ISKCON / Radhanath / Going "Ritvik-Vada" aka Prabhupadanuga?

A letter from a reader in Hong Kong:

Dear Henry (Doktorski),

I finally ordered and read your book, Eleven Naked Emperors, and have just finished it today. In much the same spirit as when I wrote you upon having read "Killing for Krishna," I am again grateful to you for caring enough to have put so much time and effort as you clearly have into this account. I can’t adequately praise you.

There are two things I wanted to mention, for what ever they might be worth.
When I read "Killing for Krishna," one of the book’s qualities I found most remarkable was the degree to which you were able to present polemical views without yourself appearing to weigh in too much on one side or the other. I thought this was one of the book's most compelling strengths. 

While this quality is present as well in "Eleven Naked Emperors," it felt a little less so to me. And while I can easily understand why this might be the case, I feel it reduces this quality I was so struck with in "Killing for Krishna."

Where I noticed it most was in your discussion of Kirtanananda and Bhavananda. I felt you referred to them as "homosexual gurus" more often than necessary. (In my humble opinion.) I do realize that was in fact -- true! 

But this was already being made abundantly clear by everyone you were quoting. In some instances, given the context, all that was necessary was to mention they were having illicit sex while presenting themselves as renounced spiritual masters. That would have been enough. Pushing on the "homosexual guru” tag as narrator only made me question the bias of your presentation. 

Given the book’s entirety, please understand I consider this a small and somewhat nit-picky point. I’ll hope you’ll forgive me. I only mention it because I hope your book is widely read and taken seriously.

The other thing I thought to mention has to do with the Ritvik question within Iskcon. (I found your presentation of the differing views here really excellent.) I happened to be in the SF Bay area in the summer of 2019 and attended a program at Iskcon Silicon Valley where Radhanatha Swami held an initiation ceremony. I was struck by the fact that he very clearly told each initiate he was initiating them on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. I wasn’t expecting this. 

At the end of "Eleven Naked Emperors," Nityananda Dasa’s letter mentions that many Iskcon gurus are telling their disciples this, but I think it merits more pronounced mention in the book, somewhere in the chapter on Ritvik-vada. I find it significant.

I hope you’ll forgive my forwardness in volunteering these minor points. Mainly, I just wanted to thank you. I see that you have begun publishing your series on New Vrindavan and look forward to reading these in time.

With best regards,
Thomas D
Hong Kong

[PADA: Pretty much similar complaint we get here at PADA. We should not emphasize that there has been a "homosexual pedophile" problem, but the generic "an illicit sex problem." OK except -- most of the victims were boys and most of the perps were self evidently homosexual pedophiles. I am not sure how this issue could be sugar coated or revised without changing the history. 

That ALSO does not mean we are anti-homosexual per se. We have a number of homosexual friends and associates, including devotees, however these people agree with me that pedophiles are criminals and they need to be contained, if not arrested and jailed. Homosexuals in general can be devotees of some sort, and they should be given some sort of ability to gradually renounce their anarthas, just like all the rest of us.

As for the ritvik issue, yes more and more people are saying they are initiating on behalf of Prabhupada, and that is good. However there is still no clear and binding resolution or legislation from the GBC on this issue. So we still have some folks like Jayapataka claiming he is taking people's sins himself, so he is still claiming to be a self standing acharya, and so on and so forth. 

It is at best a confused situation where largely the old guard still retains their acharya status and some of the newer people are sometimes sympathetic to us. So our idea is moving forward -- albeit slowly -- and in a confused fashion.  Actually, they are being forced to adapt our idea more and more since their guru fall downs have proven -- as a class -- they are not fit to be worshiped as such, so they have to emphasize Srila Prabhupada more.

Meanwhile, even Hanuman Croatia is starting to realize that his gurus like Sridhara swami, Bhakti Vikas swami etc. are all taking orders from the old guard sinners, and as such they have no actual independence, so they are ALL corrupt. He is making progress, gradually. 

Now if he just quits quoting his favorite GBC position paper writer Kailash Chandra, the darling writer for the GBC's gurus like Trivrikrama swami, he might make more progress. We cannot simultaneously worship GBC gurus like Sridhar, who was Radhanath's best pal, and reform the situation. It is like trying to start a fire while pouring water on the wood. Kailash has not left the organization, he says that Srila Prabhupada is not the guru, and so does Jayapataka, they have the same identical apa-siddhanta, which is why some GBC folks have been distributing his writings. ys pd]