Prabhupada’s ISKCON–How It Was Destroyed
When it became painfully obvious to most of us that these men were in fact not pure then they began their system of watering down the position of acarya. Gurus do sometimes fall down, they said. In other words they sometimes cheat, make mistakes, are illusioned and have imperfect senses. This philosophy did not come into being overnight because NOBODY in 1978 would have accepted it but was gradually introduced…
Recently there has been much discussion on what constitutes a spiritual master. Some say that the spiritual master must be a fully self realized soul. Others say that this is not necessary and that the spiritual master can be a conditioned soul subject to the four defects, that is, he makes mistakes, he is prone to be illusioned, he has imperfect senses, and he has the propensity to cheat others.
During Srila Prabhupada’s physically manifested presence every devotee in ISKCON understood that in order to receive transcendental knowledge purely one must have a spiritual master who is himself pure. Everyone understood this and accepted Srila Prabhupada as just such a person. After Srila Prabhupada’s departure his eleven “disciples” who assumed the role of acarya without written authorization stated that they were such pure souls. This was how they justified sitting in big Vyasasanas and accepting worship and guru dakshine.
When it became painfully obvious to most of us that these men were in fact not pure then they began their system of watering down the position of acarya. “Gurus do sometimes fall down”, they said. In other words they sometimes cheat, make mistakes, are illusioned and have imperfect senses. This philosophy did not come into being overnight because NOBODY in 1978 would have accepted it but was gradually inserted into the teachings bit by bit.
Persons would come to Krishna Consciousness, learn the philosophy, chant Hare Krishna, be given some nice material facility and then slowly they were pressured to accept such a fallen spiritual master or else lose the facility that was given them. Because most devotees are pretty much materially exhausted when they become interested in spiritual life, for them to lose their material facility, i.e. their rice bowl, it is extremely painful. The choice becomes obvious to them. They must accept one of these “spiritual masters” and it has to be the one of them that is the master for their “zone.”
Those of us who were not so incapable of living on our own, or in other words had some material talents, gradually left. This created a vacuum of talented people who were qualified to be administrators but could find no satisfaction in worshipping men like Kirtananda, Bhavananda, Tamal Krishna, etc., which you were forced to do or be ostracized. The deterioration of the society therefore began. (Notice I do not call these men Maharaj. Maharaj means “great king”. Calling them Sudras would be a complement.)
These “gurus”, forced to make do with what they had, devotees with little or no qualifications were put into positions of authority. Their only qualification is that they wholeheartedly bought into the system. Those who didn’t were labeled fallen and envious.
Even if there were some persons who had some expertise they had to believe that these self appointed “gurus” were as good as God. Many of them stayed on because their material qualifications brought them added prestige. During this era, both during Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence and immediately afterward, the society he created, ISKCON, enjoyed a great reputation. Slowly but surely this good name decreased. Many devotees began to leave, joined other camps (the so-called) Gaudiya Math, or, for myself, just went out and got a job. For me personally this was very difficult not because I had trouble finding work, that was no problem, but because I had a small daughter to raise as my wife had then recently passed away. After a short stint in New Vrindaban which proved to be a disaster because Kirtanananda didn’t like my management style (I wouldn’t call him Bhaktipada but instead called him Maharaj which we all did when Srila Prabhupada was present and I thought this was a great honor. He, however, thought this was a severe offense.) Fortunately I left before anything bad happened to me or my daughter and went back to work in Michigan my late wife’s home state. While my sisters-in-law were very loving and helpful in assisting me to raise my daughter I regretted the fact that my daughter would not be able to live in the association of devotees.
I prayed to Krishna what to do and an opportunity came to serve the devotees in Dallas, Texas. Naveen Krishna was president at the time. He saw that I had some ability and gave me service and some facility. Room and Board and Gurukula for my daughter. I was so thankful to Krishna for answering my prayers. Of course in time I could not get along with Tamal Krishna and his system of management and received an offer from Badrinarayana to assist him in San Diego as an accountant. I had met Badri years before when he was temple president in Ann Arbor and was given the same facility that I had in Dallas. Room and Board and gurukula for my daughter. Badri even went so far as to make an announcement that Janardana has come to keep us from going to jail.
The mood in San Diego was much better. The teachers there were learned and sincere devotees and because Ramesvara had recently fallen down everybody was pretty much taking shelter of Srila Prabhupada. This soon, however began to change. New “gurus” were soon added and the same oppressive atmosphere grew again. Several years passed and my daughter was reaching the age of puberty. I thought the best thing for her now was to live in a girl’s ashram, which San Diego temple didn’t have. At this time Mother Laksmimoni had relocated to Florida for reasons at the time I did not know.
Although her and Mother Akuti’s program was not perfect I think they did a terrific job in educating my daughter.
Not only academically but in learning the basic principles of Krishna Consciousness: rising early, chanting japa, distributing books, etc.
Thinking that it was safe to leave my daughter in their care I went back to California doing service for the San Diego and Laguna Beach temples. After awhile I began to think that this is a terrible way to run a business let alone a worldwide spiritual movement. One of the devotees who was my next door neighbor was found to have been molesting his own daughter. The temples were filled with thieves and no matter how many accounting systems were put into place the mismanagement could not be checked. I pulled my daughter out of the ashram and left OZCON for my third and final time. Shortly thereafter Yashodananda Prabhu gave me a copy of Hansdutta’s book, “Srila Prabhupada, His Movement and You”.
I am not the type of person who becomes emotional easily, but I shed tears incessantly, realizing then that Srila Prabhupada’s instructions had been disobeyed and that I personally, by supporting the betrayers, had been part of it. It was at this time that I went on my crusade. Not so much because I thought it would do any good but because Srila Prabhupada had done so much for me, and at the very least I could tell Yamaraj that I tried to do something to make up for my lifetime of offenses and selfishness.
Since 1978 none of what goes on in OZCON does anyone ANY good. At least not by the management. Before Srila Prabhuapda’s untimely departure he wanted to go to Gita Nagari and establish Varnashram. Part of varnashram is that you train up administrators also known as ksatriyas. OZCON has no interest in training ksatriyas because the first thing a ksatriya will do is expose corrupt brahmanas and OZCON wants no part of that. Ksatriyas are competitive by nature. In my personal experience my father taught me a love for sports, because he knew that if I developed a desire to compete and taste victory this would keep me out of trouble. This lesson I learned from him has helped me extremely in life. Not that I am not still a nonsense most of the time but exercise and sports have definitely helped me in life and on some occasions I have had a chance to teach some of the things I’ve learned from my coaches and senseis.
This occurred in the gurukulas both in Alachua and San Diego. Nobody in the OZCON management complained to me at that time. In fact several of my former students and their parents have thanked me. Now we come to Danavir who says that sports are a great deviation. Maybe for someone being trained as a brahmana sports are unneccessary. BUT AGAIN, NO ONE COMPLAINED TO ME FOR TEACHING SPORTS WHEN I WAS STILL A MEMBER OF OZCON?!!!
It just proves the point that if you go along with their corrupt philosophy that gurus fall down you can do ANYTHING. And if you take shelter of Srila Prabhupada then EVERYTHING you do is nonsense. This is their blatant hypocrasy. If you have trouble with your spiritual life but believe in their unworkable guru system you’re alright. If you take shelter of Srila Prabhupada then you are a nonsense. What Is This?????
Srila Prabhupada spent twelve years travelling and preaching about Lord Caitanya and His divine mission. The self appointed “gurus” of OZCON have had 24 years and are at the point of destroying it. It shows you how great Srila Prabhupada is that after 24 years they still haven’t quite destroyed it although they are determined to do so. I am happy to teach sports and martial arts to any gurukula students who wish to learn. Some of my former students are much better at it than I will ever be and I am happy to see that. I am presently living in Thailand studying Muay Thai which is Thai kickboxing. Martial arts teachers and students are some of the nicest people that you would ever want to meet. I feel honoured to have their association.
Your servant, Janardana das
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Hare Krishna PRABHUs PAMHO
Please kindly visit ISKCON Bangalore or it’s group of temples called Hare Krishna movement in many Indian state capitals. They are the one and only authentic ISKCON who have continued to place Srila Prabhupad as the sole diksha guru. Absolutely no misleading there. In fact nobody is guru , no senior, no junior. It’s wonderful. Please stay there for a few days to observe.
Hare Krishna,
Do you support Bangalore Iskcon and BLISS they say that they are following His Devine Grace Prabhupad books and messages and not GBC. The problem is that without association it is really difficult to increase the mood of bhakti. And most of the association that you can get outside are from Iskcon and its devotees.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
I do not know what ISKCON Bangalore are doing, last time I had anything to do with them was many years ago. So you need to read Prabhupada’s books and understand what is Krishna consciousness yourself. Then you will be able to understand who is following Srila Prabhupada and who is not.
Yes. Association is very important. So it is up to you to get the knowledge so you can test if it is good association or not. I can not say from here.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna 🙏 I am glad you have mentioned BLISS. I’m associating with them, now based in South London. AMAZING devotees, so purely following Srila Prabhupada, so boldly against any bogus gurus. The true essence of Krishna consciousness is alive with them.
Sir, I have Bhagavad Gita (2009) book and I bought it in ISKCON, Bangalore.
So, my question is, Is there any changes made in it? Please reply, kind sir.
I don’t know, you can ask them at ISKCON Bangalore.
My ask if this is the outline of how things went ‘wrong’ then how should things have continued after Prabhupada’a departure in regard to initiation and guidance etc ? Thanks Nick
It is a useless question in the sense that things went wrong, they do not go right, and that was many years ago and there is a lot of water gone under the bridge since then so there’s no possibility of doing it right now, they have already done it wrong.
So the answers for the future lie in Srila Prabhupada’s books. So please yourself become a pure devotee of Krishna by chanting Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds a day, strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. And become empowered by Krishna. Only Krishna can set this right through His pure devotees. So become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and set it right.
Wasn’t It one of Srila Prabhupada’s regulative principle not to sport? Isn’t Danvir right in the above article? The initial part of the article was good, but in the latter part Janardana Dasa says that ha has become a martial art trainer? Hadn’t Srila Prabhupada criticized martial arts in one of his videos saying that at the time of death martial arts can’t protect anybody?
With all humility I have no intention to criticize anyone. I would just like to know if I have understood Srila Prabhupada’s instructions properly?
Yes. ‘No unnecessary sports’ is part of the regulative principles of Krishna consciousness. We do not waste our time on these useless things. Yes. Martial arts is useless. It is nothing to do with Krishna consciousness, not even part of the Vedic culture. So devotees have no time for it or interest in it.
Hare Krishna. I agree with you completely. I live in India Mumbai and at first enjoyed going to Juhu Iskcon. Slowly you learn their ways and see how everything is just a show.No one follows Srila Prabhupada’s books. It is really sad. I miss association with devotees but it is better to follow Krsna consciousness by your self chanting 16 rounds and reading the books. At least you can follow the right way instead of following bogus gurus.
Glories to Jagat Guru Srila Prabhupada Obeisances at His Lotus Feet. Prabhu Janardana Das it is with happy heart I discover that your sobriety & change of heart that brought you to Srila Prabhupada is a very clear one. I’ve been 9 years living & training in North Thailand. In ’71 I took Honorable Military Discharge.That same year moved into 16th Temple where continued training & honing fighting skills. I thought this to be useful in Service to Srila Prabhupada to be a warrior/Ksatriya. I lament every living breath that I did not go to Srila Prabhupada’s bedside while the Raksasha demons murdered our Spiritual Master.The temple president forbid me to go..me the dummy i followed that order unaware that Srila Prabhupada asked for ALL His disciples go to Him. I’m certain without doubt had I and devotees as yourself been there to protect Our Spiritual Father,we would recognize the goings on as deadly harmful to Srila Prabhupada & then taken appropriate measures to dispatch the Demoniac influences in guise of devotee. In Bhagavagita death is a befitting action every gbc that perpetrated this crime & offences toward Srila Prabhupada, yet guys like Gopal,jpatak,radhanath, ad nauseum, still steal millions from fools as they claim guruship impailing afresh daily the Bonafide Acharya Srila Prabhupada.Well Lord Krsna has planned as time the demise of all involved & we are witness the inglorious deaths of the likes of Tamal & k hamm their rotting souls now in the court of Yamaraja.In closing I pray you are well fit in health & as ever perspicacious in Spirit. May Srila Prabhupada always remain seated in your heart & continue to guide you. Ys… gopijana das.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances.All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thankyou very much for giving replies to my questions.
Prabhuji,in the material world it is the law of karma that governs the
activities of the conditioned souls.And if it is perfectly acting then
there is no scope of “INJUSTICE” in the material world.
Everyone is enjoying and/or suffering due to the karmic reactions
that they deserve.
Then why do we often get the feeling that there is injustice being
done to us ?
Moreover,according to the vedas one type of miseries is due to
the living entities.Now if someone becomes jealous of me and then
due to malice decides to harm me then is that also due to karma ?
The pandavas and jesus christ and so many other pure devotees
suffered so much due to envy of other living entities.is that also due
to karmic reactions ?
yada yada hi dharmasya …..this verse from the Bhagavad-Gita says that
the LORD descends to the material world when there is corruption of
dharma…is the adharma also due to karmic reactions ?
as you title this article…Prabhupada’s ISKCON-how it was destroyed ?
is that also due to karma ? or that there is misuse of independence which
makes one get trapped in the web of karma and karmic reactions ?
i dont know if i am being able to get across the point to you but what
essentially i am asking is that if what everyone is getting is due to karma
then one cannot get out of it without an external out of the world force which
will make a difference.
And that force is probably the “mercy” of a pure devotee of the LORD.
Thankyou Prabhuji for finding time to answer these questions.
Hare Krsna
Brijesh Dani
Hare Krishna Brijesh Dani
I understand what you are saying Prabhu.
As far as us we assume that all the bad things that happen to us are a result of our unlimited sinful activities in this life and our many previous lifetimes. Actually as devotees we think that we are so sinful in the past and that we have done so many terrible things in this and previous lifetimes that we deserve so much more suffering and the few little troubles that cross our path are Krishna’s great mercy upon us. We deserve so much worse but by Krishna’s mercy it is reduced so much. And that is the real situation. We are not very great. Realistically all of us in the material world a criminals. This is the prison and you do not find good people in the prison. Only criminals. So we are one of the criminals here in the material world. It is very, very rare that Krishna sends a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada into the material world to give us criminals the chance to understand what Krishna consciousness is by his mercy.
But once we do actually, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, become a little engaged in Krishna consciousness then there are many envious people. And the envious people become disturbed by anyone who is worshiping Krishna. It is not really they get disturbed by us, the get disturbed by the fact that we are worshiping Krishna, God.
That is the demonic nature. The demons are always disturbed by the devotees because the devotees are engaged in glorifying Krishna, God, and the demons are envious of Krishna and want to kill Krishna.
So ISKCON was destroyed by these envious demons. But you know the slogan of Back to Godhead Magazine:
krsna-surya-sama; maya haya andhakara
yahan krsna, tahan nahi mayara adhikara
Krishna is like the sun, maya is like the darkness, wherever there is Krishna there can be no maya.
So it is like that. Darkness can not exist in the presence of the sun, so maya can not exist in the presence of Krishna. So these envious demons can not exist in the presence of actual Krishna consciousness.
So if we are actually Krishna conscious then the envious demons can not do anything that will be detrimental to our service in Krishna consciousness.
So the real reason that ISKCON was destroyed is that the Krishna consciousness was absent. Because there can be no maya in the presence of Krishna. The demons have no power in the presence of Krishna.
So a devotee is never bothered by the demons. If we are actually devotees the demons have no power to bother us. They can do nothing in the presence of Krishna. So if we are feeling bothered by the demons we have to know that is a lack of Krishna consciousness on our part. It is our fault for not being Krishna conscious. And if we simply become 100% pure devotees of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna then there can be no maya. The demons will have no power to disturb us. Rather they will like to dance and chant Hare Krishna with us…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
were you a iscon devotee?
What made you leave?
Hare Krishna Ganga
I am a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and I did not leave his ISKCON and will never leave his ISKCON. Unfortunately ISKCON has left Prabhupada, therefore they throw out anyone who wants to follow Srila Prabhuapda. I did not leave ISKCON they threw me out and I am still banned from every ISKCON temple worldwide, because I am a follower of Srila Prabhuapda. And every follower of Srila Prabhuapda is banned from ISKCON. They want followers of the GBC, not followers of Prabhuapda.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Where are we supposed to go? My material life if ruined, my head is full of sastra. Without sat sanga I am lost. I can’t even think straight anymore to get a job, house, car, -?
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
It is very nice Prabhu if we feel lost and uncomfortable in the material world. The material world is a place of suffering where there is repeated birth and death. It is not our home. We belong with Krishna in the spiritual world. So if we can get some realization of this then that is good.
This “sat sanga” is useless unless you can find some pure devotees to have “sat sanga” with. If we associate with a batch of other “devotees” who are also blooped at various levels that will be useless for us. We have to get the association of a pure devotee of Krishna. That is the real secret, that is the real sat-sanga.
So Prabhu please take shelter of Srila Prabhupada. You can read all his books, you can listen to all his classes, you can go with him on morning walks, you can watch over 60 hours of film and video of Srila Prabhupada — everything is available at http://www.krishnastore.com at the lowest possible prices. Prabhupada has really given us the greatest gift Prabhu
Under the power of the modes of material nature we may sometimes become completely overwhelmed. But we know what we should be doing. So you are never actually really lost. You know you should be chanting Hare Krishna, at least 16 rounds a day, you know you should be following the four regulative principles–you know everything. You just have to do it and it can be done anywhere in any situation of life. The material situation does not matter. Whatever situation we find ourselves in we just have to make the arrangements so we can get out of bed early in the morning and chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and humbly pray to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, “Please engage me in your service.”
If we sincerely try to follow and pray to Prabhupada and Krishna like this for service they will give us so much service. I pray a little bit like this myself and I am flooded with service 24 hours a day. I don’t have enough time to do all the service that Krishna and Prabhupada keep piling on me. But it is great to be overwhelmed with so much service.
Service is nectar. Service is our life. We can only serve. We have nothing else to offer except our service. So we have to become busy, overwhelmed with so much service for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. That is the perfection of our life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
I am from Bali, Indonesia and i have been practicing devotional service when i was senior high school student, it’s about 3 years ago. Book distribution is also my service to Srila Prabhupada, but now i am very sad because there are so many changes in Srila Prabhupada’s books and my problem right now is that Bhagavad-gita which i have been distributing contains many of the changes similar to the ISKCON BBT Revised and enlarged edition, and now i want to buy the original Srila Prabhupada’s book from KrishnaStore.com especially the original Bhagavad-gita, but because it’s only available in English consequently it’s slightly difficult to be understood by Indonesians. So what can i do to make the original Srila Prabhupada’s books can be read by people in Indonesia?
Hare Krishna Bhakta Pramanta
It is very good you are distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books Prabhu.
As far as translations they will never be exactly Srila Prabhupada’s original books. But the translations are very important so that the people who are not reading English can get introduced to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
So for those who can not read the English we have to just distribute the translations that are available.
But you know English is the world language and now all over the world educated people, particularly young people, they speak and read English. And they like to read and speak English. If they do not know it well they want to learn it.
And realistically old people are set in their ways and it is really the younger people who are most likely to be able to take to Krishna consciousness. So I think among the younger people you will find most are interested in reading English.
So I think if I was in your position I would take both the original English Prabhupada Bhagavad-gita As It Is and the Indonesian translation and try to sell the people the English one and if they can not read the English sell them the Indonesian one. Many devotees, once they get a bit serious about Krishna consciousness and want to read more of Srila Prabhupada’s books, listen to his classes, etc, they naturally want to learn English and then they will read the original English books.
So do not be sad Prabhu. And do not get discouraged. Prabhupada’s original Bhagavad-gita will realistically only ever be available in English. As soon as you translate it into another language it is not the original one any more. And there is a good market for the original English one there in Indonesia by those who can read the English and for the Indonesians you can distribute the Indonesian that is available and they will at least get the idea and it will introduce them to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Dear Madhudvisa dasa,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
This particular reply addresses my own problem of being uncomfortable in this material world, knowing that the current ‘iskcon’ is a travesty and my path may be solitary. You say, “It is very nice…if we feel lost and uncomfortable in the material world…a place of suffering where there is repeated birth and death. It is not our home. We belong with Krishna in the spiritual world. So if we can get some realization of this then that is good.” Where else will I hear that?
Something on this site helps me every single day. Through this website (you, MD) and krishnastore.com , I’ve been given the mercy to know that I can still take shelter of a pure devotee in 2017- Srila Prabhupada! It is such a gift to hear and know my existence is for service – and to be taught how to serve. I will take up the prayer to Srila Prabhupada and to Krishna, “Please engage me in your service.”
Deborah Elder
Missoula, Montana