September 4th, 2010 | Madhu Pandit Dasa | ISKCON BANGALORE
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my most respectful Obeisances unto your Divine Lotus feet. On this auspicious appearance day of Your Divine Grace, I stand before you humbly, to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude for your causeless mercy due to which alone we are able to see you as you rightfully are – the Acharya of this movement, spiritual master of each and every one of us and each of those who have stepped into the shelter of your divine instructions.
Despite having been misled to believe otherwise for many years, you still saved our precious spiritual opportunity of this life time from being lost in the course of following a deviant path. We feel safe and secure and blessed at the shelter of your divine lotus feet.
Looking at the history of ISKCON it is difficult to escape the realization of the Consequences of deviating from your divine instructions. Over the last ten years more and more clarity has come about in many of our hearts, at ISKCON Bangalore, as to why and where ISKCON got derailed after the physical disappearance of Your Divine Grace.
I can never be grateful enough for your causeless kindness upon me, insignificant as I am, because of which you have pulled me out of such a hopeless plight that ISKCON has led itself into after your disappearance.
After Your Divine Grace’s physical disappearance in November 1977, GBC meetings were held in Mayapur in March 1978. It is after this meeting that the eleven representatives of Your Divine Grace, who were named as Officiators for initiation on 7th July 1977 (followed by an institutional directive signed by Your Divine Grace on 9th July 1977), instituted a concocted system of worship of themselves by everyone in ISKCON. This included even their God brothers as well as the new followers who joined the movement.
Thus, ISKCON saw an exodus of thousands of disciples from the mission in the next few Years as they could not bear the suffocation and embarrassment brought about by this unauthorized worship.
The last three disgraceful decades of Iskcon has clearly demonstrated to all of us that instituting the worship of personalities other than Your Divine Grace in ISKCON has created the greatest havoc in the institution. This single serious offense has been the root cause, directly and indirectly, for most of the problems in ISKCON which drove more than 95% of the initiated disciples of Your Divine Grace out of ISKCON over the years.
This misuse of power of the gurus in the GBC body is also the root cause of abuse of children, women, and money in the movement. It is appalling that out of 5000 odd disciples initiated by Your Divine Grace less than 200 are serving in the mission, of which most of them have carved a place of a self made guru in the organization.
Even more appalling is that many of those who left ISKCON are stalwarts who still have strong faith in Your Divine Grace and Krishna and yet are being deprived of devotional service in your mission. It is sad that the GBC couldn’t care less about this offense in ISKCON for it does not matter to them since they are busily lost in taking worship from their ever new supply of innocent followers who enter the portals of ISKCON attracted by reading your transcendental teachings.
Our prayers to Your Divine Grace is to make ISKCON GBC see this clear cause-effect revealed by `Kala’ over thirty years and retrace its step to reestablish the state of affairs that existed before the 1978 GBC meeting vis-à-vis who is to be worshipped in ISKCON.
Your Divine Grace with great foresight has given us such clear directions for management of every little thing in ISKCON and we find nowhere even a single instruction from your Divine Grace about how and who after your life time, need to be worshipped in the institution.
This clearly shows that you did not intend anyone to take that position. PriorTo 1978 Your Divine Grace was the only personality who was worshipped in ISKCON.
One’s guru has to be worshipped as good as God is doubtlessly our siddhanta. To allow to be worshipped as good as God by other Vaishnavas is not an ordinary thing according to our own philosophy. It is very serious for both the worshipper and the worshipped.
For the worshipped, the risk of imitation is like imitating Lord Shiva drinking the poison that came out of the churning of the ocean. It requires very high qualification and spiritual attainment and most important the order of the redecessor acharya to do this as a service for the Lord.
Worship for a jiva from another jiva turns into poison unless it smoothly flows to Krishna. Any imitation of this function would only spiritually kill one who is getting theWorship. And that is why Your Divine Grace states that unless you are ordered by your guru you cannot be a guru. No one can certify himself to be qualified to do this service.
The following conversation between Your Divine Grace and an Indian Guest in Nairobi On October 28, 1975 testifies this point?
INDIAN MAN: WHEN DID YOU BECOME THE SPIRITUAL LEADER
OF KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS?
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