| Prithu: The abusive nature of a Guru hoaxer |
Winter 2004/5
In our article on
Satsvarupa das (BTP 4) we made
the point that the great ISKCON Guru hoax is disastrous both for the
Guru and his poor disciples, since they waste their entire lives
worshipping a conditioned soul, rather than the genuinely self-realised
acarya, Srila Prabhupada.
Recently Prthu Das, one of the 80 voted-in Guru hoaxers, stepped down as
an ISKCON Guru, admitting:
| "I have been failing to follow our
spiritual principles for a good while." (Resignation Letter, Prithu Das, October 21st, 2004) |
According to Srila Prabhupada, one who does not follow the regulative principles of spiritual life is not even considered human:
"The human life is meant for regulative principles. Just like we are insisting our students only for regulative principles just to make them real human life. No regulative principle means animal life. Animal life."
(Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, June 11th 1974 )
The fact that someone would allow himself to be worshipped by his disciples as being saksad-hari, "as good as God", for many years, knowing full well that he was not even acting on the level of a human being, exposes the depraved hypocrisy of ISKCON's deviant Guru system. It is also apparent that the motive for Prithu finally admitting his less than human status, despite posturing as the current representative of an infallible chain of mahabhagavatas (topmost devotees), was not in any way rooted in a concern for the welfare of his disciples. As Prithu writes in his resignation letter:
| "I have been going through a period of
massive depressions and my experience has been, and at times
still is, a nightmare of intense unhappiness, utter
hopelessness, coupled with feeling of abandonment and
helplessness. (...) For me to get to a better place it is clear
that I need first of all to be honest with myself and with all
of you. Further, I need to resign from my service of initiating
guru and discontinue guiding my disciples in that capacity." (Resignation Letter, Prithu Das, October 21st, 2004) |
Just as Satsvarupa only admitted his illicit
affair after he had been outed on the internet, so Prithu only stood
down because he felt unhappy. So never mind where his disciples were
going to end up in their next lives, Prithu's main concern was to get
himself "to a better place" so he did not feel so miserable.
It seems not to occur to Prithu, or other Guru hoaxers like him, just
what damage they inflict on all those they mislead. Indeed, one wonders
just what sort of person could cheat others so determinedly and
persistently over so many years without any shred of concern, other than
his own personal happiness. We get a slight glimpse of the man from this
account from someone who knew him very well indeed, his wife, Rambhoru
Devi Dasi:
| "On numerous occasions, my youngest
son, now 4, and I were stalked and attacked by local Brijbasis,
while we traveled alone without the protection of a husband. My
husband knew this, but he never attempted to protect us from
these dangers by staying with us. He remained comfortably living
in the temple compound. (...) On several occasions my husband expressed his desire for me to fan him with a peacock fan and offer him arotik like a "real" Vedic woman should. When I refused to do this, he would become insulted. (...) I returned to Vrindavan to discover my son, Nila, living in the so-called care of my husband's disciples who had been instructed to beat and lock him in a room, should he not comply with their instructions. They did this several times. Before Nila ran away from the Gurukula for the last time, Prithu had personally beaten him and sent him back to school, feeling betrayed and unloved by his father. (...) For years, we have been unsupported by ISKCON while my husband has gotten virtually a free ride. His disciples have paid his air fare to places around the globe. He has slept in the best of facilities; eaten his choice of foodstuffs; spent months and months in some of the best vacation spots around the world recuperating from diseases, spending over $10,000 getting his teeth fixed or hiding out somewhere writing a book that mysteriously since 12 years never gets finished." (Letter from Rambhoru Devi Dasi, Wife of Prithu Das, October 24th, 2004) |
Prithu has not denied any of these specific
allegations in his response to the above letter, but rather admitted he
was very neglectful and abusive, and so we can only assume they are
true. It would appear that the unauthorised acceptance of worship
bewilders the mind of a conditioned soul, making him a danger to
everyone around him.
Prithu has abused Srila Prabhupada by stealing his rightful disciples
for himself. He has abused his disciples by misdirecting them from
exclusive worship to Srila Prabhupada. He has abused his own wife and
children by failing to protect them and having them beaten, and for good
measure, according to his wife, abused himself too.
What a night mare. After all this you would think Prithu might have
learned something? Sudama Das put the following question to him in a
recent email exchange:
| Sudama: So why not now come and
join the IRM and help us re-instate Srila Prabhupada as the
diksa guru for ISKCON, instead of continuing to help your guru
godbrothers to live the lie? Prithu: Well Sudama Prabhu, I love u, but that concept I am not really convinced about. Nor do I support taking a high profile as a spiritual master similar to Srila Prabhupada's and rather keep it simple. Very simple. However that disciples of SP are not supposed to initiate (provided they are fit to do so) I can't believe, and so I suppose here we won't be able to agree. (E-mail exchange, October 27th, 2004) |
Whether the bogus Guru accepts "simple" or elaborate worship is of course irrelevant. He should not accept any worship due to Srila Prabhupada. Thus it is clear Prithu has learned nothing, and will be happily promoting the great Guru hoax for the foreseeable future. In this way he will ensure that the spiritual abuse of innocent people will continue unabated.