Back To Prabhupada, Issue 40, Summer 2013
hen you do not have evidence in the form of documented orders from Srila Prabhupada to support the deviations you wish to engage in, what do you do?
The response of ISKCON's leadership has been to use different techniques that are designed specifically to deceive devotees into accepting false conclusions regarding Srila Prabhupada's teachings. Throughout previous issues we have been presenting examples of some of these Techniques of Mass Deception ("TMDs") in action. Here we categorise, in ascending order of deceptive influence, some of the major TMDs that devotees may encounter, so that they may be able to recognise and resist them.
One technique is to present the "understanding" of "senior Vaisnavas". For example:
"on May 28, the leaders of ISKCON who were present with Srila Prabhupada were clear that Srila Prabhupada gave the instruction that after his physical departure those who would initiate would be 'regular guru'..."
(GBC letter to ISKCON Bangalore devotees, 9/3/2013)
In this way we are presented with the authority of what "all the senior Vaisnavas" understand, to urge us to also accept this understanding. But the only understanding which matters is that of Srila Prabhupada, as given by his direct statements, and not that of others.
Another technique is to claim we have to follow tradition, or what has happened historically. For example, GBC-elected guru hoaxer Bhakti Charu Swami ("BCS") states:
"The difference is that rtviks are saying that Prabhupada will continue to give diksa. That is the point that we cannot accept because there is no such precedence in the past."
(BCS Lecture, 14/8/2004)
As with the previous TMD, this is just another way of saying:
"We can't present any evidence directly from Srila Prabhupada stating what we want."
For, if it was the case that Srila Prabhupada had ordered that in ISKCON we follow a tradition from the past, then that evidence from Srila Prabhupada himself would be presented!
Like "tradition" in the previous entry, "guru, sadhu and sastra" is misused to propose or reject conclusions while hiding the inability to present Srila Prabhupada's teachings establishing the same. This is covered separately in detail in the next article.
Another technique is to simply falsely claim that one is referencing a specific quote from Srila Prabhupada, and then just hope that devotees will not go and double-check in Vedabase!
A variation of this technique is to claim that Srila Prabhupada "said" something on the authority of someone claiming he was told this by Srila Prabhupada. However, anything can be claimed, but:
"Unless it is there from me in writing, there are so many things that "Prabhupada said.""
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, 2/9/1975)
Thus, whenever anyone claims something Srila Prabhupada supposedly "said", unless recorded evidence from Srila Prabhupada is presented, then, again, it is just another way of saying --
"We can't present any evidence directly from Srila Prabhupada stating what we want"
-- and, therefore, you just have to take our word for it!
We present multiple examples of these techniques on pages 6 and 7 of this issue.
When presenting quotations, it is common practice for the sake of brevity to omit those parts which are of no relevance to the argument being proposed. But if you deliberately omit parts of the quotation which are relevant, then this is just cheating. For example, in the quotation from the GBC presented earlier, it goes on to claim:
"Srila Prabhupada gave the instruction that after his physical departure those who would initiate would be "regular guru" and that the initiates would be, in Srila Prabhupada's own words, 'He is granddisciple... disciple of my disciple'."
(GBC letter to ISKCON Bangalore devotees, 9/3/2013)
Only, the actual words spoken by Srila Prabhupada are:
"His granddisciple...when I order you become guru he becomes regular guru. That's all. He becomes disciple of my disciple."
In this case, omitting the part of the quotation which states "when I order you become guru" is highly relevant, because then we would have to see if such an order was actually given!
Thus, all relevant parts of Srila Prabhupada's statement must be presented.
Finally, we come to a TMD which is the most dangerous since it relies on using full documented quotations, and thus appears to have the direct support of Srila Prabhupada, giving it the greatest power to deceive. Here an accurate quotation from Srila Prabhupada will be used to claim that it actually states something else! For example, GBC-elected guru hoaxer Sankarsana Dasa ("SAD") presents the following quotation:
"Then, in future... Suppose you have got now ten thousand. We shall expand to hundred thousand. That is required. Then hundred thousand to million; and million to ten million."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 6/4/1975)
and claims that this quotation states that:
"Srila Prabhupada predicted that ISKCON would have ten million initiating gurus (acaryas)."
(Sankarsana Dasa, 11/8/2005)
But, the quotation states:
"suppose you have got now ten thousand. We shall expand to hundred thousand. That is required. Then hundred thousand to million; and million to ten million." (Emphases added).
That is, the 10 million would be an expansion of something that already existed at around 10,000 in 1975, when the statement was made. SAD claims this refers to "initiating gurus". But, we know for a fact that in 1975 there were not 10,000, or even 100 "initiating gurus". There was only one, and that was Srila Prabhupada. So clearly, the expansion to 10 million from 10,000 does not refer to "initiating gurus" as SAD claims.
1. As soon as you hear or read a claim regarding what should be done in ISKCON, or what Srila Prabhupada taught, see if there is a direct, documented quotation from Srila Prabhupada produced to support the claim. If not, ask for such a quotation.
2. If such a quotation is produced, verify it is an accurate and full quotation, and then check if what is claimed about the quotation matches exactly what the quotation states.
In this way, all 6 TMDs can be foiled!
Return to IRM Homepage