Lokanath Deified / Tamal's Departure an "Accident"?

GD: It occurs to me that the graphic in this poster announcement of Lokanath's 73rd birthday celebration effectively gives Lokanath a veritable apotheosis! Look how Lokanath's figure, mainly his head, emerges out of the chest of the South India Deity, as if to communicate that Lokanath is a divine manifestation of divinity.

[PADA: Yep, there you have it, the India ICC Bureau / GBC / Basu Ghosh / Bhakti vikas swami et al. -- as soon as they see a nice pedophile criminal type guy, they think they have met the reincarnation of Jesus and the sum total of the demigods messiah of the jagat. 

And as soon as they see a homosexual pedophile who admits to having sex with young men, they think this too is the perfection of Krishna consciousness and they want to bury their homosexual pedophile messiah in a samadhi in the dham. 

Which is why some woman asked to PADA recently, "Are they all pedophiles and that is why they want to see other pedophile glorified"? Hee hee, yup, good question. And yep, making Lokanath's head emanate from a deity is something that juxtaposes pedophile with deities, something they have done all along.]

Perhaps this poster's extravagant expression is an attempt to counter-balance or offset Lokanath's criminal past? This kind of poster would not even be acceptable for showcasing Śrīla Prabhupāda himself!

Dear Vaishnava Sisters and Brothers, the fact is that Lokanath has yet to truly address his past major devotional infraction in his behavior and in his devotional life. He's had the chance to do this . . . And so has the GBC leadership had the chance to make right on this, but neither have come forward to do this.

I'm sorry to say that Lokanath has become the emblem of the utter shamelessness of which the ISKCON leadership is capable (after all, this is not the first instance of this kind of institutional transgression), and how it easily enables and furthers a culture of depersonalization, demoralization, and dehumanization.

There are countless wonderful and very sincere devotees all around the world in the ISKCON movement. I bow down to their feet, again and again, and I apologize that my first generation of disciples could not serve you better. And if there were a way I could do anything to make up for this horrible situation, please let me know. My generation of disciples owes it to you.

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BBT EDIT REVIEW

G Dasa

MY DEAR VAISHNAVA SISTERS AND BROTHERS!

I offer all of you my heartfelt praṇāmas always. Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda!

As I listen to my favorite recording of Śrīla Prabhupāda singing the Śrī Gurvaṣṭakam verses so sweetly and powerfully, my ears open so wide and trustingly. I know that whatever I hear can completely be imbibed through the vessels of my ears that goes strait into my heart of hearts.

But am I able to give myself in the same way to the edited books of Śrīla Prabhupāda by the BBTII? No. I read with caution and some trepidation, because I never know what has been tampered with. In the pic I've provided below, is this devotee able to completely give himself over to the words he's reading? Or is he experiencing some hesitation as I do? Sad as it is, too many of us now are really not sure if "the label delivers the ingredients."

When I spoke with Ranjit Prabhu (who heads the BBTII copyright office in Alachua, Florida) several years ago, when informing him in a perfectly civil telephone conversation that I was beginning to embark upon a close and careful examination of Jayadvaita's and Dravida's editing for the BBTII, he spoke the following astonishing words (accurately paraphrased here):

"I don't know, Garuda, if you should look into the BBT editing. You know what happened to TKG when he disobeyed the GBC's authority? I don't know, you wouldn't want the same thing to happen to you?"

First of all, I found these words extremely disrespectful of a special departed Vaishnava, on whom Śrīla Prabhupāda depended greatly for his mission, and who was dedicated to Śrīla Prabhupāda's lotus feet more than I could comprehend. And yes! I would want the same thing to happen to me: Krishna taking me back however and whenever and even unexpectedly as He so chooses. So his assumption is entirely wrong.

Secondly, was Ranjit threatening me? Or was he trying to scare me away from the BBTII editing issue? I've always had a fondness for Ranjitji, so I was very surprised to hear this from him.

But what Ranjitji was saying was merely a symptom of a deeper problem within ISKCON: The authority of the institution, whether it be the BBTII or the GBC is far more important than the individual persons within these institutions. Indeed, this culture of de-personalization dictates that devotees' only value is measured by how obsequiously they obey blindly their edicts.

Then we've all read the ISKCON News article "Book Changes Controversy: Coming to a Close", in which we find the pathetic attempt to resolve, even apologize for the "controversy":

"This should effectively put to rest the longstanding ‘book changes controversy,’ which has unfortunately generated division and offensive discourse within ISKCON. The BBT apologizes for any lack of clarity which may have inadvertently contributed to this controversy.

"Let’s put differences aside and work collaboratively and tirelessly to place a set of Srila Prabhupada’s books in every home in the world, and, more importantly, to deeply imbibe his teachings within our own hearts."

You see? For us to "DEEPLY IMBIBE HIS [Śrīla Prabhupāda's] TEACHINGS WITHIN OUR OWN HEARTS," there must be total transparency, total professionalism, and total devotion and dedication to Śrīla Prabhupāda's original words as he left them. Sadly, according to five years of deeply looking into all of this, at best, I find that all three of these attributes have been only practiced at times and much of the time not. And thus, the BBTII's words here simply have no power to inspire me at all.

Dāsa 'smi premni,

G Dasa

[PADA: Yep, there is a rumor the GBC paid some truck driver to cause the car crash that killed Tamal -- because he was getting out of control. Who knows?

Meanwhile a Prabhupadanuga who had allegedly criticized PADA in the past (there was a screen shot) sent me an apology. Very nice. We need to not form a circular firing squad among ourselves. 

We even have guys like Prahlad saying Puranjana is destroying the Prabhupadanugas. What? When we are the first people to use the term "Prabhupadanuga" on our publications in 1984. So he steals our nomenclature, and says -- now he owns it! If you copy and paste from me, but want credit for yourself, then you are the person making the disturbance. 

OK actually no one can own such a title, it is not something we mere kanisthas can own or not own. "Prabhupada." It is a title for a pure devotee and "anugas" are the followers of the pure devotee, and no one can claim they own this concept, it is eternal.

Of course Prahlad and his HKC Jaipur clan have a plan to save the Prabhupadanugas! We should all go listen to their leaders --  the guru of the Hitler-anugas, and / or Bhakta das, who is an advocate for Radhanath. OK so they are still licking the boots of the pedophile messiah's club. That does not make one a Prabhupadanuga. 

Anyway, we are making progress. We have nice questions coming in on a regular basis, includes mass media folks and book writers etc., it is slow -- but steady. 

ys pd]  

angel108b@yahoo.com