'Back to Prabhupada, Issue 24, Summer 2009'
By Krishnakant
The IRM’s position is very clear: that following Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance in 1977, the movement deviated wholesale by introducing a false successor guru system and this deviation continues today. Hence there has effectively been no real ISKCON since 1977, since by definition ISKCON is the society founded by Srila Prabhupada which accepts him as its Acharya (Guru) and follows all his directives.
We have been documenting that, following the IRM’s vigorous preaching, more and more of the very persons who are responsible for these deviations, ISKCON’s current leaders in the shape of its gurus, Governing Body Commissioners (GBCs) and managers, have been forced to admit that our position is correct (please see BTP Special Issue 2, and the “GBC climbdown” series in recent BTP issues).
Recently, another leading ISKCON guru and GBC, HH Bhakti Charu Swami (“BCS”), admitted that ISKCON has been continuously deviating since 1977, and that this deviation continues today. All quotes in the panels below are from an article written by BCS, published on July 12th, 2009 on the GBC-funded website, Dandavats.com.
ISKCON deviating since 1977
“Nevertheless, after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, we in ISKCON also made a similar mistake. Thinking that Srila Prabhupada had appointed 11 successors we also plunged in to the same syndrome of appointing spiritual heads of the institution presuming that after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance they inherited ISKCON.”
It is admitted that ISKCON has been based on a mass deviation
since 1978, consisting of replacing Srila Prabhupada with unauthorized guru successors.
ISKCON continues deviating until current day
“In 1987, about 10 years after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, this mistake was addressed by concerned leading devotees of ISKCON, but was not fully corrected. Just by adding more gurus and allowing them to initiate wherever they could attract disciples, that mistake was only diluted to some extent but was not really corrected. Recently, the GBC body became painfully aware that through that mistake a parallel line of authority has been created in ISKCON which is causing a considerable amount of damage to the institution and is stifling the growth of the movement. It is very laudable of the GBC body that they have taken this issue very seriously and are working hard to rectify it.”
It is admitted that this mass deviation, which has been ISKCON’s foundation since 1978, is continuing today, albeit in a diluted form. Indeed, so widespread has this deviation been that the GBC only became aware of it recently, but they hope to rectify it in the future! One of the first gurus who was added and “allowed to initiate wherever they could attract disciples”, was of course BCS himself, and he has been one of the most prolific in doing this!
ISKCON currently not growing since it is deviant
“In ISKCON, it is important that we clearly recognize the fact that everything in ISKCON, including even all the devotees, belongs to Srila Prabhupada, then only this mistake that is stifling the growth of our institution will be rectified and Krsna Consciousness movement will start to spread once again, all over the world, in leaps and bounds.”
It is admitted that since this deviation is presently continuing in ISKCON the movement is not growing, and the solution involves recognizing that “everything in ISKCON, even all the devotees, belongs to Srila Prabhupada”. This, of course, would entail BCS and everyone else recognizing that all ISKCON devotees are disciples of Srila Prabhuapada and not their disciples, just as the IRM has advocated all along.
Intelligence is lost
BCS himself had earlier said in a similar vein:
“After Harikesa fell down in 1998, in 1999 I proposed that it’s obvious that we are going in the wrong direction. Now, when you go wrong, when you know you’re going in the wrong direction, what do you do? You stop to find the right way. So for the time-being, let’s stop giving initiation and find out what is actually the problem and what is the solution to this problem, whether we can find a solution and until then, let us stop.”
(BCS, Toronto Meeting, July 20th, 2003)
Yet of course BCS never stopped, but carried on initiating vigorously, and is doing so today, even though he admits he is deviating and following an incorrect guru system not authorized by Srila Prabhupada. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated:
“While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.”
(Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 2:62-63)
So due to trying to satisfy one’s senses via disciples and the attendant profit, adoration and distinction, BCS has lost his intelligence. How else to explain someone admitting he is doing the wrong thing, but still madly continuing to do it?
Example of loss of intelligence
“Srila Prabhupada identified himself as a mere member of the Governing body of ISKCON.”
A perfect example of his intelligence being lost is the above nonsensical statement from BCS. Srila Prabhupada never identified himself as a “mere member” of the GBC. Rather he stated that the whole GBC body worked under him:
“I want that the GBC should relieve me of this management burden and in the future, all such questions should be taken up with the local GBC member. If no satisfactory solution can be reached, then other GBC members may be consulted. The GBC can formulate proposals and submit them to me for approval.” (Srila Prabhupada Letter, 2/2/1975)
Conclusion
It is admitted that ISKCON’s current guru system is a mass deviation. This admission comes from none other than a person who is perpetrating this deviation. However, he still continues to perpetrate this deviation, unable to follow his own advice to stop perpetrating this deviation, due to loss of intelligence from excessive attachment for disciples, profit, adoration and distinction.