ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM): “Reader’s Questions and Challenges”

Krishnakant, editor BACK TO PRABHUPADA, IRM: As usual the article below has been first published in the IRM’s official magazine Back To Prabhupada. BTP is being distributed for free to ISKCON devotees and people interested in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings worldwide. If you would like to receive BTP as well, simply send us your full name and street address via myspace or the following email address: irm@iskconirm. com.

Also, we welcome all correspondence, so if you have any questions, comments or criticisms, please write to us via one of the two methods mentioned above

Thank you & Hare Krishna!

Reader’s Questions and Challenges

“Thank you for sending me BTP regularly. Your undertaking is laudable. […] You have cited Srila Lokanath Swami in issue 15, wherein you express your disapproval of Swamiji’s autographing Srila Prabhupada’s books. In signing the books, he is not claiming authorship of the scriptures but just satisfying the wishes of the people. Moreover he was signing on behalf of Prabhupada.”
– Chandra Shekhar Das, Mauritius

Krishnakant replies: Thank you. Firstly, you state: “In signing the books, he is not claiming authorship of the scriptures but just satisfying the wishes of the people.” Please note that a bona fide spiritual master acts only to satisfy his Guru and the disciplic succession, not the vox populi. On the contrary, Srila Prabhupada warns against such a so-called “guru”:

“He’s most dangerous. He’s most dangerous. He is opportunist. He’s finding out customer, something here…According to the customer he is giving something, as the customers will be pleased. So he is not guru. He’s a servant. He wants to serve the so-called disciples so that he may be satisfied and pay him something. He’s servant. He’s not guru.”
(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, June 28th, 1976)

You further state in your letter:
“Moreover he was signing on behalf of Prabhupada.”
This is the clever bait-and-switch tactics of the ISKCON gurus we have repeatedly highlighted in BTP; they claim to do everything “on behalf of Prabhupada” EXCEPT the one thing they were ordered to do “on behalf of Prabhupada”!:

“…continue to become ritvik and act on my behalf.”
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, July 31st, 1977)

“I learn some interesting things from your magazine, which I appreciate. But I see that the guru issue will never be resolved. […] Now, the question is, what can we do to really please Srila Prabhupada? Increase the dissent inside and outside his movement? I don’t think so.”
– Rudradeva Das, Albettone, Italy

Krishnakant replies: You have correctly asked: “what can we do to really please Srila Prabhupada?”
So, can Srila Prabhupada be pleased if we have kicked him out of his own movement? And can he be pleased if we disobey him? Therefore, can you please show us where Srila Prabhupada stated that the 11 people he authorised on July 9th, 1977 to act as his ritvik representatives to accept all future newcomers to ISKCON on his behalf, should become diksa guru successors? Unless you can state this instruction from Srila Prabhupada, then the ritvik system he set up remains, and we are currently mass disobeying Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON today.
Please understand that without such a modifying instruction from Srila Prabhupada, we have committed the greatest disobedience and offence to him by removing him as the acarya from his own Society, and you can not expect us to disobey Srila Prabhupada.
You say the guru issue will never be resolved. Unless you can send us the modifying instruction asked for, it is already resolved, only people do not yet know; just as the position of Krishna as given in the Bhagavad-gita is also resolved, even though there are 660 different versions of the Bhagavad-gita. An issue is resolved via evidence, not via how many people accept it, otherwise we would have to argue that the position of Krishna will also never be resolved!

“When we hear how wonderful HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj is doing his service for Srila Prabhupada (Chowpatty centre), where is the fault? So how do you justify that HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj is not doing service for Srila Prabhupada?”
– Shrihari Das, Solapur, India

Krishnakant replies: You can only do service for Srila Prabhupada if you obey him. Disobeying him is a disservice, not service. Now, did Srila Prabhupada order that when people come to Krishna consciousness: They accept Srila Prabhupada or Radhanath Swami as their Guru? They offer their prasadam via Srila Prabhupada or Radhanath? They worship Srila Prabhupada or Radhanath daily and at Vyasa-puja? The fault is that we are not obeying Srila Prabhupada’s orders. During the “zonal acharya” years, the zonal gurus such as Kirtanananda, whom Radhanath followed loyally even after he was thrown out of ISKCON, also had much success in attracting people to ISKCON, probably more than Radhanath. Indeed, some of the key leaders of Radhanath’s group, who are largely responsible for the “success” of the ISKCON Chowpatty project, were all recruited by Kirtanananda. So we must judge based not on how many people are being attracted to Radhanath, but how many are actually being attracted to following the correct path as given by Srila Prabhupada. Otherwise you may as well say that the sahajiyas who are attracting many to chant Hare Krishna are also serving Srila Prabhupada. If you remove Srila Prabhupada’s order from the equation, then you can say everyone and anyone is successful. Thus service to Srila Prabhupada must be based on following Srila Prabhupada’s orders, otherwise it is not service.

“Prabhupada created GBC to manage ISKCON. It is my understanding this didn’t mean a bunch of wannabes sitting on Vyasasanas receiving the pomp and worship…and this still continues today. Who are they kidding? That’s why I understand your magazine. With all of that said, there are still many of Prabhupada’s disciples in ISKCON who are very advanced, don’t sit on Vyasasanas and are not stupid or blind to what is still going on in ISKCON. But they’re too busy with sadhana and parikrama, and when you talk to them they don’t care about anything but Krsna-katha […] As for the gurus in Iskcon who sit on Vyasasanas and get the worship…I’m out in the courtyard somewhere else. It’s not up to me to protest, if they want to act that way, let ’em.”
– Badarayana Das, Oregon, USA

Krishnakant replies: You are correct that there are many devotees who agree with us, but do not necessarily wish to do anything about it. Hence the IRM was created for those devotees who actively wish to do something, since there are many devotees in ISKCON suffering for want of knowledge and they deserve to know the truth. Just like Srila Prabhupada created ISKCON as a missionary organization to preach, so the IRM also believes we must preach, and there is nothing more important to preach about than Srila Prabhupada, since one cannot reach Krishna without going through Srila Prabhupada and getting his blessings.
No serious follower of Srila Prabhupada will be able to stand by whilst Srila Prabhupada’s own name is used to hijack his movement. We therefore invite everyone to work with us to please Srila Prabhupada by re-establishing his original ISKCON.

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