Back To Prabhupada, Issue 80, 2024
We continually preach that Srila Prabhupada alone is the Acarya and diksa guru of ISKCON, and that his position has been usurped by GBC-made gurus. A sign that our preaching is having effect would be if Srila Prabhupada's position in ISKCON is being emphasised more and more at the expense of these same GBC gurus. ISKCON GBC voted-in guru HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") claims that this is exactly what is happening:
"I'm going to just express an observation. [...] I do believe that it is symptomatic of a malaise that's spreading and it's due perhaps in large part, and I'm not going to get into the position of gurus as being minimised, but that overall the whole concept or idea of offering respect to gurus, sannyas- [...] is being whittled away and generally the thinking is that the only person worthy of offering respect to really is Srila Prabhupada. So, it's a worry. [...] it's quite worrying as to what the direction of the movement is"
(SRS, Podcast, "A worrying trend in ISKCON", 31/10/23. Emphases in article added.)
SRS observes that the movement is trending towards focusing respect on Srila Prabhupada at the expense of GBC gurus such as himself, and states that this is "worrying". An example of SRS's above "complaint" in action can be observed in the following, where SRS objects to the lack of respect from a disciple:
"I'll tell you one service you could have done [...] Bring a garland, isn't it? [...] if you're thinking then you would have brought a garland now. Wouldn't you? Tell me if you went to see Prabhupada, what would you have done? So a devotee is not supposed to go empty-handed."
(SRS, Podcast, Conversation with disciple in Vrndavana, 16/1/24)
SRS measures how he is to be treated by comparing it to how Srila Prabhupada would be treated, and expects to be treated the same as one would have treated Srila Prabhupada. This trend of Srila Prabhupada getting respect in ISKCON at the expense of the unauthorised GBC gurus, who have supplanted his position, is not something a follower of Srila Prabhupada will see as "worrying" – and it shows that BTP's mission of promoting Srila Prabhupada over and above the GBC gurus is succeeding. We can only hope that this trend continues!
In BTP 59, we exposed SRS falsely preaching that store-bought milk incurs karma for the devotee consumer, even though they automatically offer everything to Krsna (see The Dangers of Non-Krishna “Preaching”
and "Prasadam and Sin"):
"I'm addressing Vaisnavas on these podcasts, who believe in sastra [...] aside from an offense that one is committing to one's mother, [...] A certain karma comes on the consumer. [...] So whereas we can philosophize away, or try to, the consumption of that type of blood milk doesn't really quite wash, at least as far as sastra is concerned. So devotees should recognize that they're at risk and they're also putting others at risk by this type of activity. [...] We say it's store-bought milk but it's not really milk. [...] it's store-bought poison."
(SRS, Podcast, 15/7/18)
We then showed how such an idea contradicts what Srila Prabhupada taught by making 3 points:
1) Srila Prabhupada drank store-bought milk (or "poison" as SRS called it).
2) Srila Prabhupada drank such supposed "poison" milk even though he knew it was derived from cows who were not treated nicely.
3) One can offer this milk to Krsna and become free from karma or sinful activities.
Now, SRS has reversed his position on this subject to align with these 3 points that we made. In a podcast dated 16/11/23, in which a questioner asked him to clarify his views on whether or not karma is incurred by the consumption of store-bought milk, SRS stated:
"Srila Prabhupada [...] he drank store-bought milk. He certainly knew that cows were not treated very nicely, and that they were machine milked and also force inseminated just to keep on giving milk, milk, milk. But anyway, he did it, and if one is just slightly namabhasa, offenseless in one's devotional life, and in that offenseless way, offers to Krsna everything that he eats, then yes, we become free from more sinful activities that [sic] we can perform. That's sastra."
Thus, never mind SRS's claims of being "self-realised" and able to write commentaries on the works of the acaryas like he is an acarya (please see page 14). Just the fact that he is at least accepting some basic Krsna conscious philosophy which we had to point out for him is a good start!
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