Saturday, May 30, 2020

ISKCON's Defenders: GBC's Ritvik Priests?


Hanuman Croatia and his guru parampara

[Summing up phone call with JOJO]

PADA: ISKCON people (like Hanuman Croatia and others) say we are like bogus Christians. Why? Because we worship Srila Prabhupada. Bad idea! Since worship of a "departed person" is the bogus posthumous, post samadhi, post mortem ritvik idea (just ask GBC / Gaudiya Matha / Narayan Maharaja / Torben / Rocana / Kailash). 

At the same time ... these folks like Hanuman say they CAN worship departed (dead) GBC's gurus like Sridhar Swami, never mind he is a departed and post mortem person. Also a friend of Radhanath. So! Worship of the departed person is the bogus ritvik idea, but Hanuman is doing that himself, he worships a post mortem acharya. 

So they are re-writing history. First of all -- they said we need a living person. And then Gaura Govinda Maharaja and others said "sabda brahman does not descend from tapes and books." Then, as these folks died, the Gaura Govinda Maharaja, Narayan Maharaja, Tamal Krishna people etc. started "tape ministries" of their departed gurus. After -- they really or de facto said tapes and books are not sabda brahman.

Apparently we can only worship departed members of their pedophile guru process, otherwise worship of someone like Jesus is verboten. And their bogus parampara gives us sabda brahman? Really? Jojo said, they are making an artificial caste system. Only the people they certify, vote in or anoint can be worshiped. Also like the Pope system. Its a corporate guru monopoly.

We Prabhupadanugas cannot worship Jesus or Prabhupada, because allegedly they are non-worshipable after their physical form departs. Yet people like Hanuman and many hundreds of others around ISKCON are acting as the "brahmana representatives" of a departed person aka ritviks. So they are promoting worship of their posthumous gurus -- themselves. 

In sum! They are promoting their own concocted post mortem guru system, while saying worship of someone like Jesus is invalid. So they can act as the (ritvik) representatives of the departed members of their pedophile guru parampara, but no one else is allowed to act as the representative of the bona fide guru parampara. They are making an artificial monopoly on who gets to act as a representative and who does not. 

Jojo got very upset realizing there is another reason for their idea, they want to corrupt and pollute the children of the world by having them believe members of a pedophile guru process are bona fide, and can be still be worshiped post mortem and buried in samadhis. 

In short, they are the GBC's ritviks, or "representatives" of the bogus GBC's guru parampara, including their post mortem parampara. There are maybe thousands of them all over the place. Many ISKCON people we know -- still worship these departed persons. There are even some left over remnant people who worship Jayatirtha for that matter.

In fact! There are a lot of people -- very easy to find in ISKCON -- who worship departed gurus like for example Tamal Krsna swami. And they still worship lots of other blooped out or departed people. The Gaudiya Matha's Sridhara people all worship departed Sridhara. The Narayan Maharaja people all worship their departed guru. This is same with all of them. 

Oh oh! We Prabhupadanugas cannot worship a departed person, but they have a special license. So really it comes down to, they CAN worship the departed members of the GBC's illicit sex guru parampara, but we can NOT worship a "departed" pure devotee. This is the rule they concocted, and we can see how ISKCON is suffering and even dying under their bogus rule. Its forbidden to worship a so-called departed pure devotee, but its allowed to worship a departed member of the GBC's debauchee's guru process, or a cheer leader of the GBC like Narayan Maharaja.

And Hanuman says Gaura Govinda is a good person to be guru as far as he sees. Another departed person. Also a mayavada who says we were never with Krishna. Hanuman sees "nothing wrong" with worship of a dead person who is a also a mayavada. Mostly the followers of Gaura Govinda then went to Narayan Maharaja, who also says we were never with Krishna, another mayavada. 

Yes, there is nothing much wrong with worship of the post mortem people who support this mayavada program. And Gaura Govinda Maharaja made a series of public videos attacking Srila Prabhupada's jeeva tattva. Even many GBC people support GGM, knowing he preaches mayavada. Knowing also that GGM is voted in to the pedophile guru process. 

Of course, the apparent reason GBC / Sridhar / Bhakti vikas swami / Gaura Govinda Maharaja et al. are bona fide is -- they are "2/3 show of hands voted in" as acharyas -- by the same GBC folks who reinstated sex with taxi driver's in the holy dham as their acharya and "Vishnupada." So anyone in a program which says -- sex with taxi drivers deviants are "Vishnupada acharyas" -- is bona fide. 

This is why Hanuman promotes GBC Sridhar / BVKS and Gaura Govinda, all voted into that pedophile parampara. Then again, their parampara has illicit sex with men, women and children, so sex with taxi drivers is a minor offense in their system. 

Then too bad, boo hoo -- Gaura Govinda died. Ooops. So they have no living person anymore. Only they can worship their departed guru, we cannot worship Prabhupada and be like a Christian. This makes no sense. They have a special license to worship a departed person, we don't. Its a caste or ecclesiastical vote system monopoly.   

These ISKCON people never made any sense to me. They think our worship of the departed person is the bogus Christian idea. They forgot? All of their gurus will depart sooner or later. Many of their gurus already fell down, blooped or died.   

They don't know ... everyone here has to die. This sounds like the most foolish idea ever. We have to worship the GBC's "eternal guru" who is a living person and not be like Christians. They forgot. All of their living persons are dying every day, even the real and bona fide gurus will also physically depart at some point. They think they can escape death, and worship the body of their dead guru forever. How foolish is that? 

Their living gurus are dying every day, and they think this is the eternal guru idea. Then when their guru dies, they say our GBC guru is the eternal parampara, so we still worship him after he departs, but Prabhupada is not eternal parampara, so you are not allowed to worship him. What! 

This is why their program is failing. 

We don't see hardly any people going to make a program with Hanuman either. People are not joining ISKCON in numbers, nor the whole living guru program, because gradually their program is dwindling on its own. A senior devotee told me a few days ago, they have reduced ISKCON to a teeny insignificant cult, that is morally and financially bankrupted, and its going downhill all the more because the pandemic is hitting their pocketbook. I told Jojo, you know more about guru tattva than all this lot put together. 

Only the GBC folks can worship a posthumous, post samadhi, post mortem person, because they are members of their pedophile guru process. And! Anyone who wants to worship Jesus or Prabhupada is bogus, its really what they are saying all along. People are catching on. 

ys pd

angel108b@yahoo.com
========================

V DASA: The historic response of the GBC / BBTI / Gurus / Sanyasis is to drag their feet, ignore, stonewall, insult, infiltrate to confuse their critics, ad hominem attacks, label any and everyone who questions their actions as envious snakes. The list goes on and on. We should just face the facts that from 1978 our mission was co-opted into a loosely held worldwide group of small Temples who are held ransom by a power hungry group of insiders. 


It started with eleven and has gradually grown to about 100 if you include all the so-called ‘initiating gurus’. Our future lies in expanding the mission of Lord Caitanya into people’s homes and communities and accept that the formal group Iskcon has gone the way of organized religions. The so-called ‘leaders’ are obsessed with the Temple buildings and assets which Srila Bhaktisiddhanta opined were better to strip the marble from the walls and sell to print books. 

The Body is Awarded by Karma (SP Video)


Friday, May 29, 2020

Offering Bhogha To Krishna (Video)




[PADA: It seems like -- more and more -- we find both in and out of ISKCON,  people are saying that Srila Prabhupada is their actual guru. And thus, he should be offered the (food preparations) bhogha. That was our original argument in 1978, we cannot offer bhogha to conditioned souls. Nor should we place the photos of conditioned souls on the altars.

And since Srila Prabhupada is the ultimate guru of the ISKCON members, therefore we also offer the new disciples to him as well. That makes him the guru of the bhogha offerings, and the guru of the newcomers. This is of course what we Prabhupadanugas have said all along. 

In other words, the so-called GBC guru is more or less an artificially concocted figurehead, and he is not a self realized soul, which is why even the ISKCON Disciples Course (IDC) teaches that the GBC guru might have to be replaced for deviations. So if he is, or potentially is, having to be replaced for deviations, then he is not a self realized soul. So it makes more and more sense, we should not offer the bhogha -- or the new disciples to defective beings.

What we are starting to see also more and more, is that ordinary even new bhakta types of people are coming to figure out that Srila Prabhupada is the person who should be their guru. They don't need to see a July 9th letter, they don't need to see the last Will, they just know automatically who is the guru by his self effulgent qualities. I also accepted Srila Prabhupada on the same principle and did not need to see some sort of legally written will or certification letter. 

I knew he was the guru because he was giving people Krishna, self evidently. So the point is that Srila Prabhupada is sort of re-emerging more and more as the guru -- by default, de facto. This is a good sign of progress. 

Meanwhile, some newer devotees apparently living near Mayapur said that Bhakti Vidya Purna swami (who was condemned by the Child Protection Office) is back and preaching in Mayapur. And they wrote to tell me how disgusting it is that the GBC gurus sort of allow this guy to float around. OK, so they are newer people, and even they are seeing that the GBC is like a dead body when it comes to managing things that need to be managed. 

That means more people are waking up, that is a natural situation. Again this is good progress because if the GBC guru system is bogus, which guru should we accept instead?  

The answer is more and more self evident. 

ys pd] 

Navanita Choram Bhajan (Video) W / Translation




LYRICS: 

(1) vraje prasiddhaḿ navanīta-cauraḿ gopāńganānāḿ ca dukūla-cauram aneka-janmārjita-pāpa-cauraḿ caurāgragaṇyaḿ puruṣaḿ namāmi 

(2) śrī rādhikāyā hṛdayasya cauraḿ navāmbuda-śyāmala-kānti-cauram padāśritānāḿ ca samasta-cauraḿ caurāgragaṇyaḿ puruṣaḿ namāmi 

(3) akiñcanī-kṛtya padāśritaḿ yaḥ karoti bhikṣuḿ pathi geha-hīnam kenāpy aho bhīṣaṇa-caura īdṛg dṛṣṭaḥ-śruto vā na jagat-traye ’pi 

(4) yadīya nāmāpi haraty aśeṣaḿ giri-prasārān api pāpa-rāśīn āścarya-rūpo nanu caura īdṛg dṛṣṭaḥ śruto vā na mayā kadāpi 

(5) dhanaḿ ca mānaḿ ca tathendriyāṇi prāṇāḿś ca hṛtvā mama sarvam eva palāyase kutra dhṛto ’dya caura tvaḿ bhakti-dāmnāsi mayā niruddhaḥ 

(6) chinatsi ghoraḿ yama-pāśa-bandhaḿ bhinatsi bhīmaḿ bhava-pāśa-bandham chinatsi sarvasya samasta-bandhaḿ naivātmano bhakta-kṛtaḿ tu bandham 

(7) man-mānase tāmasa-rāśi-ghore kārāgṛhe duḥkha-maye nibaddhaḥ labhasva he caura! hare! cirāya sva-caurya-doṣocitam eva daṇḍam 

(8) kārāgṛhe vasa sadā hṛdaye madīye mad-bhakti-pāśa-dṛḍha-bandhana-niścalaḥ san tvāḿ kṛṣṇa he! pralaya-koṭi-śatāntare ’pi sarvasva-caura! hṛdayān na hi mocayāmi 

TRANSLATION 

1) I offer my respectful obeisances to that foremost of thieves – who is famous in Vraja as the butter-thief and He who steals the gopis’ clothes, and who, for those who take shelter of Him, steals the sins which have accrued over many lifetimes. 

2) I offer my respectful obeisances to the foremost of thieves – who steals Srimati Radhika’s heart, who steals the dark luster of a fresh raincloud, and who steals all the sins and sufferings of those who take shelter of His feet. 

3) He turns His surrendered devotees into paupers and wandering, homeless beggar – alas! Such a fearsome thief has never been seen or heard of in all the three worlds. 

4) Mere utterance of His name purges one of a mountain of sins – such an astonishingly wonderful thief I have never seen or heard of anywhere! 

5) O Thief! Having stolen my wealth, my honor, my senses, my life and my everything, where can You run to? I have caught You with the rope of my devotion. 

6) You cut the terrible noose of Yamaraja, You sever the dreadful noose of material existence, and You slash everyone’s material bondage, but You are unable to cut the knot fastened by Your own loving devotees. 

7) O stealer of my everything! O Thief! Today I have imprisoned You in the miserable prison-house of my heart which is very fearful due to the terrible darkness of my ignorance, and there for a very long time You will remain, receiving appropriate punishment for Your crimes of thievery! 

8) O Krsna, thief of my everything! The noose of my devotion remaining forever tight, You will continue to reside in the prison-house of my heart because I will not release You for millions of aeons. 

Panihati-chida-dahi Festival (ISKCON Bangalore)

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Prayer Request for Ramadevi ACBS



Dear Devotees,

Our humble obeisances to you. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I am writing on behalf of the group of carers who are serving Her Grace Ramadevi Dasi, Srila Prabhupada’s disciple and a long-standing resident of the Mayapur community, to inform the local and international devotees of Ramadevi’s state of health.

Some days ago, Ramadevi collapsed, and it was clear her condition had accelerated. Ramavijaya Prabhu arranged her swift transfer to the Calcutta hospital who had been treating her pre-lockdown. After an MRI and talks with the specialist doctors tending to Ramadevi, the diagnosis is that her condition is now terminal, and no treatment is possible.

Ramavijaya escorted Ramadevi home to Mayapur last night. She will be receiving 24-hour palliative care, and personal attendance, in the coming days.

Of course we are all still observing lockdown, most especially inside the campus, so there will be limited, scheduled visiting. There will be even more limited access to Ramadevi electronically, as she is in no condition to do so. We are asking, therefore, that all communications, questions, or messages for or about Ramadevi be posted via phone (+91 9775186307). Be assured that Ramadevi will receive every message sent, and ask that you please direct all communications this way.

In regard to the question that may arise of quarantine, Ramadevi and Ramavijaya travelled to the the Tata Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in Calcutta, who have strict protocols for Covid-19 screening, and no Covid-19 patients. They also returned to Mayapur via ambulance, so no quarantine is required.

Everyone please pray and chant for Ramadevi, remember her, and offer your loving support for her coming journey….

On behalf of the care team,

Braja Sevaki Devi Dasi

Mayapur

If you are grieving in these difficult times and need support, please visit us at Vaishnavas Care: Grief Support Group, a private devotee support group.

Locust Swarms Strike India (Video)


Srila Prabhupada is Your (Temporary) Guru! ISKCON IDC (Video)

YOUR GURU PADASRAYA?





ISKCON Disciple Course: Guru Padasraya

PADA: This is a little odd? Srila Prabhupada is FIRST of all the guru of the newcomers. He is the lotus feet (pada) that the new people have to take shelter of (asraya). He is the Guru padasraya, but only for a short time.

Then later, they give up worship of Srila Prabhupada and they have to start to worship a "2/3 show of hands voted in GBC guru," from an illicit sex and debauchee guru's parampara. And they then start to offer bhogha to that conditioned soul guru -- whom IDC (ISKCON Disciples Course) says may be deviating and have to be replaced. What! Where is shastra does it say we have to offer bhogha to conditioned souls, or Hanuman Croatia's pedophile guru loving lineage members like Sridhar swami?  

Worse, the GBC documents say they cannot guarantee that their gurus have any level of spiritual realization. We have to buy one of their cars, but they cannot guarantee it will not explode as we drive off the car lot? We have to take "guru padasraya" of -- an unknown quantity? Yet, we must have "absolute faith" in the unknown, non-guaranteed guru, who might deviate and have to be replaced because he is a conditioned soul? I have to have "absolute faith" in your airplane, but one of the engines is on fire? 

So we give up the shelter of the worship of the pure devotee and we worship the conditioned and defective devotee? None of this is mentioned in the Vedas? "Guru padasraya" means, taking shelter of the pure devotee, not to take shelter of false and "non-guaranteed" "asrayas."

Sulochana calls this: "bait and switch." 

We should come to lovely ISKCON and worship a guru like Srila Prabhupada, until they can replace his worship with the worship of one of their conditioned soul gurus. Of course, we also have had this same problem all along with GBC folks / Bhakti Vikas swami / Gaudiya Matha folks / Narayan Maharaja folks / Hanuman Croatia / Torben / Ajit Krishna / Rocana / Kailash et al. ... who preach the same thing. 

Yes, we CAN read Srila Prabhupada's books and accept his padasraya -- but only temporarily. He is not our actual ongoing and permanent "padasraya" shelter guru -- because worship of pure devotees ongoing is "the bogus Christian idea." 

Not to worry, we have a pocketful of nice conditioned soul deviants for you to worship instead! Bait and switch! So its forbidden to worship pure devotees more than on a temporary basis, because we have to worship various rubber stamped conditioned neophytes as gurus, duly 2/3 show of hands voted in, or otherwise rubber stamped as gurus by some sort of arbitrary certification process. 

How is that working out for you guys? 

Devotees under your plan have exited ISKCON, voted with their feet, and made it a ghost town. We have to have "implicit faith in the pada-asraya spiritual master," who might be having illicit sex in the back room, while he is drinking Vodka and watching football? Again! Where is any of this stated in the Vedas? And its odd that we have to have complete faith in both the spiritual master and Krishna simultaneously -- or the knowledge is not revealed. 

How can we have both "complete absolute faith" in mundane influenced conditioned souls posing as gurus, if not fallen and sexual predator souls, and faith in Krishna -- simultaneously? How can we mix simultaneously faith in Krishna -- with faith in -- mundane conditioned beings? I have faith in real gold coins, and gold painted plastic toy coins, simultaneously? No one thinks this makes sense? 

How can we simultaneously have "full faith" in both the GBC's contaminated and conditioned souls gurus, and pure devotees aka purified souls? This is never recommended in shastra. Worse, shastra says that we cannot juxtapose mundane influenced souls, with transcendental souls. I have faith in -- false shelter / ashraya. This is condemned in shastra. Nowhere in shastra does it say we have to take "padasraya" -- guru shelter -- in conditioned souls, who are still under the purview of the material energy. 

They are reversing the whole program! Actual process: we take shelter of the temporary preachers and Church leaders (who might be deviating and blooping) -- until we get trained to take shelter of the eternal guru. They say the opposite, we take shelter of the eternal, until we take shelter of the conditioned and temporary Church leaders. What! 

So this is guru aparadha, because it is establishing the guru as mundane, or subject to material qualities. In any event, we find no bona fide religion where the guru or acharya is worshiped temporarily until he can be replaced with a member of an illicit sex guru process. The guru is worshiped eternally as the padasraya, life after life, that is the actual process. ys pd   

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Purujit BLISS Program Meltdown (PADA Conversation)

https://krishna1008.blogspot.com/2019/06/purujit-das-about-cooperation-video.html

http://krishna1008.blogspot.com/2018/07/pada-reply-to-makhanchora-das-bliss.html


PADA: Purujit is a self appointed ritvik priest, self appointed Prabhupada's books re-writer, self appointed advisor to us, self appointed master of sanskrit grammar, ooops, and Jayadvaita swami is another self appointed editor of the books? No one appointed Purujit to do anything, he is arrogant and gives the same identical book changer argument as Jayadvaita. Srila Prabhupada used the books he had -- and he approved them. And he did not approve of the idea of endless re-writes and edits.  

DD: Is Purujit still active? The Spain Fuengirola group fell apart ... The boy from Mexico caught Purujit watching porno. So it came to a conflict. And so the Tattoo guy threw him out. His staunch followers like Makhancora and Paramahamsa followed him. The Mexican and his wife went back to Mexico. Not sure what the Tattoo couple are doing now. Purujit is active on FB with another name. He is still in Spain.

PADA: Ok, so much for his big tooting his horn -- how he is our new boss. So he got kicked out of Fuengirola, that means he was arrogantly over making his status, and that is the downfall of many so-called big sadhus. "I am the most fallen and insignificant servant aka the best servant on the planet"! Heh heh heh! 


DD: He is active under the new name: "Expand the BLISS".

PADA: OK apparently in La Linea in south Spain. Anyway I wish him well, but he is too arrogant, and that means he is very neophyte. He has a long way to go. He is re-editing the books of Srila Prabhupada, and simultaneously watching porno? And he does not see how foolish that is? Or he just does not think he will be caught -- because he is more clever than the GBC?  

DD: His country admires being authoritarian. The nature to be little dictators.

KK Dasi had written me Nov 2019:

Everything started, when Purujit was caught watching porn in the temple and we pointed it out, so they were bullying us. Also Purujit is promoting a guru position for himself. He says that the initiations come from him and the other bramacharis have to follow his guru position. We have an audio of Paramahamsa saying that he doesn’t mind if Purujit contradicts Prabhupada, he would still follow him. 

When Prabhupada says -- if siksa contradicts diksa he is a demon, they don't accept. When they were coming from an Eurotrip just 3 weeks ago they were coming to destroy me and were threatening me for exposing their deviations, but when Purujit was faced about the porn issue while in the trip they backed off. 

And immediately Purujit was running to Canadá and didn’t reply about the accusations, instead Makhancora was protecting him, as he did the first time the porn issue came up 8 months ago. I asked you mataji because as it is a custom for them, they are expert in insulting real devotees like you.

i hope we are fine, Hare Krishna 

PADA: He is watching porno and being our boss, very typical of GBC style hypocrisy as well. And his group is bullying the people who are dissenters, another GBC tactic.

DD: He preaches in saffron... it is insult to the dress.

PADA: Yes, false posturing, this is another version of GBC. Like the many so called sannyasis. Awful. A devotee said, its odd that false gurus wear orange dress, and so do the usa prisoners wear orange suits. ??? 

DD: Yes...

PADA: He is guru wanna-be like gbc.

DD: Oh and he wants to be "absolute authority." Worse the Iskcon gurus.

PADA: He has not realized the actual siddhanta, or he would not be attracted to porn. Nor would he re-write the books. Anyway he is another victim of D.A.D. Deadly Acharya Disease. 

In the list of crimes of bogus devotees, watching porno is among the lower range of offenses, since at least they are not doing the hokey pokey with the ladies in the temple. The physical manhandling and exploiting of others has been done in many worse case offenders. 

However, for Purujit to want to re-write the ISKCON books takes him higher up into the list of a top offenders in our offense totem pole. That means, he thinks he can correct what the acharya has approved. And so by fate he was forced to be rejected and to have his program fail by Krishna's arrangement. Meanwhile, the Spain Tattoo guy has not been in touch with us since all this, evidently he is too embarrassed to admit he made a big mistake helping Purujit re-write the books.

Its another situation where Purujit types ruin our relationship with other devotees, and its makes the unity of the Prabhupadanugas become fractured. In any case, we hate to say "we told ya so," but hey -- we told ya so! 

We also said the Prahlad das / Dayalu Nitai's HKC Jaipur "Hitler promoting site" that they were all cramming and sending me links to -- is bogus. And a group of devotees are writing to me just now on that very topic. They agree, these people are bogus, and they are intent on giving Krishna a bad name. Told ya, ... again! ys pd  

Spiritual World and So-called Immorality (SP Video)






New Recruit Finds Answer to ISKCON Guru Imbroglio

RV‎ to ISKCON

I feel sad and a bit disgruntled. I asked sincere questions on another Iskcon related group about the right method for initiation and got temporarily banned. Look, I am a beginner and genuinely motivated to become a long-term devotee. I follow the 4 regulative principles and manage to chant 16 rounds daily. 

And I try to cook Prasadam the correct way but this isn't perfect yet. Is it my fault that the movement got so confused after the master departed? There are dozens of websites who all propagate different interpretations of Srila Prabhupada's teachings. They all criticize others that they are doing it wrong and then the same people get discredited by again other sources. They appear to compete over who is the most correct Vaishnav and then they all seem to fail themselves. 

Is it a wonder then that new people feel disoriented and raise questions? I will have to ask until I know every different angle so that I can find my own place in all this 'mess' - because yes it is kind of a mess to be honest, at the moment, compared to other traditions, and I do not feel that people like me have to be punished for it, this is keeping people away from the path. However this doesn't put me off regarding Srila Prabhupada. He seems like a bright clear light that has nothing of this mess in it.

I do not belong to any camp, I just want to know how to serve him and Lord Krishna the way he envisioned it. If formal initiation isn't necessary, according to Srila Prabhupada, I will feel great relief because I do not want to be part of this conflict among his followers. I rather practice on my own than risk confining myself to a mistaken interpretation by choosing either ritvik or mainstream.

Also regarding guru's, this isn't my first tradition and I have seen enough of half-baked guru's throughout my search and this has costed me a lot of sincerely invested energy. So if formal initiation isn't required then this is a bonus for this reason as well.

The great thing for me about Srila Prabhupada is that he never seems to have made compromises and always lived what he preached. His message comes over clear and without contradiction. Even if I can not be sure about the absolute truth of it, the grace with which he lived his conviction is enough for me to trust him and follow him.

My heart can not accept a guru who isn't living what he preaches.

Sorry if I caused commotion, my intention is sincere.

Hare Krishna

[PADA: This is sad that he cannot even participate in the society made by Srila Prabhupada, but its also great he has found the right path nonetheless. As time goes on, more and more its coming down to, we have to worship Srila Prabhupada as the best option in the current mix of ideas. The "ISKCON Disciples Course" says the new person worships Srila Prabhupada only temporarily, until he can be switched over to worship a member of the molester messiahs program. 

That really does not make much sense to the average person? 

We worship Jesus, until we can worship a bunch of make pretend Jesus, who have been falling into illicit sex, drugs, drinking Vodka -- and getting sued for making a mass molesting program? Its simply not attractive, which explains why a lot of their temples are empty. 

So this person has figured out, wait a minute -- why not worship Srila Prabhupada at the start, and continue on? This is the natural conclusion more and more people are coming to. Notice that as soon as he asked about this, he was banned from the ISKCON forum. Great, then he got over to our forum. Good job ISKCON, keep removing people so we can access them! We are for that process.

Anyway, we are making gradual progress despite all the opposition and confusion. At the same time, the people creating all this confusion -- which is self evidently turning people away from Krishna -- is very sinful. Its like a person has to run through a gauntlet of a thousand different deviations before he can find the actual original Srila Prabhupada's process. 

The people creating this gauntlet are self-evidently envious of having the pure devotee being worshiped. So we find this Prabhupadanuga idea is more and more happening -- by default. Srila Prabhupada is sort of winning this war de facto, because the opposition's arguments are being exposed and dismantled so much so, its self evident that a Krishna devotee should just accept Srila Prabhupada as their guru. 

Another living guru bone head wrote to tell me the ritvik idea is bogus. So I said great, lets worship your guru, who is he? Sound of crickets, could not identify any better guru. So, its clear they are envious, they would rather worship no one than have the pure devotee being worshiped.  

In sum, you are allowed to worship anyone, as long as its not Srila Prabhupada. That is the state of affairs in current ISKCON. 

And thus, more and more people are seeing through their enviousness and their false guru scam. ys pd] 

=============================

K Dasa:  Exactly true, if we glorify too much Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON, they stamp you as ritvik and simply ban you ....... we have all seen that happen.


Tuesday, May 26, 2020

ISKCON Alachua "Trial Run" Opening

https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-alachua-starts-gradual-reopening-of-temple-with-restrictions,7369/?

PADA: South America temples are reporting big financial problems, no doubt this is a problem world wide. Temples and sadhus in India are also having big financial issues. Anyway, lets see how it all works out over time. 

Overall, ISKCON needs to have WAY LESS money, so we can get rid of their vociferous anti-Prabhupadanuga lawsuits and high priced lawyers. And as an added bonus, we might get rid of some of their hired hand vicious attack dog goondas. 

Without cash salary, a bunch of their loyal temple followers already quit one temple program that we heard from. "The temple is really almost empty" according to our agents there. Those were the same guys harassing our people. Maybe the harassing goons will not return? Lets hope so! ys pd  

ISKCON Disciples Course (IDC) by Dr. Gopkishori Devi Dasi



PADA: This video was sent to me by a devotee who says its "ISKCON GBC propaganda" and is very confusing, could I make a few comments. No kidding, she is all over the map. She says for example -- the 1936 Gaudiya Matha deviated by making false gurus, and not forming a GBC. Therefore, the ISKCON GBC are bona fide because they made a GBC and not false gurus. 

Wait! The GBC did make false gurus, and plenty of them. They did what the Gaudiya Matha did. The ISKCON leaders FIRST of all made a pile of false gurus such as: Vishnu-pada, Tirtha-pada, Krishna-pada, Bhakti-pada, Guru-pada, Acharya-pada etc. And then -- as the original 1978 false "pada" group crashed on the beach around 1986, they "voted in" another wave of gurus, who also have had scandals and problems. 

In fact, in 1986 the GBC gurus voted to reinstate their "oral sex with taxi drivers in the holy dham" guru named "Vishnupada." And at the same time the "sex with taxi drivers guru" group of folks voted in a new wave of gurus -- like Hanuman Croatia's gurus Sridhar and Bhakti Vikas swami and many others like Gaura Govinda maharaja, Suhotra, Prithu, Jayadvaita etc. -- who were all "2/3 show of hands" voted in -- by the same re-coronation of their KNOWN homosexual acharya's process folks. 

She gives no explanation: what is their "oral sex with taxi drivers in the holy dham" guru parampara? 

How can others be "voted in" to their sex with taxi drivers guru parampara?

In other words, her guru process certified a known homosexual as their Vishnupada guru, and certified another wave simultaneously. And! Exactly what is a homosexual guru vote or certification, and where is this found in the Vedas? Simultaneously in 1986, her "guru body of voters" excommunicated Sulochana, because he was complaining about their homosexual pedophile guru process going on at New Vrndavana and other places like Mayapur. 

Later on, they were sued for $400,000,000 in Dallas for ignoring the pedophile problem complaints from Sulochana. What kind of "guru" program is this? Then their gurus were implicated in the murder of Sulochana, and this is "in the guru line" -- of Lord Krishna? So the people who complain about pedophile gurus are excommunicated, that results in a $400M lawsuit, and mass suffering of children, and this is bona fide process because -- this is all "in the guru line" and is found in the Vedas?  

That really is not a Governing Body, that is an acharya making factory. And this is part of "our line"? Our line of what? Our "guru line" is not populated with various "Vishnupada acharyas" falling down left, right and center. Then she says the diksha guru can only be one person, but in her system many GBC gurus have fallen down and their disciples were then re-initiated several times. She is arguing with her own shadow? The diksha guru is one, except when he is many.

Some devotees have had three or more alleged diksha gurus. She is not paying attention to their own history. There is only one diksha guru, unless -- he bloops after being caught having illicit sex? That is our guru line? Where does this happen, and repeatedly, in our guru line? Srila Prabhupada says the guru line is eternal and uncontaminated. 

And she says essentially that Srila Prabhupada is wrong -- the guru line has temporary and contaminated people who are sometimes kicked out for deviations. And she even advertises, this is a great asset, we kick out our gurus who are deviating. How are deviants gurus in the first place? OK that is not eternal and uncontaminated? Contaminated people are not part of the guru line's population ever, according to Srila Prabhupada.

And in 1978 the GBC made Gaudiya Math's leader Sridhara Maharaja the GBC's "senior advisor" and "the senior most Vaishnava on the planet." And he ghost wrote many GBC documents. Then, around 1982 they said Sridhara is trying to take over ISKCON, he is a deviant, and no one should visit him. 

We should not duplicate the Gaudiya Matha, so we should go there for "advice"? We should make the Gaudiya Matha our "advisors" -- and then later on declare, they are deviants. This is our Gaudiya tradition, to declare someone is ISKCON's "purest devotee on the planet and our shiksha guru," then claim our shiksha guru is bogus and no one can visit him. 

And she says, all this means "they follow Srila Prabhupada." Except, he never authorized any of this? 

* He did not appoint conditioned souls as his successors. 

* He did not authorize the "2/3 show of hands" guru vote process. 

* He never said the acharya is subordinated to the committee.

* He never said conditioned souls could vote for acharyas in any event.

* He never said we should consult with Gaudiya Matha deviants.

This lady evidently thinks Srila Prabhupada is at least correct when he says -- Krishna's successor gurus are (a) residents of Krishna loka. Good so far. 

Yet then (b) the GBC's gurus are authorized as Krishna's successors and diksha gurus too. However, the GBC's gurus might also be deviants (who are falling into illicit sex with men, women and children). Therefore (c) Krishna's gurus need to be sometimes voted in, voted out, censured, suspended, monitored for chanting their rounds, excommunicated --  and then removed for deviations by "a committee." 

How can the residents of Krishna loka be subordinated to a committee which makes serious errors like these? She cites no evidence that Srila Prabhupada created a guru system where the guru is (d) getting dictation from Krishna and thus (e) he is to be monitored by the committee, thus given dictation from the committee (and not Krishna)? How can the person who gets dictation from Krishna need to stop that process, and get dictation from a defective committee instead of Krishna? She does not explain?

And then she cites that the GBC's "guru services committee" is managing these gurus. Yet the GBC is mostly comprised of gurus, so how can the gurus monitor -- themselves? And! Which previous acharyas formed a committee to monitor deviations in other acharyas? And if the other acharyas have been deviating, how can they vote in more acharyas? 

The gurus who voted me in as guru are deviants, they need to be removed, but the people they voted in get to stay as gurus? The false prophet selling bogus priest certificates on E-bay has to be removed from E-bay, but the bogus priest certificates he issued are bona fide. How does this make any sense?

In sum, the guru is not subordinated to Krishna, but to their committee. The same committee that already has selected illicit sex and other deviants as their acharyas. Where does Srila Prabhupada say the gurus are subordinated to a committee, especially a committee that makes deviants as its acharyas?  

She says people in the modes of nature cannot tell right from wrong, but its the GBC who makes these illicit sex folks into its acharyas, that means they cannot distinguish who is guru and who is not, what is right and what is not. One of the GBC's spokesmen and gurus -- Jayadvaita swami -- says some of their gurus are attracted to illicit sex with men, women and possibly children. And that is how Krishna's eternal and uncontaminated guru lineage is defined, it contains illicit sex debauchees, left, right and center?  

Then she says we should cooperate. OK but Srila Prabhupada says anyone who "cooperates" with something like an illicit sex with men, women and children guru parampara program is going straight to Yamaloka where he will have to suffer for many eons of time. Why should we "cooperate" with the people Srila Prabhupada says are going to the most obnoxious regions of the universe after they finish their bogus guru program (and so do the followers). She does not explain? 

Sorry, there is no quote where Srila Prabhupada says we should "cooperate" with the worship of debauchees as Krishna's successors. Does she have any idea who is Krishna and thus who is His successor? 

We are also still waiting for Hanuman Croatia to explain why he says -- our worship of pure devotees is the bogus Christian idea, and we need to worship his "oral sex with taxi drivers in the holy dham parampara certified guru" Sridhar instead? And Sridhar's guru parampara is the same guru parampara that also buries homosexuals, pedophiles and porno swamis in the dham. Well never mind, sound of crickets dead silence. He won't answer because he can't explain his guru parampara history. Of course, these same guys have not been able to explain their "good as God" debauchee's guru parampara system since 1978, not really waiting for any explanation -- truth be told.

Hopefully this lady will give us some sort of counterpoint, lets see what she says. Anyway we could go on and on here, but lets see if she can answer these points first of all. ys pd] 

angel108b@yahoo.com

Hidden Ramesvara Interview on Book Changes



The following is an excerpt from a long interview of Ramesvara prabhu made for Srila Prabhupada lilamrta. If you read the whole interview, you will find it full of nectar pastimes of Srila Prabhupada, but the interview, unfortunately, never made it to the lilamrta. Could it be because, there are passages like the ones underneath, that conflict with the interests of some influential people in ISKCON?

The interview was made in 1979 and was carefully hidden in the Bhaktivedanta archives until it was leaked by a devotee in 2013.

Please bear in mind, as you read the following, that in 1979 when the interview was made, there were no book change conflict, consequently there could have been no hidden motives in Ramesvara prabhu’s statements.

The paintings sell the books

See, what Prabhupada did was so ingenious, it has to be appreciated from a historical point of view. No one in modern history has ever made philosophy books popular for the mass market. So what Prabhupada did was a stroke of genius and he should be described as...this should be understood to be part of Prabhupada’s genius in knowing how to popularize Krsna consciousness. 


That he combined the world’s deepest philosophy with paintings. And the paintings added to this philosophy made the books popular, made very deep high-level philosophy books popular to the masses. The average print run and distribution of a major philosophical work is miniscule in this world. In any language it’s miniscule compared to the popular novels and the popular nonfiction works. Philosophy books just are not big sellers. 

So this was Prabhupada’s genius. It cannot be in any way overstated, because it is an act of genius that he figured out how to have mass popularization of very high philosophy books. Prabhupada actually wanted 50 paintings in every volume. That was Prabhupada’s vision. Genius! No philosopher ever thought of such a thing. And therefore their books never sell. These art paintings were the basis of all the book distribution.

Of course, it was our sincerity and our drive and our desire to please Prabhupada. But the technique was showing people the paintings, attracting their senses, getting them curious and interested and attracted by the art. The more beautiful the art the more you could tell people that this describes the most beautiful, peaceful way of life, the most beautiful spiritual thing, you have to find out these people have. 

You’d show the paintings and you’d say things like, “This explains how to experience the highest happiness. Just look at this painting. Wouldn’t you like to be there?” The paintings were the basis for the book selling. And Prabhupada is the genius who thought that up.

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 77

So Prabhupada took a lot of care in developing his art department. This is another facet of Prabhupada’s personality. His genius for transcendental marketing of Krsna consciousness in a massive way. This is what sets Prabhupada off from all of his dull headed Godbrothers who have no brains or ideas about how to spread this movement all over the world. 

They would never have thought of this idea. So the letters that Prabhupada wrote to the artists are full of the most amazing nectarean instruc­tions. And they’re worth reading I think and describing in the Lilamrta. They’re so astonishing
“Let’s update the Krsna Book paintings...”

So anyway, by 1974, Radhaballabha and I and the artists were talking about reprinting the Krsna Book, let’s update the paintings. These paintings were done in 1969, 1968. The artists have gotten much better. Their expertise was much better. So the decision was made by myself and Radhaballabha, we were going to upgrade all the paintings. The artists would get together with Radhaballabha and pick out which ones they wanted and then we would work it out together which ones to take out and which ones to put in.

“They’re ruining my books! They have no brain! They are hippies!” Prabhupada screamed

So Prabhupada and Bali came to Los Angeles and I had a meeting with Prabhupada upstairs in his room and I started showing him all of the paintings that were corning out, page by page, and all the paintings that were going in. This was one of the most astonishing meetings I ever had with Prabhupada in my life. Just before we

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 78

started going over the Krsna Book paintings, we went over these drawings that Pariksit had done for the Teachings of Lord Caitanya. He had worked for one year on about 24 or so black and white drawings which would be going on the title page for each chapter of the Teachings of Lord Caitanya. This was his first major work at the BBT art department.

And they had sent them to me so I could show them to Prabhupada because we were getting ready to print the TLC in Dai Nippon. So we went through drawing after drawing after drawing and Prabhupada was becoming angrier and angrier and more and more livid, and it was becoming a frightening experience. 

He was condemning them, he was throwing them out, he was rejecting them, he was blasting them, he was describing how they were going to ruin his book, they’re off, they’re misrepresentative, they’re not clear, they’re bogus, and “If you put anything bogus in my book, this is my greatest fear that you will ruin my book and the whole book will be ruined because of you!” 

And on and on, it was devastating! And I wrote a letter to the artists with the description of Prabhupada’s comments like a blow-by blow because it was so impressed in my mind. As soon as I got out of the room I ran downstairs and typed out this letter, remembering all of the things Prabhupada said.

So I’ll be able to find that letter and you can refer to it and you’ll see exactly how Prabhupada analyzed the drawings in relation to what they were supposed to be illustrating very carefully and rejected them and just with devastating critique. Prabhupada was so expert. So then after going through that scene, then I took out the Krsna Book and said, “Now, these are the paintings they want to take out and these are the ones they want to put in, Srila Prabhupada.” And we started again going page by page, color plate by color plate. 

And Prabhupada was becoming more and more livid, and more and more angry. And it was just the most terrifying experience that I have ever gone through. He was screaming, “They’re ruining my books! They have no brain! They are hippies! They are rascals!” Screaming, pounding his fist on the desk. At one point they wanted

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 79

to take out the old Putana, the dead Putana with Krsna sucking the breast of Putana or playing on her lap, whatever it was, and in the background you have the Vrndavana village. And they wanted to put the new one in from the 2. 2 which Prabhupada considered to be an inferior painting because it did not show as much. “An ugly black lump,” he said.

But the worst was when we came to the rasalila. There were different reasons that Prabhupada gave why he didn’t want these paintings taken out and the new ones put in in most cases. He gave the instruction that “If you want to replace a painting it has to be same the exact same pastime, the exact same scene, just done technically better. But just to take a painting out that’s already been approved and stick in a new painting to fill up the number of pages of a different pastime, this is not allowed. You can add but you cannot subtract.” He would say like that. “If you want to take something out you replace it with the exact same lila executed better. Other than that, if you want to add something, just add it. But there’s no question of removing anything.”

So by the time we got to the rasalila, this was one of Prabhupada’s favorite paintings, the original Devahuti painting of the rasalila which we’ve made the poster of, which is now in the Krsna Book and so on. They wanted to take it out and they wanted to put this painting of Krsna dancing with the gopis from the first printing of the Third Canto, Volume 2. 

Now in the reprinting of the Third Canto, Volume 2 this rasalila has been taken out and the original Krsna Book rasalila has been put in. Because the rasalila that they wanted to put in the Krsna Book was the final straw. Prabhupada just turned white! He looked into his bedroom at the original painting which was hanging on his wall.

From his sitting room in Los Angeles he could look into his bed- room. He turned white. He looked at that painting. Then he looked down at the painting that they were proposing was better. Krsna’s hair was wild and long, Radharani’s head was uncovered, the gopi’s

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 80

hair was uncovered. It was like, Prabhupada said, “hippie dance, sex dance. Hippie seeds, hippie contamination, hippie mentality, hippie, hippie, dirty! Rascals!” On and on. Prabhupada was screaming, banging his fist on the desk. There was nothing you could say, it was just an explosion that “They’re ruining my books.” Hearing the screaming, Sudama, who was acting as Prabhupada’s servant ran into the room opened the door and seeing... just as he came in Prabhupada was banging and releasing a barrage.

And Sudama couldn’t even offer his obeisances. I remember looking at him, he was terrified. He lifted up his hand to his face to shield his eyes. He somehow pushed himself into the back wall and lifted up a foot like he was towering, like he was about to be attacked. And he was just holding himself, cringing. 

Finally Prabhupada said, “Go get Bali Mardan.” So I ran downstairs. I found Bali. I said, “Bali, Prabhupada is so angry at the artists, Radhaballabha, me and you. You better come upstairs immediately.” So Bali ran upstairs and Prabhupada just explained how everyone’s a rascal for daring to touch anything in his books.

Prabhupada’s greatest anxiety is that we will change his books

The greatest anxiety he has is that after he’s gone we will add things to his books that are bogus, we will take things out that are bona fide, we will make changes in his books and the whole work for 10,000 years, his plan Prabhupada was working on, it will all be spoiled by us because of our tendency to change. And Prabhupada gave an example that the disease to do things differently is so in- herent in the Americans that for the sake of doing things differently we would walk on our hands rather than our feet. He gave different examples like that. He called the artists rascals.

So we promised Prabhupada that we wouldn’t change the art. And then I wrote the letter to the artists explaining to them everything.

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 81

I remember Bali Mardan went downstairs to call them up and I remember watching the phone call. He called up the Press and asked for Radhaballabha, (imitating Bali’s voice) Radhaballabha, guess what just happened? Prabhupada called you and all the artists rascals. He said you’re all rascals” Dead silence on the other end. And Bali, he was enjoying this humiliation of the devotees that worked under him. So I saw that and it was the beginning of my suspecting that something’s off with Bali Mardan.

“You’re never allowed to change anything in Prabhupada’s books”

So that was a big event, the first of many with the Isopanisad cover and these paintings. The first of many experiences I’ve had with Prabhupada literally drilling me, pounding it into my head that you’re never allowed to change anything in his books. He trained me so intensely on this point. Even when the changes make sense he wouldn’t let me change. Just to train me. One time in early 1975 was it? When Prabhupada came to L. A.?

Baladeva Vidyabhusana: Yes, January, end of January. Change the size of Krsna Book? NO

Ramesvara: I presented to Prabhupada that we could no longer afford to print the hardbound Krsna Book in two volumes. We already published the paperback Krsna Book in three volumes. So I had the task, the service of trying to beg Prabhupada to let us print his hardbound Krsna Book in three volumes. The discussion went on for an hour in his room. Prabhupada was just telling me how he had planned out the Krsna Book in two volumes from the very beginning. He had planned it like that and I’m ruining the plan. And that the whole feeling was that it’s not just Prabhupada’s plan, it’s

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 82

Krsna’s plan and He spoke it to Prabhupada and then Prabhupada just did it like that.

So it was so heavy and I was presenting all the arguments about the economics of it and so on. Because the oil embargo had killed the printing industry. The price had gone up 50% on everything. And I told Prabhupada if we don’t make this change to three volumes the book will be out of print,’we can’t afford it. We’re already contracted with Dai Nippon to reprint the Krsna Books, they’ve already bought the paper, we have to go ahead but they’ve raised their price and there’s nothing they can do. They won’t honor the original contracts. So finally after about an hour, Prabhupada was so unhappy, so depressed about it, he finally consented to make it three volumes like the paperbacks. Then I mentioned to Prabhupada that Dai Nippon had proposed that this book would be so much cheaper if we just print it in the same size as the Srimad- Bhagavatam instead of the bigger size.

When I said that there was another one of those famous transcendental explosions! He banged his fist on his desk, he told me that he had planned it in that size and nothing will change it and he threw me out of his room. He just threw me out. So in this way he was training me to understand how meticulous every detail of Prabhupada’s books, his translations, his purports especially are designed. The concept, the market, the cover pictures, everything Prabhupada would...whenever he was involved he was just meditating so deeply on his books and how to present them to the world.

Prabhupada’s “transcendental phobia”: Don’t change my books!

Before we talk about Prabhupada’s travels in ’76 I want to mention another important theme which was Prabhupada actually instructing about the production on his books. I’ve already mentioned the conversation that took place in ’74 about the art paintings. I think that you should get a copy of the letter that I wrote to the

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 174

art department because practically word for word Prabhupada’s instructions were there and you can get a first hand understanding of how intense Prabhupada was and how concerned he was that in the future no one ever be allowed to make changes in his books. This was more than just a preoccupation with Prabhupada.

This was a, you could call this a transcendental phobia, that the entire movement would without any shadow of a doubt be com- pletely wasted and all the work and effort of all the devotees that Prabhupada was directly as well as his own efforts would all be ultimately lost if his books were changed. That was his attitude. He expressed that attitude very clearly in 1974 in that conversation and in that letter you’ll see the statements Prabhupada made about how everything will be ruined if his books are changed. Then prior to that I mentioned the incident about the Isopanisad cover where Prabhupada was revealing how much thought went into planning out his books when he was involved. He got very furious when we wanted to put Krsna on the cover instead of Visnu.

Prabhupada made all the book production/publishing decisions

In 1975, I think I also mentioned this, that we had a very big problem with the printing of the hardbound Krsna Books. We wanted to change it from two volumes to three volumes. And there was literally like a fight. Not even a fight, Prabhupada was just furious. And he went on for about 1 hour talking about the Krsna Book and how he had planned it out to be in two volumes.

And it became very clear to me that Prabhupada was training me to understand that these books are transcendental manifestations of Prabhupada’s devotion, Prabhupada’s realization of God which I consider to be perfect absolute God realization coming from Krsna Himself. And that no one is allowed to change anything. The size, the shape, the number of pages, everything. Actually

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 175

Prabhupada did make the decisions. If you read through the letters that Prabhupada wrote to me and to Radhaballabha you’ll see.

“Aim for 400 pages per book”

I got a letter from Prabhupada wherein he instructed that each book should be 400 pages. We asked Prabhupada where to draw the line, where to cut off one volume and start the next. How many pages do you want in your books? And Prabhupada said, “Aim for 400 pages per book.” It could be a little less, a little more, but that should be the average. So Prabhupada was planning that out. Obviously Prabhupada planned out the first three Bhagavatams when he was in India.

And his meditation was that this is the way I want the books for the West, especially for the American market. But basically speaking for the western English market I want them to have cover jackets, ultimately I want them to have color plates, ultimately I want them to have a nice binding, nice cloth, nice paper, this is the size. When you consider Prabhupada’s external poverty while he was in India, then there is no excuse for the book being that size, it could have been a lot smaller, it would have been a lot cheaper for Prabhupada.

“You cannot change, you cannot make any changes”

So obviously Prabhupada was not considering economics. Other- wise he would have made the books smaller like sometimes we see our European books are smaller physically. This was the size. Prabhupada had to strain economically to get the book that size, to pay that much more to get the book that size. That means that’s the size he wanted. And then he would pound it into our heads that you cannot change, you cannot make any changes.

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 176

When we suggested reducing the large Krsna Book he threw us out of the room

So in 1975 we went through that. But Prabhupada finally agreed to extend the Krsna Books to three volumes like the paperback, it had already come out as three volumes. But when we suggested moving the size down from the large Krsna Book size to the Bhagavatam size, he became so furious that he literally threw us out of his room. He threw me out of his room. He wouldn’t hear of it.

He didn’t want the books to look like Bibles

We talked to Prabhupada about whether the books should be with gold edges and gold guilding and he emphasized in letters and in personal conversations he didn’t want the books to look like Bibles and he didn’t want them to be distributed the way people distribute Bibles. And that can also be found in letters. Many other statements about the nature of Prabhupada’s books, how he wanted them to be can be found in these letters.

We did not have any authority with the American editions of Prabhupada’s books, he was making the decisions

I remember one incident in 1976, I think I already mentioned about the color board. I think I should go over this one more time just in this context. We had been preparing to reprint all the old Bhagavatams for the standing order program was really picking up. It started in ’74. In ’75 it was rolling. By the end of ’75, early ’76 they were finishing up America, Ganasam was getting

Ramesvara interview on history of ISKCON and book changes — full text 177

13 orders at Harvard, 135 orders in one month in New England, it was rolling. And we needed to reprint the old volumes. We wanted to standardize the lettering, the format and so on. Every single standardization had to be approved by Prabhupada. We did not have any authority with the American editions of Prabhupada’s books to be innovative. He was making the decisions. This was his BBT, these were his books.

The foreign editions were given more freedom

Now when his books were translated into foreign languages he gave far more latitude to his men. They could decide on how to design the book and try to make improvements obviously was the motive. But in terms of the size, the lettering and so on, they could chose. But with the American books, they were Prabhupada’s books. 

So Harikesa Maharaja and Bhagavan Maharaja and even Hrdayananda Maharaja are going to have a much different experience. Although originally Prabhupada said that all the foreign languages should just follow the American format, they should use the same cover art that the American books use, originally Prabhupada wanted it standardized all over the world.

That’s in a letter to Karandhar. But gradually Prabhupada said that the foreign editions they can, because of different conditions in their countries, cultural things related to design, economic factors, they were given much more freedom. Hansaduta Maharaja, all the foreign publishers had a lot more freedom. But with the American books, they were Prabhupada’s. That was like one of Prabhupada’s personal projects. Just like his sankirtana party, so this was his personal publishing.

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“There can never be any more changes” — Prabhupada

So in 1976 at Mayapur we brought the color board. We had been talking about how we wanted to standardize everything for the reprints for the Library Party. Prabhupada at that time approved the new design for the Krsna Book trilogy and then he approved the standardization in terms of lettering and so on for the Bhagavatams and he approved the new color board. 

That is what the 12 Cantos are going to look like. Prabhupada was very happy to see that we had made a plan. But then he got very grave and said, “Now, this is the final plan, this is the final approved standard, there can never be any more changes.” He was emphatic, he was insistent, and he pounded it into our heads. I was there with Radhaballabha I think Jagannathasuta was there, Prabhupada Kripa Maharaja was there.

Baladeva Vidyabhusana: Where was this?
“This changing business is the disease

that the Americans have”

Ramesvara: This was right on his veranda outside his room in the back part where he was taking massage. Mayapur festival ’76. Prabhupada Krpa remembers this vividly because he just brought it up at the recent BBT trustees meeting. That Prabhupada was absolutely emphatic that this is the way the Bhagavatam’s going to be presented to the western English speaking people. Now there’ll no other way that it will be presented. Later on in that Mayapur festival, I presented to Prabhupada an idea for Beyond Birth and Death reprint.

That was a very popular book at the time and a new...all kinds of new arty and very innovative and creative cover design was going on in the American paperback market. And just going to

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bookstores, especially in airports, I would see that these publishers, karmi publishers are putting a lot into their paperback covers. And one of the things that had just come out was something called dye cuts. A dye cut is where you have a hole in the front coyer and then the inside front pages are actually laminated or glossy paper and you have color printing. So you have color printing that kind of comes through that hole. And it’s like a teaser. And when you see that you’re intrigued and you immediately want to open up the cover and look at the two page spread on the inside front cover and the inside page, that’s called the dye cut. And many books, especially like thriller books, horror books, ghost books, those kind of books use this technique. So I though that Beyond Birth and Death as a title and as a book lent itself to that. So I proposed it to Prabhupada. He completely smashed the idea.

This was inside his room, myself and Radhaballabha. At this time we were showing Prabhupada the...I can’t remember what we were showing him. We were showing him something, maybe color art or something. But anyway, when we presented this idea to him he smashed it and again he gave us a lecture on changes. He used to say, “Change, change, change, for the sake of change. This changing business is the disease that the Americans have. It’s a disease.” And he told this story, I just can’t remember it but I think it’s written in one of the letters too and Tamal Krsna will remember it. That if an American, just to be different, instead of walking on his feet he’ll walk on his hands. Just to be different. Change without real purpose. Now in that letter that I wrote to the artists in 1974, so many specific points are made about changing. When you’re allowed to change and when you’re not.

Baladeva Vidyabhusana: You don’t have a copy of that?

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“You cannot change one comma, not even a punctuation mark, that is the etiquette”

Ramesvara: I can find a copy. It’s a good thing to refer to. Especially he talked about, as I said earlier, “You can add things but you can’t delete. If you want to replace a painting you have to actually make an improvement and do the exact same subject matter. Once it’s approved it’s eternal.” That was his quote. “Once it’s approved it’s eternal.” One of the heaviest incidences came up I think in ’76 or ’77, we wrote to Prabhupada about publishing his spiritual master’s book the Brahma-samhita. Because it had already been introduced to chant in the Gurukulas, we were chanting it all over ISKCON. And although Prabhupada in ’75 said, “You cannot read the Gaudiya Math publications, you cannot approach my spiritual master or Bhaktivinoda directly.

You have to learn their teachings through me, through my books, through my lectures.” This was a big incident in ’75 because the devotees were buying Gaudiya Math publications and reading di- rectly. And Prabhupada completely smashed it. So it was either ’76 or ’77 we wanted to print Brahma-samhita. Prabhu­pada approved it and he wrote a very heavy letter. to Radhaballabha. Because we were asking Prabhupada about editing changes. I’m not sure if he wrote the letter or if it’s on a tape or maybe it’s both. 

I think Radhaballabha had a room conversation with Prabhupada and I wasn’t present. Tamal was there. And in addition to that I think there’s a letter. Anyway, between the letter and the room conversation, the instruction was given that “You cannot make any changes in my spiritual master’s book.” “What about the incorrect grammar?” Prabhupada’s reply, “You cannot change one comma, not even a comma, not even a punctuation mark, that is the etiquette.”

So that was just another one of those super heavy instructions

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that the etiquette in dealing with a great acarya’s books is that whatever he has done it’s eternal and it can never be changed. And I believe that all of this was part of Prabhupada’s training us. He wanted to train people who would be entrusted with his books. And who would in turn train the next generation of BBT men, managers and production managers in this fanatical, literally fanatical transcendental phobia about changes. Prabhupada went out of his way to train us. Some of the instructions were so extreme that one might say they’re exaggerated. But they’re not exaggerated. This is exactly what Prabhupada wanted.

Baladeva Vidyabhusana: Can you give an example of that? No one is willing to change the size,

we’re all so afraid

Ramesvara: Well, just the economics of why we can’t publish the Krsna Book anymore. Because we’re not allowed to change the size. This has been hanging up the BBT trustees for the last five years. The publishing industry has just exploded in terms of inflation. Every­thing is a 150, 200% more expensive than when Prabhupada was here. We no longer can afford to print the Krsna Book hardbounds in such large volumes. But no one is willing to change the size, we’re all so afraid. 

But that’s the way Prabhupada trained us. Maybe one day it is changed for economic reasons because ultimately Prabhupada wouldn’t want the book to be out of print. But this training was ultimate to insure that the instructions in his book, the words they weren’t changed and pictures and illustrations were not added which make the book incorrect and therefore would cause a person to just dismiss the whole book. Prabhupada said, “If there’s one mistake then the whole book is useless.”

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“If you put these in my book the whole book is ruined.” — Prabhupada

When he was rejecting Pariksit’s line drawings for the Teachings of Lord Caitanya he said, “These are mistakes, these pictures do not illustrate properly. Actually some of the illustrations here are subject to great mis-interpretation and if you put these in my book the whole book is ruined.” So this was Prabhupada’s training to us about his books.

Prabhupada decided the size, he decided the number of pages

So he was very involved in the designing of the book, the format. We talked to Prabhupada about the number of pages, we talked to Prabhupada about gold stamping, we talked to him about color pictures, ultimately he wanted 50 color pictures in each book. Prabhupada was a very active publisher, not just author. He was a very active publisher. We would discuss with him as we’ve already mentioned about the Macmillan contract, about American printer versus Japanese printer, Prabhupada would give us the go ahead and we would go.

And by the momentum of his order we would become expert in international publishing. We became expert in understanding the publishing industry of different countries, the paper industry of different countries, we became expert in negotiating, but all of this was by Prabhupada’s order. How he moved into Dai Nippon and established a credit, how he authorized us to move away from Dai Nippon. Prabhupada was an active publisher, he was not just someone who just turned it all over and didn’t know what was going on. We were sending him monthly reports. I had to send Prabhupada a monthly report during his life. On the income of the

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BBT, on the expenses of the BBT, on all the loans of the BBT and how current they are, on the production that the BBT is engaged in and the upcoming production, on the quantity of books printed. Prabhupada was getting monthly reports and he was writing me letters indicating he was reading them. It’s not like I was just mailing them and they weren’t read to him. He was reading them and he was writing back comments. What about this? What about that? So Prabhupada was not just an active author, he was an active publisher.

He was involved in designing. He created the marketing strategy which involved as I mentioned this ingenious, ingenious idea of mixing philosophy and gorgeous art work. That’s a marketing strategy which enabled us to sell hundreds of thousands of the Bhagavad-gita, literally millions of copies of one philosophy book. Prabhupada decided the size, Prabhupada decided the number of pages, he always pushed us to improve and increase the quality and so on. He wanted high quality paper in his books. This was something we talked about with Prabhupada and he insisted on high quality paper. And good binding. And in terms of our sales strategy, it was Prabhupada who gave the approval for the airports.