A Continuing Carnival of Corruption

September, 2017

by Kailäsa Candra däsa

Part One of a Two-Part Series

“Now by the grace of Krishna, we have got sufficient properties all over the world, so there cannot be any diplomacy or conspiracy by any sane man. All these properties and opulences, whatever we have got, this will not go with me when I go away from this world. It will remain here. I am training some of my experienced disciples how to manage after my departure. So, if instead of taking the training, if in my lifetime you people say ‘I am the lord of all I survey,’ that is dangerous conspiracy.
Letter to Karändhar, 10-8-74

“ . . . since any leader can deviate, how will perfection come? First, the person in the center must be perfect, then his dictations will be correct. Otherwise, if the leaders are all imperfect men, what is the use of changing this or that? The corruption will continue.”
Dialectical Spiritualism, Critique of Marx

Corruption is part of us, all of us, the very heart of us.”
Jack Osborne, “Gorky Park”

Many Vaiñëavas and learned transcendentalists know about the unauthorized changes that have gone down and thrived within “ISKCON” for many years. To believe that there will be no lasting negative repercussions from such corruption is to live in a fool’s paradise that was meant to be renounced long ago. To think that there are no reactions already underway is to disregard not only the laws of karma operative in such a false school but to also fail to recognize what is right before your eyes.

The makeshow has been institutionalized by the leading secretaries of the fabricated, so-called “ISKCON” confederation; the joke is on you if you have been duped by it. When something is corrupt, it is in the process of putrefaction, and its destruction will eventually be consummated through the agency of His Lordship Çiva.

All emphases added for your edification and realization.

In the outer world, a battle of anti-Vedic civilizations—a battle of mleccha cultures—is being waged between aggressive secular nihilism and vicious sectarian nihilism. As a result, fear and disillusion has developed everywhere, along with disengagement. Yet, we all know—or, at least, we all should know—that this is not the real struggle. Instead, it is an external interpretation, having meaning only as far as it goes. The basic quandaries of Kali-yuga, the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, are never to be solved at that superficial level; indeed, they can hardly even be brought into focus there. Penetrating to the source code, it is the ambition, corruption, and tyranny of “ISKCON” which has brought the world to the brink of disaster. However, how can we ask anyone to recognize this if we are unable to do so ourselves?

It is incumbent upon each and every spiritually progressive man and woman to know that THE REAL BATTLE rages between the lies, half-truths, smear jobs, cover-ups, and pretensions of “ISKCON” and the authorized preaching and writing of those Çréla Prabhupada devotees who stand for THE TRUTH. Here, “ISKCON” must also include its two brother-cults, because all three have come from the same source and ultimately serve the same mäyä. By now, most of you have had tortuous experience with that corruption and domineering, and it is only enabled by those who, although outside the astral can of worms, choose to nevertheless remain naive and/or unconcerned about it.

Standing up for THE TRUTH entails resisting the dark forces of “ISKCON,” Neo-Mutt, Rittvik, and, to a lesser extent, the Solar Smorgasbord, which specializes in censorship by omission. Such pseudo-Vaiñëavism has polluted the genuine teachings according to self-motivated, imperfect interpretation. To believe that conspiracy is not operative at the root of it all is to allow those deviations more time to delude seekers of the Absolute.

A Clear and Accurate Picture

When I order, ‘you to become guru,’ he becomes regular guru, that’s all.”
Room Conversation with G.B.C. in Våndävan, India on 5-28-77

My guru mahäräja ordered, and I came . . . to deliver you the genuine thing. That’s all.”
Room Conversation with professors in Mexico City on 2-12-75

“It was staring me right in the face, the one piece that just didn’t fit: The quarter. Nobody would have thought to dump that meter, not even me.”
“Jack Reacher”

It was tagged the “appointment tape.” How convenient! Think that tag was selected by accident? Especially how convenient, when there is no appointment of anyone to anything on it. The bluff bought them valuable time–specifically, almost three years. By then, they had already got the ball rolling, and had (directly or indirectly) driven out many, if not most, of their godbrothers, particularly the malcontents and doubters. And, as quoted above, in order to become guru in Çréla Prabhupäda’s line—and yes, that means dékñä-guru—you first have to have received the order to become so from him.

From him. Not from the G.B.C. Not from some generic verse in çästra. From him. And, he placed a qualifier on it in May of 1977: “Regular guru.” Not a pretender mahäbhägavat, but a regular guru, a guru under regulation, a madhyama-adhikäré, one who is still regulated by the terms and conditions of vaidhé-sädhana-bhakti.1

Any official record of anybody having received that order? Nope. A few indirect rumors, sure, but we require much, much more than that–if we are sincere. And did any of those handful of fellows (rumored to have received the order) step up and challenge the eleven zonal pretender mahäbhägavats? Nope. Did any of them challenge the G.B.C. in its rubber-stamping of the eleven zonals? Nope. So, if someone separately received the order (which is highly doubtful), then, was he still an initiator guru when he shirked his duty and, directly or indirectly, kow-towed to, and aided and abetted, the “ISKCON” scam?

Prabhupäda directly and unequivocally received the order. That we know from his own statements. He thus required every one of his disciples to also receive his direct sanction in order to initiate new people and connect them to the guru-paramparä. In April of 1977, he confirmed to his personal secretary that none of his disciples were qualified to be guru. And less than a year later, eleven were mahäbhägavats? Is that at all comprehensible? Is that to be believed by any sane and logical person?

Taking the so-called “appointment tape” for starters, the whole saga of institutional “new gurus” was loaded with deception throughout. First, there was the selection of rittviks, which was conveniently parlayed into allegedly being a selection (in advance) of eleven great initiating gurus (post-Prabhupäda). Rittviks automatically become initiator gurus when the Äcärya departs? Where is that concoction confirmed in çästra?

And then there was the imposition of eleven exclusive zones for the pretenders. Why does any genuine guru (what to speak of a jagad-guru or uttama-adhikäré) require the insular benefit of a zone of his own? On the flip side, in his preaching the divine message and making new disciples, how can he be restricted like that? In order that they all could review it and understand its importance, why was not the May, 1977 tape released to all of Prabhupäda’s initiated disciples (especially the brähmins) before he departed?

In the G.B.C. position paper announcing the implementation of the zonal äcärya scheme, why was Swämé B. R. Çrédhar referred to as a higher authority? Was it because he provided enriched, fertilized soil for the eleven seeds of personal ambition? Was it because he said that a rittvik (appointed by Prabhupäda) then becomes an initiating guru after the Äcärya departs? Was it because he said to them, “Just put on the uniform, and you will become the soldier?” Was it because he opined that all newly initiated disciples, in order to develop faith, must view their spiritual masters as jagad-gurus?

It is in order to deceive the disciple.”

Surrounded by some so-called disciples in his last days on earth, what about all the poison whispers heard in the background? How nefarious was that? “Someone has poisoned me.” This was and remains a direct quote from His Divine Grace at the time (October, 1977). Beginning in the spring of that year, the whole chain of events leading up to the zonal äcärya imposition was loaded with deception, intrigue, treachery, and betrayal. Is that how Lord Caitanya’s disciplic succession carries on the bhakti legacy?

And, to top it all off, in December of 1980, at Topanga Canyon, T.K.G. let the cat out of the bag! At a swank cabin in the mountains there, he admitted that he and his fellow co-conspirators had committed “the greatest disservice” in the spring of 1978 by the transformation of mere rittviks, enthroning them as mahäbhägavat zonal äcäryas. Of course, his motive was to play the one trump card he had left in order to force the GBC to re-admit him to the status of dékñä-guru. Worked like a charm, but his brief moment of motivated honesty has not merged into oblivion, because we shall never let it do so.

Remember, it was T.K.G. who choreographed the whole rittvik-to-guru scam, who himself wrote the rittvik appointment letter (not dictated by Prabhupada), who, along with another nyäsé, botched the interview with Prabhupäda in Våndävan in May, 1977, and who was highly implicated in the nefarious principalities surrounding His Divine Grace at the end. It’s all documented and right there in front of you:

“It is now evident that some of our top men are very much ambitious, and there has been so many fall-downs.”
Letter to Bhagavän, 1-27-75

As late as 1975, a mere two and one-half years before he departed, His Divine Grace clearly saw what the leading secretaries were becoming and what they were doing for themselves and to his movement. So much for the “top men” argument. The movement turned out not to be in good hands after he departed; instead, it was being controlled by ambitious people employing Machiavellian techniques, overlording, and enjoying all the facilities.

It may be psychologically painful, but it is not at all difficult now to put the pieces of the puzzle together in order to get a clear and accurate picture. The rationalizations and explanations by “ISKCON” leaders—seldom verbalized, because they are so liable to be easily refuted—are pieces that do not fit. Let not the lag effect deceive you: The whole “ISKCON” imposition was and remains a colossal hoax, and all you have to do is wake up in order to realize that.

On ISKCON, “ISKCON,” and Greater ISKCON

“This prediction has been made publicly here in one newspaper, by a Japanese philosopher, that, within ten years, Krishna consciousness will be the world religion. If you all keep preaching in such a pure way, this will undoubtedly prove true.”
Letter to Krishna-bhäminé (from Japan), 1-4-72

“We have worked very hard and established a great institution, but, if we think for our personal benefit, then it will become ruined. This is my only concern.”
Letter to Cyävana, 11-1-74

“What will happen when I am not here, shall everything be spoiledby GBC?
Letter to Hansadutta, 4-11-72

Does ISKCON even still exist? This is the first question, and it is justly raised. Corporate ISKCON exists, and its Articles of Incorporation are filed with various Secretaries of State throughout America and the world. Yet, is that actually the ISKCON movement created by Çréla Prabhupäda? Or rather, is it a corporate indicator of an organized religious institution that nominally and legally remains recognized by Caesar?

Actually, the answer is obvious: Nothing that exists in the material world maintains its state of being permanently. When something is in the process of ruination, it eventually reaches a point where it cannot any longer be called what it once was. It may be dovetailed to permanence or to eternity while it was bona fide, but its state of being in the material world always potentially remains implicated in time.

The question then becomes: Could ISKCON be spoiled?

“If you adulterate our Sankértana Movement with some business motive, then it will be spoiled immediately. Be careful in that way.”
Letter to Mukunda, 7-1-69

“If we simply go on expanding and there are no qualified men to lead, then everything will be spoiled eventually.”
Letter to Ravéndra Svarüpa, 1-5-73

“ . . . now you all leaders, especially the G.B.C. members, must become very much responsible and do the work that I am doing to the same standard. . . On this platform, you shall be able to carry on the work satisfactorily, but, if there is lack of knowledge, or if there is forgetfulness, everything will be spoiled in time.”
Letter to Hansadutta, 6-22-72

Be assured that there are more quotes than these. The obvious answer is that ISKCON was always susceptible to being ruined, to being spoiled, to being killed:

“Once before you wanted to do something centralizing with your G.B.C. meeting, and, if I did not interfere, the whole thing would have been killed. Do not think in this way of big corporation, big credits, centralization—these are all nonsense proposals.”
Letter to Karändhar, 12-22-72

The only legitimacy that we should be concerned about is spiritual legitimacy. A big, big, corporation entails promoting an ever-expanding bureaucracy, along with an arbitrary hierarchy, and eventually making empiric attainments the chief evidence of its so-called legitimacy. That has certainly transpired in today’s “ISKCON” movement, and that scheme shows no sign of abating, because it would be suicidal for it if it did.

As such, the ISKCON of yesteryear is now a ruined entity, spoiled and effectively killed off; the debate is no longer whether or not this ruination was merely a possibility. Then, what about initiated devotees? Is their ontological status always that of a devoted transcendentalist initiated into the disciplic succession? And what about prasädam? Does it always remain a tasty, healthy, transcendental food?

“Regarding your question of an initiated person falling prey to the mäyä, the answer is that so long we are in this material world, there is always chance of being spoiled by mäyä . . .”
Letter to Jaya Gopäl, 1-11-70

“Regarding prasädam, leftovers should always be taken if they have not spoiled or if they have not been touched by diseased persons.”
Letter to Kértiräj, 11-27-71

When Prabhupäda speaks of the Sankértan Movement in the excerpt from the letter Mukunda (above), he is speaking2 of his ISKCON branch, which was the only movement engaged in sankértan in the Western world at that time. When he is speaking about a great institution in the excerpt from the letter to Cyävana (above), he is also speaking about his branch of the disciplic succession. An institution, any given ISKCON temple, a local or governing leader, an initiated disciple, prasädam . . . all of these things are subject to contamination and can be ruined. Their ontological status is never insured.

How can it be? Even residents of the paravyoma3 can become subject to contamination and fall into the mäyikä atmosphere. Only the mahäbhägavat Äcärya has an insured spiritual and devotional status. There is plenty of evidence that what goes on in the name of the ISKCON corporation is no longer linked to the guru-paramparä, but, instead, is linked to the “ISKCON” egregor. There is even more evidence that ISKCON (read, “ISKCON”) cannot conduct genuine initiation ceremonies, i.e., it cannot be a conduit for the transference of the bhakti-latä-béja, which is real initiation. Instead, it has been degraded into being a conduit for the “ISKCON” béja, which is a bogus devotional initiation.

For example, take the letter to Kåñëa-bhäminé (above) from January, 1972. If ISKCON was predicted to be the world religion by 1982—and Prabhupäda obviously agreed with that prediction (as a strong possibility)–what was the actual situation in 1982? It was then anything but a world religion! The blade of the fan was noticeably slowing by that time. Book distribution and collection were still going strong in the late Seventies, but, by 1982, they were diminished considerably.

And the movement’s leadership? It was in an utter state of turmoil! Two of the original eleven pretender mahäbhägavats already had had their statuses as dékñä-gurus revoked. Neo-Mutt had been formed, and the conflict it precipitated was coming to a head, viz., a schism with the Gouòéya Mutt. It was common knowledge by then, amongst almost all devotees, that the so-called “appointment tape” of May, 1977 was anything but (no one was even named on it!). Devotees were leaving the institution in droves, and many of them were appalled by the “new gurus” and their opulent worship in the temples.

A house divided against itself cannot stand, and the “ISKCON” of 1982 had not only lost influence as an internationally-recognized religion, but it was cracking. A mere ten years earlier it had shown great potential, and this was recognized by the Japanese professor and His Divine Grace. By Providence, it was meant to catch on throughout the world, but the “ISKCON” of the early Eighties indicated something very different. Yet, none of this should have been at all surprising (and it was not to your author), because all of it was foreshadowed but a few years earlier:

“Regarding your dealings with Bhagavän däsa, when two G.B.C.s are concerned, the whole G.B.C. must consider. What can I do? I have appointed the G.B.C. not to fight amongst yourselves but to manage. If there is fighting, then how will you manage?
Letter to Hansadutta, 11-29-75

The answer is now quite obvious, and some big-time fighting took place in Japan:

“This is very bad. These reports about Japan are coming from all over the world. This is very disturbing to me . . . This is not at all good.”
Letter to all West Coast temple presidents, 10-5-75

“What is this stealing and violence? This is not good. . . Stealing is not our business. Our business is to become Kåñëa conscious. Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”
Letter to Trivikrama, 11-9-75

Although a huge amount of money was collected in Japan in the mid-Seventies, there was another face on display there, representing a dark underside. The collections in Tokyo were substantially donated to Prabhupäda’s Kåñëa-Balaräm temple project, and His Divine Grace was appreciative of the two leaders who inspired their men (read, pushed them ruthlessly) in order to accrue it. After awhile, collectors on the Tokyo streets were arrested on sight. Most bhaktas in Hawaii and on the West Coast heard about this, but similar stuff was going down throughout America and Europe.

The change-up had been added to already deceptive collection techniques; indeed, a film depicting just how to execute the change-up was being circulated in various American temples. Although not as extreme, this kind of aggressive “pick” was commonplace just before ISKCON was converted into “ISKCON” in the spring of 1978.

As far as the recently formulated conception of Greater ISKCON is concerned, it is nothing more than a sentimental concoction that contains a major logical flaw: There is no Greater ISKCON, because, logically, there is no genuine ISKCON that is lesser to it. There no longer is a legitimately functioning ISKCON movement, period. All that remains is corporate papers in State capitals, recognized by agents of service, the State, and the courts.

Those corporate documents have no eternal significance, and the sentiment of Greater ISKCON is a pipe dream that does nothing to confront the root problems. Greater ISKCON simply provides yet another covering to the painful realization that we must all eventually admit. And what is that? It is the stark realization about a deviated movement that was once predicted to become the world religion four decades ago.

Questions and Answers

Q: “The “ISKCON” béja was mentioned earlier in the article. Can this béja remain hidden within a devotee who believes that he never was infected by it? Or, even if he knows he was infected, can it still remain even if he believes he has driven it out?”

A: Certainly there are those who believe that they are no longer contaminated by it when, in point of fact, it is still influencing them. Actually, it can be worse than that. Many who were initiated by a charismatic or institutional “new guru” during the heady zonal äcärya era received, either before or at the time of their initiation, both the “ISKCON” béja and their initiating guru’s peculiar béja. That latter béja contained a kind of vibhüti that the powerful man manifested on the physical plane. An unfortunate newcomer, accepting such a guru and his bogus initiation, may come to reject him later. That new man may then have been able to eradicate the guru’s peculiar béja. However, even then, the “ISKCON” béja may still remain within him, functioning in a number of insidious ways to attack and harm both that unfortunate and those who associate with him.

Q: Do the other deviant groups, such as Neo-Mutt and Rittvik, also inculcate their particular béjas within those who are initiated into their cults? If so, can an unfortunate carry the “ISKCON” béja along with one of those other seeds? Or, worse yet, can he or she be contaminated by all three?

A: There is no question that a Neo-Mutt egregor and its béja wrecks havoc on those who have bought into that particular scheme, viz., those initiated followers who carry the contaminated Neo-Mutt seed. Ditto for Rittvik. However, it is a stretch to believe that the “ISKCON” béja can co-exist with either the Neo-Mutt béja or the Rittvik béja. Similarly, it is a stretch to believe that the Neo-Mutt béja can co-exist within anyone who is contaminated by the Rittvik béja. The egregors of these deviant groups are all deeply opposed to each other, despite continuing to serve the mäyä having emanated from a common source.

Contagion of the “ISKCON” Béja

Other seeds, called anyäbhiläña-béja, include karma-béja, and jïäna-béja. If one is not fortunate enough to receive the bhakti-latä-béja from the spiritual master, he instead cultivates such seeds as karma-béja, jïäna-béja, or political, social, or philanthropic béjas.”
Caitanya-caritämåta, Madhya Lélä, 19.152, purport

Leading Secretary: Two trees in one. One tree is growing out of the other tree.
Prabhupäda: Why they have become two?
Leading Secretary: The seed must have been deposited in the bark and then taken root.
Prabhupäda: Because they are different seed . . .
Morning Walk in Våndävan, India, 8-28-75

Guru, guru on the wall,
Who’s the heaviest of them all?
Whose disciples are the worst?
Who can I give my last shirt?
Don’t be afraid, surrender right here!
Give up gas, food, wine, and beer.
Do you have trouble understanding this song?
Then you need a guru who can take you Home.
Hansadutta Swami4 Lead Track from The Vision album

The “ISKCON” béja is very powerful, insidious, and pernicious. It works surreptitiously. It does not want anyone to recognize it, either within themselves or within others. It does not even want its existence to be acknowledged. It works subtly and is highly contagious, in no small part, because it provides the strong taste for an avante-garde absurdity that can nowhere else be found. Those interested in that taste value the béja. It first, however, requires major deviation in a bhakti paradigm before it can gain any leverage.

Once the deviation goes down, it expands its perverted influence everywhere in the causal form of its seed or plan, injected into unfortunates susceptible to it—almost always injected by those who themselves carry that seed. This contamination is not restricted to new people contacting the movement but to everyone with any connection to the deviation, i.e., even to devotees who had previously received the real seed of bhakti.

The contaminated seed within a particular devotee forces him or her to believe in what the movement now represents, to believe that he or she cannot leave it5 and that he or she is now all in, fully dedicated. Even more than this, however, the devotee becomes addicted to the new taste provided by the “ISKCON” béja. It is administered, in various bizarre and little understood ways, by its chief carriers.

homo homini lupus
“Every man is a wolf to his fellow men.”6

Superficial reforms can never compensate for authorized bhakti, as they also only buttress perverted reflections. Past a certain point, the character of a movement’s leaders cannot be changed by institutional reform; instead, such reforms will simply serve to ravage all who enter the Venus fly-trap. The true process was previously dependent upon a strong foundation, one which was individually inspired and empowered by the bhakti-latä-béja. The Hare Kåñëa movement consisted of many such genuinely initiated devotees, and underlying the movement’s growth was genuine devotional authority.

That is what kept it on track before the G.B.C. deviated from the guru-paramparä. Just after that, THE TRUTH was lost! The message was lost. Corruption became endemic. The emerging new Western movement, a faction, manifested false personality . . . and false personality defends itself! The cult became polluted and corrupt, as the real seed was no longer imparted from within its paradigm. False personality soon gained a stranglehold. Its strongest defense was, and continues to be, provided by the “ISKCON” béja.

END OF PART ONE

Continue to Part Two

ENDNOTES

1 A kaniñöhä-adhikäré, a neophyte in the process of devotional service (vidhé bhakti-yoga), is never at any time qualified to be dékñä-guru; as such, he would never receive the order to become so from His Divine Grace. Obviously, this same principle applies to the mixed devotee (who is below the status of the neophyte) what to speak of the prakåtä-sahajiyä.

2 Speaking, as per the 1969 letter to Mukunda, into a dictaphone, then transcribed as a hard copy.

3 From and in a buffer region of the spiritual world, those who have not previously fallen into materialism from the spiritual world.

4Then in the sannyasa order.

5 “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

6Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan

1 thought on “A Continuing Carnival of Corruption”

  1. Torben Nielsen

    Teaching the art of knowing gold, to poor people. It seems pointless, but knowledge is gold. We are children of the most wealthy. Thank you.

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