By Krishnakant
2nd March 2003
Previously we have highlighted the fathomless depths of hypocrisy to which H. H. Bhakti Caru Swami has fallen in an effort to maintain his artificial ‘Diksa Guru’ status (please see news items such as ‘Bhakti Caru Swami’s Anger at Lack of Worship’, ‘More Hypocrisy’ and ‘The Hypocrisy Continues’ on our website - under the title “Bhakti Caru Swami”).
These stories clearly illustrate how, while claiming undying allegiance and humble servitude to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON’s real Guru, Bhakti Caru Swami then diverts the worship meant solely for Prabhupada to himself! In the material world, these underhand tactics are known as ‘bait and switch’. You bait someone by advertising the genuine article (in this case, the ‘article’ being Srila Prabhupada), and when the customers come to purchase you ‘switch’ by selling them an inferior fake (in this case, Bhakti Caru Swami). This is a common and illegal deceptive trade practice used in the advertising world.
As the following email messages demonstrate, Bhakti Caru Swami (BCS) is a master of the art of bait and switch. The first message below, written shortly after the falldown of Vipramukhya Swami, shows BCS in his “humble, all-worship-should-go-to-Srila-Prabhupada” mood.
| ---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Letter PAMHO:5992588 (76 lines) From: Bhakti Caru Swami Date: 16-Sep-02 10:03 (13:03 +0300) To: Candrasekhar Acarya (das) BCS (Los Angeles, CA - USA) [4926] Subject: Message to my disciples To all my disciples, Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Since it is a custom in ISKCON to celebrate Vyasa Puja on the appearance day of the spiritual masters, it is natural that you will also want to follow that standard. A disciple must worship his spiritual master and I obviously do not want to contradict that etiquette. However, from Srila Prabhupada I learnt that the real worship is not just offering some flowers and eulogy, but to accept the instructions of the spiritual master as one's life and soul. I am sensitive about accepting gorgeous worship with glamorous arrangements, because I noticed that a lot of money is wasted in such arrangements and it may often create an undesirable mood of competition among the disciples of different gurus. This obviously does not help the unity of ISKCON. On the other hand, if we take all the opportunities to glorify Srila Prabhupada, who is naturally the center of our movement and everyone's preeminent spiritual master, then everyone will feel perfectly happy. In that worship there will not be any limit to what extent one can glorify His Divine Grace and that, instead of causing any competition will create a perfect harmony among all the members of ISKCON. Just as all the branches, twigs and leaves are automatically nourished by the watering of the root of a tree, similarly by glorifying Srila Prabhupada and worshipping him everyone feel perfectly satisfied. […] I am an ordinary person. I do not have any qualification to be in any significant spiritual position. However, due to my connection with Srila Prabhupada, I have received such an important position of worship and honour. Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee of Krishna, and it is only due to his mercy that I am whatever I am today. I feel that it is very important that I never forget that fact. Therefore, whatever comes to me I try to offer it to Srila Prabhupada immediately. It is due to that reason that instead of accepting the worship you are offering me today, I want to offer it to His Divine Grace. It is due to that reason I want to celebrate this day as 'Srila Prabhupada's Memorial Day'. Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada, Bhakti Charu Swami |
Yet just 48 hours after the above message expressing humility and unswerving loyalty to Srila Prabhupada, and strictly requesting no personal worship, was sent out, the following message was posted to his disciples:
| Vyasa Puja offerings
Text PAMHO6004407 (13 lines) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 13:47 –0700 From: Candrasekhar Acarya (das) BCS (Los Angeles, CA - USA) <Candrasekhar.Acarya.BCS@pamho.net> Dear devotees, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Guru Maharaja. Guru Maharaja wrote to me and thought it might be a good idea if the devotees who wrote him a Vyasa Puja offering posted their offering on this conference so that we could all read them, since there was no Vyasa Puja booklet made this year. Your servant, Candrasekhar Acarya dasa |
So, after stating that:
| “Therefore, whatever comes to me I try to offer it to Srila Prabhupada immediately. It is due to that reason that instead of accepting the worship you are offering me today, I want to offer it to His Divine Grace. It is due to that reason I want to celebrate this day as 'Srila Prabhupada's Memorial Day'”, |
BCS now thinks it a “good idea if the devotees who wrote him a Vyasa Puja offering posted their offering on this conference so that we could all read them”!
Clearly, the temptation of being glorified to the world – rather than glorifying Srila Prabhupada to the world – proved too difficult for BCS to overcome. Obviously intoxicated with the worship he was receiving, BCS just couldn’t get enough of the puja; shortly afterwards, he made doubly sure that his disciples’ attention had been properly channelled to himself rather than to Srila Prabhupada:
| Vyasa Puja offerings attached
Text PAMHO6043500 (18 lines) Dear Prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Guru Maharaja. Attached are many offerings that Guru Maharaja received for his Vyasa Puja. He told me to say that among all the offerings, three are from Guru Maharaja's godbrothers and godsisters, namely the offerings from His Holiness Jayadvaita Maharaja, from mother Aradhya and from mother Citrarupini. Hare Krishna, |
And to round off his massive Guru cheating business program for 2002, here is BCS demonstrating why he is the Master of Deception par excellence:
| Text PAMHO6058811 (32 lines) Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 19:52 +0200 From: Akarsini Radhika (dd) JPS (Govinda Roma - IT) <Akarsini.Radhika.JPS@pamho.net> hare krsna prabhus, pamho agSP! this is what i have about H. H. Bhakti Caru Maharaja. "I am in South Africa now. During my birthday I was in Durban. But now I am in Cape Town. We had a very nice celebration in Durban on that day. We started our program at 8 in the morning with Srila Prabhupada's guru puja. Then four of my god brothers and myself spoke the glories of Srila Prabhupada then I let many of Prabhupada's grand disciples speak. After that we had a fire sacrifice re-confirming our allegiance to Srila Prabhupada. Then I offered the items that the devotees cooked for Srila Prabhupada. Although it was an Ekadasi the devotees made many preparations and about five hundred devotees attended this festival. They all participated very enthusiastically and thoroughly enjoyed the feast. Many of them told that this was one of the best Ekadasi feasts they ever had and the best 'vyasa puja' celebration they ever attended. In the evening we got together again and my disciples celebrated my birthday. The program went on till about midnight. Initially I was reluctant to accept any worship or festivities with me in the center on that day. However due to the persuasion from many of my disciples here I complied to their request and I did realize that there was a need for such a ceremony also for their sake. I hope this meets you in the best of health and blissfully engaged in your service to Srila Prabhupada. Your's in the service of Srila Prabhupada, Akarsini Radhika dd |
Yet again, it starts off so promisingly with puja, glorification and offerings to Srila Prabhupada, and what pretty much amounts to a ritvik ceremony! – “After that we had a fire sacrifice re-confirming our allegiance to Srila Prabhupada”. But then things quickly regress back in the space of a few hours to the ‘profit, adoration and distinction’ program with BCS yet again unable to resist sitting on Srila Prabhupada’s vyasasana (seat of honor meant for the genuine Guru):
| “Initially I was reluctant to accept any worship or festivities with me in the center on that day. However due to the persuasion from many of my disciples here I complied to their request and I did realize that there was a need for such a ceremony also for their sake.” |
- Who is BCS trying to fool?
- Is he so weak that he has become the pet dog of his disciples (some of whom are no doubt innocent souls who have been misled by this Master of Deception) and is unable to stay off Srila Prabhupada’s vyasasana for more than a few hours?!
We see this hypocrisy more clearly outlined below:
| Letter PAMHO:6113515 (813 lines) [W1] From: Internet: "smita krsna das" <smitakrsna@hotmail.com> Date: 19-Oct-02 12:07 (14:07 +0200) To: Candrasekhar Acarya (das) BCS (Los Angeles, CA - USA) [5512] Cc: Bhakti Caru Swami [34184] GURU MAHARAJ'S SRI VYASA-PUJA FESTIVAL - SRILA PRABHUPADA'S MEMORIAL FESTIVAL Prabhanu Prabhu, Temple President of Phoenix Temple and one of the Vice presidents of ISKCON KWAZULU Natal, and a disciple, was instrumental in overseeing all the arrangements for Guru Maharaj's Vyasa-puja. In discussions with Guru Maharaj about arrangements for his Sri Vyasa-puja, he expressed his wishes not to have any glorification of himself on this day. Guru Maharaj expressed his wish that his Vyasa-puja be celebrated as a "Srila Prabhupada Memorial Day". He very clearly outlined to Swarup Damodara Prabhu and myself how he wanted the programme arranged. We requested foot bathing and Guru Puja and reading of our offerings to him, but he refused to have these activities. Guru Maharaj wanted all the focus to be on Srila Prabhupada. After some respectful persuasion by Swarup Damodar Prabhu, Guru Maharaj agreed to have an evening programme where disciples could read their offerings to him.(more about this later on). […] During prior discussions with Guru Maharaj about his Sri Vyasa-puja celebrations he finally relented to allowing the disciples to read their offerings, but in the evening. It was supposed to be just the disciples and a few other well-wishers of Guru Maharaj. But that's not how it happened. Swarup Damodar Prabhu made an announcement about the evening programme in the Temple. The Temple room was packed again that evening. As it turned out that the devotees from England produced a dance drama to be presented in the evening. Guru Maharaj was asked for his permission and he mercifully allowed it. Smita Krishna produced a drama with the Bhaktivedanta College children -The Lifting of Govardhana Hill. Now without us or Guru Maharaj knowing, Haridev Prabhu, a disciple of Giriraj Swami, whom Guru Maharaj has a lot of affection for, secretly "plotted" with H.H. Bhakti Caitanya Swami, and arranged foot bathing, and Guru-puja for Guru Maharaj. When Guru Maharaj came into the Temple room in the evening, they sprung the surprise. (If we had arranged this, I shudder to think about the thunderbolt from Guru Maharaj that would have hit us since we would be going against his wishes!) The Temple room was electric as the devotees dove for the foot water. Devotees queued up to offer flowers during Guru -puja. Garlands upon garlands were placed upon Guru Maharaj. As usual he reciprocated by giving a garland to each person who gave him one. Guru Maharaj very humbly accepted the worship with folded hands. Thus we see Sri Krishna had other plans- to glorify His devotee, and Bhakti Caitanya Swami and Haridev Prabhu were the expert agents ! The disciples' desires were also simultaneously fulfilled. Part of the evening programme (which Guru Maharaj said would be his lecture) was a phone call from Holland which was hooked up for Guru Maharaj in the Temple room. Devotees from there had phoned to wish Guru Maharaj and also inform him of how they had celebrated the day. […] The programme continued into the evening with disciples and disciples of other spiritual masters reading their offerings to Guru Maharaj. All this while His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Swami Maharaj stayed with Guru Maharaj. At about 11.30, Haridev Prabhu (the MC for the evening) saw that Guru Maharaj was tired and then he closed the programme. The devotees then led Guru Maharaj back to his room with kirtan. Prasadam was served again after the programme. It was indeed an event not to be missed! Smita Krishna das |
We can see how filming the so-called biopic of Srila Prabhupada, ‘Abhay Charan’, has rubbed off on BCS because he is turning out to be a great actor. After feigning complete disinterest in ‘having his feet washed and having his Vyasa-Puja offerings read to him’, miraculously following some ‘gentle persuasion’ he immediately agrees to some limited reading of offerings. And then even more miraculously the whole thing then turns into one big festival of glorification and worship of BCS, with a mass orgy of foot-bathing, guru-puja and offering of flowers and reading of offerings which went on all the way till 11.30pm! And even then it was only stopped because ‘Guru Maharaja’ was ‘tired’. Yes, it must be very tiring to sit on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana and receive mass glorification and adulation that is verily meant for Srila Prabhupada alone. And to cap it all off, not satisfied with this huge amount of worship, BCS insists on hearing on the phone from the devotees in Holland how they had celebrated his Vyasa-puja celebration there also! Note how the “humble” mood he tried to feign by not accepting worship for himself very rapidly transformed into self-glorification, bringing to the fore BCS’ most noteworthy quality – hypocrisy. And we know that this is indeed the Kali-yuga: the Age of Hypocrisy.
Srila Prabhupada himself has verily condemned the cheating of unauthorised Gurus who use the excuse that they were ‘persuaded’ by their disciples into taking unauthorized worship:
"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. Guru is the master. You cannot disobey guru. But if you become a servant, you want to please the disciple by flattering him to get his money, then you are not guru, you are servant. Just like a servant pleases the master. He's not guru. He's servant. So our position should be servant, yes, but servant of the Supreme. So guru means heavy. You cannot utilize him for satisfying your whims. That is not guru."
(Srila Prabhupada Conversations: Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal, June 28, 1976, Vrindavan).
Srila Prabhupada makes it clear that following the whims of the disciples in the manner of a servant is not the business of a bona fide Guru. If it was supposed to be a ‘Srila Prabhupada Memorial Festival’ only then it should have stayed that way — the so-called ‘Guru’ cannot stoop to using the excuse that he needed to be worshipped just so he could please the disciples.
Having occupied Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana and stolen all the disciples and worship meant for Srila Prabhupada for himself, BCS clearly thinks he is as good as Srila Prabhupada as we see below from another excerpt from the message above:
| “His Grace Partha Sarathi Prabhu's lecture centred around appreciation of devotees. He mentioned that whenever he thinks of Guru Maharaj he finds it difficult to separate Guru Maharaj from Srila Prabhupada in term of qualities. Partha Sarathi Prabhu became a little emotional about this and became silent. Guru Maharaj saw this and very lovingly massaged Partha Sarathi's Prabhus back, and then began to sing "Hare Krishna". |
We see BCS without protest lapping up glorification of him which compares him to Srila Prabhupada, and how it is difficult to separate his qualities from Srila Prabhupada!
CONCLUSION
As we reported here, this annual ‘Srila Prabhupada’s Memorial Festival’ drama is nothing but a cheating device that BCS has inaugurated to camouflage the huge worship which he receives. Each year it is the same story: he tells everyone he wants no worship for his ‘Vyasa-Puja’, but rather it should all go to Srila Prabhupada, and thus the day should be turned into a ‘Srila Prabhupada Memorial Festival’. Then very quickly he becomes ‘persuaded’ that he should get worshipped after all, since his disciples want it. And then the ‘Srila Prabhupada Memorial Day Festival’ ends up turning into a regular BCS worship fest! This is ‘bait and switch’ practiced to perfection. BCS should cease staging this charade every year. Either he should stay firm and refuse absolutely all worship which he claims is his desire, or simply admit the truth that he is too intoxicated by puja to refuse it and just have a regular self-glorification ‘Vyasa-Puja’.
As a final comment, we will repeat what we stated two years ago in this article:
“How about this for a novel suggestion - why not stop the 'substitute Guru's' Vyasa-Puja festival altogether - then EVERYDAY would automatically become a "Srila Prabhupada Festival" - just as it was when Srila Prabhupada was here.”