Back To Prabhupada, Issue 84, 2025
In the last issue, we explained how even mis-understanding just one statement from Śrīla Prabhupāda can lead to fatal consequences (please see "Fatally Misunderstanding Śrīla Prabhupāda" and "Self-Contradiction Leads to Fatal Consequences"). We gave examples both from those who are claiming Śrīla Prabhupāda is the dīkṣā guru for ISKCON, and those who are claiming he is not the dīkṣā guru for ISKCON (ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON India respectively). And, in both cases, it is interesting to note that the misunderstood statements are still being promoted, rather than having been withdrawn, despite our having exposed them. Thus, highlighting the permanent nature of these fatal consequences!
Nowhere is this tendency for fatal consequences more pronounced than when we do not adhere strictly to the Prabhupāda-Only Paradigm or "POP", which refers to only accepting the recorded words of Śrīla Prabhupāda as authoritative. An example of this is given below.
The article titled "IRM Exposé Takes Centre Stage in Māyāpur" in the last issue, examined a "story" about Śrīla Prabhupāda. This story claimed that it was his supposedly seeing children scavenging for food among the garbage which "moved" him to "tears" and to introduce a permanent food relief program. However, this story is not substantiated by any statements from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Rather, the story is traced back to GBC guru HH Jayapātāka Swami ("JPS"), who claims to have personally witnessed the said incident.
Thus, on the basis of JPS's personal testimony, this story has been accepted as true. After all, those who accept his story will argue that JPS is a "Vaiṣṇava", and thus why should his personal testimony not be accepted as being truthful? One example of those who accept this story as true is ISKCON Bangalore, who use it to justify their "Akshaya Patra" food distribution program. And, as we saw in the article on page 5 of this issue, they also similarly insist that JPS is a "Vaiṣṇava".
Thus, by accepting as true this personal testimony from JPS regarding Śrīla Prabhupāda's statements, one is accepting in principle that JPS's personal testimonies about Śrīla Prabhupāda's statements are reliable and true. Another example of such supposedly "reliable and true" personal testimony from JPS about Śrīla Prabhupāda's statements is the following:
"Your Divine Grace gave me so many instructions that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. [...] once you said, "Well, I have to make 10,000 disciples - and you should make 50,000 disciples.""
(JPS, Vyāsa-Pūjā Offering, 2011)
This statement means that JPS was personally authorised by Śrīla Prabhupāda to be a successor dīkṣā guru. Which, as we saw above, ISKCON Bangalore would have to accept as being a true and reliable statement. Which in turn renders ISKCON Bangalore's whole campaign against the "guru hoax" as being wrong, since they would have to accept that Śrīla Prabhupāda authorised guru succession.
As confirmation of all the points made above, we refer to an interview given by ISKCON Bangalore leader Madhu Pandit Dāsa ("MPD"), in which he fully explains how he came to accept the "food scavenging" story told by JPS. The relevant clips from this interview can be viewed at this link:
iskconirm.com/MPDvideos
Excerpts from the interview are given below in shaded boxes.
"one brahmacari, he brought this anecdote of Prabhupāda. Until then I had never read this. That Mayapur anecdote. So I read it. I think it's in Lilāmṛta. So I read this that how Prabhupāda had tears..."
MPD then goes on to relate exactly the same story, with all the same details about how "kids and the stray dogs were fighting" for food, etc., which we showed in the last issue is traced back to JPS. And which ISKCON Bangalore had quoted as their justification for their Akshaya Pātra program. MPD accepts that the story in question is presented as an "anecdote" about Śrīla Prabhupāda rather than a quote from Śrīla Prabhupāda.
"I got confidence [...] when I saw this anecdote, I said, my God, Prabhupāda is having tears in his eyes [...] I said, 'this is Prabhupāda's program, Akshaya Patra is Prabhupāda's program. It is not self-sanctioned desire. This is sanctioned by Prabhupāda, authorised.'"
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Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Not following his words is fatal
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MPD admits that it was this anecdote that convinced him that his Akshaya Patra program is "sanctioned by Prabhupāda, authorised". But since, as we have shown, this anecdote originates from JPS, MPD is thus equating the authority of JPS's words with the authority of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hence, MPD is actually arguing here that the Akshaya Patra program was not "self-sanctioned" because it was JPS-sanctioned, which is hardly better.
"In fact, after Akshaya Patra, that was only after that we got so many quotes. Prabhupada is taking [sic], 'take money from the government and feed the whole country.' Direct quote."
In the previous section, MPD confirms that he had accepted the Akshaya Pātra program as already being "authorised" by JPS's story, rather than any quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hence, it was only after the program was already running that he even bothered to go and find any quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda. But none of these quotes substantiate JPS's story. Because, MPD states that the quotes talk about taking money from the government to feed the country. Thus, we had simply pointed out that ISKCON Bangalore had accepted JPS's authority by using a story that originated from him, rather than from Śrīla Prabhupāda's quotes. And this is a fact that still stands, since every single thing MPD has stated simply confirms this fact, rather than challenges it.
This fatal consequence for ISKCON Bangalore's campaign against the guru hoax arises due to accepting the authority of JPS's personal testimony. Thus, it could easily have been avoided by simply always and only accepting Śrīla Prabhupāda's authority. Which means sticking strictly to only accepting Śrīla Prabhupāda's recorded words as being authoritative, i.e. POP, rather than "stories" emanating from ISKCON's guru hoaxers.
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