Back to Prabhupada, Issue 24, Summer 2009
By Krishnakant
Vyenkata Bhatta Das (Vineet Chander), ISKCON Director of Communications for North America, recently issued the following statement which appeared as part of an article on the website of ISKCON’s official News Agency:
“Like many religious organizations, ISKCON does not hold an official position on the recognition of same-sex marriage, with members (and leaders) holding a range of views on the topic.”
(ISKCON News Weekly, April 18th, 2009)
The statement was published in reference to the recent “blessing” conferred upon the “marriage” of a homosexual couple by ISKCON guru HH Hridayananda Das Gowsami (see also QNN 23). However, ISKCON’s sole spiritual authority -His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, clearly does hold a “position” on same-sex marriage, stating that it is to be condemned:
“They are going to pass resolution for getting married between man to man. The human society has come down to such a degraded position. […] They’re getting married man to man. Most degraded.”
(Srila Prabhupada Conversation with the GBC, May 25th, 1972 and February 16th, 1977)
ISKCON is therefore once again openly admitting that it is not representing Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, admitting that instead its leaders are “holding a range of views on the topic.” Which, of course, just goes to prove once again, via the GBC’s own admission, how useless and deviant the GBC has become, as Srila Prabhupada himself states:
“When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas.”
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 12.9, purport, emphasis added)