Back To Prabhupada, Issue 87, 2026
In Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Śrīla Prabhupāda states that the “fruit of devotional service” is “going back to Godhead” (Bg. 9.12, purport). Consequently, it is crucial to have the correct understanding for how this goal of going back to Godhead is achieved. Below we examine a new theory claiming that even deviants are guaranteed to go back to Godhead.
Describing his Godbrother Bhaktivilāsa Tīrtha Mahārāja (“BVT”), Śrīla Prabhupāda said:
1) “He had no spiritual understanding.” (Room Conversation, 13/1/77)
2) “so envious [...] whole life fighting, fighting, fighting in the court and died.” (Room Conversation, 8/1/77)
3) “disqualification of Vaisnava.” (Room Conversation, 17/10/75)
4) “severe offender” (Room Conversation, 22/4/77), whose actions were “unauthorised” due to having “disobeyed the order of the spiritual master” (Cc., Ādi-līlā, 12.8, purport).
5) Even after he had heard that BVT was close to death, he still described him as: “such a rascal [...] shameless man” (Room Conversation, 21/8/76).
It would thus seem contradictory to claim Śrīla Prabhupāda stated that BVT went back to Godhead. Yet, Śrīla Prabhupāda supposedly stated:
Prabhupāda: “Bhaktivilāsa Tīrtha, now he is gone. But he went back to Godhead.”
Bhavānanda: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, how is that possible? Instead of helping you, Bhaktivilāsa Tīrtha gave you trouble. And he created a dispute that split up Bhaktisiddhānta's mission [...] How could he have gone back to Godhead?”
Prabhupāda: “He went back to Godhead because my Guru Mahārāja accepted his service.”
In a class given on 21/1/26, ISKCON Bangalore leader Madhu Paṇḍit Dāsa (“MPD”) was asked to respond to the above statement about BVT, and he replied that the statement:
1) Means that:
“So anybody who chants Hare Krsna, yes, and serves the spiritual master will get the basic liberation or back to Godhead. [...] you see, what all somebody may do to somebody, if he is serving a greater Vaisnava, that Vaisnava can clean him up.”
2) Because Śrīla Prabhupāda explains:
“Prabhupāda is explaining: he served his Guru Mahārāja. Whatever defects may be, and he accepted that service, finished. He's got, you know, all other disqualifications are cleansed and then taken back to Godhead.”
Hence, MPD has derived a principle from BVT's supposed liberation despite his deviation from the order of the guru, which applies to anyone in a guru-disciple relationship: if service rendered by a disciple is accepted by the spiritual master, this is sufficient to send him back to Godhead, regardless of any impurities and deviations, as the guru will “clean him up.” Statements in the shaded boxes below are from this same MPD class.
If the above-mentioned principle is applied to Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples, we can note that:
1) It is a fact that, at least during his physical presence, Śrīla Prabhupāda definitely accepted the service of his disciples. One prominent example is HH Jayapātāka Swami (“JPS”), of whom Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in regard to book distribution:
“It is because you are helping me that all this has become possible otherwise how can I do anything alone”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda, Letter to JPS, 26/7/76)
2) Thus, though MPD accepts that subsequently some of Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples such as JPS have seriously deviated due to having material desires to become unauthorised guru successors to Śrīla Prabhupāda – the “guru hoax” – this will now become irrelevant. Because, the service that was accepted by Śrīla Prabhupāda previously is enough to guarantee that the disciple will go back to Godhead, as the spiritual master will “clean up” any deviations, just as in the case of BVT, as MPD explains above. Hence, remarkably, it would also mean that there would be no need for the GBC gurus to give up the guru hoax now, as their passage back to Godhead is still guaranteed due to previous service.
But if we examine the facts, they show that this “theory” promoting Godhead for deviants is actually not taught by Śrīla Prabhupāda:
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Śrīla Prabhupāda: Teaches deviation blocks going back to Godhead
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1) The root of this theory is the “quote” attributed to Śrīla Prabhupāda given at the outset, wherein Śrīla Prabhupāda supposedly states that BVT went back to Godhead. However, this quote is not actually from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Rather, it is yet another “Prabhupāda said”, this time from the “Memories” series, Chapter 37, Vaiyāsaki Dāsa.
2) Śrīla Prabhupāda has not taught that deviants are guaranteed Godhead because he will “cleanse” them of any deviations as long as he has accepted their service at some point. Thus, Śrīla Prabhupāda's statements about BVT remain consistent.
3) Hence, Śrīla Prabhupāda's actual standard teachings, repeated consistently many times – that one needs to first be free from all material desires and deviations in order to be able to go back to Godhead – still stand:
“If one wants to go back home, back to Godhead, one must be niṣkiñcana, free from all material desires.”
(Bhāg. 10.3.39, purport)
We noted earlier that, based on the principle MPD derived from the “memory” concerning BVT, an implication was that guru hoaxers will go back to Godhead. MPD also confirms this point directly:
“it is said, just like for māyāvādīs to become one with God is a last snare of māyā. For Vaisnavas, the last snare of māyā is to become guru. [...] because they're also Vaisnavas they have to go back to Godhead”
He claims that since the guru hoaxers are also “Vaisnavas”, therefore “they have to go back to Godhead.” But his claim that the guru hoaxers are “Vaisnavas” involves a series of false claims made above, which are in opposition to Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings:
1) It is claimed that “for māyāvādīs” the “last snare of māyā” is to become one with God. But Śrīla Prabhupāda does not state this. Rather, to become one with God, which is “māyāvāda”, is the “last snare of māyā” for everyone:
“That is the last snare, māyāvāda. First of all we try to become enjoyer, like the head of the family man or a minister or this and that, so many. Everyone is trying to become head, enjoyer. And at last, being baffled in every respect, he wants to become God. This is the last snare of māyā.”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda, Lecture, 14/7/73)
2) Consequently, Śrīla Prabhupāda has not stated that “for Vaisnavas” there is a special, separate last snare of māyā “to become guru”. Rather, as just quoted, Śrīla Prabhupāda states that there is only one “last snare of māyā” for everyone, and that is to “become God”.
3) This leads to a series of false claims:
i) that there is, specifically for “Vaisnavas”, a special “last snare of māyā” whereby they “become guru”;
ii) so that “Vaisnavas” going on to become false gurus is something which occurs;
iii) so it can be claimed that even if they become false gurus, they are still “also Vaisnavas”;
iv) so it can be claimed that, as they are “Vaisnavas”, they “have to go back to Godhead.”
In regard to the question of whether or not the guru hoax is compatible with being a Vaisnava, it should be noted that we have already addressed this question in BTP 81, which can be read here:
iskconirm.com/vais
There, evidence from Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings is presented that specifically deals with those who may appear to be “Vaisnavas”. The evidence demonstrates that activities such as engaging in the guru hoax are not compatible with being an actual or real Vaisnava. Thus, if one already accepts that there is definitely a guru hoax going on in ISKCON, as MPD does, then this evidence has to also be accepted.
In addition, we can also note about those who engage specifically in the guru hoax that:
“if he is a pure devotee he can deliver others, he can become spiritual master. But unless he on that platform he should not attempt it. Then both of them will to go to hell, like blind men leading the blind.”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda, Letter, 14/12/72)
“However, one should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or mahā-bhāgavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation one will eventually become degraded.”
(Nectar of Instruction, Verse 5, purport)
The guru hoax program involves the gurus imitating the behaviour of a “mahā-bhāgavata” by being worshipped as if they are “as good as God”, and thus the above quote applies. Also, MPD states that acting as an unauthorised GBC guru is a “serious offence” to Śrīla Prabhupāda (MPD's 2025 Vyāsa-pūjā Offering to Śrīla Prabhupāda). Which means one's spiritual activities are finished:
“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that by offending a Vaisnava, one finishes all his spiritual activities.”
(Bhāg. 5.10.24, purport)
One cannot therefore claim that the guru hoaxers are progressing back to Godhead.
Though, as we saw earlier, the guru hoax may not be a separate special category of māyā just for “Vaisnavas”, it is still māyā nonetheless, being an expression of material desire, as MPD fully accepts:
“So they have got that desire for position, power, discipleship.”
But, he states about the guru hoaxers that:
“But they are Vaisnavas so facility has to be provided by Krsna. Krsna likes varieties 'I will not interfere.”
1) The statement “I will not interfere” refers specifically to Kṛṣṇa not interfering in the activities of māyā:
“The Lord does not interfere with the task of the illusory energy”
(Bhāg. 1.7.5, purport)
Thus, not surprisingly, such facilities to enjoy the māyā of the guru hoax are provided by māyā, rather than Kṛṣṇa directly:
“The Lord is merciful; if anyone wants to forget Him and enjoy this material world, He gives him full facility, not directly but through the agency of His material potency.”
(Bhāg. 3.25.10, purport)
Thus, MPD confuses Kṛṣṇa with māyā.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda: Sticking to
his words prevents mockery
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2) Hence, the statement “Kṛṣṇa likes varieties”, where the variety refers to the māyā of the guru hoax, confuses the material with the spiritual. Because Kṛṣṇa likes spiritual variety, but He does not “like” the material variety of people being in māyā:
“The Lord does not desire that a living being be illusioned by external energy.”
(Bhāg. 1.7.5, purport)
“Krsna does not enjoy any material thing.”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda, Lecture, 5/1/73)
Thus, confusing Kṛṣṇa with māyā, and the spiritual with the material, turns the whole process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness completely upside down.
“Prabhupāda was giving class, then he was saying first-class people are called brāhmaṇa, [...] That man got hurt. [...] In a very attacking way he asked, 'Which class are you?" [...] Prabhupāda said fifth class.”
MPD refers here to an exchange that took place between a guest and Śrīla Prabhupāda after a Bhagavad-gītā class given on 7/9/73 in Stockholm. And it is recorded happening as given above. However, MPD then states that:
“Afterwards Prabhupāda, after the class went inside, he said, 'He insulted me because something I have done to him in last life. So you don't retaliate. The will of providence is standing up and he's telling this, I take it as will of providence.”
Though MPD describes it in detail, there is, however, no record of Śrīla Prabhupāda describing this incident occurring at all.
It is possible that any specific individual can go back to Godhead. That is for Kṛṣṇa, and not us, to decide. But the claim that continual deviation will still definitely lead to liberation makes a mockery of the whole process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and has never been taught by Śrīla Prabhupāda. The solution is to accept the authority of Śrīla Prabhupāda and restrict ourselves to only repeating Śrīla Prabhupāda's actual recorded words – the Prabhupāda-Only Paradigm or POP – rather than any “stories” or just putting forward one's own ideas.
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