Back to Prabhupada, Issue 22, Winter 2008/9
By Krishnakant
In an unprecedented attack on Srila Prabhupada’s position as ISKCON’s Acharya,
his disciple and leading ISKCON guru and GBC, His Holiness
Hridayananda Das Goswami (“HD”), has put forward the theory that Srila
Prabhupada is only speaking the absolute truth some of the time, whilst
on other occasions we now need HD’s learned insight to make the
necessary “adjustments” by presenting these “lapses” in his own
language! We document these astonishing claims here, with all the
statements in the panelled boxes taken from a lecture that HD gave,
which can be found on the following video: www.ustream.tv/recorded/622063
Not full-time guru
Question: “You said when we
are young we should follow the teacher at the elementary school, but
when you get older you think for yourself. So is it similar in ISKCON?”
HD: “Uh, in certain things. […] So on important spiritual matters, Prabhupada is my eternal spiritual master.”
HD claims that only in “important
spiritual matters” does he consider Srila Prabhupada his “eternal
spiritual master”, whereas on “certain things” he instead ‘thinks for
himself’. Every morning, every devotee in ISKCON is supposed to worship
Srila Prabhupada in the Guru-puja ceremony with the following words:
“My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth.”
HD has instead invented a new system.
He wishes to only accept words coming from the lotus mouth of Srila
Prabhupada if they refer to what he considers “important spiritual
matters”. And who will decide which words constitute “important
spiritual matters”? Well, HD himself of course! Which means HD is
basically deciding when Srila Prabhupada is speaking the truth and when
he is not. Which means that HD has declared he is the Acharya, not Srila Prabhupada, since he will adjudicate on which of Srila Prabhupada’s statements he needs to accept.
Only correct some of the time
“So when there are statements which a) are about the material world, not spiritual things, and b) are not from scripture, are those statements infallible and absolute? Personally, I don’t think they are.”
HD has declared that only statements
which he decides are “spiritual” are to be considered infallible. Up
until now the false successor guru hoaxers in ISKCON had satisfied
themselves only with usurping Srila Prabhupada’s position in ISKCON,
but they had at least accepted that Srila Prabhupada was ISKCON’s
supreme authority in all matters, and his words were absolute. Now HD
has gone a step further, and decided to replace Srila Prabhupada with
himself as ISKCON’s new supreme authority, who will decide which
statements of Srila Prabhupada we should accept as true, and which ones
we should reject as false or “fallible”.
Only “quoting scripture” ok
“And I believe Prabhupada is speaking absolutely and infallibly when, in fact, he is quoting scriptures.”
Above HD gives the standard by which
he will decide if Srila Prabhupada is to be believed or not. Every
statement from Srila Prabhupada would have to be a quote from scripture.
Presumably, this would require that at the very least, one first
becomes an expert in Sanskrit, so one is acquainted with the content of
all the scriptures. This tendency to try and become superior to Srila
Prabhupada by desiring to become expert in Sanskrit is, as it turns
out, nothing new. Even whilst Srila Prabhupada was still physically
present this very issue came up:
“I am also practically
finding that if any of our students artificially try to become scholars
by associating with unwanted persons they become victimized, for a
little learning is dangerous, especially for the Westerners. I am
practically seeing that as soon as they begin to learn a little
Sanskrit immediately they feel that they have become more than their
guru and then the policy is kill guru and be killed himself.”(Srila Prabhupada Letter, September 18th, 1976)
There was one particular western
disciple of Srila Prabhupada who had also wanted to become an expert in
Sanskrit, and who received the following stern warning:
“You have studied the
Sanskrit language for some years, that is sufficient of study, there is
no more need. Now you read our books, not that lifelong you have to
study Sanskrit. Simply read our Sanskrit wherever it appears in our
books and teach these slokas to the devotees, do not waste time by studying Sanskrit independently of our books.”
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, August 6th,1972)
Many years later, after Srila
Prabhupada had departed, this same disciple defied the above warning he
had been given, went back to college, and “wasted his time” by
“studying Sanskrit independently of Srila Prabhupada’s books.” This
person was none other than our newly self-declared Acharya, Hridayananda
Das Goswami! Presumably he now feels he has acquired sufficient
mastery of Sanskrit to enable him, where necessary, to compare Srila
Prabhupada’s words with scripture, and thus decide if these words
should be considered truthful or not.
Srila Prabhupada:
The real Acharyadeva
Hridayananda Das Goswami:
His website is called “Acharyadeva”.
Srila Prabhupada defines the term as follows:
“The Acharyadeva [...] is the Jagatguru or the Guru of all of us. [...]That is, the
Acharya has been identified with Godhead Himself.”
(Srila Prabhupada
Lecture, 1936)
|
|
“Prabhupada wrote me a
letter and said, “Read my books and present it in your own language.”
And language means culture. Language means culture. Also, Prabhupada
told me to do that [...] He said, “Yeah, I’m presenting Krsna consciousness this way and you read my books and go out and do your thing.”
|
HD reveals his Acharya tendency
further by claiming he can re-present Srila Prabhupada’s teachings
according to his own culture, since language is culture, which would
mean he can adjust Srila Prabhupada’s teachings to make them culturally
appropriate. HD claims Srila Prabhupada told him to do this, but this
is what Srila Prabhupada actually told him to do:
|
“And you must all
study very scrutinizingly all of the books so that when the need arises
you can repeat in your own words their purport.”
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Hridayananda, January 6th, 1972)
|
Note the word “repeat”. You
can only “repeat” something if the meaning and message is completely
unaltered. Presenting exactly the same thing in one’s own words is
clearly, therefore, not the same as being authorised to “do your
thing”. This is further confirmed by the following letter regarding
academic preaching, the very field for which HD claims he needs to be
able to present the teachings in his own culture (language) and do his
“thing”:
|
“I am very pleased
to learn that both you and your wife have been lecturing on Krishna
Consciousness at the George Washington University and there was good
response to your program. You simply read our books and if you simply
reproduce the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita, people will take it very seriously. So, of course, you must understand the purport and reproduce it in your own language. “
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, January 22nd, 1970)
|
Again please note, presenting
something in one’s own language means to “simply reproduce”. So it
could not be clearer. Presenting in one’s
|
own language means to “repeat” and “simply reproduce”, not to go out and “do your thing.”
Only a successor Acharya has the right to make such adjustments. Disciples must simply repeat and reproduce.
Contradicts GBC
In addition, HD’s idea that only some of Srila Prabhupada’s
statements can always be considered bona fide, based on whether it is a
direct quotation from scripture, is rejected by his supposed
authority, the GBC. They have given a blanket endorsement of everything
Srila Prabhupada taught, not discriminating between when he is, and is
not, “quoting scripture”; and further, consider his teachings to have
actually been presented appropriately for the modern age, rather than
requiring adjustment in any way due to the “language/culture” of the
modern age:
“a. Srila Prabhupada is the foundational siksa guru for all ISKCON devotees because he has realized and presented the teachings of the previous acaryas of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya sampradaya appropriately for the modern age.
b. Srila Prabhupada’s instructions are the essential teachings for every ISKCON devotee.”
(GBC Resolutions, 1994, ‘Founder-Acarya’ statement)
Not even a standard Acharya
“Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
says there are certain illusory stories in the scripture and there are
Vaisnava commentaries that say, for example, Rahu swallowing the sun
and the moon, and there’s Acharyas that say, “That didn’t really happen. That’s just a story.”
Having already told us that we can
only be sure Srila Prabhupada is speaking correctly when he directly
quotes scripture, HD states that Acharyas actually tell us when these scriptures themselves may be in error.
1) So Srila Prabhupada can only definitely be right when he quotes scriptures.
2) Acharyas tell us when the scriptures may not be correct.
3) And HD sits above it all, telling us who and what is right and wrong.
So rather than Srila Prabhupada being an Acharya through whom we understand the scriptures, which is the function an Acharya
normally performs, according to HD Srila Prabhupada’s statements must
actually be understood by checking scripture (presumably by a Sanskrit
expert like HD who specifically went to college to become such, in
direct defiance of Srila Prabhupada’s orders).
Know more than Prabhupada
“Because if it turns out that it is not the case that Prabhupada is infallible when he is not quoting scripture, then Prabhupada is wrong. […] And of course I, I think that um,
obviously you can get yourself in a lot of trouble. You can very
easily ruin your spiritual life by thinking you know more than
Prabhupada.”
Ironically, after having effectively claimed he
knows more than Srila Prabhupada, he concludes that such an attitude
can lead one to ruin one’s spiritual life!
Conclusion
HD then reveals his devastating agenda:
“People want to know what’s
scientific. Frankly, I want to know what’s scientific. […] Prabhupada
says generally it’s the woman’s fault if there’s divorce, I really
would want to know what social science says about that. […] My motive
is [...] to present Krsna consciousness to educated people. […] And I
feel I have to be able to present Krsna consciousness in a reasonable
way to other people.”
We have continuously documented how
the original deviation of removing Srila Prabhupada as the Guru of his
own society has led to further mass deviations via the introduction of
secularisation, commercialisation, Hinduisation, demigod worship, the
payment of salaries etc. Thus, the proof that this guru hoax was indeed
a huge offence against Srila Prabhupada is seen by the fact that it
has opened the floodgates to ever more deviations from Srila
Prabhupada’s teachings.
Now we are at the final frontier – having already usurped
Srila Prabhupada’s position as Guru and then deviated wholesale from
his teachings, now Srila Prabhupada’s authority itself is being
challenged openly and directly:
“He is not always right, and I am needed to ‘do my own thing’ to correct him”.
Above, HD gives the reason for why he has taken this stance -
to supposedly satisfy those who are “educated”, to make the teachings
appear “reasonable”, and to be in accordance with the whims of ever
changing “science” where necessary. If HD and all those who agree with
him do not have faith in everything Srila Prabhupada taught, and feel
unable to defend his words, they and his mute guru hoaxer and GBC pals
who are supporting HD via their silence, are welcome to leave ISKCON.
The IRM is more than capable of defending Srila Prabhupada’s teachings,
and we have been singularly doing this all along against all manner of
deviations and distortions perpetrated in his name.
|
Comentários
Postar um comentário
"To do things hastily and incorrectly is not good. Anything valuable takes a little time to come into existence. Therefore there is no harm in waiting for the best thing. But everything is well that ends well: That should be the principle."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969.
.............................................................................
"Hacer las cosas de afán y mal no es bueno. Algo valioso toma un poco de tiempo para llegar a existir. Por lo tanto no hay daño en esperar lo mejor. Pero si algo va bien termina bien. Ese debe ser el principio".
Cartas de Prabhupada :: 1969.