Back To Prabhupada, Issue 53, Autumn 2016
elcome to Issue 53 of Back To Prabhupada (BTP).
Consider a person who has recently taken up Krishna consciousness. One of the first books he may read is the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, since Srila Prabhupada describes it as being the "ABCD" (Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 27/2/73). At the outset, he reads:
"Therefore, the conclusion is that a spiritual master who is one hundred percent Krsna conscious is the bona fide spiritual master"
(Bg., 2.8)
Then, just two chapters later:
"Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth."
(Bg., 4.34)
Thus, he knows that he needs to seek out a 100% Krishna conscious, self-realised guru. He also accepts that Srila Prabhupada is such a person, otherwise he would not be reading and accepting Srila Prabhupada's words as the absolute truth. Nor does he read anywhere that Srila Prabhupada has stopped continuing to function as such a 100% Krishna conscious, self-realised guru. On the contrary, by reading Srila Prabhupada's words, he is already letting Srila Prabhupada "impart knowledge" to him, just as the verse quoted above advises. Yet, somehow he may end up participating in the guru hoax, and accept someone else as a guru. Further, such a guru, by their own admission, may not even be a 100% Krishna conscious, self-realised person – in direct contradiction of what he has read. Why then does such participation happen?
1) Deliberate ignorance: It's possible that, actually, the person has not even read and carefully studied Srila Prabhupada's words to begin with, as they are not interested in philosophy. Instead, they only got involved with ISKCON for non-spiritual benefits, such as: getting a visa for a more materially advanced country; escapism; "society, friendship and love", and so on.
2) Deliberate participation: They have studied Srila Prabhupada's words carefully and are fully aware of the philosophy, but still prefer to ignore it because these non-spiritual benefits are more important to them.
3) Gets conned: The person does sincerely want to follow Srila Prabhupada but puts their faith and trust in "senior leaders" to explain the philosophy, who then mislead them with word-jugglery and false, self-serving arguments.
We have met all of these types of persons in our preaching work. The last category is the main type of person that the IRM is able to help, as we are exposing how they are being misled. However, isn't it too harsh to claim that ISKCON's leaders are actively behaving as con men?
Let us consider the participation of the ISKCON gurus themselves in the guru hoax, and the possibilities for how it is done.
1) Mistaken: The guru hoaxer is deluded, and thinks that Srila Prabhupada ordered him to become a diksa guru successor.
2) Cheating: The guru hoaxer knows full well that he is neither authorised nor qualified, but pretends otherwise to con and deceive others.
In this issue, there are a number of articles which demonstrate that, rather than being honestly mistaken, deliberate cheating is going on: false philosophy is presented when it is known to be false; words are deliberately changed and added; those presenting philosophy that is known to be false are promoted as being bona fide – with all these cheating shenanigans being done specifically in aid of the guru hoax. Srila Prabhupada orders:
"I am very glad that you are challenging all of these so called swamis and gurus. [...] We must take advantage of every opportunity to defeat these rascals and drive them away"
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, 30/11/71)
Given the rascality of deception we have uncovered, it is clear that ISKCON's guru hoaxers are also "so-called swamis and gurus" who are "rascals", and thus this order is just as applicable to them.
Thank you and Hare Krishna.
In Srila Prabhupada's service,
Krishnakant
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