AN OPEN LETTER TO TRIVIKRAM DASA PRABHU (Patita Pavana dasa)

AN OPEN LETTER TO TRIVIKRAM DASA PRABHU (Patita Pavana dasa)

My dear Trivkrama Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. May we always remember to glorify Shrila Prabhupada in each and every thought word and deed.

I am writing to you as your Godbrother who is elder by initiation though not by years. We shared a room at the New York City temple at 63 2nd Ave. in 1969 when Prabhupada’s movement was very young. We have all heard of the problems you have faced. Of course, the situation must be very uncomfortable for you. As Krishna tells Arjuna, sambhāvitasya cākīrtir maraṇād atiricyate. “For one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.”

Naturally, Shrila Prabhupada can never withdraw his love for you as his son. He will always be grateful for the 56 years of dedicated service you have given to his mission in this life. Still, there must be some solution to your present predicament. 

And that is prescribed throughout the shastras. There are so many stories from our sacred texts of sages that have slipped up and sought forgiveness, but such examples have typically been ignored by our members of ISKCON. And that solution is tapasya in the form of tirtha-yatra. There are still thousands of sacred spots all over India where one can go to find quiet and solitary relief from the rigors of the burdens of past misdeeds. There are sympathetic and gentle ascetics at each holy spot who understand human frailties.

In chapter 79 of Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Prabhupada elucidates upon Lord Balarama’s holy trek throughout India. And in Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 7-10, Shri Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami describes the route undertaken by Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Supreme Lord in His various manifestations has not only shown by His example the value of tirtha-yatra, but He has sanctified each spot through His lilas. Had many others of our sanga who slipped and fell taken these examples to heart, it could have saved them from wandering away in ignominious defeat. 

The problem at hand is a personal one that no institution can fix. The shastras offer the solution to relief from the burden of vikarmic reactions before timeless time passes by.

Therefore, our advice to you is that you should at once quietly and without any of the usual pomp or ballyhoo, hop on a bus or train and head for tirtha yatra. Venture forth to the sacred mountains, giris, dhamas, puris, kunds and nadis of India. At most of them, you will meet sympathetic sadhus whose company will refresh your soul and free you from the torment you must now be facing.

Pack lightly, just one change of clothes and a few volumes of Prabhupada’s original literature. While avoiding luxury accommodation and hotels, take refuge of the dharmshalas where penitent yatris sleep on straw mats on wooden beds. Spend days sitting and chanting alongside the sacred rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Godavari and Kaveri.

Take no one with you but go alone. You will breathe the sacred air of eternal Brahman, which we as Vaishnavas understand to be the personal all-encompassing spirit of the Supreme Lord. Thus, your soul now wracked with remorse and shame, will find relief and satisfaction in true Krishna consciousness as you continue to recite the Lord’s Holy Names. 

Tirtha yatra as a form of prayaschitta has been largely ignored by previous errant members of our sanga. Yet, in past eons it served as the refuge for billions of penitent souls on their way to salvation from maharajas to maharishis. All it takes is purchasing that second class ticket and hopping on a bus or train. And telling everyone you meet along the way to chant Hare Krishna.

PADA: Trivrikrama told a friend of mine his guru position "is my career" maybe 20 years ago. Before that, he was struggling here in Berkeley running a small costume jewelry table in San Francisco, and his income was very small and subject to problems with the weather and etc. OK when it rains, or it is freezing fog, there is no income, which is a lot of the time over here.

He was very frustrated with his meager income, the weather, the problems with other vendors stealing the better spots etc. At that time he was saying the GBC are a bogus clown show. 

His jewelry table on Market street was clearly not a good career, but being a guru could be. So he decided to switch careers from selling jewelry to being a guru, and he made out like a bandit. He wanted a nice dwelling, servants, a nice vehicle, a bank balance and maybe, a girlfriend. And mostly, a retirement plan. None of that would have happened without his being a guru.

And being a guru gave him all these perks, and a lot of control over others, including women. And that is why Prabhupada says -- it is a guru business. Also why he says when their guru business is over, they go to the lowest and most obnoxious regions. In other words, the guru business is the worst career choice there is.

And thus, being a guru gave him all of these fringe benefits. And being a guru then became his main and only business, and me and Sulochana were a threat to his business, and that is why he opposed us so badly. And that is why he told me he was hoping I'd be dead by now, because my preaching was bad for his guru business. Being a pauper peon street seller -- to being a worshiped and glorified as a guru, and being handed a lot of opulence, is just too much to abandon for most of them, that is all there is to it.  

In other words, I do not see him as a good candidate for making amends, feeling remorse, apologizing to victims -- of his guru charade, being penitent, never mind renouncing his guru career and trying to be some sort of penniless pilgrimage sadhu. 

That is not likely, and has already not been done by any of the other GBC guru guys either when they fall from grace. Repentence, remorse, sorrow for sin, acknowledging the damage they cause others -- and ISKCON -- is nearly never found in these guys. 

What is generally found instead is, remorseless-ness, shameless-ness, doubling down-ness, merciless-ness, heard hearted-ness, unforgiving-ness, and damn the torpedos -- full speed ahead-ness. And now he is getting married and staying in Ukraine, getting glorified by the ignorant people there, so he can milk his guru charade forever. He is not going to give up a materially good thing for himself, because he is a greedy materialistic person and not a guru. 

Anyway we are hoping all these guru folks can be sued collectively in India, and hopefully Trivrikrama will be one of the people indicted for conspiracy to create a child molesting webs, nests and infrastructure there, and actually worldwide, and he has been de facto or direct a key player is creating that process. 

He needs to repent, but actually all of them do. Will they? Not likely, which is why people are inclined to go to the media and courts to get them to repent using external pressures. That seems to be the only thing they recognize as a reckoning process, there seems to be no self-rectifying system in theirs. 

ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com