painting of Radha Krishna by Tim Lee
Tamohara dasa Vanaprastha, Sep 12, Canada: It takes courage and the highest order of compassion to stand against the darkness. But Krishna is a fire which burns in the heart and minds of men, Who drives them to attempt the impossible, to stand even as one man against an empire, for the sake of an ideal.
Krishna dasa has revealed concerns about the quality of the activities of Bhatkimarg Swami, long time devotee within ISKCON and GBC/authorized guru.
I recall 1973, at the Toronto temple on Gerrard Street. Srila Prabhupada had a three-story house. Many wonderful devotees were residing there for the sake of our sankirtana services for Srila Prabhupada. As a new but sincere and gentle-natured lad, Bhatimarga was in charge of the new bhaktas, more or less, we being Ghosh Thakura Prabhu and I. He would read Nectar of Devotion with us for 1/2 an hour, and we would spend a few hours almost every day chanting and/or trying to collect some laxmi for incense and magazines, out on the famous circus of man’s folly known as Yonge Street.
Other devotees living with us included jolly Mathuranatha, grhasta, incense man, Ayodyapati, sankirtana brahmacari/cook, Visvakarama, sankirtana leader, cool dude brahmacari, Sitapati, pukka grhasta Temple President, Drupada, the “chaunnce” man, 24-hours cook, Rocana prabhu, pukka kinda serious but personable Pres/pujari/sankirtana brahmana grhasta, Jadgadisa and Laxmimoni, Pres/GBC and family, Visnudatta, mrdanga player, mimic, sankirtana brahmacari and back-therpist, Hiranyagarbha, pukka brahmana /pujari sankirtana grhasta, Kamsahanta, tough guy and sankirtana grhasta, Bala Krishna, sweetheart and did every other service well grhasta, Krpasindhu, NYC cool sankirtana grhatsa, Harakumara, mild-mannered genius and secretary-treasurer brahmana brahmacari. Almost each and every one of them was Bhaktimarga’s senior at the time. They were and all are glorious heroes.
Where are they now? Have they given up on Krishna consciousness? Outside one whose status I am uncertain of, not a single one of them have even dreamed of renouncing their identities as eternal servants of the servants of Srila Prabhupada. Same is true of the Winnipeg devotees, come to think of it, but a somewhat younger, fresher crew, overall. Every one a preacher. In fact, they are all powerful spiritual personalities who continue to worship Srila Prabhupada!
The unfortunate truth is that several of these devotees have all told me the same story: manipulation of authority within the Toronto temple and later of the authority as GBC by HH Bhaktimarg Swami, in such a way as to oust all his Godbrothers and shore up for himself and his cadres a fiefdom of salary-paid cronies and sycophants. The servant has now occupied the throne, and has taken over Srila Prabhupada’s home by removing his own brothers into the streets, so to speak.
Most of these exalted persons are too humble to place such inconvenient truths before the public eye. But I go with the principle that seeing a crime against devotees and doing nothing within your power to stop it can be a type of dishonesty and a failure to serve our responsibilities fully as sons of the greatest Vaisanava general, and our spiritual father, Srila Prabhupada.
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