Let’s seize this opportunity to rescue the children and the copyrights,
and to reestablish Srila Prabhupada’s position as the final authority in his society!
We have an amazing and unprecedented opportunity in the coming 8 months: with Jupiter and Saturn both in Sagittarius with Ketu (and Pluto) there is the potential for people to be able to see truth that has been obscured by illusion. This is because Sagittarius, as the ninth sign of the Zodiac, is an environment that resonates with truth, justice, religiosity, philosophy and morality. The two slow planets, Jupiter and Saturn affect facets of our character that deal with our sense of justice and our deepest life’s lessons respectively. The opportunity available to everyone is to be able to see the truth that has been hidden by illusion and to have the strength and fortitude to be able to work towards justice.
Because Jupiter takes about a year to transit any given sign of the Zodiac and Saturn takes 2 and a half years, Jupiter and Saturn end up together in a constellation about every 16 years. However it is rare that they conjoin in Sagittarius, with the most recent conjunction in 1960. In 1960 people did apparently feel the truth/justice influence: 18 countries gained independence from various imperial powers, the US government officially linked smoking to heart disease and the Civil Rights movement scored a huge Supreme Court victory in the Boynton v. Virginia case that ruled racial segregation in transportation to be illegal.
This particular transit of Jupiter and Saturn in Sagittarius is even more interesting because they are joined by Ketu and Pluto. Ketu is linked to unexpected “black swan” events and Pluto is considered to rule over sex, money and secrets. In the coming months, be ready for: serious lessons about facing the truth, satisfaction from activities to gain justice, unexpected surprises and to uncover scandals.
There are some serious injustices that need to be exposed and remedied within ISKCON. The first and most serious is the systemic abuse of the devotee children as documented in Saunaka Rsi’s videos, The Cost of Silence and Cost of Silence II. While most devotees are aware of the abuse and of the fact that the abuse is continuing under a policy that allows known pedophiles such as Bhavananda to be honored within ISKCON and allows convicted child abusers to continue to have access to children, most devotees don’t know what they can do to stop the abuse. While it is beyond the scope of this article to have a final plan to stop the abuse, this article is written with the intention to bring the problem more out into the light so that the society can collaborate to find a solution. The solution will manifest when enough devotees say, “enough!” We cannot tolerate policies that allow children to be abused and we should insist on the removal, by force, if necessary, of any ISKCON leader that allows this diabolical policy to continue.
Another serious injustice within Srila Prabhupada’s movement is the abuse of his copyrights. Srila Prabhupada left his legacy, his copyrights, in a trust with the beneficiary being The International Society for Krishna Consciousness. According to the BBT trust document, he wanted half the money received from book sales to the temples to be put into a Building Fund to support the expansion of the movement. Srila Prabhupada considered the implementation of the simple living, high thinking lifestyle and varnashrama to be so important that they are the second half of his mission. And yet, as far as I know, the BBT has not given one penny towards implementing SLHT or varnashrama. Indeed, where has the approximately $10 million/year gone? They’ve been building the TOVP for 40 years and raising money with Hindus for the project. Even if every penny for the TOVP came from BBT revenue, it isn’t a $400 million project. Now is the time to demand transparency and to insist that the BBT be managed according to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions.
The third major injustice is about Srila Prabhupada’s authority. On every book and on every temple sign, it states “Founder-Acarya A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada”. Yet in modern ISKCON, prospective devotees are required to sign allegiance to the GBC, not to Srila Prabhupada. It would be interesting to ask disciples of GBC sanctioned gurus whether they would follow Srila Prabhupada’s orders over the orders of the GBC. Of course the illusion is that the GBC is simply implementing Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, yet we could point out dozens, if not hundreds of examples of where Srila Prabhupada’s instructions are ignored and the GBC asserts authority surmounting Srila Prabhupada.
I’ll just give one example, an egregious one: Srila Prabhupada never excommunicated anyone. Nor to my knowledge did he say that anyone was unwelcome at a temple event. If someone presented a philosophy that did not come from our parampara, of course that person would not be asked to give class. However Srila Prabhupada did not make a devotee unwelcome just because he disagreed with the GBC’s interpretation of his instructions. Srila Prabhupada’s policy was to hold istaghostis to work out differences, not to ban devotees. One senior devotee told me of an occasion in which a group of devotees complained to Srila Prabhupada about some abhorrent behavior of a devotee and they asked Srila Prabhupada to ban the devotee. The senior devotee told me that Srila Prabhupada was quiet and sat with his eyes closed for some time and then told the complaining devotees that he could not reject this particular devotee because if he did so he wouldn’t have a movement.
It is a huge injustice that the GBC has a policy to chase away any dissenting devotee. I recently heard of an instance in which an older matajii asked about a book editing change in which the word “irregularly” was changed to “imperfectly” as in “such transcendental literature, even though irregularly composed, is heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.” Just for asking the question about how transcendental literature can be imperfect, the matajii was banned from attending temple functions.
What can be done about these three huge injustices? All we have to do is remember that Krsna is the Doer and that our opportunity in this life is to serve Him. If we make a sincere effort to correct these injustices, there is no harm if we are unsuccessful. However, given that Krsna is Time, and that we are currently in a time frame in which the truth can be revealed, it is likely that efforts to shine light on the truth will be successful
I propose that interested devotees participate in an online istaghosti in which we can brainstorm the solution to these obstacles. I have some ideas, including legal routes, but I’m suspecting that Krsna wants as many of His servants as possible to be involved in this campaign. Please join this effort by sending me an e-mail saying that you are interested in participating in the online istaghosti. I will schedule a meeting/istaghosti and we can come up with a transcendental rescue plan.
Please e-mail: anuttamadd@gmail.com or call Anuttama: 360-496-0058
https://newnandagramcowprotection.wordpress.com/
This is a little bit off topic.
It would be nice to have a place on this web site where devotees and followers of Srila Prabhupada would be able to post their personal writings. A Writers Corner for example where devotees and followers can place their own essays based on Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. I wrote one piece recently called The Peace Formula based completely on what Srila Prabhupada wrote on the matter. It received complete silence from those I sent it to. I am formulating one on education and what Srila Prabhupada wanted to have done to educate the people of the world on this philosophy. The only place these articles end up is deleted at one end if read at all, placed in my drafts and printed up for the old trunk downstairs.
Srila Prabhupada has said that all devotees should write about their realizations and understandings of this philosophy. How can we spread our little bit of enthusiasm and appreciation for Srila Prabhupada if we are not being heard on the internet which is at least a large part of the original Big Mrdunga? Some of our elite clan of devotees insist that only pure devotees can write anything substantial or worth while. As a result a lot of devotees and followers with their understandings as well as ideas for Krsna conscious plays and stories are never heard. A lot of us feel stymied. Communications within the Prabhupadanugas community is quite thin right now which is I believe because a lot of devotees and followers feel they have no outlet for their ideas to help Srila Prabhupada push on this movement. Many of us are not scholars, brahmana’s or successful business people. Indeed many of us are quite poor financially and in spirit so helping others with big projects is a financial and enthusiastic impossibility sometimes. Why not ask your readers what other projects they have in mind to spread Krsna consciousness for Srila Prabhupada.
There is a function on the web site to first monitor what has been written here, that may also be used to monitor before publishing what devotees and followers write in about in The Writers Corner.
Thank you for your valuable time and for the kindness of allowing me to express my thoughts. Good luck with your endeavor regarding the BBT and the GBC. *** Please note that I am praying daily for Krsna to bring back the original Sri Srimurti Puja booklet first published in Los Angeles back in 1970. If anyone knows where we can get a copy then please let this web site know immediately.
Those connected with Srila Prabhupada even remotely who want to serve or express their thoughts in writing or even in artwork should be allowed a forum. Otherwise if this habit of secularizing ourselves continues to expand a great deal of the important history of this movement will be lost forever.
I wonder if anyone will reply?
Ys Hasti Gopala dasa
PS. There are no Prabhupadanugas Krsna consciousness artwork forums right now. Not even for children.
Hare Krsna Dear Hasti Gopala prabhu,
Many thanks. Your idea for a Writers’ Forum definitely has merit, obviously to be maintained & moderated within certain acceptable Vaisnava guidelines. Probably the difficulty is contribution and genuine participation. Even though on this Forum at present there appears to be quite a number of commenters, this is of course due to the email discussion (BBTI: Oust The Book Changers) being posted here by the Webmaster prabhu.
Normally you could count the commentators on one hand, in spite of new articles posted daily. I had hoped that as a result of this P-EU Forum link being shared to the multitude of devotees on those email exchanges, there just might have been some ‘activity’ over here, but as you say, often it’s like talking & chanting to the walls.
Personally I can’t imagine the amount of service that goes in to developing and maintaining such a Forum as this, and I have the greatest respect for the Webmaster & Moderator prabhus for providing this facility, in service to Srila Prabhupada and the Prabhupada-anugas. Maybe something of an online Istaghosti, replacing those experiences from our ‘temple’ days.
Yfs, Balaram das.
Pranams everyone
I located the original article titled All Devotees Should Write.
I would like to add if I may for those who may feel somewhat shy about what they write, feel that they are not qualified or that what they write not be scholarly enough. Just write for yourself and Srila Prabhupada. There is no shame in keeping what you write private. That is your right. Just the act of expressing oneself in such a manner is very good for the soul and helps to open the heart to more appreciation of one’s service to Srila Prabhupada. Enjoy the article.
Ys Hasti Gopala dasa
https://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/?p=34421
All Devotees Should Write
This is a compilation based on the works of Srila Prabhupada.
Compiled by Premanjana Das
(Pranjal Joshi)
1)
“If you sit down and write some article on Krsna, that means you have to concentrate on Krsna’s activities or Krsna’s devotees’ activities, and that very process will purify your heart. Therefore we always recommend to our students that you write articles, read our magazine, read our book. In this way if we keep ourself… Work for Krsna. This… We have come here in this pandal or in this Kumbha-mela not for any other purpose than to glorify the Supreme Lord so that people may understand the importance of this movement.
(Srila Prabhupada’s Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam, January 17, 1971)
2)
Keep on with the practice of writing articles; in the midst of your heavy duties go on writing something glorifying the Lord and put our philosophy into words. Writing articles means to express oneself how he is understanding the whole philosophy. So this writing is necessary for everyone.
(Letter to: Giriraja — London 12 August, 1971)
3)
“My long desired scheme of a Krsna Conscious daily newspaper is being implemented. Please do this work very nicely. It will be a very great step in the history of ISKCON movement.”
( Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Satsvarupa 1971)
4)
“Here in this world there are thousands of newspapers and magazines reporting the stale, repetitious happenings of this limited space. So for reporting the news of the unlimited spiritual realm, concerning the eternal, ever-fresh Supreme Personality of Godhead, we could publish a newspaper at every second, what to speak of daily.”
( Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura)
5)
“According to social conventions, it is said that one can speak the truth only when it is palatable to others. But that is not truthfulness. The truth should be spoken in such a straight and forward way, so that others will understand actually what the facts are. If a man is a thief and if people are warned that he is a thief that is truth. Although sometimes the truth is unpalatable, one should not refrain from speaking it. Truthfulness demands that the facts be presented as they are for the benefit of others. That is the definition of truth.”
(Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. Ch 10:4)
6)
Srila Prabhupada- Preaching also means reading and writing, or else what will you preach? (Letter to: Gurudasa — Mayapur 18 February, 1977)
7)
All students should be encouraged to write some article after reading Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita and Teachings of Lord Caitanya. They should realize the information, and they must present their assimilation in their own words. Otherwise, how they can become preachers?
(Letter to: Brahmananda — Los Angeles 1 July, 1969)
8)
We need so many preachers who are soundly versed in the scriptures to convince the world to take to Krishna Consciousness. I am glad that you and the others are each writing one hour daily essays. That is parampara. All of our previous acaryas on our line have written substantially on the science of God-consciousness, so I would also like all my students to do this and I am very encouraged by this nice program you have initiated.
(Letter to: Vrindaban Candra — Bombay 9 November, 1970)
9)
Realization means you should write, every one of you, what is your realization. What for this Back to Godhead is? You write your realization, what you have realized about Kṛṣṇa. That is required. It is not passive. Always you should be active. Whenever you find time, you write. Never mind, two lines, four lines, but you write your realization. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, writing or offering prayers, glories. This is one of the function of the Vaiṣṇava. You are hearing, but you have to write also. Then write means smaraṇam, remembering what you have heard from your spiritual master, from the scripture.Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ: [SB 7.5.23] about Viṣṇu, not for others. Don’t write any nonsense thing for any nonsense man. Useless waste of time. Viṣṇu. Write about Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. This is cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hear, write, remember, try to understand. Don’t be dull, dull-headed. Very intelligent.
(Sri Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 Excerpt — Los Angeles, August 14, 1972)
10)
“…yes. And our men, all our men should write. Otherwise how we shall know that he has understood the philosophy? Writing means sravanam kirtanam. Sravanam means hearing from the authority and again repeat it. This is our business, sravanam kirtanam visnoh, about Visnu, not for any politician or any other man. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh, about Krsna or Visnu. So that is success. Hear and repeat, hear and repeat. You haven’t got to manufacture. Any one of us, simply if you reproduce the purport which I have given in the Bhagavata, you become a good speaker.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival Address, June 20, 1975, Los Angeles)
11)
“Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 7, 1969 along with the article of Acyutananda. Your decision not to publish this article is correct. To the neophyte devotees we should issue instruction that there are four stages of understanding the absolute truth. The first stage is re-establishing our relationship with Krishna. This is the first stage. The second stage is after understanding our relationship, to perform devotional service under proper guidance. The third stage is acquisition of the desired object. The fourth stage is relishing the nectar of perfectional love. So Radha-Krishna lila belongs to the fourth stage of understanding, and we are publishing BTG for people in general to re-establish their forgotten relationship with Krishna. So we should always remember this and from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-Gita, and Isopanisad they should try to write how our relationship is revoked from this stage of forgetfulness. They should write articles like this: 1) Krishna, the omnipotent, 2) how God can be realized as all-pervasive, 3) the original source of everything, 4) transcendental process of hearing, 5) how one gets out of the clutches of maya, 6) prayers by arjuna, 7) prayers by kunti devi, 8) prayers by Bhismadeva. They should try to understand krishna first in so many ways which are described in our Bhagavatam. They should read them carefully and pick up subject matters as above mentioned. What general people will understand about Radha-Krishna lila? Immediately they will take it as ordinary boys and girls in spite of a thousand warnings, “This is not this, this is not this.” So you shall issue instruction that they should write articles on the subject matters as above mentioned. They should read our Bhagavatam. The purports are there: they should assimilate them in their own words in a literary career.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Satsvarupa, December 13, 1969)
12)
“I hear from all our centers that they have instituted regular classes for writing articles and still you say they do not contribute sufficiently to Back to Godhead. How is that? I want all our students to write articles for our transcendental magazine.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Satsvarupa, January 11, 1971)
13)
“Regarding your question about writing songs about krishna, this is not very important thing. You can write, but one cannot take it very seriously. If any vaisnava is writing song about krishna, that should be from one who himself has realized Krishna, just like our great saints and acaryas like Madhvacarya, Ramanujacarya, Rupa gosvami, six gosvamis, Bilvamangala, Bhaktivinode Thakura, like that. They are self-realized souls, therefore if they write something song about Krishna, that is perfectly from the transcendental platform, without any tinge of mundane influence or nonsense imagination. Unless someone comes in the category of these great leading vaisnava personalities, his manufacturing some songs will be misleading to himself and to others. And unless his writing of poems and songs can be accepted as gospel, as vedas or the Absolute Truth, such writing is diverting the attention from the subject matter only and should not be regarded very seriously. Now you should become serious to pursue this Krishna consciousness movement with full energy of body, mind and soul. If you are writing poems and songs, that’s alright, you can do it also, but if you can write articles for our Back to Godhead magazine, that is better, that is solid preaching work. No one should write songs of Krishna unless he is self-realized soul, that will spoil the value of the whole thing. But try to use your writing and singing talent for krishna’s preaching work, by writing articles, singing the kirtana, like that. Than you will be happy, and I think you should without further delay try to become devotees as the others are doing and live with us and practise the regulative principles of brahmacari life. In this way, become determined to fix your all attention for seeing Krishna face to face by the Krishna Consciousness process and than you shall qualify yourself for writing songs about Krishna and you chant always this Hare Krishna mantra you can come to the highest point of seeing Krishna very soon, you may know it for certain.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Billy Reyburne, March 12, 1972)
14)
‘It is by the mercy of all these Vaisnavas and gurus that I attempt to write about the pastimes and qualities of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Whether I know or know not, it is for self purification that I write this book.”
The purport is that for transcendental writing one must be an authorized vaisnava and should write to purify oneself, not for credit. It may or may not be published, but one who is actually sincere in writing, all his ambitions will be fulfilled.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Patita Uddharana, October 14, 1973)
15)
Hari-sauri: “That man from Delhi said that he thought you were an incarnation of Vyasadeva.
Prabhupada: Yes. Any devotee in literary career, he is to be understood… Just like our Vrndavana dasa Thakura. He is described as incarnation of Vyasadeva because Vyasadeva wrote Bhagavatam and he wrote Caitanya-bhagavata.
Pradyumna: Vyasa-puja.
Prabhupada: Vyasa-puja. Vyasa-prasadam. Unless one is blessed by Vyasadeva, he cannot write transcendental literature.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Room Conversation, February 16, 1977, Mayapur)
16)
“Whatever you might write due to false pride, trying to surpass Sridhara Svami, would carry a contrary purport. Therefore no one would pay attention to it.
PURPORT
Srimad-Bhagavatam has many tikas, or commentaries, following the parampara system, but Sridhara Svami’s is first. The commentaries of all the other acaryas follow his. The parampara system does not allow one to deviate from the commentaries of the previous acaryas. By depending upon the previous acaryas, one can write beautiful commentaries. However, one cannot defy the previous acaryas. The false pride that makes one think that he can write better than the previous acaryas will make one’s comments faulty. At the present moment it has become fashionable for everyone to write in his own way, but such writing is never accepted by serious devotees. Because of false pride, every scholar and philosopher wants to exhibit his learning by interpreting the sastras, especially Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, in his own way. This system of commenting in one’s own way is fully condemned by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore He says, ‘artha-vyasta’ likhana sei. Commentaries written according to one’s own philosophical way are never accepted; no one will appreciate such commentaries on the revealed scriptures.”
(Caitanya-caritamrta Antya 7.134 – The Meeting of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Vallabha Bhatta)
17)
“I can see from your writing that you have got capacity to write, this is a great help. You can write articles for Back to Godhead, so writing capacity is not discouraged. And I shall always be glad to receive your long letters.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Krsna dasa, October 21, 1968)
18)
“So far as reviews I think that there is no need to review nonsense books and give them publicity at our cost. The sincere theists and philosophers will surely appreciate our presentation of Bhagavad-gita as it is so you can write some articles on the basis of our discussions in this book or in Srimad-Bhagavatam.”
(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Janardana, December 19, 1968)
19)
By writing according to our realization we become more and more convinced and all doubts are destroyed.
( Srila Prabhupada, Letter to: Pusta Krsna – Hyderabad 23 March, 1973)
https://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/?p=34421
Following Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krsna Please accept my humble obeisances all glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am currently re watching the Following Srila Prabhupada DVD series that covers the years from 1965 to 1977. There is a great deal of history here as well as many many hours of original early footage of the beginning of the Hare Krsna Movement. I am encouraging everyone, devotee, follower or new comer to get this series and watch it. I am including the web site. If you can borrow it or lend it then please do.
Ys Hasti Gopala dasa
http://www.iskconcinema.com/
I include from youtube DVD1 from the series.
Chant and be happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go0AyD7urmw
Hare Krsna
Obeisances all glories to Srila Prabhupada
From the video. Location time posted below.
” I want that all the educated people in your country seriously understand these prayers of Lord Caitanya” “our movement moves on two tracks: the pancharatriki-viddhi and the bhagavat viddhi” He defined the pancharatriki-viddhi as being all of the regulations connected with Deity worship basically by which devotees pattern their life, timing everything everyday. And the bhagavat viddhi he defined as chanting, dancing, feasting and philosophy. And that’s exactly how we defined it. He just said those four terms. And he said ” I have written in our books that our movement runs on both tracks simultaneously, and are both equally important. But her told me another time he said “But I’ll tell you, ” You can get along without the pancharatriki-viddhi in this age, but you cannot get along without the bhagavat viddhi” ( chanting, dancing, feasting and philosophy ) So his main stress was on this and it was live wire.
2:54:06 to 2:57:22
So a couple of points here.
Where are the access points of entry on line at least for this philosophy for the educated people of the USA and the world? There are many access points on line for devotees only. When a student enters university to study architecture for example he is not placed in third or fourth year to struggle to try understand the previous curriculum. He is given the opportunity to understand the basics first so that he may make progress without becoming disillusioned by advanced association.
Secondly: Where is the bhagavat viddhi that Srila Prabhupada defined as chanting, dancing, feasting and philosophy? There is now no excuse for this lack of bhagavat viddhi in this age with opportunities for everyone to co-operate over vast distances in the blink of an eye while having access in the blink of an eye to all the works of Srila Prabhupada who is still with us. If we cannot start to co-operate on a real world level with Srila Prabhupada’s non different presence as soon as possible then we should not be surprised at any personal or collective reactions that “will” follow.
Ys Hasti Gopala dasa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go0AyD7urmw
Everyone Is Welcome
Srila Prabhupada’s compassion was in the beginning that everyone is qualified to start. It still is. If that was not the case then he would have selected only a few of us. So we must not be so selective as to who we think is qualified to start or finish up while knowingly or unknowingly discriminating to the point of abandoning that eternal Vaisnava trait of unlimited compassion. Not everyone of us made it through all our individual trials in the perfect shape and order we went in on in the beginning. The full shape and order of the trooper taking a beach head is not the same trooper months or even years later. Therefore those who had been disguarded by the fates are for the most part sincerely trying to re engage their lives to become better Vaisnava’s for Srila Prabhupada. They are veterans in their own right and recognized as such by Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya. Those who are trying to re renter or to re-up into Srila Prabupada’s army should be encouraged with the same practical and personal advice that one would expect from a true representative of Srila Prabhupada as it was in the beginning.
Hasti Gopala dasa
“Why have we done all this, why have we put out all this energy–to put on this festival. And he began to speak that this is the compassion of the Vaisnava for the purpose of benefiting others. The Vaisnava goes to such great lengths to see the preaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he said this is Vaisnavism, this is Vaisnavism. Twice he said. As he thought of the success of the Rathayatra actual tears began to come to his eyes. And as tears came to his eyes he couldn’t speak anymore he just waved his hand for everyone to leave.”
Srila Prabhupada as quoted by one of his disciples after the San Fransisco Rathayatra 1970.
Diamonds are multi faceted so that from any angle of vision and awareness they attract the viewer and are so perfect that they will continue in the dark to sparkle showing how efficiently a diamond reflects light. We must try to make sure that on all our web sites are like those diamonds so we can directly attract new people to ENTER HERE. That way they may be exposed to our Vaisnava compassion and what we understand, why we write such nice articles about Krsna consciousness and Srila Prabupada while extending our Vaisnava compassion not to just each other but for the benefit of others as Srila Prabhupada told us to do. Otherwise we run the risk of tainting our sites and ourselves