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Where is the Outrage?!
Yesterday I spoke with a dear godsister whom I’ve known for over four decades. She is a sincere, dedicated devotee who performs valuable service to the Deities and assists the ISKCON management in putting on festivals. In many ways, her personal life is exemplary: she has good sadhana, admirable morals and works hard. I happened to ask her if she was aware that it had proven conclusively that Srila Prabhupada had been poisoned with cadmium. She replied that yes, she was aware, but didn’t feel that the information had any relevance to her: it happened 40 years ago and there is nothing that can be done about it now.
The attitude that the murder of Srila Prabhupada is an unfortunate historical fact that has no bearing on the present situation is not only inaccurate, but it is also a symptom of a crime that is even greater than the poisoning of Srila Prabhuupada’s physical body; the greater crime is the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada’s institution, ISKCON. What better way to destroy the most important institution in the world than to gradually add just enough poison that it is almost undetectable, just as they did to Srila Prabhupada’s physical body?
“Following such conclusions, the demoniac, who are lost to themselves and who have no intelligence, engage in unbeneficial, horrible works meant to destroy the world.” –BG16-9
Nityananda Prabhu’s book, Kill Guru, Become Guru gives a detailed timeline of our spiritual master’s last months before his passing, including naming the people who had constant access to him. Because the poisoning was done over a period of many months, the poisoning had to have been done by someone in the inner circle. Those “inner circle” people are the same people who lied when they told us that Srila Prabhupada had appointed them as pure devotee acaryas. They are the same people whose philosophy and policies have poisoned our spiritual master’s institution.
Srila Prabhupada warned us that there are demons in the dress of vaisnavas that we need to avoid.
“Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, Kali-cela. He indicates that there are other Vaishnavas, pseudo-Vaishnavas, with tilaka on their nose and kunti beads around their neck. Such a pseudo-Vaishnava associates with money and women and is jealous of successful Vaishnavas. Although passing for a Vaishnava, his only business is earning money in the dress of a Vaishnava”. (CC.Madhy.,Ch.1, Text 218 / 220, purport)
So let’s ask ourselves, what would a demon, dressed as a vaisnava do if he wanted to poison Srila Prabhupada’s pure spiritual mission? An obvious answer is that the demon would:
—change the philosophy—just slightly so that it was still a beautiful philosophy, but no longer potent.
—change the books
—cause dissent among the disciples (divide and conquer)
—change the mission goals
Have any of these things happened within ISKCON? Obviously, yes, all of them. Yet they happened so gradually that it was almost like the cliché of boiling frogs: if you put frogs in a pot of water and raise the temperature gradually, some of the frogs will never jump out because they gradually get accustomed to the changes. Similarly devotees within ISKCON gradually accepted philosophical and policy changes that, had they been implemented in 1978 would have horrified everyone.
Change the Philosophy
The most important part of the pure philosophy given to us by Srila Prabhupada is the concept that the soul makes spiritual advancement and can attain perfection only by the grace of the spiritual master:
“By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction of Krsna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement. Therefore, I should always remember and praise the spiritual master. At least three times a day I should offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master.” Samsara Prayers, verse 8
In 1978 we all knew that grabbing hold of Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet was our only way back to Godhead. So the demons introduced the BIG LIE: we were told that Srila Prabhupada had appointed 11 disciples that he had recognized as being pure devotees, capable of delivering fallen conditioned souls. Most of the devotees, myself included couldn’t imagine that our most senior, trusted godbrothers would lie about something that important, and we accepted the lie as the truth. The heat under the frog has just been turned on.
After a few years, it became apparent to anyone involved with ISKCON that those 11 couldn’t possibly be pure devotees. I was one of the frogs that jumped out of the pot at that point, so I’m not sure what explanation was given and how the philosophy that the GBC had the power to ordain “spiritual masters” was presented, but I’m sure there were more politics involved than philosophical sincerity. At that point, the poor frogs that were still left in the pot probably didn’t have the energy to jump, and so accepted the concocted philosophy. These frogs were so comatose that even when presented with the truth of the July 9th letter that made Srila Prabhupada’s real wishes known, and even when presented with tapes where Srila Prabhupada brought up the possibility that he was being poisoned, they still accepted the “authority” of the liars.
The new philosophy, not found within Srila Prabhupada’s books, is that if a soul wants to go back to Godhead, he needs to take shelter of a “living guru” (I would note that Srila said he would live forever in his books and we would utilize). In this concocted philosophy if the soul takes shelter of a GBC authorized “living guru” and that guru turns out to be a fallen, conditioned soul, never mind, good sadhana will send you back to the spiritual world. But don’t ever, ever think that a person introduced to Krsna consciousness after 1976, could ever, possibly have a direct connection with Srila Prabhupada. No, the new philosophy is that you must go through a “direct disciple” of Srila Prabhupada because Srila Prabhupada is dead and gone. By this point the frogs’ water was almost boiling and any frog still in the pot is toast.
The new philosophy, not found within Srila Prabhupada’s books, is that if a soul wants to go back to Godhead, he needs to take shelter of a “living guru” (I would note that Srila said he would live forever in his books and we would utilize). In this concocted philosophy if the soul takes shelter of a GBC authorized “living guru” and that guru turns out to be a fallen, conditioned soul, never mind, good sadhana will send you back to the spiritual world. But don’t ever, ever think that a person introduced to Krsna consciousness after 1976, could ever, possibly have a direct connection with Srila Prabhupada. No, the new philosophy is that you must go through a “direct disciple” of Srila Prabhupada because Srila Prabhupada is dead and gone. By this point the frogs’ water was almost boiling and any frog still in the pot is toast.
Change the Books
Changing Srila Prabhupada’s books is a slap in the face of our spiritual master who told the leaders not to change one word, and goes against all vaisnava etiquette. What could be the possible purpose in changing the words of the pure devotee? Could it be to set a precedent? Could these demons have the long term plan to remove any remaining potency from what is left of ISKCON?
Divide and Conquer
When the zonal acarya system was first implemented, any dissent among the godbrothers was met with a swift kick out the door, sanctioned by the “pure devotee” liars. For myself, when I first moved to the Seattle area in the late 90’s, I ran into devotees at the airport and even gave them a ride back to the temple. They made it very clear that because I was disciple of Srila Prabhupada they were not at liberty to associate with me and that I was not welcome at the temple. I know of many godsiblings who, if they expressed a different understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions than the understanding sanctioned by the GBC, were forcibly expelled.
Wait a minute, if devotees have different understandings of philosophical issues, didn’t Srila Prabhupada give us a platform to work these issues out? Wasn’t that was istaghostis were supposed to be? Why didn’t the management address the philosophical questions in an open, loving manner by letting devotees express their understandings of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions based on Srila Prabhupada’s books? Why were devotees who maintained that a prospective disciple should be careful to accept only an uttama adhikari as a spiritual master be forcibly booted? What right does any devotee, what to speak of a devotee who has taken the service as a manager, have to tell a godbrother how to understand or interpret Srila Prabhupada’s instructions? For myself, every time I read something in the books, new layers of understanding open up. This is a matter to be discussed among disciples with relish, not condemned. Shame on any manager who forces a godbrother to accept a “GBC” sanctioned interpretation!
The strategy of “divide and conquer” is one of the oldest strategies employed by demons who are bent on horrible works meant to destroy the world.
Change the Mission
It also appears that the demons in the dress of vaisnavas have been working on changing the original mission of ISCON as expressed in the 1966 articles of incorporation. As an outsider now, it appears to me that ISKCON has become primarily a fund-raising institution for the purpose of collecting money from Hindus. When I was a brahmacarini at the Seattle Temple we held initiations every six months and did service, for free from early morning to night. The current Seattle Temple has a sign that reads “The Vedic Cultural Center” and doesn’t mention Srila Prabhupada. I’m told that temple service such as cooking and pujari service is a paid position, a service for dollars rather than a service for bhakti. It seems like the books and even the Deities have become more or less props for the fund-raising efforts.
Article 6 of the 1966 articles of incorporation reads: “To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life.” Yet 51 years after that document was written there is no serious simple living project. ISKCON sanctioned cow protection projects rescue cows from the meat eaters and use the cows as props for their fund-raising. Devotees are not encouraged or facilitated to form communities where they produce their own necessities and cows are protected as valuable contributors to the community.
How to fight the Kali-chelas
The GBC has not made any effort to refute the information in the book Kill Guru, Become Guru probably because the data/facts are irrefutable. Any attention that they give the issue could cause members or congregation to examine the facts, resulting in diminished power for the GBC. These Kali-chelas rely on having financial, social and emotional power over their subjects. The first way to fight them is to arm yourself with the truth. Listen to the Truth Committee’s videos and read the book.
Psychologists have a term for what happens when someone is confronted with facts/data that is contrary to a deep seated belief (such as that the GBC wants to help you go back to Godhead). The term is cognitive dissonance. Srila Prabhupada also gave us a term for the same illusory psychological phenomena: Maya.
Actions speak louder, much louder than words. So any sweet words about how they are simply trying to please Srila
Prabhupada is easily drowned by the cacophony of their heinous policies and behavior. If this information is new and disturbing to you, it is because your sub-consciousness has accepted a series of lies and Maya is urging to believe that you need to continue accepting the lies and to forget or minimize the importance of the truth. If you accept the truth, you will be outraged: They murdered Srila Prabhupada! And they’re still in charge! However if you minimize or forget this information, it will probably eventually make you insane.
Steps to dethroning the Kali-chelas
“The truth is light and nescience is darkness”, the first step is to embrace the truth and accept the spiritual outrage over what they’ve done to Srila Prabhupada and his mission. Then you could discuss the matter and present the truth to as many devotees and congregation as you can. If the management of the temple tries to stop your efforts, please refer to the document known as Direction of Management. In this legal document, Srila Prabhupada states that the temple president is to be elected by the congregation. If enough of the congregation are aware of the truth, any manager will be unable to sustain demonic policies such as suppressing the truth because he/she will face losing his/her position by Srila Prabhupada’s authority. The truth has some punch. As the truth starts to awaken in the hearts of the sincere devotees, congregations can require that any manager or officer in an ISKCON corporation swear an Oath of Allegiance, as directed by Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada was murdered and his mission has been poisoned, but the poison is reversible. All we have to do is to stop allowing the Kali-chelas to divide us and get back to the real mission goals, to spread love of Krsna!
Anuttama dasi was initiated in 1977 in Seattle and lives with her husband, Billy on a simple living project in Glenoma, Washington. She may be reached at: anuttamadd@gmail.com Her sites: billyandanuttama.wordpress.com and https://newnandagramcowprotection.wordpress.com/