[PADA: We do not endorse all the points made by this writer, but he has some interesting observations.]
So the Narayan Maharaj followers -- that were so condescending and critical of Satsvarupa and the other Iskcon leaders who flirted with defecting to their guru or taking instruction from him but then capitulated to institutional pressure, are now lionizing the very same man because "Narayan Maharaj saved him from Ananta Das Babaji, a fate worse than death for sure. Saved from what, exactly? Radha-dasya? Raganuga bhajan? Erotic adventures with Bengali widows in Radha Kund?
[PADA: The GBC has been "flirting" with various "outside gurus" and authorities all along. They hooked up with "shiksha gurus" like Sridhara Maharaja, Narayana Maharaja, BV and BP Puri, and the Mahanidhi swami crowd was hooked up with various Radha Kunda babajis as their authorities. Of course Srila Prabhupada had said we should avoid these Gaudiya Matha folks and Radha Kunda babajis as our authorities.
As for Radha dasyam, since the GBC gurus have been promoting illicit sex acharyas, all the time being "guided" by people like Narayana Maharaja, this means these folks never understood what is a Radha sevaka in the first place. The GBC has been advertising fallen and illicit sex "acharyas" as "nikunja yuno" servants of Radha, with the help of some of these Gaudiya Matha and other "advisors." This is an insult to the platform of Radha dasyam.]
*** All this comes in the wake of the recent news that a sannyasi from Narayan Maharaj's sangha, Srila Vaishnava Maharaj, has gone to Ananta Das Baba in Radha Kund, taken siddha pranali and bhek from him, and adopted the life of a bhajananandi Vaishnava with the name Madhavananda Das Babaji Maharaj. This has been eliciting what looks like panicked reactions from his erstwhile colleagues. After all, most of them abandoned the ISKCON ship to jump on the Narayan Maharaj bandwagon, and now it seems that the next tidal flow is about to commence... this time to their detriment.
[PADA: Right, the people who jumped ship to get "the next living guru" Narayana Maharaja are now jumping ship to get yet another "living guru" namely Ananta das babaji, because Narayana Maharaja has departed. So the followers of NM are upset that their people are jumping their ship, meanwhile they asked all of Srila Prabhupada's followers to jump ship and join NM.
*** All this comes in the wake of the recent news that a sannyasi from Narayan Maharaj's sangha, Srila Vaishnava Maharaj, has gone to Ananta Das Baba in Radha Kund, taken siddha pranali and bhek from him, and adopted the life of a bhajananandi Vaishnava with the name Madhavananda Das Babaji Maharaj. This has been eliciting what looks like panicked reactions from his erstwhile colleagues. After all, most of them abandoned the ISKCON ship to jump on the Narayan Maharaj bandwagon, and now it seems that the next tidal flow is about to commence... this time to their detriment.
[PADA: Right, the people who jumped ship to get "the next living guru" Narayana Maharaja are now jumping ship to get yet another "living guru" namely Ananta das babaji, because Narayana Maharaja has departed. So the followers of NM are upset that their people are jumping their ship, meanwhile they asked all of Srila Prabhupada's followers to jump ship and join NM.
So there is a tidal flow to the next "living" person. That is why we Prabhupadanugas are at least consistent, we are not jumping ship to another guru every few years. Rocana has the same problem, he wants us to all abandon Srila Prabhupada for Rocana's alleged living guru, at least he is smart enough not to name his living guru, because we would find out how bogus that person is in an instant.]
*** Narayan Maharaj opened the portals to the madhura-rasa soaked literature of the Goswamis and encouraged his disciples to delve into them. There is no turning back from this. Those who are keen to cultivate the madhura mood of bhajan that all our scriptures point to will now finally find themselves going to the source, namely Radha Kund.
[PADA: That is correct, Narayana Maharaja opened the doors to rasika, which is why he was called "the rasika guru" by the GBC. The question is, are these GBC people or any of the neophyte followers of ISKCON ready to adopt "rasika"? No, they are not yet qualified for that level.]
*** Ananta Das Baba is nearing the end of an illustrious career as a disseminator of the teachings of Rupa and Raghunath Das Goswamis. He is now in his 80's and when I saw him last month, it was clear to me that he is suffering physically from various ailments, but nevertheless goes on with his lecturing and writing. He will not be with us for that much longer, but it seems that Radharani nicely arranged for him to survive until all the most charismatic senior Gaudiya Math leaders had disappeared and he was left as the only person with the stature that an ambitious sadhaka would approach for shelter as a spiritual guide. And, of course, I think that is a good thing.
[PADA: Yes, I have seen photos of Ananta das and he looks very ill. But the fact that people are jumping ship away from NM to join another living guru shows how shallow their living guru process is. Especially, since they are jumping ship to a "living person" who is on death's door, this seems very silly and insecure indeed.]
*** Though there has been a steady trickle of Western Vaishnavas to Radha Kund and the "Sahajiya Babajis" -- there are at least 50 of them living there now. Many have gone there without leaving their ISKCON / Gaudiya Matha affiliation, some without even abandoning their narrow-minded and sectarian point of view. But now it seems almost inevitable that the kind of movement that took place in the past, first with the exodus from ISKCON to Shridhar Maharaj, then to Narayan Maharaj and -- to a lesser extent -- to several other senior Gaudiya Math acharyas and so on.
This had the effect of thinning out the Vaishnava community and, at least in the first instance, increasing the potential for sectarian rivalries. After all, ISKCON officially considers those ex-members who went to Narayan Maharaj, what to speak of any other teacher, to be apostates and a danger to the aspirant's spiritual life. But for both ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math, the real issue is one of preserving institutional integrity.Well, no one is going to wipe these Vaishnava sanghas off the face of the earth. They will continue to exist, as each serves its own function in Mahaprabhu's greater plan, but Madhavananda Maharaj's move hopefully means that the scope of available association and discourse will be widened.
[PADA: We cannot agree that this is a good development, but its true -- this is just another case in point that people are "thinning out the sangha" and "creating sectarian rivalries." We need to get back to the basics of forming a united sangha that is preaching basic materials (not rasika) to the public.]
*** But this in turn highlights the problem about the way that international Gaudiya Vaishnavism organizes itself communally. Let us face it: for the most part we are a dysfunctional bunch.
*** Narayan Maharaj opened the portals to the madhura-rasa soaked literature of the Goswamis and encouraged his disciples to delve into them. There is no turning back from this. Those who are keen to cultivate the madhura mood of bhajan that all our scriptures point to will now finally find themselves going to the source, namely Radha Kund.
[PADA: That is correct, Narayana Maharaja opened the doors to rasika, which is why he was called "the rasika guru" by the GBC. The question is, are these GBC people or any of the neophyte followers of ISKCON ready to adopt "rasika"? No, they are not yet qualified for that level.]
*** Ananta Das Baba is nearing the end of an illustrious career as a disseminator of the teachings of Rupa and Raghunath Das Goswamis. He is now in his 80's and when I saw him last month, it was clear to me that he is suffering physically from various ailments, but nevertheless goes on with his lecturing and writing. He will not be with us for that much longer, but it seems that Radharani nicely arranged for him to survive until all the most charismatic senior Gaudiya Math leaders had disappeared and he was left as the only person with the stature that an ambitious sadhaka would approach for shelter as a spiritual guide. And, of course, I think that is a good thing.
[PADA: Yes, I have seen photos of Ananta das and he looks very ill. But the fact that people are jumping ship away from NM to join another living guru shows how shallow their living guru process is. Especially, since they are jumping ship to a "living person" who is on death's door, this seems very silly and insecure indeed.]
*** Though there has been a steady trickle of Western Vaishnavas to Radha Kund and the "Sahajiya Babajis" -- there are at least 50 of them living there now. Many have gone there without leaving their ISKCON / Gaudiya Matha affiliation, some without even abandoning their narrow-minded and sectarian point of view. But now it seems almost inevitable that the kind of movement that took place in the past, first with the exodus from ISKCON to Shridhar Maharaj, then to Narayan Maharaj and -- to a lesser extent -- to several other senior Gaudiya Math acharyas and so on.
This had the effect of thinning out the Vaishnava community and, at least in the first instance, increasing the potential for sectarian rivalries. After all, ISKCON officially considers those ex-members who went to Narayan Maharaj, what to speak of any other teacher, to be apostates and a danger to the aspirant's spiritual life. But for both ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math, the real issue is one of preserving institutional integrity.Well, no one is going to wipe these Vaishnava sanghas off the face of the earth. They will continue to exist, as each serves its own function in Mahaprabhu's greater plan, but Madhavananda Maharaj's move hopefully means that the scope of available association and discourse will be widened.
[PADA: We cannot agree that this is a good development, but its true -- this is just another case in point that people are "thinning out the sangha" and "creating sectarian rivalries." We need to get back to the basics of forming a united sangha that is preaching basic materials (not rasika) to the public.]
*** But this in turn highlights the problem about the way that international Gaudiya Vaishnavism organizes itself communally. Let us face it: for the most part we are a dysfunctional bunch.
[PADA: Well thats the God's honest truth right there, we see little desire to form a unified preaching institution, there are countless sects and rivalries. And then there are countless other sub-sects like the Illumintati-ites and etc. There is no actual desire for a unified preaching program, which also happened in the post-1936 Gaudiya Matha.]
*** Competition and protectionism on the basis of immature spirituality continue to prevail; such attitudes are even actively promoted by many of the Vaishnava leaders. Although it is to be hoped that those who finally reach Radha Kund will be the most mature, this also may be too much to hope for. Frankly, devotees need to understand that Krishna consciousness -- if it is really to be applied as a universal spiritual science -- has to outgrow this mentality and must do so before it is too late.
Esoteric and arcane spiritualism is by nature individualistic. When applied socially, it fragments. One has to be able to find a way to make nishtha, commitment and dedication to their own practice, with compassion and empathy for others, and their experience. Your individual experience and the means you adopted to get there are not necessarily going to be meaningful to others. But your compassion and the virtues that arise from genuine spiritual advancement MUST be universal. And the communal culture must be oriented in THAT direction.
There is a lot of talk about Guru Tattva, and I have spent a lot of my life contemplating the questions that surround the kind of injunctions that demand the absolute loyalty and obedience to the Guru. But the kind of problems that arise when you create mostly artificial divisions and sectarian loyalties is that you undermine community. Everyone is constantly being tested against impossible criteria of ideological purity and the very essence of devotional association is destroyed.
Krishna says in the Gita that devotees rejoice in each other's association, hearing from each other and glorifying Krishna together. The process of spiritual life is one of discovery and sharing. It goes on at different levels of realization, but in the earlier stages, one seeks security and stablity of siddhanta as a way of establishing confidence in spiritual life. But this inevitably collapses under the weight of experience, or the "reality principle." When that happens, what is needed more than anything else is compassion.
I keep seeing that quote about Prabhupad building a house in which the whole world can live. Sorry, I have yet to see the evidence. Progress in bhajan is progress in humanity. It means progress in empathy, because how can there be love without empathy or compassion? We need to cultivate a sense of community that does not disintegrate into sectarian infighting, but takes the position that prema is our goal and lets the trappings of institutional commitment not trump basic human values of kindness, helpfulness and commitment to truth and justice.
Let us leave the fledgling birds in their nests until they learn to fly. What I want to know is how will we create a social milieu suitable for grownups. The occasional wise comments on Facebook are no doubt helpful, like a glow worm gives hope in the night. But just as the glow worm is not the dawn, the desire for mature spiritual community is not going to be satisfied on line.Let us all become experts in prema. Let us learn the art of compassion, not in the name of converting others to our view, but in the name of ending human suffering.
Radhe Shyam.
Esoteric and arcane spiritualism is by nature individualistic. When applied socially, it fragments. One has to be able to find a way to make nishtha, commitment and dedication to their own practice, with compassion and empathy for others, and their experience. Your individual experience and the means you adopted to get there are not necessarily going to be meaningful to others. But your compassion and the virtues that arise from genuine spiritual advancement MUST be universal. And the communal culture must be oriented in THAT direction.
There is a lot of talk about Guru Tattva, and I have spent a lot of my life contemplating the questions that surround the kind of injunctions that demand the absolute loyalty and obedience to the Guru. But the kind of problems that arise when you create mostly artificial divisions and sectarian loyalties is that you undermine community. Everyone is constantly being tested against impossible criteria of ideological purity and the very essence of devotional association is destroyed.
Krishna says in the Gita that devotees rejoice in each other's association, hearing from each other and glorifying Krishna together. The process of spiritual life is one of discovery and sharing. It goes on at different levels of realization, but in the earlier stages, one seeks security and stablity of siddhanta as a way of establishing confidence in spiritual life. But this inevitably collapses under the weight of experience, or the "reality principle." When that happens, what is needed more than anything else is compassion.
I keep seeing that quote about Prabhupad building a house in which the whole world can live. Sorry, I have yet to see the evidence. Progress in bhajan is progress in humanity. It means progress in empathy, because how can there be love without empathy or compassion? We need to cultivate a sense of community that does not disintegrate into sectarian infighting, but takes the position that prema is our goal and lets the trappings of institutional commitment not trump basic human values of kindness, helpfulness and commitment to truth and justice.
Let us leave the fledgling birds in their nests until they learn to fly. What I want to know is how will we create a social milieu suitable for grownups. The occasional wise comments on Facebook are no doubt helpful, like a glow worm gives hope in the night. But just as the glow worm is not the dawn, the desire for mature spiritual community is not going to be satisfied on line.Let us all become experts in prema. Let us learn the art of compassion, not in the name of converting others to our view, but in the name of ending human suffering.
Radhe Shyam.
[PADA: Its interesting to see how some "ISKCON outsiders" observe the calamity that is now going on in the name of ISKCON and Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Of course the next problem is that Satsvarupa may have been saved from one deviation, but he has been the leading cheer leader and position paper writer for the bogus 11 gurus and their molester messiah's deviation, and NM never saved him from that deviation. Instead, NM supported the appointed 11 gurus deviation and its main crew members like SDG, Tamal, Sivarama, Giriraja and similar others. They never addressed the root issue of ISKCON's disaster, that the GBC's alleged 11 gurus were never appointed as gurus and Radha's sevakas in the first place. ys pd]
"...those who finally reach Radha Kund will be the most mature, this also may be too much to hope for."
ReplyDeleteLooks this devotee never went there? At Radha Kund you have all kind of weird things like dope, illicit sex and lots of pseudo devotees doing mischief. Prabhupada never wanted his followers to live there permanently unless mature.
Main problem of all those GM groups, preaching to uplift humanity is just not there. They insist of going for madhurya rasa but in fact remain stuck somewhere in sadhana bhakti.
On the other hand, fight among ISKCONites plunges this planet into heavy kali-yuga. There are now 5 mio millionaires in US and nobody would ever donate even one farthing for Hare Krishna projects. Never ever.
So we have to study this when conditioned souls see Hare Krishnas fighting among each other, what is their reaction? Right, they open liquor shops, brothels and gambling casino.
Of course some tomfools still believe that conditioned souls read all this about false gurus and come forward to help? Not exactly. Conditioned souls rather take drugs, watch adult movies and invite for a barbecue with scotch fillet when another ISKCON guru bloops.
In sum, Prabhupada never wanted that his preaching program go to the dogs. Agreed, ISKCON's preaching performance - especially in the West - is also rather dead. What exactly they are doing to get all these new devotees from 3rd world countries is unknown? Not sure if this is real preaching according Prabhupada?
Once more we have to be patient. All those camps want to go on experimenting until tyre is flat. This might take a few more years.
Mr. Anonymus, i think that the one who needs a few more years is you. For what? For understand that those who finally reach Radhakund will be the more mature, and as ACBS said, they are the most fortune amongst those who are practising spiritual life. The way to speak against to do bhajan there seems that you have never been there.
DeleteAnon, Prabhupada did not say go to Radha Kunda once mature, he never wanted anyone to leave ISKCON. I know of several millionaires personally who have given to Prabhupada's movement in the US. Both initiated and non initiated. You sound both anti Iskcon and anti Prabhupada. What exactly DO you believe in then?
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