By Krishnakant
Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja, in his Mayapur meeting speech, accuses ritvik philosophy of setting fire to Srila Prabhupada's movement. He also says that this "ritvik philosophy is like a monster coming out of ourselves". Bhakti Tirtha was addressing the entire GBC when he spoke these words, so if we are to believe him it is they who have unleashed this fiery demon from the dark recesses of their own collective psyche. We wonder if the GBC would agree with this analysis.
Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja then speculates that people are only attracted to the ritvik philosophy due to bad experiences with the ISKCON institution. Regardless of whether or not this is the case, simply trying to stop devotees becoming attracted to ritvik philosophy is rather silly and futile if it happens to be the truth. Surely this must be the issue, to establish whether or not Srila Prabhupada wanted a ritvik system of initiation to continue within ISKCON.
- Is not the search for truth the very reason we became devotees in the first place?
- Making ISKCON a better place is a good sentiment, but can it really be fully better if the truth is suppressed?
If the GBC are serious about putting out the ritvik fire they will need to answer the definitive ritvik position paper - 'The Final Order' - an 80 page treatise that was requested by and presented to the GBC in October 96 as already mentioned. All that the combined might of the GBC have been able to come up with to put out the 'fire' of 'The Final Order', is a 13 page paper - 'Disciple of My Disciple', which...
- ... contradicts the current GBC position - "Gurus and Initiation in ISKCON" (1995) which was supposed to be the "official final siddhanta" on the initiation issue, and is officially still part of "ISKCON Law";
- ... is based solely on the highly questionable interpretation of a tape recording - the so called 'Appt Tape' - which has now been proven unreliable by a world expert audio forensic examiner, after an investigation which was set up by the GBC themselves! The examiner's report states that the tape shows strong signs "suggestive of falsification", and that until a full forensic analysis is done on the ORIGINAL tape, it cannot be deemed admissible as any sort of evidence at all.
Thus the GBC currently have no evidence to justify their dismantling of the ritvik system, and the subsequent construction of the 'multiple acarya successor system' presently in operation within ISKCON.
So it is one thing for Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja to talk about the house being on fire, but if he really believes that the ritvik philosophy is so wrong and so evil why is he not demanding from the GBC a swift and immediate response.
- Why are he and his GBC associates simply standing by and letting it burn?!
- Where are these powerful arguments based on Srila Prabhupada's books and written instructions that completely expose the ritvik philosophy as fallacious nonsense?
All we have so far is an argument based on a tape that can no longer be used. In short we see no substance to any of this anti-ritvik rhetoric.
Please forgive any offences that I may have made.