Srila Prabhupada’s preaching mission), we did not realize who all the personalities were that are mentioned in the South India preaching mission articles. As editors of the Sampradaya Sun, we should have been more fully informed in this regard. We were also completely unaware of the circumstances that had unfolded with the Bhaktivedanta Institute following Bhakti Svarup Damodar’s departure. So obviously this is all going on, unbeknownst to me, but the real question is — is this unbeknownst to the ISKCON GBC?
Are the GBC condoning this arrangement? Are they continuing to provide BBT funds for the BI, as Srila Prabhupada instructed them to do? Are other funds being channeled from ISKCON projects or personalities for this BI? The Bhaktivedanta Institute now appears to be totally out from under the control of the GBC. They are promoting Gaudiya Matha personalities, and offensively minimizing Srila Prabhupada.
We aren’t aware of any GBC Resolutions on the matter, but frankly, we have not had time to research this. We had not heard that there was a power struggle going on between this group of followers of Bhakti Svarupa Damodar and the GBC. And of course, now that the Swami has passed away, we cannot ask him any more questions. His followers claim that he instructed them in this way and that way, and we request that they make public, through the Sampradaya Sun, Maharaja’s last Will, and whatever other written or verbal instructions he gave on this matter.
This situation with the BI gives us even further cause for concern that Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON movement has not only deteriorated, but is completely reverting to the influences of religiosity. We are now apparently seeing the consequences of a Zonal Acarya who has departed, with his disciples taking over, and they are taking this Bhaktivedanta Institute that was so dear to Srila Prabhupada off in a completely different direction than Srila Prabhupada would agree to. Clearly, they don’t know Srila Prabhupada, they don’t have any idea who Srila Prabhupada is. If they did, they would never make the propaganda they are promoting. They know who Bhakti Svarupa Damodar is, and they seem to know who Sridhar Swami is… they know who Sridhar’s disciple in charge of the matha is, but it appears that they know very little about Srila Prabhupada, or about his ISKCON mission, which they seldom mention in their preaching reports.
So it seems that a new issue has emerged, and that the GBC’s competence, consciousness, and agenda is again being called into question. In the days ahead, as more is learned about this situation, we will hope to explore the potential legal ramifications. Given the GBC’s current efforts to assert themselves as the ultimate legal managing authority worldwide over ISKCON and its affairs, it would follow that they have some fiduciary responsibility for the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Having let it go over to Gaudiya Matha control would clearly breach that duty of trust.
This may be a very challenging situation for the GBC to handle, in that it brings up one of their most sensitive issues, namely the power struggle between the Zonal Acaryas and the actual GBC. If one of these Zonal Acaryas goes rogue, and beings giving away Srila Prabhupada’s assets, then what will the GBC’s response be? And what pressure can be brought to bear against the GBC, both within the society and by legal means from outside the society if necessary, to ensure that they do their duty?
This may be an especially challenging situation in the case of Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Swami, who many devotees now feel so sentimentally attached to because he left his body, shortly after the dreadful terrorist attack in Manipur, and because he was such a sweet personality, etc. In fact, we may find that the GBC have abdicated their duties in this regard simply because they didn’t want to square-off against the disciples who were taking actions to follow the Swami’s posthumous instructions for the BI.
Whatever the case, this is obviously a situation of serious concern for the followers of Srila Prabhupada. All the right questions need to be asked, and the GBC must provide the answers. How Srila Prabhupada’s assets are being managed is a matter of responsibility for every one of his followers, and regardless of whether or not the GBC are doing their duty, we must do ours.
As all our regular Sun readers know, I am promoting Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acarya. This is yet another instance when if that philosophical position was taken up, this matter would become very clear, and the problems could readily be solved, simply by recognizing who Srila Prabhupada is, and acting accordingly. If the GBC and ISKCON had done that, or would do it now and in future, then so many of these situations could be challenged and dealt with from that perspective. In this case, Sushen Krsna das’s letter makes it obvious that not only do the Bhaktivedanta Institute devotees not accept Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acarya, but they put other acaryas on a platform above and beyond Srila Prabhupada. They don’t even consider him to be the Acarya of the Bhaktivedanta Institute – they say that the BI is just there to “serve the parampara” – and that means whatever they consider the parampara to be in this regard. And the answer to that is well stated in the picture above, of a disciplic succession that does not even include Srila Prabhupada.
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