Autumn 2007
We would like to highlight a
very important admission by the GBC, that their abandonment of Srila
Prabhupada's ritvik system for their guru program, was not based
on any order from Srila Prabhupada. Though we have been saying this
from the very start, it is nice to finally hear the GBC agree with us.
Of course, this does not mean the GBC will be making any changes, since
they still assume that it is "implicit" (read: 'we have no evidence')
that Srila Prabhupada wanted their guru system, even if Srila Prabhupada
did not actually order it. One has to admire the chutzpah of the GBC to
perpetrate and continue with a guru hoax, whilst admitting they had no
order to do so! Devotees usually cannot believe it when they first hear
about the Great Guru Hoax. Their initial reaction is that corruption,
cheating and falsity is what one expects to find in the material world,
and not in the spiritual movement which is supposed to combat such
illusion.
- Surely the Krishna consciousness movement is the last place one would expect to find such illusion?
Actually, throughout history we can understand that hijacking religiosity is a most effective and common form of cheating. Thus we read in the Srimad-Bhagavatam:
| "When
King Indra was taking away the horse, he dressed himself to appear
as a liberated person. Actually this dress was a form of cheating,
for it falsely created an impression of religion. [...] Indra took up the saffron-colored dress as a way of cheating others. This saffron dress has been misused by many imposters who present themselves as liberated persons or incarnations of God. In this way people are cheated. As we have mentioned many times, the conditioned soul has a tendency to cheat; therefore this quality is also visible in a person like King Indra. It is understood that even King Indra is not liberated from the clutches of material contamination. […] Cheating sannyasis and yogis have existed since the time of Prthu Maharaja's sacrifice. This cheating was very foolishly introduced by King Indra." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4:19:13, purport) |
 |
Following the departure of Lord Chaitanya, his movement was hijacked by various deviant groups, in particular the prakrta sahajiya-sampradaya, which made a mockery of Gaudiya Vaisnavism in the name of Lord Chaitanya. Later, after the departure of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, the Guru of Srila Prabhupada, his Gaudiya Matha movement was also hijacked by persons who deviated from his order and made a mockery of the movement, for as Srila Prabhupada states:
"The result is now everyone is claiming to be acarya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acarya is being changed three times a year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp. Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 28th, 1974)
And now following the departure of Srila Prabhupada, the same hijacking has come to pass in ISKCON, where a mockery is being made of the movement, with cheating impostor gurus and sannyasis, commercialisation, demi-god worship, and yes, also for many devotees, the "acarya being changed three times". Srila Prabhupada explains that the most dangerous cheaters are those who outwardly accept the truth, not those who reject it:
"The Buddhists are called atheists because they have no respect for the Vedas, but those who defy the Vedic conclusions, as above mentioned, under the pretense of being followers of the Vedas, are verily more dangerous than the Buddhists."
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, Introduction)
Therefore, since ISKCON is today deviating from the order of Srila Prabhupada, by their adopting the dress of sannyasis and externally accepting and even worshipping Srila Prabhupada, they are the most dangerous cheaters. For not only will no one suspect that they could be deviating from Srila Prabhupada, but their cheating will have the maximum effect since they are using the power of Srila Prabhupada's name to cheat. In the world today people are suffering because they are being cheated by various governments, leaders, scientists etc. But that cheating pales in comparison to the cheating endured by devotees in the name of Srila Prabhupada. This is the most dangerous cheating, for here the living entity is actually seeking the ultimate relief from maya (illusion), only to find even more maya! Consequently, the IRM's priority is to combat this most dangerous cheating, and thereby give devotees the genuine relief from maya they are eagerly seeking.
Thus we should not be surprised that kali (the personification of cheating and illusion) has entered today's ISKCON, for that is the place it needs to be most to thwart Lord Chaitanya's movement.
And wholesale deviation from the orders of Srila Prabhupada ensued, beginning with the Great Guru Hoax.