Back to Godhead or Back to Bone Tomahawk?

July, 2017

by Kailäsa Candra däsa

“Such (demoniac) people are considered the enemies of the world, because ultimately they will invent or create something which will bring destruction to all. Indirectly, this verse anticipates the invention of nuclear weapons, of which the whole world is today very proud. At any moment war may take place, and these atomic weapons may create havoc. Such things are created solely for the destruction of the world . . .”
Bhagavad-gétä, 16.9, purport

“So, we are simply equipping with arms and finding out to whom we’ll fight. That is going on. So, everyone is manufacturing the atomic weapons. So, there must be some fight, so that all the nations will be ruined.”
Room Conversation with professors in Toronto, 6-18-76

You make my heart sing.”
The Troggs
“Wild Thing”

The fighting between and amongst “ISKCON,” Neo-Mutt, and Rittvik continues, as it must. If these cults refuse to confront the root issues that has led to this strife, if they refuse to return to square one and correct their operations in strict accord with the guru-paramparä, then the trickle down effects of their malfeasance will no longer be able to remain hidden behind historical revisionism, i.e., it will continue to negatively impact the ethics and morality of mankind in general. Eventually, the people of the world and their leaders will degrade further and further in polemical dealings, culminating in nuclear catastrophe and the savage, radioactive barbarity which follows in its wake.

All Emphases Added for Your Edification and Realization

Those three “bhakti” make-shows have been polluting the ether for many decades now, catering to the negative emotions of easy targets. Such emotion-driven, untrained people who join those cults are unlucky, misguided, insincere (not sincere enough), loaded with avidyä, and take pleasure in “dovetailing” their wild tendencies into the service of sahajiyäs pretending to be pure devotees. There is nothing uplifting about the cheap-guru-cheap-disciple syndrome from either end of the spectrum, and that heart-felt exhilaration those newcomers experience—ringing and singing out from an ocean of negative emotions (contaminated consciousness) within each of their hearts—constitutes nothing more than a perverted shadow of real devotional service.

Äjïä Pälane

“Certainly you are mine and I am Krishna’s, therefore, you are also Krishna’s. In the Krishna consciousness activities, that is the process. By following the disciplic succession, beginning from Krishna, everything becomes ultimately connected with Krishna. And Krishna being absolute, anything connected with Him becomes absolute, without any duality of concept like in the material world.”
Letter to Gargamuni, 6-18-68

“Just like Caitanya Mahäprabhu said, ämära äjïäya guru haïä, ‘You become a spiritual master under My order.’ . . . Unfortunately, we do not wish to carry out order of the äcäryas. We manufacture our own ways. We have got practical experience how a great institution was lost by whimsical ways. Without carrying out the order of the spiritual master, they manufactured something, and the whole thing was lost.”1
Platform Lecture on Çrémad-Bhägavatam, 1.2.11, 10-22-72

“ . . . in my presence, one should not become guru. So, on my behalf, on my order ämära äjïäya guru haïä: Be actually guru, but by my order. . . When I order, ‘You become guru,’ he becomes regular guru, that’s all.”
Room Conversation with all G.B.C. representatives in Våndävan, India, 5-28-77

The “ISKCON” monster did not simply, without warning, one day crawl out of a blue lagoon and then suddenly attack Prabhupäda’s real movement. It didn’t go down like that nor did the following cover-up. The infestation was active–sometimes with momentum and sometimes with less–within the ISKCON institution for almost all of the Seventies. It can be compared to a liver tumor which, although benign, continues to grow and can turn malignant at any time. Before Prabhupäda departed in late 1977, “ISKCON” contamination was expanding its influence year after year. Yet, while he was still physically manifest, it could never predominate, although it came close to doing so in the final year.

Even if you were engaged in sevä under an arrogant, proud, and contemptuous temple president or sannyäsé (your author experienced plenty of that), the Hare Kåñëa movement was still plugged into the spiritual socket while Prabhupäda was physically manifest, connected to the guru-paramparä. In other words, true servitors were still engaged in pleasing the spiritual master (guru sevä or bhakti sevä) through the guru-paramparä despite any order-giver (you were assigned to work under) being what he was, which was often nasty.

sve sve ‘dhikäre yä niñöhä
sa guëaù parikértitaù
viparyayas tu doñaù syäd
ubhayor eña niçcayaù

“Action according to one’s eligibility is declared to be good,
but opposite action is evil.
Good and evil are ascertained in this way.”
Çrémad-Bhägavatam, 11.21.2

The absolute or transitive principle of giving and receiving orders through the chain of disciplic succession was negatively impacted–and even, on occasion, jeopardized–when an order-giver (manager) acted beyond his eligibility. When he gave an order which, if carried out, feathered the nest of his personal ambition, the principle was weakened. For example, chicken was offered on the altar at the New York temple, and that certainly jeopardized the principle of following hierarchical orders.

How often something like this happened is impossible to know, but, as long as spontaneous devotional service (räga-bhakti) had not arisen in the heart of anyone higher up on the totem pole, his status to give orders was determined by his adhikära–not his post or bureaucratic position, which was always ephemeral. He was supposed to act in the management structure in terms of his prescribed duty (eligibility) under the rules and regulations of vaidhi-bhakti and not in any way over and above that.

karmaëy evädhikäras te
mä phaleñu kadäcana

“You have a right to perform your prescribed duty (adhikära),
but you are never at any time entitled to the fruits.”
Bhagavad-gétä, 2.47

While Prabhupäda was physically manifest, the bumble chute was up, i.e., you were protected in your sevä. You were still engaged in serving the spiritual master, connected to the guru-paramparä, while His Divine Grace was manifest, even when an egotistical “superior” was taking delight in acting out and cutting some profile above his eligibility. When a higher-up acted above his adhikära, it would sometimes mean that he was giving orders with an interest in enjoying the fruits of your action, also.

The motive underlying his order notwithstanding, a liberal, transcendental, and transitive principle remained viable back in the day. However, such did not remain the case once Prabhupäda departed; the umbrella came down. Prabhupäda’s dedicated devotees realized this both viscerally and intellectually, particularly after the egregious imposition of the eleven so-called zonal äcäryas, a catastrophe rubber-stamped by the G.B.C. When that deviation was implemented throughout the movement, the transitive principle of following authoritative paramparä orders was destroyed, no longer viable due to an egregious and major deviation at the top, similar to the one that ruined Gouòéya Mutt in 1937.

Carrying out the order of the spiritual master was and remains the very foundation, the very essence, the core of Çréla Prabhupäda’s movement, as well the foundation of personal progress in Kåñëa consciousness. Back in the day, Deity worship was important,2 and it gave spiritual strength, along with purity in devotional feelings. Tapasya was everywhere present in his movement when ISKCON was functioning in a bona fide (or a mostly bona fide) way. Austerity built into the bhakti process itself gave a great deal of spiritual strength, as long as it was performed without personal ambition.

However, the chief source of strength–individually for each devotee, collectively, and in terms of power for the movement as a whole—came from carrying out the order (äjïä pälane) of the spiritual master, His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda. Carrying out the order of the spiritual master was and is non-different from carrying out the order of God. This is the divine principle which leads to progressive purity and realization for those engaged in the transcendence of personalism, also known as buddhi-yoga or bhakti-yoga. That is why the guru—the äcärya in the true sense of the term—is supposed to be (at least) brahma-realized, a transcendentally realized via medium.

None of the eleven pretenders were anywhere near that status.

The wall socket has a direct connection to the powerhouse; in that way, it can be considered non-different from the powerhouse. This great principle (äjïä pälane) can be transitive, i.e., if a disciple, engaged in vidhi-bhakti, is strictly following his guru, then, as long he is approved to do so, he can give orders to those assigned to engage in sevä under him. Such orders will also be non-different from the orders of the spiritual master.

However, we must know that there are differences between spiritual or devotional movements and the conditioned souls who engage within them. Never forget the principle of scale. Compared to human beings, the time scale of mass movements differs. A spiritual and/or devotional movement runs its course, in terms of transformations, on a different time scale than does an individual, conditioned soul: A movement degrades much more slowly. As the core principle (äjïä pälane) gradually disintegrates (and then breaks completely), an applicable analogy is that of the blade of a fan continuing to spin despite the fan’s plug having been removed from a wall socket.

Let us employ a further analogy in order to clarify this. When spiritual movements break bad, they putrefy slowly, but that does not mean that there is not a moment when they are completely disconnected from the guru-paramparä. When that break takes place, the initiations that transpire within them are no longer genuine. When such is the case, they no longer work in order to produce vimukti for their members. There is such a moment of disconnection, but determining it can be a bit problematic.

Say you are filming a fan’s plug being removed from a wall socket. Then, you replay it in slow motion, zeroing in on where the plug is pulled from the socket. The replay would show the plug leaving the socket very gradually. The initial effort to remove the plug manifests first, then the action of beginning to remove it, then the actual disconnect. Yet, the blade of the fan would be seen to be spinning at the same speed as it was (before the plug was removed) and at the same speed after the plug has been pulled—for some time.

The moment of disconnect—the moment when ISKCON was converted entirely into “ISKCON”–took place in the last week of March, 1978. That was, of course, the imposition of an unauthorized zonal äcärya scheme by a rogue Governing Body Commission. However, that deathblow did not suddenly manifest out of nowhere; there was gradual deviation for many years leading up to it. If that festering had been resisted by enough devotees (by enough real workers), if Providence had thus been restored to its rightful position before Prabhupäda departed, the hell of pandemonium of the zonal äcärya era and the ruination to the ISKCON movement could have, and would have, been avoided.

You Can All Go to Hell”

“I beg to inform you that this morning Çréla Prabhupäda called both myself and Rädhäballabha däs into his room at 3:30 a.m. and described something which is very, very disturbing to His Divine Grace. . . Prabhupäda mentioned that this intriguing is the cause of falldown, and His Divine Grace mentioned Bali Mardan and Karändhar in this connection, that they were also intriguing, and they fell down. Prabhupäda said, ‘How will this movement be pushed on if you do not cooperate, if there is intriguing? But my main concern is that if there is intriguing then you go to hell, fall into the clutches of Mäyä. For myself, I can give up this whole business of books and chant, but you can all go to hell if you are so persistent. What can I do?’

. . . So all of these things are seen as intriguing by His Divine Grace, and it very much is displeasing Him. Prabhupäda is not very satisfied to simply hear ‘I’m sorry.’ He takes that this is a grievous problem.

. . . So we cannot minimize the instruction of Çréla Prabhupäda and expect that there will be hari-toñaëam. Prabhupäda said that Ränadhér should be removed from his post because of the grievous error, but then he asked, why didn’t others take notice? Didn’t Satsvarüpa Goswämé know about this also, being a library project? In any case, I think that we must re-evaluate our policy with regards to glorifying the äcärya. Prabhupäda’s complaint is, ‘why all the intrigue?’ This leads to falldown.

. . . His Divine Grace considers such mistakes as very serious and indicative that we cannot manage adequately.
Letter to Rämeçvara (from Puñöa Kåñëa), 5-12-76

Concerning this long excerpt (from his much longer letter), Puñöa Kåñëa Swämi was the personal secretary of Çréla Prabhupäda at that time. This letter was typed in Honolulu and mailed to the governing commissioner in Culver City, California. The excerpts culled from it represent its essence, as well as its sense of urgency, substance, and tone. It was obviously typed on behalf of His Divine Grace, representing him; whether or not he ordered it to be sent (mailed to one of his commissioners) is probable.

An advertisement (at the crux of this letter) had been placed in some kind of Asian Studies Booklet a little over a year previously, and the wording of this ad had been brought to Prabhupäda’s attention. The Library Party had some relation to it being placed in that Booklet. The faulty advertisement was ostensibly advertising Çréla Prabhupäda’s books, but Puñöa Kåñëa’s letter makes clear that neither Prabhupäda’s name nor his title were included in the advertisement. Also cited in this letter was the unfortunate fact that a favorable quote from Professor Dimmick of Chicago, included in the ad, did not include Çréla Prabhupäda’s name, which proved that his name had been intentionally omitted from that quote.

Your author happened to have been serving at the Honolulu yatra during this time (May, 1976) that Puñöa Kåñëa’s letter was written, yet it is all but certain that none of the temple residents, or even the temple president, knew of it. That should not be misinterpreted to mean that your author was unaware of the general atmosphere of intrigue and treachery that was becoming all-pervading by the spring of 1976 throughout the ISKCON institution.

Let us analyze this stunning letter in terms of what it was communicating about the state of the ISKCON and the pessimism His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda was experiencing concerning his movement’s leaders. In connection to what was going down, the movement was moving away and barely under his control, if even that. First of all, he states that he was very, very disturbed about the trend of the campus politics and internecine intrigue in ISKCON. He was clearly indicating, through his personal secretary, that his movement could not continue—could not go on in a bona fide way—if it was shot through with political intrigue (which it was). Such intrigue had been fructifying for at least five years:

“We had got some indication from Karändhara Prabhu that there was some misunderstanding and things were not going too well between you both big leaders. That is why I was little concerned, because such things should never be allowed to fructify within our Society, that will spoil everything.”
Letter to Bali Mardan, 3-5-72

“One thing: If we are not very careful to always stick to the point of regulative principles and purest standards of high living, then everything will spoil very quickly, and the whole show will be a farce.” Letter to Revaténandana Swämi, 4-2-72

“What will happen when I am not here,
shall everything be spoiled by G.B.C.?
Letter to Hansadutta, 4-11-72

This Puñöa Kåñëa letter (May, 1976) goes on to state that such managers who engage in intrigue are liable to be sent to hell. His Divine Grace clearly indicates detachment concerning this, confirming that he could renounce everything connected to the movement– including even his translations of, and purports to, the books–if his leaders persisted in the intrigue that is referenced. History has shown, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they did persist in intrigue, treachery, and betrayal; such corrupt politics particularly flourished in the late Seventies and the Eighties.

Prabhupäda considered it a grievous problem, and, if unchecked (in 1976), would produce grievous consequences. We all have practical experience of those consequences, and there is no need to make an exhaustive list of them here. That such intrigue and treachery leads to falldown, as the letter states unequivocally, has been demonstrated fully: The falldowns have been both numerous and shocking, particularly those of the “sannyäsés.”

Finally, Prabhupäda, through the agency of his personal secretary, confirms that the situation clearly indicates that his leaders may not be able to manage his movement at all well after his departure (which, although we did not know it, was set to transpire only a year and a half later). Prabhupäda’s message to Satsvarüpa Gosvämé (4-10-72), quoted above, also indicated his doubt about the management capability of his leaders, i.e., in one sense, this warning of May, 1976 was not new. He had also, quite explicitly, indicated five years earlier that there was a possibility that everything would be spoiled by the G.B.C.

Questions and Answers

Since new people do not know that the movement became deviated and continues to be so, would not the Supreme Lord make some kind of concession, allowing them nevertheless to be initiated into the sampradäya?

“Dull-witted must be cheated.” Since it is Kali-yuga, the Lord makes limited concessions for the conditioned souls in this age. Indeed, Lord Caitanya’s movement is based upon a benediction which falls into this category. Similarly, Çréla Prabhupäda said that he was eighty percent more liberal than his guru mahäräj.

Still, the very fabric of the guru-paramparä cannot be shredded just because a chela is prone to be cheated by sahajiyäs in what only superficially appears to be a branch of the sampradäya. The bhakti process itself cannot be compromised in order to give genuine harer näma initiation and dékñä initiation to such people, who clearly did not and do not deserve any such initiation.

Prabhupäda was hopeful about his movement, but he had reservations. He specifically stated that it was progressing slowly, and he also said that there was possibility, in the future, that even the temples could disappear:

“You have taken the right view of the importance of my books. Books will always remain. That was the view of my guru maharaja, and I also have taken it. Therefore, I started my movement with my books, and we shall be able to maintain everything with the sales of the books. The temples will be maintained by the book sales, and if there are no more temples, then the books shall remain.”
Letter to Hansadutta, 11-8-73

How any new person could simply enter some movement and surrender himself to it without thoroughly first reading, with deliberate and diligent scrutiny, Prabhupäda’s books? How could he not check out the history of the movement he is considering? How could any sincere and serious new person seek initiation in some movement without first possessing basic knowledge of spiritual life? How could a serious seeker become duped by anything that was (and remains easily discerned to be) mixed up with egotistical leaders?

The Paramätmä is there, and He gives preliminary guidance to the knowledgeable, sincere, and serious person, one who is lucky enough to take His guidance through intuition. The Supreme Lord is not obliged to make any kind of compromise for new people who do not posses the basic and necessary spiritual prerequisites.

What is the interplay of “ISKCON” authority, power, and charisma?

There is no spiritual or devotional authority in the fabricated, so-called “ISKCON” confederation. There is institutional power there, of course, and much of that is the power of organized religion. As far as charisma is concerned, it is a stretch to think that an institution itself possesses charisma. Charisma is in relation to a given individual, and it comes in two types for him or her: Personal or institutional. The great kértan devotees (even if they are now deviated) were highly charismatic, and their charisma was personal. Many of them are still charismatic. The manipulators and bureaucrats, most of whom had little or no personal charisma, projected institutional charisma in order to increase their power, both when the movement was bona fide and after when it went off the tracks.

Although there is not an uttama-adhikäré in “ISKCON,” could there still be some madhyam-adhikärés active in it? If so, could not one of them receive the order to become an initiating spiritual master?

There are a number of problems here. The first flaw entails lack of understanding concerning madhyam-adhikäré, viz., the madhyam is an advanced devotee.

The second flaw is connected to association. “ISKCON” association is not conducive to spiritual and/or devotional life. It is worse than that, however, because any devotee who approaches madhyam-adhikäré realization will certainly be dragged down by his association with “devotees” active in a bogus cult. They would notice his change, they would envy it, intrigue and treachery would soon ensue, and they would act in such a way as to bring him down; the astral larva in “ISKCON” is highly contaminated.

The third flaw is the idea that Prabhupäda would give the order to anyone active in “ISKCON.” That movement is egregiously misrepresenting him. Why would he give any of them the order? And for those who may still be able to perform some kind of authorized sevä there, why would he give even them the order? Why would he put them through the hell that receiving the order from him would automatically entail?

The fourth flaw is the most obvious: How would “ISKCON” recognize such a dékñä-guru? “ISKCON” has a process for its recognition of initiators, and all of the “ISKCON” gurus are institutional gurus, because all of them follow that process. How could anyone be accepted in that cult as an initiating spiritual master if he did not follow its process? If the madhyam did follow it, he would instantly have invalidated his order. Another way of saying the same thing is that he would no longer be a madhyam-adhikäré.

The Titanic Taproots (I)

“Whatever he (Kértanänanda) is doing nowadays has no sanction from me, and he has deliberately disobeyed me by not going to London. Now he appears to be out of my control, and therefore I advise you not to follow his principles . . .”

Letter to Brahmänanda, 10-11-67

To conclude that Catholicism has had any tangible influence in either ISKCON or “ISKCON” is mistaken knowledge. However, there were three quasi-religious4 mindsets that insidiously wormed their way into Prabhupäda’s movement. Two of these contaminates can be, to a significant extent, attributed to Kértanänanda and TKG.5 The third one, of course, was the great sinister movement: The Gouòéya Mutt. Inimical to Çréla Prabhupäda from the very start of his Western mission, its contamination was negligible until the spring of 1978, after which it became extremely influential until the schism of 1982.

“I cannot understand why he played with me like this. If he had no desire to go to London, he would have plainly told me like that. It has certainly given me a great shock.”
Letter to Hayagréva, 9-27-67

Swämi Kértanänanda has given me a great shock. I advised him to go to London with introduction letter and money, but he flew away to N. Y. without my knowledge. His first action after taking sannyäsa is a great shock to me . . .”
Letter to Janärdan, 9-30-67

“From different centers of our society, the news of the activities of Kértanänanda is giving me too much pain. From Räyäräma’s letter it is clear that Kértanänanda has not rightly understood Krishna consciousness philosophy, and it appears that he does not know the difference between impersonal and personal features of Krishna. The best thing will be to prohibit him to speak in any of our functions or meetings. It is clear that he has become crazy, and he should once more be sent to Bellevue. He was in Bellevue before, and with great difficulty and with the help of Mr. Ginsberg, we got him out, but it appears that he has developed his madness again . . . “
Letter to Brahmänanda, 10-16-67

“We were very smoothly going on but this disruption created by Kértanänanda has plagued and disturbed the situation. . . Kértanänanda is a crazy man. That is proved. He says that he has become equal to the spiritual master, but he is such a fool that he does not understand the principle of disciple . . .”
Letter to Räyäräma, 11-9-67

Kértanänanda Swämi was one of the eleven pretender mahäbhägavats, one of the so-called zonal äcäryas, and he continued as such throughout the late Seventies and into the mid-Eighties. We cannot and will not delineate all of his exploits here, but it must be known that, despite the fact that he was the first sannyäsé (much ballyhooed), he was also the first devotee to give Prabhupäda a great shock. He was the first devotee to cause a disturbance throughout the then fledgling Hare Kåñëa movement. He was the first initiate to intentionally disobey an important order, i.e., to open a center in London.

He was also, about a decade later, the first devotee to arrange for and accept uttama-adhikäré worship from his own godbrothers and godsisters at his Moundsville compound. He was the first man to initiate new people as a so-called mahäbhägavata, after His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda clearly had enjoined “regular guru, that’s all” in May of 1977 (without recognizing anyone as having attained even that qualification).

Concerning Prabhupäda’s reference (above) to Kértanänanda not understanding the relationship between the impersonal and personal features, there is anecdotal evidence of this, which may or may not be shared in a later article by your author.

“G.B.C. means to see that the activities of a center go on nicely. I do not know why Tamal is exercising his absolute authority. . . Tamal should not do like that.”
Letter to Giriräj, 8-12-71

Never forget that Comrade Napoleon is always right.”
George Orwell, Animal Farm

In California, TKG first came into contact with Prabhupäda and then left a hippie commune there (with Viñëujana) in order to join the Hare Kåñëa movement. TKG made his mark by distributing books and collecting funds. Eventually, he was put in charge of these services in that part of the United States. He also was active in efforts to open centers, and he, along with Madhudviña (a great kértan man) oversaw the development of distribution, collection, and the opening centers up and down the West Coast.

In the beginning, TKG dovetailed his pushy qualities, but, as indicated and evidenced from the quote (below), he was prone to create friction with other leaders in the movement by the abrasiveness of his overbearing personality:

“But one thing is you must stop this fighting between brothers. Otherwise, the whole program will be spoiled. Yourself, Tamala Krishna, Brahmänanda, Satsvarüpa—you should do everything combinedly. . . if amongst ourselves there is friction, it will be very dangerous.”
Letter to Gargamuni, 9-8-69

The late Sixties and early Seventies were propitious years for TKG. He became prominent, and he was appointed as one of the original twelve governing commissioners. To his credit, he was not part of the ad hoc G.B.C. deviation in early 1972. In 1970, he helped the rest of the G.B.C. men counter the poison injected into the movement by four deviant sannyäsés,6 and those counteractive initiatives proved successful. TKG became the first temple president of the Calcutta center in late September, 1970, after previously assisting two other godbrothers and their wives in opening a center in downtown London.

TKG was a very active individual, and he had strong personal ambitions. Your author, along with many others, directly experienced a peculiar quirk in his delivery (to anyone whom he considered inferior and who he wanted to control), i.e., it seemed as if every other sentence uttered by him would begin with these two words: “You should . . .”

Prabhupäda gave TKG a lot of power, and, in 1971, TKG added to his portfolio the title of Zonal Secretary for India. However, he had a tendency as G.B.C. to interfere with the operation of the temple president, particularly with Giriräj in Bombay, and thus Prabhupäda mocked him for “exercising his absolute authority,” as evidenced in the excerpt from the August, 1971 letter, reproduced above.

By July, 1972, TKG had left his wife (devastated) and had taken sannyäsa, but he was incommunicado regarding his responsibilities, and Prabhupäda was wondering why. He did not even know if TKG was still active on the Mäyäpur project. TKG was then sent to Bombay to solve major problems connected to the purchase of property at Juhu Beach from the inimical Mr. Nair, who was trying to cheat Prabhupäda. Allowing Nair leverage that he previously did not have, TKG foolishly canceled the original sales agreement. In April, 1974, TKG suffered a severe hernia, and it was then decided that he would preach in the United States as an itinerant sannyäsé.

He went on to form the Rädhä-Dämodar Sankértan Party (RDSKP). Viñëujana joined him, and, although he was the chief attraction, TKG manipulated everything and called all the important shots. This party performed significant service in the matter of magazine and book distribution, making new devotees, and raking in collections from distribution. At the same time, it also precipitated a revolt by the American temple presidents against the RDSKP. They voiced their deep displeasure at the annual Mäyäpur conclave in 1975. This revolt was referenced by Çréla Prabhupäda a little later that year:

“Regarding the sannyäsés convincing men within the temple that they should leave and go with them on their parties, that is not at all good. I have never approved of this action. You can tell them. Everyone is concocting something of their own. It must be checked. The sannyäsés should work with what men they have got, and they cannot secretly convince men in the temples to leave their duties.”
Letter to Bhakta däs, 6-17-75

This disturbance throughout ISKCON in America wound up with TKG being taken away from RDTSKP and being sent to China. He went to there along with one servant, and they came back with a report that China was not ready for Kåñëa cultivation.7 Prabhupäda was given little choice but to accept the conclusion, yet some devotees judged the whole episode as a kind of punishment of TKG. Guru-krpa (then Swami), for instance, witnessed TKG arrive in Honolulu after China and considered him to be “a broken man.” In May of 1976, His Divine Grace dictated a letter which stated that it “appears impractical” to send anyone to mainland China, and it was decided that Hong Kong would be cultivated instead.

TKG then made his headquarters in New York City for some time, and he also traveled to Africa just after a violent disturbance at one of the centers there. He also continued as a rittvik, chanting japa-mala beads on behalf of Prabhupäda.

The letters show that Satsvarupa Goswami was Prabhupada’s secretary in the second week of February, 1977, and that TKG was secretary as of February 26th. There was only one letter typed in the interim, but no secretary’s initials are present at the bottom of it. In other words, sometime in February of 1977, TKG took over as the personal secretary, a position he did not relinquish until Prabhupada left the scene in mid-November. His Divine Grace was in very bad health throughout the year, and his appearance evidenced that beyond a doubt.8

What Is to Be Done?

“No conditioned soul actually knows what is to be done and what is not to be done, but a person who acts in Kåñëa consciousness is free to act, because everything is prompted by Kåñëa from within and confirmed by the spiritual master.”
Bhagavad-gétä, 18.58, purport

“So, decide amongst yourselves what is to be done and do the needful. This is management. You have asked about the management of our society, and the position is that management should be done in such a way that people may not break away. That is the first business of management. . .”
Letter to Brahmänanda, 10-27-69

Half the battle is showing up.”
Woody Allen

If the powers that be buy into the “ISKCON” scheme (or favor Neo-Mutt or Rittvik), if they then empower one of these groups politically and monetarily, the hell of pandemonium will not be checked. Instead, it will exacerbate the situation, and there will be major revolts throughout the world against any such sahajiyä group attaining prominence.

Sooner rather than later, it would lead to nuclear war, culminating with savage, post-modern troglodytes roaming the earth, a kind of dystopia similar to what is scheduled for the end of Kali-yuga. To sentimentally believe that such interim depravity is impossible in the Golden Age is to not understand how deeply displeasing the current situation (of what only appears to be the Hare Kåñëa movement) is to Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu and the rest of the guru-paramparä, including His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda.

They will not allow it to prosper. Instead, they will arrange for a period of hell on earth in order to cleanse the contamination. Whether or not that goes down during our lifetimes cannot be known at this time. It may not go down at all, because the developing situation is still at a stage where these groups can be exposed, checked, and stopped.

The Vaishnava Foundation is working on your behalf–on multiple fronts, through various written and spoken media—to expose the fabricated, so-called “ISKCON” confederation for what it is, and, just as importantly, for what it isn’t. This is a fight unlike any other. It is unprecedented, and almost no one (who has not yet developed his or her prajïä) can even comprehend the meaning of it.

evaà paramparä-präptam
imaà räjarñayo viduù
sa käleneha mahatä
yogo nañöaù parantapa

“O subduer of the enemy, this science was thus received by disciplic succession and understood by self-realized kings. In time, this great yoga science was scattered.”
Bhagavad-gétä, 4.2

Vaishnava Foundation members are making efforts to help you advance in devotional life, as well as to check the momentum of the rogue “ISKCON” organization, particularly in America. We emphasize freedom in Kåñëa consciousness, while “ISKCON” represents bondage. We shall continue to advance the pro-freedom agenda in the right way, in the context of what real freedom actually is and how it is meant for everlasting beatitude. The Kåñëa consciousness movement is meant for intelligent, sincere, and serious devotees of Godhead. Vimukti is difficult and cannot be achieved by clinging to any service connection with the colossal hoax known as “ISKCON.”

It will relentlessly continue to be what it is until the very end. That end will mark the termination of its influence in the Western world, and it will come to pass, one way or another. The stream of half truths, lies, innuendo, and running devotees through the grease—all of which is perpetrated by “ISKCON” (in awkward conjunction with Rittvik, which has at least one character assassin in its fold) creates a formidable barrier.

This cultural war rages at the core of the esoteric plane, in the context of an irreconcilable difference between spiritual authority and institutional power. Against overwhelming odds and opposition, individual freedom to advance in Kåñëa consciousness must be maintained, and institutional oppression (by a network of bogus gurus and puffed-up bureaucrats) must be defied. Make no mistake, those people have abused the service that Prabhupäda was hoping for them. Your participation in exposing “ISKCON” is welcomed.

Çréla Prabhupäda’s movement was doing well and expanding nicely before the creation of the Governing Body Commission in the summer of 1970. After the commission deviated in the late winter and early spring of 1972, everything went downhill—everything actually important, that is. Sure, there was an increase in revenue and book distribution, but the shortcuts and cheating methods employed by gold-plated grifters back in the day have taken a toll over time, and the authority of the church has now been shaken.

The science of bhakti-yoga has been effectively scattered, because real spiritual and devotional authority has been overridden, replaced, and effectively ruined in “ISKCON.” In due course, in the West in particular, its temples may hardly function beyond Deity worship, püja performed by a skeleton crew of wrongly initiated people, all of whom are actually unqualified and unauthorized for that service.

When a devotional institution goes bad, it no longer is a conduit for its devotees returning back home, back to Godhead, because it can no longer deliver the spiritual goods. The make-show goes on more powerfully when the deviated institution was initially founded by a God-realized spiritual master, such as His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda. The long period of “ISKCON” putrefaction continues, as it must. It still has institutional power, as do all large and internationally organized religions in this world. “ISKCON” leaders and followers are in the darkness, and they do not know how degraded and horrific the situation will eventually become if their pretense is allowed to expand unimpeded.

OM TAT SAT

ENDNOTES

1 This is a reference to the Gouòéya Mutt, of course.

2 It should be understood in context. Many of Prabhupäda’s initiated male disciples—arguably, the majority of them—engaged in traveling sankértan book distribution parties and/or college preaching parties on a regular basis. In doing so, they engaged in Deity worship on the weekends or only after a month or more on the road distributing magazines and books. The particular sevä of the devotee was much more essential to his spiritual progress than engaging daily in Deity worship. Such was the case, for all practical purposes, throughout the Seventies for most of the movement’s male devotees.

4 You could apply the term pseudo-religious just as well.

5 Kértanänanda brought in a kind of crypto-Protestantism, and, although TKG was not the original conduit, he increased the influence of crypto-Talmudism in the movement.

6 Prabhupäda relied upon him, as one of the twelve members of the newly-created G.B.C., to act against the nescience being propagated by four deviant sannyäsés, one of which was TKG’s old buddy from back in the commune days, Viñëu-jana Swämi. He and the three others had come under the influence of some of Prabhupäda’s inimical godbrothers in India, who his Divine Grace labeled “fourth-class men.”

7 One senior man, who was with TKG in London and was the centerpiece of a small faction of RDTSP, informed your author that TKG flew into Beijing, bivouacked in a high-rise hotel with his personal servant, sent that fellow out for “research,” and then they cobbled together a white paper which was supposed to show that China was not ready.

8 As could only be expected, devotees in America or Europe were, for all practical purposes, not afforded opportunity to see just how shocking Prabhupäda’s physical condition had become, in no small part because photos of him at that time were not circulated. If even one such photo had been circulated, many of his disciples would have left their engagements in America and Europe and would have flown to India in order to get his final association, as he was, from a physical standpoint, emaciated to a stunning degree. Of course, that would have impacted collection, which was far more important to the leaders than facilitating others, who those leaders believed Prabhupada did not even know, except through them.

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