February 1978: On or around this date in history 43 years ago, shortly before the 1978 GBC meetings, several of the ISKCON ritvik priests visited B. R. Shridhar Maharaja and requested his advice especially regarding the relationship between the eleven acharyas and the GBC. During February and March 1978, in preparation for the annual meetings, GBC members—Jayapataka Swami, Tamal-Krishna Goswami, Jayatirtha dasa, Harikesh Swami, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, Jayadvaita Swami and others—visited B. R. Shridhar Swami for guidance.
Why did the GBC need B. R. Shridhar Swami’s advice? Hadn’t their spiritual master already told them everything they needed to know? A few months before his passing, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada announced to his disciples, “So there is nothing to be said new. Whatever I have to speak, I have spoken in my books. Now you try to understand it and continue your endeavor. Whether I am present or not present doesn’t matter.”
“The reason they [the eleven] went to [B. R.] Shridhar concerning the guru issue was simple,” explained Ameyatma, a junior disciple. “The GBC were convinced that Shrila Prabhupada wanted the eleven ritvik representatives to become regular gurus when he left. But after Shrila Prabhupada left they found themselves totally in the dark on how to set up such a multi-guru zonal-acharyas system.
Shrila Prabhupada had not given them one single instruction—zero—nothing, on how to set up such a system. Were the gurus to have their own vyasasanas? Should they remove Shrila Prabhupada’s paintings and murtis (a murti is a statue of a deity or the spiritual master) and sit in his seat? Should all the temples have all the photos of all the gurus on their altars all the time, or only a photo of the local or visiting gurus?
Are gurus to be authorities over the GBC, or was the GBC still to have authority over the gurus? . . . They found that they had a million questions, and Shrila Prabhupada had given them . . . not a word or a vague hint how in the hell was the whole damn thing supposed to be set up and how was it to work? The GBC found themselves totally in the dark.”
Tamal-Krishna Goswami, one of the principle architects of the zonal-acharya system, himself admitted (years later), “Prabhupada did not give us instructions on these particular details.” Satsvarupa confirmed, “Shrila Prabhupada did not give us much instruction on how to carry out the affairs of guruship.”
Harikesh Swami agreed, “I received . . . [an] official letter [the July 9th, 1977 ritvik appointment letter] with a list of [eleven] names on it of those who were supposed to initiate disciples as they wished without having to get approval for it. My name was on it. I received no further information than that. There was no training for what was to come, no instructions. It [guruship] was thrown at me.”
Bhavananda Goswami claimed, “It’s my fault and on another hand it’s not my fault: it’s the system’s fault. Everything was thrust upon us.”
However, despite the protestations by Tamal-Krishna, Satsvarupa, Harikesh, and Bhavananda, some others claim that Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had given some instructions—instructions which they had ignored: “When I order, ‘You become guru,’ he [my disciple] becomes regular guru. That’s all.” Prabhupada did not instruct his disciples to become acharyas and sit on elevated thrones.
When the eleven, in tandem with the GBC, neglected their spiritual master’s instructions and embarked on the zonal-acharya diksha-guru course, they became lost in uncharted and unfamiliar waters. A catastrophic shipwreck was inevitable.
Eleven Naked Emperors, Chapter 6: The Rise of the Zonal Acharyas, 79-80.
Eleven Naked Emperors, Chapter 6: The Rise of the Zonal Acharyas, 79-80.
[PADA: Well yup.] angel108b@yahoo.com
GKD: RE 11 Gurus Become "Catastrophic Ship Wreck" (11 Naked Emperors)
ReplyDeleteThere were occasionally some hints what Prabhupada discussed with the legendary eleven before departing from this world. Of course there are still tapes but they are carefully hidden and meanwhile known as the "missing tapes". Hansadutta once said that Prabhupada spoke about so many things but never about these eleven becoming gurus. So why they went to Sridhar was because they wanted to know from him how to act when taking the position as a guru. Prabhupada did not instruct them about that. What obviously was a big issue for Prabhupada was to make sure that the leaders stay and not bloop like so many leaders before. Practically the whole contingent of the first leaders blooped. That was Prabhupada's "headache", leaders constantly leaving. It seems at one he granted a concession.
Satsvarūpa: So our first question is about the GBC members. We want to know how long should they remain in office?
Prabhupāda: They should remain for good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They should remain for good.
Prabhupāda: Selected men are chosen, so they cannot be changed. Rather, if some competent man comes, he should be added. I shall recommend that Vāsudeva become one of the GBC.
This is of course in sharp contrast with Prabhupada's original idea of having leaders elected by the congregation. That seems the reason why nobody is leaving anymore. The leaders are able to create private property and actually own it. So ISKCON is now used by the gray-eminence to accumulate wealth and position themselves as landowners. Of course the world movement did not fall apart, the global ISKCON goes on. But how does their preaching have any potency?
[PADA: The whole "we are the new gurus" program was basically a plan to grab the assets. Then, they kicked out most original Prabhupada disciples and made "their own disciples" into the legal signers on the properties. Then, they could call the police on us and have us physically removed. Sulochana said this was 90 percent an economic war against the God brothers. He is right. "Smash and grab."
They wanted the assets so they could have a lifetime supply of funds and assets, and a built in retirement plan. And that is what is turned into for the most part. There never was any "order for 11 gurus," and so on and so forth. Therefore, tapes and documents were hidden, lost, confiscated etc. -- and those of us finding and exposing these documents were in a lot of danger. Bhakti Vikas swami just now lectured that same point, it still is dangerous to question the status quo. It was a business, and still is. The good news is, the sincere people want to worship the pure devotee and not worship business people, so we are gaining more of these sincere folks to our side. Their business guru empire is collapsing under its own weight, and our idea is gaining steam. ys pd]