Autumn 2004

To many people both inside and outside the Movement, ISKCON's current Guru system is a complete farce. Perhaps predictably, all the scandal, falldowns and endless self-contradiction amongst Srila Prabhupada's wannabe successors (the 80 competing ISKCON 'Gurus') has opened the way for yet another personality, this time from outside ISKCON, with designs on Srila Prabhupada's legacy.

The GBC have preached for many years that everyone must have a "living, physically present Guru" (or anyone but Srila Prabhupada), and now they are reaping their reward. His Holiness Narayana Maharaja a disciple of Srila Prabhupada's Godbrother, His Holiness Kesava Maharaja has had considerable success in attracting both ex and current members of ISKCON to his camp, by promoting his qualification as a "living, physically present Guru", who is bona fide and won't fall down, unlike the ISKCON Gurus.
Narayana Maharaja likes to portray himself as a mere humble servant of Srila Prabhupada, who simply wants to bring everyone to Srila Prabhupada through a deeper appreciation of his mission and teachings:

In this article we shall use Narayana Maharaja's own words to see if he is bringing us closer to Srila Prabhupada.
 

Narayana Maharaja makes it clear that he is here not to bring people TO Srila Prabhupada, but to actually REPLACE Srila Prabhupada as his SUCCESSOR:

Above, Narayana Maharaja boldly stakes out his pitch in direct competition with all the ISKCON Gurus who also want to succeed and replace, not complement, supplement or assist Srila Prabhupada.
 

In pursuance of the above stated aim to replace Srila Prabhupada, Narayana Maharaja has urged his followers to distribute HIS books in preference to those of Srila Prabhupada:

Clearly the above goal of trying to match Srila Prabhupada can only be achieved if Narayana Maharaja's books alone are being distributed by his followers, and that is generally what is happening.
 

To create the demand for his services, Narayana Maharaja claims that there is much spiritual knowledge that Srila Prabhupada failed to give, so that he can claim he has come to fill this gap:

That the above statement is not actually true, can again be proven by the words of Narayana Maharaja himself, who said the following 17 years earlier to Srila Prabhupada himself:

That Narayana Maharaja would go onto say the complete opposite of what he himself claimed 17 years earlier, demonstrates opportunism of the highest order.
 

This opportunism is further displayed in Narayana Maharaja's stating that Srila Prabhupada was not the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON. It is surely a redundant point that Lord Krishna (Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu) is the origin of all Krishna consciousness, so one wonders why Narayana Maharaja feels it so important to belittle Srila Prabhupada's position and promote his own position by stating such an obvious point:

But according to Srila Prabhupada:

"I am the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness."
(Srila Prabhupada letter to Dr. Bigelow, Allahabad, January 20th, 1971)
 

Although he claims to be a successor to Srila Prabhupada, and that Srila Prabhupada is somehow speaking through him, it should be noted that Narayana Maharaja's teachings often seriously differ from Srila Prabhupada's. This is what Narayana Maharaja has to say about Prahlada Maharaja, who is worshipped on every altar throughout ISKCON as a completely pure devotee of Krishna:

Yet Srila Prabhupada's verdict is very different:

"Prahlada Maharaja is the topmost example of a Vaisnava"
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.21.47, purport)

"So we see practically how Prahlada Maharaja immediately attained the state of prema… he first of all followed the instruction of Brahma, then immediately he got the favor of Lord Nrsimhadeva, and after getting that he got the prema state."
(Srila Prabhupada lecture, Mayapur, February 14th, 1976)

"Consequently, instead of accepting the results of karma and jnana, Prahlada Maharaja simply begged the Lord for engagement in the service of His servant."
(Srimad Bhagavatam 5.24.25)

Above we see Prahlada Maharaja described as a pure devotee who actually shunned the results of jnana (knowledge).
 

Narayana Maharaja claims that Advaita Acarya (one of the associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu) was incapable of giving people Vraja-Bhakti (pure devotion to Krishna):

Contrast the above with the following verse from the Sri Caitanya Charitamrta as presented by Srila Prabhupada:

"He (Advaita Acharya) delivered all living beings by offering the gift of Krishna-bhakti (pure devotion to Krishna). He explained Bhagavadgita and Srimad-Bhagavatam in the light of devotional service."
(Srila Prabhupada, Caitanya caritamrita, Adi-lila 6.28)

Thus Narayana Maharaja again disagrees with the siksa (instruction) given by Srila Prabhupada, even though he also rather immodestly claims to be his "dearmost siksa disciple".
(here are more examples of such contradictions ).

Narayana Maharaja has claimed that Srila Prabhupada ordered him to instruct Srila Prabhupada's disciples:

This claim is based on Srila Prabhupada stating "you kindly instruct them on this matter" to Narayana Maharaja, during a Bengali conversation spoken between the two sometime in October-November 1977.

However, as will be seen from the full translation of this conversation provided by the Narayana Maharaja camp themselves, Srila Prabhupada does not say anything of the sort. Whilst reading the relevant portion of the conversation below, please pay special attention to whom the word "them" in the above sentence refers to; what was the "matter" on which Srila Prabhupada wanted Narayana Maharaja to give instruction; and "when" this instruction was meant to be given:

When we see the sentence in context, those three aspects become clarified:

1) The word "them" refers to Srila Prabhupada's Godbrothers who were to arrive shortly, not to Srila Prabhupada's disciples. The word "them" comes twice before the final sentence, and both times it refers to his Godbrothers, Indupati Prabhu and Van Maharaja.

2) The "matter" on which Srila Prabhupada wanted Narayana Maharaja to instruct his Godbrothers was that they forgive him for any "cutting of arguments" he may have done in the course of his preaching.

3) And "when" was this instruction to be given? There and then. Immediately after Srila Prabhupada asks Narayana Maharaja to give instruction he states: "I'm unable to speak". This is the reason he is asking Narayana Maharaja to make these points to his Godbrothers on his behalf when they arrive.

So here we clearly see a false claim made by Narayana Maharaja to promote his agenda as being the "real successor" to Srila Prabhupada.

In conclusion, on the basis of all the above, it is clear from Narayana Maharaja's OWN WORDS that he is not simply a "dearmost siksa disciple" of Srila Prabhupada whose aim is to help to bring us closer to Srila Prabhupada. Rather he is no different to the 80 wannabe "successor Gurus" of ISKCON, doing and saying whatever is necessary to jockey for Srila Prabhupada's position.