Crucial articles, documents and perspectives that have either been suppressed by the authorities, or altogether ignored by the mainstream Vaishnava media.
Iskcon and the Guru Issue
Part 1 – The Hare Krishna Movement
Part 2 – What is the Guru Issue?
Part 3 – The Zonal Acarya System vs. The New Guru System
Part 4 – The Sad History of the “Zonal-Acharyas”
Part 5 – Brief History of Guru Hoax in ISKCON
Part 6 – The Great Guru Hoax of Iskcon
Part 7 – The Truth about “ISKCON”
Part 8 – The Hidden History of ISKCON”
Part 9 – 27 Years of Deception
Part 10 – Prabhupada’s ISKCON ‘How It Was Destroyed’
Part 11 – What Happened to the Hare Krishnas?
Part 12 – ISKCON Devotees Forbidden To Understand Srila Prabhupada?
Part 13 – Shadow ISKCON or the True ISKCON? Take Your Pick
Part 14 – Who Is Representing Srila Prabhupada Now?
Part 15 – ISKCON – The Human Tragedy
Part 16 – The Collective Cover-ups of ISKCON
Part 17 – Iskcon’s Eleven Bogus “Successor Acaryas”
Part 18 – Tamal Krishna Goswami, the Creator and Founder of Iskcon’s bogus guru system
Part 19 – Satswarupa das Goswami “Planting the Weed”
Mahesh Raja: Srila Prabhupada is the Guru, Acarya and Actual Initiator in ISKCON
Mahesh Raja: Srila Prabhupada’s instructions on the sannyasa asrama, in five parts
“The ISKCON Guru Hoax Timeline 1978-2004″
Srila Prabhupada: Who is Guru?
Iskcon attempt to control the Holy Name
“5000 Changes” In The Name Of “Editing” Srila Prabhupada’s Books
Srila Prabhupada on Editing His Books – 5000 Changes and Counting
Srila Prabhupada – The Brahma Sampradaya Acharya
ISKCON Copyright Terror Part 2
ISKCONs most tragic betrayal – Betrayal of the Spirit
ISKCONs Dark History
I have come thanks to Iskcon to be interested in this Bhakti-yoga, I have never been interested in being initiated by so-called acharyas because that isn’t the process of Bhakti-yoga.This is the process as described in Srila Prabhupada’s books: one hears about Krsna’s devotees Prem for him, and by this hearing which is the result of ajnata-sukrti or causeless mercy, a soul develops a desire to also have love for Krsna. This is the start.
The activities Reading, chanting, offering obeisances etc fall into three categories of pious activities Bhaktyunmukhi-sukrti, Bhogonmukhi-sukrti, moksonmukhi-sukrti, bhaktyunmukhi sukrti is chanting etc aimed at attaining prem and the result from this is pure sadhu-sanga, The other to forms of sadhana bhogonmukhi an moksonmukhi sukrti are activities aimed ar material enjoyment and liberation, karma and jnana yoga. Amongst all of the devotees we can see these three practitioners chanting nam-aparadha nam abhasa and very rarely suddha-nam. All around us they are paying there obeisances, offering arati, giving class, distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books etc… But what is there motivation? If they are seeking liberation, material enjoyment? then they are performing ,not bhakti-yoga but karma and jnana yoga and they will get material opulence or liberation in there different forms.
Those who Have come to the point were they have a desire to love Krsna and who are performing saddhana for this purpose will attain pure sadhu-sanga and from that point due to the association of such a pure devotee ones “DEVOTIONAL saddhana” begins. Those who want something else get something else, Bogus acharya’s etc…so many varieties. This is the age old process, and it is eternal. By constantly hearing about krsna’s devotee’s, via
‘the pure vaisnava’s literatures” or an “actual devotee” we develope a desire to achieve this prem and with this motivation and our performance of Saddhana we will very soon come in contact with the representative of Mahaprabhu. While we are desiring moksa and bhoga we are chanting Nam-aparadha, anyway the cheaters get cheated, those who want something cheap get it. Rtvik is not the process, its a plaster to cover up the real problem. Our movement is full of Karmis an jnanis and giving them rtvik is fine but until they come to the level of nam abhasa they will not get what they need to attain the highest goal “Krsna Prem” ASSOCIATION WITH A PURE DEVOTEE” and thus suddha-nam. Those trying to associate with Srila Prabhupada while still in the modes, with their maya coloured spectacles are nondifferent from those chanting nam-aparadha and desiring sense enjoyment etc… they will not achieve krsna prem. That is not association with a pure devotte but with the contaminated mind only. We don’t simply chose to associate with an uttama bhagavat we have to become qualified by the hearing process then the desireing process. By hearing our desires become sattvic and by cultivating knoledge we realise prem is the topmost and develope a desire to love krsna. At that point Krsna’s pure devotee turns up. Not a book, the book bhagavat is the impetus and one who takes shelter in the book bhagavat will hear, in this hearing process all other forms of sadhana are present. If one simply worships the bhagavatam without the right motivation he may end up like sisupala.All the activities of vaidhi bhakti are all auspicious and result in all auspiciousness but there are different levels and forms of aspiciousness. For instance the Lords benedictions are all auspicious but we are after the benediction of PREMA. And in Lord Caitanya’s line we are aspiring for the topmost love of God. My point among other things is Rtvik is not the start or end of Bhakti-yoga Being initiated by Srila Prabhupada is not the gaol, look at his disciples? Following Srila Prabhupada is the goal, and even though he is an eternally liberated resident of Vrndavan He lead by example and took initiation from guru present in this realm.Srila Prabhupada is present but who of you can be chastised by him? who is pure enough to take his chastisement? Who is not cheating? when Srila Prabhupada was here in flesh no’one could escape his attention, now he and all the previous acharyas are present in the form of the pure devotee and to know who that form is, one has to practice the process of bhaki-yoga as described above. One may get initiated rtvic or otherwise but only by the above process will we make advancement toward the true highest goal, prema. Those who have no faith in this mystical process manifacture an concoct all many of maya like the christians who say simply believing will get them to heaven,Philosophy is nothing without religion, without following the prescribed methods its simply fanatisism. Jaya Srila Prabhupada Jaya The Previous Acharyas jaya the pure devotee.
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Srila Narayana Swami: “Ritviks simply perform fire sacrifices (yajnas), take some payment (daksina), and then depart.”
There is a common misunderstanding about what is ritvik. Ritvik means “on behalf of”. Prabhupada nowhere says new bhaktas should be left to their own devices without attendance.
When searching “under the care of” in Vedabase we find that Lord Caitanya always entrusted new devotees under the care of senior Vaishnavas. Spiritual life means to never live according one’s own whims but instead work under superior authority.
Prabhupada’s system of management is that there are GBCs and Templepresidents under whose care devotees are trained and engaged in devotional activities. When Prabhupada was physically present his disciples worked under exact same management. Temple commander, Temple president, GBC. All devotees were asked to study Prabhupada’s books because Prabhupada is fully present in his books.
Prabhupada: “If you continue in this way being very much determined to achieve success in this lifetime, following all the rules, chanting at least 16 rounds, and reading my books, then all of your desires to advance in Krishna Consciousness will be fulfilled and you will surely attain spiritual perfection and be able to go Back to Godhead, very soon.”
“Regarding utilizing intelligence in devotional service, intelligence should be confirmed by the Spiritual Master. Therefore we accept the Spiritual Master for guidance. You should not depend on your own intelligence. Just like a child requires a parent to tell him the correct thing to do, similarly, a strict disciple should always use his intelligence in conformity with the instructions of the Spiritual Master.”
“In my books the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness is explained fully so if there is anything which you do not understand, then you simply have to read again and again. By reading daily the knowledge will be revealed to you and by this process your spiritual life will develop.”
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Lord Caitanya didn’t entrust souls into senior “meaning advanced in years” but those advanced in bhakti, When Srila Prabhupada left His GBC were neophytes as evidenced by their behavior and offences, If they had have followed the process and become “qualified” and not avoided the result “association with advanced devotee’s” they would have been able to better carry out His divine graces desire, madhya 22-83 “The root cause of devotional service is association with advanced devotees even when dormant love awakens association is most essential”. Prabhupada is fully present in his books? Yes, just like Krsna is present in his name, But for those committing nam-aparadha the result is not realised, the same with Srila Prabhupada’s books. Book aparadha. Guru aparadha.
Prabhupada: “If you continue in this way being very much determined to achieve success in this lifetime, following all the rules, chanting at least 16 rounds, and reading my books, then all of your desires to advance in Krishna Consciousness will be fulfilled and you will surely attain spiritual perfection and be able to go Back to Godhead, very soon.”
as stated by Srila Prabhupada here, Your desires Have to be: To advance in Krsna consciousness. which refers to Being conscious of Krsna and krsna’s desires and wanting to fulfill them and serve him in one of His Five loving relationships, not advancing to be the Temple president etc…and how do we get this desire to serv Krsna in the first place? “hearing and chanting” and this is what Iskcon is about, distributing books and the holy name so people can hear, become attracted to Pure devotional service, and thus develop the adhikar to attract krsna in the form of His representative the pure devotee. If everyone is hearing chanting 16 rounds, reading, but only with a desire to gain liberation, gain control, get position etc…. then the result will be no Devotee association. These acharyas seem to have never had a desire to attain love for krsna, but to “be” Srila Prabhupada,or get something etc… so they probably attracted those who also wanted to enjoy or attain liberation and so thats what we have a society of predominantly Karmi-yogi and jnani-yogis. The advanced souls you generally will find on the outskirts avoiding the nam-aparadhis.
This is why Bhaktisiddhanta maharaja and Srila Prabhupada never revealed a successor Acharya, because the acharya is self effulgent and to who is he self effulgent? To those who are eligible to those with the sukrti. The two mentioned acharya’s in these cases never revealed an acharya because there is no need. There is however a bonafide process and we should know what the goal of that process is, its Pure sadhu sanga. Your idea that the sadhu-sanga refered to in madhya lila 22-83 is Prabhupada himself in the form of his books, instructions, etc… is not possible in practice for the conditioned soul who is prone to cheat commit mistakes etc and in those books themselves the example is that the person bhagavat is the prominent form that manifests to enlighten and guide the disciple not the book bhagavat, the book bhagavat leads to the devotee bhagavat. Anyway Rtviks I can see are convinced of there beliefs just like the iskcon GBCs who is right wont be decided by my limited arguing Im just inspired to share a little we will see what is the right process. I am attracted to tradition and traditionally the diksa and siksa guru are physically present to guide and chastise and direct the disciple he’s not left to the mercy of speculating conditioned souls or his own interpretations. like you said intelligence should be confirmed by the Spiritual Master and the true spiritual master, is a master of the spirit , Krsna’s devotee is the master of the spirit even Krsna Himself is subordinate to the love of His devotee.
“In my books the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness is explained fully so if there is anything which you do not understand, then you simply have to read again and again. By reading daily the knowledge will be revealed to you and by this process your spiritual life will develop.”
“will develop” this is fact, we will learn these secrets of success, Madhya lila 22-83 once our spiritual life has developed we will become eligible to associate with one of Krsna’s eternal associates if not in this life then the next but that is the process.
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Right, Prabhupada followed the example of his guru and did not appoint any successor. At one point around 1972 Srila Prabhupada instructed the election of ISKCON leaders -
http://www.iskcon-dom.com/
Election of leaders is required when there is too much corruption going on. This is the case in material society and this was also the case already within ISKCON when Prabhupada was physically present.
Leaders disappeared with temple laxmi, leaders deviated from their duties, leaders fell down from 4regs. All this happened already from the very beginning of global ISKCON. In fact it happened so severely that communities lost faith.
Therefore Prabhupada wanted temple communities to elect their leaders with a sufficient time limit. When a leader, TP, GBC, Temple commander, turns out to be unqualified he/she is voted out of office. Not that unqualified people remain in office.
Those who report a positive outcome will be re-elected. So this is all common sense. Since Vaishnava institutions are non-profit-making organisation there has to be transparency in book keeping, etc etc.
Why people always say ritviks are fanatics? Present your living guru and we can discuss. So far nobody presented a living guru who is authorized bona fide, uttama adikari, self-effulgent performance, above suspicion to fall down.
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This Is same as above only edited a bit better.
Present your living guru and we can discuss? what is this request? show me god and I will believe? as I mentioned above their is a process.That process is described in the books and I’ve tried to explain this as above. Rtvik is fanatical because It prescribes an aspect “reading the books” or bhaktyunmukhi sukrti as the final goal.
But we will see aye, Iskcon is already rtvik, If you talk about guru they preach the same thing IRM is preaching and other rtviks as well and this is the problem, they have no living authority to beat them when they misbehave. They are now preaching all manner of things in the so-called name of preaching,
And a neophyte devotee has no protection , he is easily convince, swayed, so they jump from philosophy to philosophy, fortunately we have the books of the likes of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and the previous acharyas to compare to. Rupa goswami is rupa manjari! who can argue with his philosophy?. Pretending to adore and praise Srila Prabhupada they have separated him by elevating him above the previous acharya’s but only so they can manipulate His philosophy to serve themselves,
They have been doing it since He departed to nitya-lila. Rtvik is perfect, anyone with book knowledge can now lead and lord it over under the guise of representing the acharya. The only real representative of the acharya is the pure devotee and the process to see who that is, is plainly outlined in chapter 22 madhya lila otherwise yea we will be cheated by or own selves we are conditioned to rebel and deviate.
With our conditioning and aparadha we will always be cheated even in the association of an acharya, not by those outside us but our very selves. Rtvik is a good way to ignore the real issue “we are adverse to serving the Lord” and have free will, as we have seen unless we address this even the personal association of God will not help us.Duryodana associated with god. We want a quick fix so we concoct “just read the books and a miracle will happen” it sure will, but not the way most people think.
The Christians are like this to, fanatics, thinking simply belief is all it takes, why do they ignore the process given, they continue to sin on the strength of there belief! its aparadha, knowingly committing offences on the strength of the holy name. those who chant nam with offenses but are unaware of there offences chant Nam-abhasa, abhasa means, like shadow, they are soon put into the association of devotee’s. Those who chant the holy name knowingly committing offences, Nam aparadha, dont get Sadhu-sanga.
We come along chant “semblance of the holy name, Nam-abhasa” but then due to bad association we become nam-aparadhi’s
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I Resently read an article By Sivarama swami trying to convince devotee’s not to seek siksa outside of Iskcon, So this is new siddhanta that From now on “The acharya will be identified by and ellected only by the Iskcon GBC” does that not seem bogus to others?. When jesus was here he said ” no-one goes to the father except through me” he meant why he was present, Similarly Srila Prbhupada made similar statements stay within iskcon but stay with Srila Prabhupada is what He meant and follow His instructions 100% same as Bhaktisiddhant Goswami He also advised like this.
But when the institution is currupt what did Srila Prabhupad do? The institution is still spreading the knowledge, but it is only sudhu sanga within or outside that can give Prema. Anyway for millions of Karmi’s, jnani’s and the like the institution will bring about a revilution, but if you want Prema follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions “hopefully they wont get edited out” to perform yoga with bhakti, Bhaktyunmukhi sukrti and get the nectar sadhu-sanga Their are so many wonderful devotees in this world right now, we just cant see them they won’t be were we are looking.
We only want profit adoration distiction, so we look to those with these, real vision comes when we start looking for Bhakti for prema, and we will only look for what we desire. I know this is a heated subject and my comments may offend some people, especially on this websight, However I am simply repeating what I have heard and experienced and are not concerned with arguing for the sake of arguing which leads to offences,This is a rare oportunity to speak Krsna Katha, Its said this kind of disscussion is very healthy for neophytes and increases there understanding and sraddha so pamho agtsp.
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You state that for you Prabhupada is a bona fide guru. But why are his books, “just books”? Bhagavad-gita, also “just a book”? Prabhupada: “Lord Krishna’s words of the Bhagavad-gita or those of Srimad-Bhagavatam are identical with the Lord. They are sound incarnations of the Lord, and one can fully utilize them to be entitled to attain the stage of Sri Bhismadeva, who was one of the eight Vasus.”
In the same way, followers of Srila Prabhupada consider Srila Prabhupada as fully present in his books.
You conclude that without a physical present guru there is nobody to lay down the law, who points out when something goes wrong? Who personally trains his disciples?
This is surely what we want to have a bona fide spiritual master always present before us. The Lord’s appearance is rare even for great saintly persons who have become completely detached from this material world and whose hearts are clean due to constantly chanting the glories of the Lord. In the same way, pure devotees are also rare in this material world.
Therefore it is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam:
“One can derive from the study of the Bhagavatam all benefits that are possible to be derived from the personal presence of the Lord. It carries with it all the transcendental blessings of Lord Sri Krishna that we can expect from His personal contact.”
In the neophyte stage we might not have so much faith that this is actually true. Therefore Prabhupada instructed his followers to read his books daily at least for 2 hours. Gradually we realize that there is no disadvantage by associating with Prabhupada through his books and Prabhupada is fully present.
Srimad-Bhagavatam: “There is no difference between the sound representation of the Lord and the Lord Himself. One can derive the same benefit from the Bhagavad-gita as Arjuna did in the personal presence of the Lord.”
Letter to Karandhara: “I thank you very much and all the devotees for offering me a garland daily as you were doing when I was physically present. If a disciple is constantly engaged in carrying out the instructions of the Spiritual Master he is supposed to be constantly in company with his Spiritual Master. This is called Vaniseva.
So there are two kinds of service to the Spiritual Master One is called vaniseva and the other is called vapuseva. Vaniseva means as above mentioned, executing the instructions, and vapuseva means physically or personally rendering service.
So in the absence of physical presentation of the Spiritual Master the vaniseva is more important. My Spiritual Master, Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura, may appear to be physically not present, but still because I try to serve His instruction I never feel separated from Him. I expect that all of you should follow these instructions.”
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There is an attempt of spamming this website with lengthy comments of people who obviously have no clue how Srila Prabhupada wanted his followers to live in an association of devotees. There seems a misunderstanding about what is ritvik. Ritvik does not mean, isolated eremite existence and living on one’s own without adequate teaching staff.
So these are all foolish speculations presented anonymously under the guise of “well researched facts”.
Prabhupada installed a global movement with many temples, many devotees and large communities of friends of Krishna. Every temple was managed by a temple president and a GBC to supervise spiritual purity.
Prabhupada never wanted to change this system of experienced devotees to take care of new devotees:
It is another foolishness to conclude ritviks reject the association of advanced Vaishnavas because they believe that reading Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam is sufficient to attain love of God. It is not always possible to have the association of great devotees in this material world:
Basically there is no difference between the time when Srila Prabhupada was physically present and today. Many of his disciples did not personally meet Srila Prabhupada but were guided by temple community and senior devotees.
Why ritvik is rejected is explained here, bad association. Unrealized neophytes conclude without an embodied teacher/guru, holy books like Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam are just “books” and without having a physically present guru one can read these “books” for millions of years without making any advancement.
In sum these are materialistic conclusions of materialistic brains vilifying the potency of transcendental literature like Caitanya Caritamrita, Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Nectar of Devotion,etc.
Prabhupada always stressed associating with devotees:
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