Return to Part One
(Exposing the Illusion of Institutional Initiation)
Ten-Part Series
Part Two: Confronting the Root Causes
by Kailäsa Candra däsa
Real philosophy and real ethics must be realized personally. The Commission and its hacks bring you their self-motivated version of philosophy, but it boils down ultimately to nothing more than institutional dogma. It is opinion, and, worse yet, it is the opinion of others that does not actually have your realization, empowerment, and happiness as its objective. It tells you that its loyal members are on the right side, and its philosophy is the right one. Both of these assertions are untrue, but they can only shape you if you let them.
Assembling a set of beliefs in order to remain in the good graces of the cult, of the Commission, of the collective, of the institution, and/or of the organized religion is to sacrifice your spiritual birthright for that which is not. “ISKCON” is nothing more than a corporate pretext used as a vehicle to fulfill the dark agenda of its power node, the discredited G.B.C. The set of beliefs espoused by “ISKCON” are mostly of the nature of dogma, and its hierarchy, in terms of spiritual advancement, is a fraud.
It systematically aims to undermine you, steal your results, and break your will up to the point that you fully surrender to it, thus taking away any and all power you would have otherwise had in order to achieve something great in the service of guru and Gauräìga. “ISKCON” is always after this. It will never be content unless it can rule you, and it does rule you once you believe that it is non-different from the totalism or total control of the Supreme Lord and his demigod administrators over everything everywhere.
All emphases added for your edification and realization
You can achieve a genuine, alternative vision to the one pushed by “ISKCON” leaders. “ISKCON” may appear, to the uneducated eye, to represent the City of God, but, due to dramatic degradation the movement has undergone over the past forty years, it has now become a subtle yet effective agent of Satan. It therefore hopes to eventually influence and rule the City of Man. Whether or not it ever reaches that goal—and it is far from attaining it at the current time—is an important question not to be neglected.
We are living in an apparent world that, at least for the most part, we are able to recognize and apparently order. However, there are worlds underlying this one, worlds in which logic does not hold much sway. Instead, shadowy forces must be reckoned with in this dark world, and it is weaving its own tale of intrigue, treachery, and betrayal. The only insuperable philosophy is the philosophy of Kåñëa consciousness, which must include tattva and siddhänta. You will not get this philosophy from “ISKCON,” and, as a consequence, you will not escape the intrigues of the all-pervading shadow world.
That shadow world is almost always more powerful than the apparent world, and, if you are not Kåñëa conscious, you cannot be fully protected from its malefic influence. All individual higher destiny hinges on becoming Kåñëa conscious, but, in order to do so, you must first become free from all affiliation with the dark and unpredictable world on subtler planes. “ISKCON” cannot lead you to this freedom. Instead, it binds you to but another manifestation of those subconscious planes, undermining the rare potential you have to achieve spiritual realization in the human form of life.
We are living in perilous times. The war between good and evil is at one level, while the opposition of All Good Absolute and everything against it is at another. Heroic devotees know what constitutes Kåñëa consciousness or cosmic consciousness. They also know that “ISKCON” is not part of the means to deliverance, but, instead, is a conduit to individual and civilization fate, the negative side of the coin of universal destiny.
The Myth of “Self-Sacrifice”
“Regarding the Hindu community: Don’t expect anything very wonderful from them . . . you cannot expect any cultural contribution. So, you will tactfully deal with them, and whenever possible, vehemently protest against their foolish ideas.”
Letter to Guru däs, 9-29-68
“ . . . the impersonalist sacrifices his material designations with a view to merging into the existence of the Supreme.”
Bhagavad-gétä, 4.25, purport
“To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
On the day when WWI began, one month after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, neither the financial nor regular British press gave any publicity to the fact that a run on the Bank of England had begun. Then, a street vendor near its headquarters began shouting, “There’s a run on the bank!” He was immediately arrested.
What has gone down in “ISKCON,” and what continues to go down in that ecclesiocracy, should be as clear as the sun to anyone who does his or her basic research via the unbiased approach. What has gone down is based, in no small part, upon the myth of self-sacrifice perpetrated by that organization. Real sacrifice must be rooted in Kåñëa consciousness in order for it to prove effective, in order for it to give tangible knowledge and realization. This is, in no small part, because Kåñëa consciousness undermines “ISKCON” ecclesiology and exposes the myth of self-sacrifice in one fell swoop.
You remain bewildered only if you settle for that condition. Consciousness of Kåñëa will always work to destroy such puzzlement, but only if you are willing to pay the price. You must confront, both inside and outside, the root causes of your bewilderment, especially as they relate to the process of linking up to the Supreme through buddhi-yoga. This genuine process of yoga has been given to you by your dékñä-guru (if you actually have one) or by your çikñä-guru. In particular, you must be willing to accept the obvious, even when it is ignored and neglected by almost everyone else.
Logical confrontation against subtle mäyä automatically entails a willingness on your part to accept and endure the backlash accompanying that determination, viz., you will be targeted on the level of every koça of your conditioned being. In the beginning, your life will often be made unpleasant. You will be looked upon as egotistical, selfish, and unwilling to engage in sacrificing yourself for the cause of “The Society.”
In all of his translations, purports, lectures, letters, room conversations, and morning walks, please note that His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda used the term “self-sacrifice” . . . as a matter of fact, he never used it! If you consult the Folio, you will find that some of his followers have used the term, but His Divine Grace did not. Instead, he simply used the term “sacrifice,” which, of course, is an English translation of the Sanskrit yajïa. This Sanskrit term was used by Çréla Prabhupäda over two thousand times, and its English equivalent (sacrifice) was employed by him over two thousand times, as well.
As such, we should at least be a bit leery when the term “self-sacrifice” pops up, somehow or other, and enters into the lexicon of our thought processes. We should be apprehensive for good reason. When devotees assemble to discuss çästra or various issues, either in person or via technology, their mutual interest in Kåñëa consciousness draws them together in order to advance their realization of the Absolute Truth. It does not mean that any of them sacrifices his or her individual point of view, because that can never be lost, i.e., the goal of buddhi-yoga in Kåñëa consciousness is always personal.
The myth of self-sacrifice automatically tamps down the ability of the devotee to protest against what he knows is being wrongly done in the organization that he had previously dedicated himself to in so many ways. Indeed, this is one of the reasons that the manipulators in that current organization push the concept of self-sacrifice, disguising it with euphemistic buzz words, such as “cooperation” or “surrender” or “interface.”
In “ISKCON,” for those who buy into it (which is certainly not everybody), work is renounced and replaced by much harder work, the results of which are then surrendered to the vested interests. They go on to use it to their own advantage, fulfill their own desires (most often, those results are pecuniary), and, if they can pull it off, to proclaim all those fruits to be the result of their own influence. They can only make such a claim from a remote, untenable position, and, in most cases, they cannot legitimately even claim that—at least, not reasonably. However, in that organization, who cares what is legitimate? Perception is converted into reality in these kinds of institutional delusions, and any given colossal hoax can be thus perpetrated with ease.
The higher intelligence of man is his prajïä, but buddhi-yoga—or, to be more specific, the working principles of buddhi-yoga—is active even at the stage of reason or common sense, previous to full-blown prajïä. Creative intelligence cannot prosper when it is subordinated to cult parasites (in the name of “leaders”). The predilection of suggestibility afflicting the chelas who “surrender” to them leads those unfortunates into a forced life of dependence, which is an evil life. As often as not, they are unable to realize just how bad it was and is until too late.
They thus fall victim to a wrong interpretation of yajïa or sacrifice, i.e., they fall victim to the myth of self-sacrifice. There is no crying need to completely sacrifice yourself to any conditioned soul in the dogmatic hierarchy of institutionalized religion; you have no great need to engage in functions that must first be approved by it, and, from which, the results of those activities must be given to it. Your existence is entirely independent of the institution and its beneficiaries, but you can only realize this truth if and/or when you come out from under the suppression of its propaganda.
Universal brotherhood is certainly one of the by-products of Kåñëa consciousness, but such a brotherhood of man should not be confused with the disrespect for self one manifests when he or she capitulates to humiliation in the name of following such-and-such great swämé or following the so-called ultimate authority (“ultimate managing authority”) of the cult. You should ignore these kinds of people, these kinds of organizations, and these kinds of commissions, as they have no place whatsoever in the prosecution of buddhi-yoga in service to guru-paramparä.
Instead, why not get into your sevä? Instead, why not develop a love for the work that you perform for the pleasure of your spiritual master and the Supreme? You should best develop your own abilities with this kind of positive mentality, which is based upon the degree of independence for which you are eligible. There is no development of such talents, abilities, or independence in acts stifled by the lack of initiative that ever-permeates the institutional mystique. The only “knowledge” developed in such a suffocating milieu is of the A-B-C-D variety, and almost any newcomer can immediately assimilate to that level simply by reading Prabhupäda’s books.
When you labor in complete dependence upon the hierophant, the cult, and/or the Commission, where is the development of human dignity that you require in order to re-awaken your eternal self? Instead, you develop the slave mentality by such labor, which undermines all dignity, human or spiritual.
On Feeding the Hand That Bites You
“There are hundreds of letters of appreciation, including some from you also, but you have not mentioned even a single line about me in the pamphlet. Why?? Personally, I don’t want any such advertisement, but why this mentality of suppressing the fact? Will you kindly let me know why you have suppressed so many facts?”
Letter to Swämé Tértha (Kuïja-da) of Gouòéya Mutt, 2-7-69
“Even Kåñëa was suppressed. Kåñëa could not be suppressed, but the attempt was there (by) Kaàsa. So these things go on, still we have to work. . . If we work sincerely, then we’ll come out successful. . . We should not be afraid.”
Room Conversation, 11-2-76
“It’s the same spirit that says, ‘You toil,
work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.’”
Abraham Lincoln
Real work is consummated by the individual devotee in the sevä sanctioned by his spiritual master, who is also an individual. Majority rule has no place in real work (sevä), but it has a very big place in institutional arrangements for usurping the results of work. If you are working under your spiritual master—and he is a bona fide guru and not an institutional facsimile—then, if he deems your lack of eligibility to currently require it, he may take the results you achieve and employ them himself in the service of the Lord. However, even in this most preliminary stage of the process, your adhikära or eligibility increases, in both strength and dimension. He makes sure of that. You work for him and then, almost miraculously, he empowers you to work both under and with him, yourself then becoming the secondary proprietor of the results.
This is the real standard of following a spiritual master in a spirit of cooperation, and no godbrother has any right–especially by means of manipulating some kind of abnormal majority vote–to demand the results of work from any other godbrother. All godbrothers are entitled—provided their eligibility indicates it (which is not determined by either majority vote or some kind of commission)–to develop their own field of preaching, their own followers and disciples, and, if they so choose, their own organization. Their first duty is to develop, in Kåñëa consciousness, their power (bala), which serves as the center to further develop their knowledge (jïäna) and effective actions (kriyä). Every godbrother develops all of this by himself, not under the thumb of institutional oppression, under a mandate of parasitical suppression.
“ISKCON” has become a kind of sugar-coated slave society, because all of the “gurus” in this cult cannot function anywhere within it unless they have either been grandfathered in (from the zonal äcärya era), voted in (early Eighties) or have, after waiting in queue for some arbitrary length of time, secured the No Objection Certification. This is nothing less than a covert form of suppression. Another way of saying the same thing is that all the “ISKCON” gurus, without exception, have been, and continue to be, institutional gurus.
As such, they are all, at least ultimately, dependent upon the vitiated G.B.C. for their status, but this kind of hierarchical pyramid features slaves who kow-tow to the capstone itself. That capstone is not Çréla Prabhupäda. That capstone is not the guru-paramparä, and that capstone is not any individual. It is an institutional roof made up of discredited and compromised G.B.C. men and women, who can and do change anything and everything (including approval of massive changes to Prabhupäda’s books) at whim, simply because they falsely claim that they have the spiritual authority to do so. All the lower totems in this pyramid scheme are suppressed slaves.
However, some slaves (a bit up in the turtle tank) make others their personal slaves, and there is no freedom to be had by these unfortunates. They have been victimized at every level, and the hole they are in is very difficult for them to even recognize, what to speak of extricating themselves from it. They have substituted, for what should have been the development of their own goals, the aims of others, and this whole arrangement is chock full of suppression and exploitation. The Gouòéya Mutt tried to do this to Prabhupäda during the early days of his mission. In “ISKCON,” it is manifested as the society of the cheaters and the cheated, permeated by exploitation at every step. The misleaders of these kinds of societies are little more than pretender altruists, totalitarians in disguise, and ultimately must be considered criminals who are able to perpetrate malfeasance that the State will (probably) never prosecute.
This is the nature of slave society, and organized religion is notorious for creating and perpetuating these kinds of paradigms. The fabricated, so-called “ISKCON” confederation is the worst manifestation of this syndrome, because it was founded and initially developed by a pure devotee of the Lord. He was situated at the highest level of love and devotion to the Supreme. He did not rob or exploit anyone. He uplifted and empowered his dedicated disciples. He let them develop, by their service attitude, the ability to become completely independent of all other men, save and except those great souls who guide him throughout their lives in so many ways.
However, the G.B.C. has effectively engaged in one of the most subtly manipulative smash-and-grabs in the history of the modern and post-modern era, snatching away, from almost all of Prabhupäda’s disciples, what must always be considered their rightful spiritual birthright. Those who enslave others through the institutional mandate, often in the name of deliverance from evil, do not actually create anything of substance in the process. In the material sphere, this is demonstrated by junta leaders, various kinds of tyrants, kings of all sorts, dictators, and show-bottle presidents.
In the pseudo-spiritual realm, it is demonstrated by commissioners, institutional gurus, and warlocks with daëòas. They are all pushing various frauds rooted in illusion, but the illusion of institutional initiation is the cement that holds all the bricks of their superstructure together. That institutional initiation has no value (even to them) if they cannot take the results of work from the chela. He usually is not protected in the cult, especially when he or she begins to experience doubt. His leaders then proceed to suppress him or her, eventually replacing the unfortunate with a new fool. This has gone on throughout history, but it has reached a particularly acute stage now.
Under the plea of the highest form of altruism, malefic leaders of institutional delusions impede, oppress, suppress, ignore, and compress, whenever and wherever they can, the efforts of devoted transcendentalists, those who are engaged in the actual creation of Kåñëa conscious results. The successful efforts of the individual devotee constitute a threat to both the group-think and their power structure. In the name of the common good or spiritual altruism, they solidify the class structure intrinsic to their monopolistic imposition. This is certainly a form of tyranny, but only those who are acting under the regulative principles of freedom can realize the fact.
The imposition eventually leads to various atrocities, restricted in scope and horror only by the mundane power of the host culture. Yet, the disciples of Kali, in the name of Kåñëa consciousness, delude themselves into believing that they are being guided by the highest of motives. They delude themselves that they alone possess the gateway to the spiritual world, and as such, ultimately they have the right to do anything and everything. Of course, they cannot do that currently, so they concentrate their maleficent efforts mostly in suppressing godbrothers (the ones who resist their clique) often by running them through the grease or ignoring them completely.
Did not the Soviet Union have, in the minds of its leaders, the best of intentions for the people of the world? Or the Nazis for the select people of the world, the so-called Äryans? Or the Roman Catholic Church, especially during the inquisitional epoch of the Gothic Era? The best of intentions can be degraded into the greatest of delusions, especially when it is hardened into a pseudo-spiritual, corporate institution. Those brutes at the top of such institutions rail against the work of the lone devotee, but, as long as lip service is paid, they allow a handful of their own wild-cards (some of whom may also be commissioners) to engage in all kinds of unauthorized activities in the name of spontaneous devotional service or räga-bhakti.
The Imitation Game
Prabhupäda: If in this world there is one Vaiñëava, he can deliver all the world.
Leading Secretary: You are that one Vaiñëava, Çréla Prabhupäda.
Prabhupäda: You become, each of you. Why not?
Leading Sannyäsé: We can try.
Prabhupäda: Yes, try but follow. Do not imitate.
Room Conversation in Våndävan, India, July, 1977
“We can simply follow. Anukaraëa, anusaraëa. There are two Sanskrit words. One is imitation, and one (is) who is following the footprints. If one tries to follow the footprints of great personalities, that is very nice, but we cannot imitate, imitate. Imitation is dangerous.”
Platform Lecture on Bhagavad-gétä 3.6-10, 12-23-68
“It’s the only dream you can have: To come out the number one man.”
Willy Loman, Death of a Salesman
Due to the influence of time, the script will tend to flip, as everything gets dumbed down further and further in the “ISKCON” dumpster fire, where some actors move up in the turtle tank, others get pushed down or out of it, and some just plain die. The beat goes on nevertheless, because root nescience remains as entrenched as ever. When the eleven pretender mahäbhägavats were starting to get exposed (in the very late Seventies and early Eighties), their loyalists and henchmen pulled out from the hat all kinds of rationalizations. They even said about them, “But what are they getting?” In other words, the delusion had become so profound that they believed the great pretenders were simply taking on only so much trial and tribulation (in the name of love for their fellow man) and were thus the actual victims. Those men were anything but the victims; they were mega-enjoyers. Yet, their blind loyalists believed within themselves that their great gurus were after nothing for themselves!
Judge by the results whether or not those eleven pretenders were acting in such an altruistic way. It is a rather easy judgment to make, at this stage. It is clear as the sun on a cloudless day that each and every one of them was imitating His Divine Grace Çréla Prabhupäda. History does not look upon them kindly even now, what to speak of when that chapter is accurately recorded. It will be a conflict viewed in the rear view mirror of time, but such will not completely be the case in the intermediate term–not unless the essence of “ISKCON” nescience is fully ripped out now, root and branch.
The winners write the history. The current imitation of the Kåñëa movement, not the same thing as what was the actual movement a generation ago, has got to be confronted, exposed, and stopped. It still goes on, but it has now morphed into a more subtle manifestation. If we are able to uproot this atrophied representation of so-called Kåñëa consciousness, then it should best be replaced by the real thing. That real movement pivots not around group-think, not around the Commission, not around the good old boys’ network, but, instead, around individual, advanced devotees. The principle of the individual devotee—which His Divine Grace represented perfectly and in full when he came here—will thus be brought once again to the forefront, where it should have always remained. The individual bhakta spreads Kåñëa consciousness to other individuals; the group does no such thing.
If the transcendental sun is able to rise once again, various host cultures—the vast majority of which will still represent Western rather than Eastern values—can be made to be, both materially and spiritually, positively influenced in the true sense of the term. The privacy of the guru-disciple relationship shall not be impinged in such a progressive culture; instead, it will be honored and protected. The true understanding of individual progress in devotional service, in a devotee’s right to cultivate his or her own relationship with the Lord–completely free from the oppression and suppression of the Society, the Group, the Governing Commission, or whatever–will be extolled.
Real devotees will then be given protection even by the State. This will mark the renaissance of the Golden Age, which is now being suppressed by pseudo-devotional entities, of which the fabricated, so-called “ISKCON” confederation ranks the highest (which means it is actually the lowest). The current of so-called devotional service throughout the world–that which is, in any way, influenced by “ISKCON,” the discredited G.B.C., or the “ISKCON” bija–is actually a savage entity and not deserving of being considered a progressive culture from any perspective, in particular spiritually.
We are now in a state of heavy-duty yet subtle conflict, whether you recognize this or not. The war is not over. Some of the battles have run their course, leaving deep scars, but the fight rages. It must be so until a genuine spiritual civilization, led by the true devotees of the Lord, is established on the basis of freeing man from the dreadful rule of psychic and physical slavery. The basis of that slavery is always to be found in the dogma, the ritual mysterium of the conclave, and the hierarchy of institutional religion.
His Divine Grace brought us close to the Absolute Truth, and, from one perspective, he gave us just that. The generous protection, the loving network he spread, is no longer offered to those who have deviated from him; they now stand on their own power, much of which has been attained through subtle and overt efforts of manipulation and exploitation, often effective.
At this time, during a period of disparity and intense juxtaposition caused by opposing binaries, that Absolute Truth is covered over, almost (apparently) destroyed. It is covered over by a culture of so-called Kåñëa consciousness, which has centrifugally flung its way around the globe in the form of so many anti-devotional spin-offs, e.g., “ISKCON,” Rittvik, Neo-Mutt, and the Solar Smorgasbord. There is no genuine progress to be had in any of these, unless you want to count the expansion of the influence of Hinduism (via its partial(?) takeover of “ISKCON”) as a kind of Eastern infiltration into Western culture. Even in that compromised transformation, from the transcendental perspective, there is no liberation from saàsära to be had.
All of these cults or online propaganda agendas, in what they represent, are cultures of the group-think, of the collective, of the corporation, of the institution. The monstrous effects of these entities are now mostly devastating at an individual level, but, as the years and decades fly by, their power and scale could descend to a dangerous level. Everyone afflicted by the “ISKCON” béja—and that includes many (if not most) of the adherents to either Rittvik or the non-cult of the Solar Smorgasbord–has been intellectually and causally poisoned to such an extent that his or her buddhi-yoga has been rendered useless, null and void. The remaining devotees of the Lord, particularly in America where Prabhupäda initiated his movement, need to resist “ISKCON” and its foils as they swallow up what little remains of the tattva and siddhänta of Çréla Prabhupäda’s Hare Kåñëa movement of Kåñëa consciousness. That is the real work in which we must engage.
We disdain the imitation game of “ISKCON.” We do not recognize the self-acclaimed authority of the discredited G.B.C. at any time. We protest its claim to ultimate authority. We do not let it steal our energy, and we particularly do not let it steal our results. We do not care how big it allegedly is or how great it seems to be (in point of fact, it is not great at all). As far as its claims to numbers, we understand clearly the universal principle that, ultimately, numbers mean nothing. We do not need the G.B.C., we do not want the G.B.C., and we do not value the vitiated G.B.C. The institutional delusion itself is a catastrophe that the world could well do without.
The implementation of the myths surrounding self-sacrifice have got to be exposed, and that is just what is being done here. You need to free yourself from that unauthorized mentality of self-sacrifice to the institution and its power node. Sacrifice? To What? For What? You are not engaged in spiritual charity work when you give results to the leaders of these deviated entities; you are, instead, engaged in masochistic foolishness and complacency. Pull up the anchor from the rocks below and row your boat to the shore, freeing yourself from the fever swamp of “ISKCON.”
Then, once completely liberated from the influence of the “ISKCON” béja, find some good association and engage yourself in genuine spiritual activity, in creating results under the working principles of bhakti-yoga, in creative intelligence that pleases both guru-paramparä and the Supreme Lord within you. At that time, it will come naturally for you to protest all the “ISKCON” deviations. Develop your real integrity in this way and stop contributing to that which is currently destroying the world in the name of sacrifice, in the name of the father, and in the name of Father.
The ultimate evolution of man can be attained through Kåñëa consciousness, which is not baffling. Kåñëa’s all-attractive qualities are present, at least to some extent, even within the cosmic manifestation. You are entitled to realize this and attain to cosmic consciousness, previous to your higher intelligence passing beyond the precincts of the Virajä River. This can be your aim while on your journey Home, and, if it is, “ISKCON” cannot help you in achieving any such goal. To reach the stage of reintegration with the cosmic consciousness means to attain such a strong connection to the Supersoul that no bogus cult, falsely parading itself as the conduit to the Absolute, can ever, even for a moment, bewilder you. The individual consciousness becomes one with the cosmic consciousness at such an advanced level, but, on the path, institutional attempts to suppress you will be experienced.
Realize this and protest it. Admit universal consciousness into your state of being, and recognize that such consciousness is light years superior to what is assimilated at the sorry summit of institutional consciousness. Your devotional service can reach anyone and everyone once you attain cosmic consciousness in Kåñëa. Understand the importance of attaining it as an individual, and, in the process of its realization, understand the importance of overcoming the suppression that “ISKCON” and its foils have erected over your head. If you actually love the Supreme Person, His pure representative, and Kåñëa consciousness, then it is not outside the boundaries of devotional service to confront anything that gets in the way of realizing that pure knowledge, that pure power, that pure devotion, and that pure love.
The Next Black Swan
“And I am surprised that none of the G.B.C. members detected the defects in the procedure. It was detected only when it came to me. What will happen when I am not here: Shall everything be spoiled by G.B.C.?”
Letter to Hansadutta, 4-11-72
“Now has the G.B.C. become more than guru mahäräja? As if simply G.B.C. is meant for looking after pounds, shilling, pence. The G.B.C. does not look after spiritual life. That is a defect. All of our students will have to become guru, but they are not qualified. This is the difficulty.”
Letter to Alanätha, 11-10-75
“Anyone who looks at the rest of this is going to see that something happened, but no one is going to be able to figure it out. That’s your objective: To make it so convoluted that anyone can have a theory, but no one’s got the facts.”
Capt. Jed Burke, Edge of Darkness
By both its nature and definition, a black swan remains virtually unknown until it finally manifests for everyone to see–and many to experience. Whether or not the endgame of “ISKCON” in America will be foreshadowed by the next black swan, it is easy to ascertain that the cult is currently not thriving here. One “ISKCON” under fire and divisible, with liberty and justice for no one (except those at the top) does not look well in the land of the free and the home of the brave. However, the future is shaped by the present–at least, to a significant extent–so it behooves us to understand that present.
Human beings tend to live in their dreams, but a grim future awaits us if we continue to allow the “ISKCON” béja to infect our causal bodies. We can readily decipher what has happened over the past forty years, but first we must engage the determination of the intelligence to do just that. “ISKCON” propaganda will, of course, make the task convoluted, and the cult will also throw in masking monkey wrenches, such as the “growing pains” rationalization. We can all see—well, most can see it—that something dreadful has happened to ISKCON (“ISKCON”), and that the current manifestation is not at all what His Divine Grace established in the mid-Sixties and early Seventies.
That is not enough, however.
Living in order to please the G.B.C. or to please the temple president on behalf of the G.B.C., is living in the service of pseudo-spiritual parasites. This automatically entangles everyone implicated in it, and the man or woman who buys into this misconception—unless he or she can work up the ranks and reach the top echelon (rarely achieved)–remains a slave. Such slavery is not integral to the process of buddhi-yoga, but, when it is wrongly believed to be the highest form of love (bhakti), it then becomes an acute source of degradation and corruption within the flawed paradigm of “ISKCON.”
The bhakta or bhaktin has a basic dignity to be upheld and developed, but an attitude of servitude to that institution, even in the name of the highest altruism, degrades a man to the status of an automaton. The best way to give to others is to first achieve. How can you distribute purchases made with income unless the money is first collected? Thus, true devotees are first urged to create, to achieve, to engage in real work, and they should thus be honored by others who are either unable to do so or who are too weak (mostly due to bad association while laboring under a wrong service attitude).
Yet, the group does whatever it can to extol the virtues of surrendering all results, directly or indirectly, to it, and praises such “surrender” as the only true mode of devotional service. Any achievements that do not directly or indirectly augment its power and propaganda are ignored and neglected, except in the cases where such achievements expose the group.
You do not rid the tribulations of your fellow man by making material suffering the highest test of virtue, by concentrating on suffering. Those who do so make such suffering integral to their own lives, and thus they think that they cannot become virtuous unless they can relieve the suffering of others. Mundane altruism has this characteristic built into it.
The transcendentalist is instead focused upon creative intelligence in Kåñëa consciousness, not on suffering. Kåñëa consciousness is rooted in bliss, not in suffering. Death is linked inextricably with suffering, while real life is inextricably linked to the transcendental progress of Kåñëa consciousness. What the devoted transcendentalist is able to create by his actions in Kåñëa consciousness automatically promotes self-satisfaction, bliss, and relief from suffering at the same time.
Such a transcendentalist does not go along to get along; he does not capitulate and compromise with group consciousness. Usually the wolf pack is wrong, and the transcendentalist thus usually goes against its grain. He does not agree to swim with the current of mäyä in the form of the group-think. Instead, what he is able to create, he directs and controls as the secondary proprietor, and this goes against the strong current of the gorilla troop. A devotee who is not advanced to this point can, of his own volition, donate the results of his mundane activities to the higher bhakta. There is nothing at all wrong with this decision on his part, because it is not compulsive, not imposed by some kind of institutional oppression. The devotee dovetails that donation, and both of them make progress in Kåñëa consciousness.
The devotee stands on the strength of his own advancement in Kåñëa consciousness, in self-realization, and this power radiates for the benefit of others, even when that benefit appears to be remote. This is the standard of true ego, which is subordinate to the Supreme Person but never subordinated to organized religion. The true ego is absolute, because it is eternal, spiritual. The “selfishness” of such a man is the only platform of selflessness, because self-realization benefits everyone, including the self-realized man.
Do not neglect all the consequences that have gone down since the disappearance of His Divine Grace from manifest presence, which itself transpired under nefarious circumstances. There was the careless wording of the Will, the self-serving misinterpretations of the Will, the false propaganda of appointment by Prabhupäda via the “appointment tape,” (which was no such thing), the zonal äcärya debacle, and the imitation of mahäbhägavat by sahajiyäs. There was the so-called biography (given the imprimatur of the G.B.C.), the sexual peccadilloes of institutional gurus, the devotees who have had their authorized services taken from them, and the paid assassination of a malcontent. There was the dismemberment of a psychedelic “ISKCON” guru by his own follower, the concoction of guru-by-vote, the massive book changes, and the destruction of the B.B.T. (replaced by an unauthorized B.B.T.(i)). Recently, there was the concoction of the No Objection Certificate for guru status in “ISKCON,” the Hinduization of “ISKCON,” and, most recently, the “Handbook of Ecclesiology” (your author’s substitute title for the book), which was also given an imprimatur by the Commission.
Each and every one of these dealt a blow to the Hare Kåñëa Movement of Kåñëa Consciousness, and this list is only a summary of but some of the corruptions and deviations. There were certainly more. Each one of these, alone, constitutes a major blow to the movement Prabhupäda founded, desired and envisioned, but their cumulative negative impact amounts to nothing less than a deathblow to that vision!
All of these deviations are causes for what has happened in a disintegrating, multi-national organized religion. They are causes leading to the depravity of that movement, and they all facilitated that institution’s continuing oppression of the remaining devotees of Çréla Prabhupäda, along with suppression of their hard-hitting message. That message is one, and it can only be one. It requires knowledge to understand it. It requires courage to implement it. It requires accurate history to recognize it.
It requires siddhänta. It requires memory of the true process of buddhi-yoga. Yet, to realize all this in full, it requires each and every devotee, at all levels, to confront the above-mentioned causes, recognizing that the root cause of devotional service—the bhakti-latä béja—is not being transmitted in the cult. Instead, what is being transmitted is the “ISKCON” béja. If you do not free yourself from that béja now, you may not be able to turn the corner when the next black swan spreads its wings.
Return to Part One
Go to Part Three
Hare Krsna, Dandavat Pranams. This article is quite impressive and poignant. Not only does Kailasa prabhu fully expose the institutional Iskcon bija, but he helps define an actual approach for sadhakas who wish to make real advancement in this degraded age of bogus yoga processes. Any sincere devotee who hasn’t experienced some of the scenarios he mentions in relation to performing actual bhakti, must most likely,perhaps, still be treading the marg of political agendas and performing Karma Mishra and/or Jhana Mishra Bhakti. Srila Prabhupada in one lecture defines the understanding of how to gain liberation as actual knowledge. This article is a good example of such knowledge. What Kailasa prabhu has written here is a form of sadhana tattva for todays sincere sadhakas in Krsna Consciousness. By performing seva outside the realm of politically motivated self interest any one can realize this as the truth and make real advancement. Hare Krishna.
Another hard hitting article by Kailasa Candra dasa prabhu. I have a very good first hand experience of the “ISKCON”-bija, among other related things mentioned here. A simple check to see if one has the “ISKCON”-bija is to catch oneself identifying with the organization… calling themselves an “ISKCON devotee”. I found that such persons see “ISKCON” as more or less an employer, and they see Krsna consciousness as a career path. They worship the GBC, and cannot distinguish between “ISKCON” and Srila Prabhupada. These particular persons were explicitly instructed by their guru maharaja (a GBC member) to ‘protect the mother ship at all costs’.
On a positive note, I really appreciated the paragraphs preceding the Next Black Swan section. Uplifting, and affirming of the positive steps to take action.
Hare Krsna my friends. Thank you for your service!
class! powerful and spot on! please pray for me! thank you very much!