Back To Prabhupada, Issue 60, Vol 4, 2018
n the previous article, we saw how the Bhagavad-gita can be misused to support one's activities. Another technique to achieve this is to simply eliminate Srila Prabhupada's orders altogether by just claiming that Srila Prabhupada was wrong.
Recently, GBC-elected ISKCON guru HH Indradyumna Swami confessed that his love of chocolate would lead him to break a strict fast:
"even though I'm on a fast – I'm on a strict kitchari fast – I'm going to break my fast today and have a piece of that chocolate cake."
(Indradyumna Swami talk at wedding, featured on HH Sivarama Swami's Podcast, 23/10/18, emphases added)
Such consumption of chocolate is justified by claiming that Srila Prabhupada wrongly prohibited chocolate due to his ignorance:
Mahatma: "You know when the GBC passed the "no-chocolate", so I was eating with Tamal, and they had chocolate cake, and he wasn't going to eat it. Chocolate cheesecake he used to eat but then they passed the resolution. [...]"
Sivarama Swami: "That's been rescinded now."
(Sivarama Swami Podcast, 16/7/18)
"there was some discussion about this topic not long ago, in the GBC, and it was pointed out that the information that was given to Srila Prabhupada, and that is that chocolate contains caffeine was incorrect [...] So Srila Prabhupada had told devotees not to take chocolate on the basis of the information that they had given".
(Sivarama Swami Podcast, 26/5/06, emphases added)
1) There is no recorded evidence for the above "story" regarding Srila Prabhupada issuing a prohibition only on the basis of receiving faulty information from others.
2) Rather, it can actually be shown that this "story", that Srila Prabhupada prohibited chocolate only because of his ignorance regarding chocolate containing caffeine, is false. Srila Prabhupada stated:
"Cocoa and chocolate are not to be taken as they are intoxicants."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, 14/6/72)
Srila Prabhupada refers here to the fact that cocoa is an intoxicant in its own right, which it is since it contains theobromine. Thus, chocolate, which is made from cocoa, would in any case be prohibited because of its cocoa content, and not because it contains caffeine.
3) This is supported by the GBC resolution banning chocolate, which states that cacao, from which cocoa is made, is itself an intoxicant without the need for caffeine:
"That, as it contains various stimulants like caffeine (contained in coffee), theine (contained in black tea) and theobromine (contained in cacao), chocolate should not be eaten by ISKCON devotees."
(GBC Resolution 31, 1993, emphasis added)
4) Consequently, Sivarama Swami's claim that the above resolution has been rescinded is also false, as confirmed by the GBC Corresponding Secretary, Ananda Tirtha Dasa. In response to the following question about the above resolution:
"is it not still an ISKCON Law today, and part of the ISKCON Lawbook?"
he replied:
"Yes, it is still there."
(GBC Corresponding Secretary, 1/11/18)
To simply dismiss an instruction given by Srila Prabhupada by claiming he was ignorant on an issue sets a very dangerous precedent, as one could then attempt to dismiss any other orders given by Srila Prabhupada using the same "ignorance" rationale. This also highlights again the danger of the PFP (Prabhupada Free Paradigm). ISKCON's authority must come from only the POP (Prabhupada Only Paradigm), or real recorded statements from Srila Prabhupada, rather than unsubstantiated "stories" (PFP) about Srila Prabhupada, as has occurred here with the false story about Srila Prabhupada's supposed ignorance.
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