Back To Prabhupada, Issue 63, Vol 3, 2019
e have covered many deviant statements by ISKCON's leaders in BTP, and just when one might have thought things could not possibly get any worse, we now appear to have plumbed new depths of deviancy! The statements in the shaded boxes are by ISKCON GBC-elected guru HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS"), and are from a podcast titled "Speaking to visiting youth from the UK", which was recorded in Hungary in July 2019. All emphases added.
"You thought ‘investment banker', you may as well be a bank robber, it's the same thing. Just a matter from which side you steal the money. [...] Literally this part of the world is robbing the rest of the world. [...] And that's what investment banking is."
SRS launches an attack on Western capitalism, claiming that through the banking system the West is "literally" robbing the rest of the world, and that bankers are identical to bank robbers. He therefore goes on to state:
"the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And one day the poor will rise up and they will massacre the rich. And rightly so because they've been so abused".
Thus, SRS concludes that, due to this "robbing", the rich have gotten rich at the expense of the poor, and in this way the poor have been "so abused". And therefore, SRS states that the poor will massacre the rich. "Massacre" means to "deliberately and brutally kill", and SRS agrees with such slaughter of the rich by the poor, because he states that it will be "rightly" done. Thus, by saying such killing is done "rightly", he believes it is right, and he even explains why such slaughter is right, claiming that it is because the poor have been "so abused".
However, these teachings given by SRS, whereby mass murder of the rich by the poor is justified, or "rightly" done, because SRS feels the poor have been "so abused", were not taught by Srila Prabhupada. He never stated that the poor, or any group, can massacre another group based on some claimed grievance. Never mind Srila Prabhupada not sanctioning such unauthorised political massacres, such massacres would be considered illegal, rather than "rightly" done, even under the law!
During Srila Prabhupada's physical presence, the rich and the poor existed, the capitalist bankers existed, and the West was rich compared to the rest of the world. Yet Srila Prabhupada never favoured or condemned one group over another. Instead, he was only concerned with bringing Krsna consciousness to everyone, rather than supporting the ‘right' of one group to kill the other:
"We don't mind whether you are communist, capitalist, this ist, that ist, that... We want to see whether you are utilizing your human intelligence for right purpose. We don't condemn anyone."
(Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk, 29/5/74)
Thus, Srila Prabhupada taught Krsna consciousness — not SRS's anti-rich politics.
"Now you may call it being a lawyer, or an investment banker, that's just a detail, it's just a different way of being another brick in the wall of that society. [...] we get so much support, patrons give so much support for the Manor ["Bhaktivedanta Manor", ISKCON UK Headquarters — Ed.], and we get donors and so many other things, but the cost is high. In the UK and around the world, the Indian community want to integrate into the host society. [...] the Indian community should stick its head in the ground in shame. [...] And that's what the Indian community has done. They have sold their souls to the devil."
SRS refers specifically to those Indians who are actively supporting and financing ISKCON. He states that they have sold their souls to the devil because in order to earn the very money they donate to ISKCON, they have become part of society and taken up occupations.
SRS therefore goes on to recommend the alternative to becoming part of society, which is to give up one's occupation, such as being an engineer:
"So this is the alternative. If I gave up being an engineer, if I could leave my beautiful life behind, why can't you?"
But Srila Prabhupada does not state this:
"The cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is explained here very nicely. One who surrenders to Him and is ready to follow Him with heart and soul does not need to change his location. Nor is it necessary for one to change status. One may remain a householder, a medical practitioner, an engineer or whatever. It doesn't matter."
(Cc., Madhya-lila, 7.130)
We had earlier reported that this very same purport had already been changed in regards to another statement in the purport (please see "Climbdown - 3: Book Changes Means Defeat", BTP 27). Maybe now even more changes will need to be made to this purport, since it states the opposite of what SRS is claiming!
Srila Prabhupada also states about those who provide support to ISKCON without being full-time preachers that:
"anyone who cooperates with this movement or accepts its principles will get the same result as the workers who are actively propagating Krsna consciousness."
(SB, 4.21.26)
Many Indians in the West who support ISKCON are rich, and hence SRS's comments regarding the rich being "rightly" massacred would also apply to them. Some of them work in banking, and hence SRS's comments that bankers are nothing but thieves would also apply to them. Thus, the net effect of SRS's statements is that some of ISKCON's main financiers and supporters can be considered as:
a bunch of devil-following thieves who deserve to be massacred!
These statements were made by an official, GBC-authorised, ISKCON diksa guru whilst representing ISKCON. This is a position the GBC considers to be ‘as good as God', and a position SRS continues to hold in ISKCON. Thus, through one of its highest spiritual representatives, ISKCON is also implicated in these statements that would apply to its supporters.
However, these statements are not supported by Srila Prabhupada.
Thus, the danger of ISKCON leaders like SRS refusing to adhere to Srila Prabhupada's teachings, and instead promoting anti-rich politics, has been starkly demonstrated.
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