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Srila Prabhupada, My Spiritual Master -- Life after Life




Dear Hridesh



Haribol! Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila 

Prabhupada!



Thanks for your letter and comments. I see you are writing from India so 

you have somewhat of a different perspective of things than us in the 

West. It's true there are many sincere devotees in ISKCON. That is a 

fact. But the problem is ISKCON has developed a system whereby ordinary 

men are voted in as gurus by the GBC. But ordinary men can't give us 

Krishna consciousness. That can only be done by Krishna's pure devotees, 

who are not appointed by some mundane management committee, they are 

self-effulgent.



"Unfortunately in this Age of Kali there are many mundane persons in the 

dress of Vaisnavas, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has described them as 

disciples of Kali. He says, kali-cela. He indicates that there is another 

Vaisnava, a pseudoVaisnava with tilaka on his nose and kanthi beads 

around his neck. Such a pseudoVaisnava associates with money and women 

and is jealous of successful Vaisnavas. Although passing for a Vaisnava, 

his only business is earning money in the dress of a Vaisnava. 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura therefore says that such a pseudoVaisnava is not a 

Vaisnava at all but a disciple of Kali-yuga. A disciple of Kali cannot 

become an acarya by the decision of some high court. Mundane votes have 

no jurisdiction to elect a Vaisnava acarya. A

Vaisnava acarya is self-effulgent, and there is no need for any court 

judgment. A false acarya may try to override a Vaisnava by a high-court 

decision, but Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that he is nothing but a disciple 

of Kali-yuga." (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya 1.220) 



So that is the problem. So many disciples of Kali in the dress of 

Vaisnavas in ISKCON... We have to be conscious of this and not just 

blindly accept anyone who shaves his head and wears tilok as a devotee of 

Krishna. We have to test and see if he has actually developed the 

qualities of a pure devotee of Krishna. 



   "Pure devotion is as much infectious, in a good sense, as infectious 

diseases. A pure devotee is cleared from all kinds of sins. The 

Personality of Godhead is the purest entity, and unless one is equally 

pure from the infection of material qualities, one cannot become a pure 

devotee of the Lord. The bhakti-vedantas as above mentioned were pure 

devotees, and the boy became infected with their qualities of purity by 

their association and by eating once the remnants of the foodstuff taken 

by them. Such remnants may be taken even without permission of the pure 

devotees. 



"There are sometimes pseudodevotees, and one should be very much cautious 

about them. 



"There are many things which hinder one from entering devotional service. 

But by the association of pure devotees all these obstacles are removed. 

The neophyte devotee becomes practically enriched with the transcendental 

qualities of the pure devotee, which means attraction for the Personality 

of Godhead's name, fame, quality, pastimes, etc. "Infection of the 

qualities of the pure devotee means to imbibe the taste of pure devotion 

always in the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead. 

This transcendental taste at once makes all material things distasteful. 



"Therefore a pure devotee is not at all attracted by material activities. 

After the elimination of all sins or obstacles on the path of devotional 

service, one can become attracted, one can have steadiness, one can have 

perfect taste, one can have transcendental emotions, and at last one can 

be situated on the plane of loving service of the Lord. All these stages 

develop by the association of pure devotees, and that is the purport of 

this stanza." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.25)



  "A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities, 

and some of the prominent features of those qualities are as follows: he 

is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, 

clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to 

Krsna, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced 

eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, 

expert and silent." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.13)



As far as pure devotees existing in ISKCON, there may well be, but the 

ISKCON of today gives them a VERY hard time. Actually Krishna 

consciousness is uncheckable, no material difficulties can stop it. 

Prahlada Maharaja was born as the son of Hiranyakasipu, the greatest 

demon, but -- even though he was surrounded by demons -- he didn't forget 

Krishna for a second. That's the main thing. We have to organize our 

lives so we never forget Krishna for a single second... So Prahlada was a 

pure devotee even among so many demons, it may be possible in ISKCON 

also...



The difficulty in ISKCON is one has to take initiation from one of the 

GBC approved "Gurus". Otherwise life is very, very difficult. There are 

no self-effulgant pure devotees among the GBC gurus, at lest they have 

not shown themselves yet... And there are many demons. The history shows 

us that very clearly. We've had homosexual child molesters like 

Bhavananda (who's now back living in the Sydney temple in Australia ready 

for a second chance) and Kirtanananda (who's now in prison), we've had 

drug addicts and women-hunters like Jayatirtha, we have had all sorts of 

materially motivated persons after wealth, followers, fame, sex, etc... 

We've also had (and have) so many Mayavadi and impresonal gurus. It's 

amazing. Some have come form India as the whole of India is contaminated 

by the Mayavadi philosophy of Sripada Sankaracarya, and we have many 

Western Mayavadis as well. The Mayavadis may well be chanting 16 rounds 

and following the principles but their preaching is deadly:



   "If anyone wants to derive transcendental pleasure by hearing the 

pastimes of the Lord, he must hear from the authoritative source, as 

explained here. Maitreya heard the narration from his bona fide spiritual 

master, and Vidura also heard from Maitreya. One becomes an authority 

simply by presenting whatever he has heard from his spiritual master, and 

one who does not accept a bona fide spiritual master cannot be an 

authority. This is clearly explained here. If one wants to have 

transcendental pleasure, he must find a person with authority. It is also 

stated in the Bhagavatam that simply by hearing from an authoritative 

source, with the ear and the heart, one can relish the pastimes of the 

Lord, otherwise it is not possible. Sanatana Gosvami, therefore, has 

especially warned that one should not hear anything about the personality 

of the Lord from the lips of a nondevotee. Nondevotees are considered to 

be like serpents; as milk is poisoned by a serpent's touch, so, although 

the narration of the pastimes of the Lord is as pure as milk, when 

administered by serpentlike nondevotees it becomes poisonous. Not only 

does it have no effect in transcendental pleasure, but it is dangerous 

also. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has warned that no description of the 

pastimes of the Lord should be heard from the Mayavada, or impersonalist, 

school. He has clearly said, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva nasa: if 

anyone hears the Mayavadis' interpretation of the pastimes of the Lord, 

or their interpretation of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam or any other 

Vedic literature, then he is doomed. Once one is associated with 

impersonalists, he can never understand the personal feature of the Lord 

and His transcendental pastimes.

   "Suta Gosvami was speaking to the sages headed by Saunaka, and 

therefore he addressed them in this verse as dvija, twice-born. The sages 

assembled in Naimisaranya hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from Suta Gosvami 

were all brahmanas, but to acquire the qualifications of a brahmana is 

not everything. Merely to be twice-born is not perfection. Perfection is 

attained when one hears the pastimes and activities of the Lord from a 

bona fide source." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.19.34)



             -------------------------------------------



And ISKCON have advertised all of them (the homosexuals, the child 

molesters, the men seeking fame, followers, wealth and of course the 

Mayavadis and impersonalists) as pure devotees, paramahamsa's on the same 

level as Srila Prabhupada... To be worshipped on the same level as 

Krishna... But when someone wants to serve Srila Prabhupada directly 

that's something ISKCON cannot accommodate at all. According to them 

Srila Prabhupada is now dead... You need a "living guru"... So you are 

expected to take pot luck and chose someone from the group of 

homosexuals, child molesters, power freeks and Mayavadis they have on 

offer... Do you really think if there was actually a pure devotee in 

ISKCON the GBC would appoint him as a guru?? Or would he want to be part 

of this system? Pure devotion is not one of the selection criteria at 

all. If the local temple authorities agree and none of the GBC have any 

objections then he gets the green light... He can then canvass disciples 

in ISKCON and get them to worship him on the same level as Srila 

Prabhupada and Krishna...



As a result thousands of innocent young people's lives have been 

completely destroyed. Many come to Krishna consciousness after reading 

Srila Prabhupada's books. Srila Prabhupada preaches to them and convinces 

them Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the purpose of 

life is to serve Krishna... And then they join the temple thinking this 

is Prabhupada's organization... But very soon they find they are being 

forced to formally "aspire" to be initiated by some other "living 

guru"... That means forget about Prabhupada's lecture tapes -- listen to 

his lecture tapes, forget about Prabhupada's books -- read his books 

(they say one can't understand Prabhupada's books -- you have to hear 

them explained by a "living guru"!! Why then did Srila Prabhupada spend 

so much time writing his books I wonder?), and it means joining that 

guru's "clique" in the temple... So it is a complete distraction from 

Srila Prabhupada, the undisputed paramahamsa capable of giving us all 

Krishna consciousness...



If you should be so fortunate to see through this scam to steal Srila 

Prabhupada's disciples from him and want to keep your relationship with 

Srila Prabhupada -- after all it was Srila Prabhupada who preached to you 

(at least in my case), it was he who dispelled all your dobuts about 

Krishna consciousness, it was he who answered all your questions at every 

step, it was he who pulled you back up when Maya knocked you out... -- 

ISKCON has no place for you. You are thrown out on the street, called a 

demon, they send their lawyers out to get you should you be such an 

offender as to try and preach outside ISKCON... 



Anyhow we are very attached to Srila Prabhupada. I think you can 

understand that. It's rather rude when someone comes up to you and says 

"you need a living guru prabhu... Prabhupada's dead now..." as is the 

current ISKCON mood. 



My personal experience is Srila Prabhupada is not at all dead, he's 

living in transcendental sound. Srila Prabhupada's mercy is such that I 

(and everyone else anywhere in the world) can associate with him 

constantly, 24 hours a day. Here Srila Prabhupada is singing bhajans 24 

hours a day, right now he is saying "krsna-kirtana-gana-nartana-parau... 

    ...vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau"

This morning I heard Srila Prabhupada give two classes, one from the 

Srimad Bhagavatam and one from the Bhagavad-Gita. I read one chapter from 

his Srimad-Bhagavatam and later I will read something from Bhagavad-gita, 

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and Krsna Book. So in this way I can associate 

with Srila Prabhupada and Krishna 24 hours a day... And they say: "What 

about questions?, How can you ask Srila Prabhupada questions?" but 

Prabhupada always answers my questions. Whatever the problem is, whatever 

questions I have, I just go on reading Srila Prabhupada's books and 

hearing his classes and he always answers my questions. All the answers 

are in Srila Prabhupada's books. Everything is in Srila Prabhupada's 

books. There has never been a time when Srila Prabhupada has not answered 

my questions. So there is no question in my mind as to who is my 

spiritual master. 



   "If one simply regularly chants and follows the rules and regulative

principles all questions of philosophy will be answered by Krsna from

within and all doubt will be cleared also in this way. And the same 

answer are there again in our books like Bhagavad-gita As It Is,

Srimad-Bhagavatam, etc. So please see that all the initiated devotees 

stick rigidly to their daily chanting and regulative living in devotional

service. This is most important.

   Hope this will meet you in good health.



Your ever well-wisher,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami" (Letter to Madhudvisa 14 Feb 1970)



Before I knew anything of the politics of "ritvic", etc. I knew Srila 

Prabhupada was my spiritual master, he's the person who told me about 

Krishna, he's the person who trained me how to become Krishna 

consciousness and he's the person still guiding me at every moment. So I 

asked a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupad if he could initiate me on 

behalf of Srila Prabhupada. He agreed and held the fire sacrifice in 

front of Srila Prabhupada, in front of the Deities and in front of the 

Vaisnavas. He gave me the name "Madhudvisa dasa" and gave me second 

initiation also by teaching me how to chant the gayatri mantra and 

playing the tape of Srila Prabhupada chanting the gayatri in my right 

ear. So that was a simple thing for me. Official confirmation of the 

relationship I already had with Srila Prabhupada. 



So the ISKCON fanatics can scream at the tops of their voices, "You need 

a living guru!! Prabhupada is dead!!!!" BUT I KNOW SRILA PRABHUPADA IS 

ALIVE AND VERY WELL. He is living in sound... we just have to listen very 

carefully and attentively... and the dormant love of Krishna within our 

hearts will awaken and we will experience real transcendental bliss... 

that's the potency of the real Maha-Bhagavata, the real pure devotee, the 

real Jagat-Guru... With all due respects I don't see that transcendental 

ecstasy developing in the ISKCON devotees, however, I am feeling great 

bliss hearing Srila Prabhupada, reading Srila Prabhupada's books and 

trying in some small way to tell other people of the great treasure Srila 

Prabhupada is giving us...



After some time I discovered the initiation from Srila Prabhupada I took 

was actually the system established by Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada 

didn't appoint 11 acaryas as his successors as ISKCON still claim, even 

though the so-called "acaryas" have shown themselves to be not fit for 

the title and the whole Zonal Acarya system self-destructed in the early 

'90's. Srila Prabhupada actually apointed ritvic priests who were to 

accept disciples on Srila Prabhupada's behalf. So the "leading men" in 

ISKCON schemed to hide this from the devotees and claimed Srila 

Prabhupada appointed them as his successors... And the rest is history...



According to the ISKCON database the following letter is the third last 

letter Srila Prabhupada wrote before leaving his body in 1977 at 

Vrndavana. There are also other letters ISKCON has somehow or other 

misplaced along with many tape recordings of conversations, etc. which 

are mysteriously missing. One letter to Hansadutta on the 10th of July, 

1977 states: "You are a suitable person and you can give initiation to 

those who are ready for it. I have selected you among 11 men as "ritvik" 

or representative of the acarya, to give initiation, both first and 

second, on my behalf." There is a letter to Kirtananda Swami on the 11th 

July, 1977 from Tamala Krishna, Srila Prabhupada's secretary at that 

time, stating: "Srila Prabhupada has appointed thus far eleven 

representatives who will initiate new devotees on his behalf." There's 

another letter to Hansadutta on the 31st of July, 1977 stating "Now you 

have a very good field. Now organize it and it will be a great credit. 

Make your own field and coontinue to be rittvik and act on my behalf...





                                   July

               Letter to: All G.B.C., All Temple Presidents

                                    --

                                 Vrindaban

                               9 July, 1977



To All G.B.C., and Temple Presidents



Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,



   Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. Recently when all of 

the GBC members were with His Divine Grace in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada 

indicated that soon He would appoint some of His senior disciples to act 

as " ritvik- representative of the acarya, for the purpose of performing 

initiations, both first initiation and second initiation. His Divine 

Grace has so far given a list of eleven disciples who will act in that 

capacity:



	His Holiness Kirtanananda Swami  

	His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami  

	His Holiness Jayapataka Swami  

	His Holiness Tamala Krsna Gosvami  

	His Holiness Hrdayananda Gosvami  

	His Holiness Bhavananda Gosvami  

	His Holiness Hamsaduta Swami  

	His Holiness Ramesvara Swami  

	His Holiness Harikesa Swami  

	His Grace Bhagavan dasa Adhikari  

	His Grace Jayatirtha dasa Adhikari  



   In the past Temple Presidents have written to Srila Prabhupada 

recommending a particular devotee' s initiation. Now that Srila 

Prabhupada has named these representatives, Temple Presidents may 

henceforward send recommendation for first and second initiation to 

whichever of these eleven representatives are nearest their temple. After 

considering the recommendation, these representatives may accept the 

devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada by giving a 

spiritual name, or in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the 

Gayatri thread, just as Srila Prabhupada has done. The newly initiated 

devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami 

Prabhupad, the above eleven senior devotees acting as His representative. 

After the Temple President receives a letter from these representatives 

giving the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the fire yajna in 

the temple as was being done before. The name of a newly initiated 

disciple should be sent by the representative who has acceted him or her 

to Srila Prabhupada, to be included in His Divine Grace's " Initiated 

Disciples"  book.



Hoping this finds you all well.



Your servant,

Tamala Krsna Gosvami

Secretary to Srila Prabhupada



Approved:          

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami           



ISKCON have no way of explaining these letters. They simply change the 

subject if one mentions them... ISKCON still claims Srila Prabhupada 

appointed successors--they just pretend these letters don't exist... It's 

a case of knowingly disobeying the instructions of the spiritual master 

and of course this is a great offense, how can such offenders help anyone 

advance in Krishna consciousness?



There may be other pure devotee acaryas in the future as there have been 

in the past. That is required of course and Krishna will make the 

necessary arrangements in this regard. BUT VAISNAVA ACARYA IS 

SELF-EFFULGANT... As when the sun is in the sky one doesn't have to look 

very hard to find it, when Prabhupada was travelling all over the world 

preaching everyone could see he was a pure devotee, everyone could see he 

was very special, everyone could see he was empowered by Krishna... even 

the nondevotees... (except his envious godbrothers and now many of his 

"disciples" are envious also... They want to be "Prabhupada" too. But 

they don't want to follow Prabhupada's instructions...)



Please take Srila Prabhupada's instructions very seriously and don't be 

fooled by the disciples of Kali dressed as Vaisnavas who are very 

prominent in ISKCON at the present moment.



All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, my 

eternal spiritual master.



Chant Hare Krishna and be happy



Madhudvisa dasa









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Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!