Autumn 2004
Readers may recall the "Guru
wars" article in which we quoted one ISKCON Guru, Bhakti Tirtha
Swami, complaining at being called a "demon" by an other so-called Guru,
Bhakti Vikash Swami. Since our expose the Gurus have tried to keep their
attacks on each other out of the public eye. However, as we shall see,
seething just beneath the surface the enmity continues unabated.
Jayapataka Swami is one of the original eleven disciples appointed by
Srila Prabhupada to act as a ritvik (priest) in his letter of
July 9th 1977. He once claimed in an offering to Srila Prabhupada:
"In your transcendental literatures you
repeatedly mention how you hope for the day when all your
followers will be initiating spiritual masters, initiating even
10,000 or more disciples into the Guru parampara." (Jayapataka Swami, 1998 Vyasa Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada) |
Jayapataka has not allowed the fact that the
above instruction is not mentioned even once, not to speak of
"repeatedly", in ANY of Srila Prabhupada's "literatures" to deter him
from a massing over 5,000 disciples, far in excess of any other ISKCON
Guru hoaxer.
- But still, so far as the GBC are concerned, Jayapataka should be a wonderful success story, right?
Well, no actually wrong. The trouble
started when he began approaching and writing to the disciples of other
ISKCON Gurus, sending them his blessings and offering to act as their
spiritual guide.
He was cautioned by the Executive Committee (EC) of the GBC in an
extraordinary meeting to deal with the crisis, but to little avail. Here
is one angry complaint from Indradyumna Swami, whose disciples were so
propositioned:
|
Here is part of Jayapataka's letter that caused the offense:
"Happy Birthday to you! You are in my
regular prayers whenever I pray to the Deities. (…) Please find attached a picture of myself sending you blessings. I hope this finds you blissful in Krishna consciousness and healthy. Your well wisher always, Jayapataka Swami" |
When the GBC last tried to curtail Jayapataka's
lavish worship in 1999, he encouraged hundreds of his followers to
surround the GBC as they met at their headquarters in Mayapur, thus
intimidating them into allowing his daily Guru puja (worship) to
continue. Now many ISKCON Gurus think he has become completely crazed by
the ambition to acquire worshippers, rampaging around the world in a
frenzied attempt to beg, borrow or steal disciples from anyone he can.
|
Of course, the Gurus who complain about Jayapataka are all hypocrites
themselves since they have been stealing disciples from Srila Prabhupada
for nearly thirty years. And is it not the very height of hypocrisy that
Sivarama Swami does absolutely nothing to warn the many thousands of
Jayapataka's hapless disciples that they are offering daily worship to a "sick, obsessed, duplicitous liar", whilst at the same time
immediately kicking out of ISKCON any poor soul who happens to want to
follow Srila Prabhupada's July 9th directive and thus become the
authorized disciple of a truly great personality?
The reason for such political behaviour might be that should yet another
high profile ISKCON Guru come crashing down it would reflect badly on
all the bogus, unauthorized ISKCON Gurus, including Sivarama Swami.
Another ISKCON Guru recently complained that Jayapataka was "putting
together his own cult within our society", yet that is precisely
what they are all doing, only apparently less successfully.
SRILA PRABHUPADA IS THE REAL ISKCON GURU - ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!