Friday, May 29, 2026

Tulsi / Get the Aparadhis! / ISKCON's Atheist Acharya 05 29 26



IRAN

PADA: I saw a female ex-Navy helicopter pilot being interviewed. She was saying, "MAGA started their whole house on fire (Iran) -- and they think they can put it out with a bucket of water." Hee hee, wowsers pilgrims.

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TULSI GABBARD

PADA: Thanks prabhu. Yes, various political commenters are saying that Tulsi was basically repeating Putin's talking points, and feeding that to our leaders. And if MAGA folks are making a lot of geo-political mistakes, could it be -- the "advisors" are giving the MAGA folks cherry picked or wrong info, so the leaders are not aware of the real issues? 

I think that is possible. But yeah, some commenters are saying -- good riddance, she was not effective in helping the USA make the correct choices. Nor did she come out and publicly detail what the right choices would be. I agree. I still like her personally, but she has made some serious mistakes. ys pd 

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That’s an Offense! by Gaura Gopāla Dāsa (disciple of BG Narasimha)

May 22, 2026

After last week’s article on loyalty to the guru versus loyalty to the institution, Gaura Gopāla reflects on some of the criticism he received — particularly the accusation that such ideas are somehow “offensive.” He argues that among many devotees, the word “offense” is often used simply to shut down disagreement, criticism, or even the acknowledgment that sincere devotees may exist outside one’s own institution.

On Offense and the Offended

The Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī Mentality

Where There Is Sincerity, There Is Kṛṣṇa. “That’s an offense!” You’ve heard it. Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself. In contemporary Vaiṣṇava circles it has become the all-purpose response to anything that unsettles the comfortable boundaries of one’s own worldview. To question an institutional decision – aparādha! 

To disagree on a point of philosophy – aparādha! To acknowledge that sincere devotees might actually exist outside one’s immediate sanga – aparādha! The charge has been inflated to cover everything and, in being inflated, has become cheapened beyond all recognition.

Following the recent publication of ‘Never Leave ISKCON?,’ most of the responses were favorable, but a number arrived carrying exactly this charge. The article’s argument – that loyalty to the guru and the siddhānta is not the same as loyalty to any particular institutional framework – was condemned by some as offensive, divisive, and even ‘anti-Prabhupāda.’

I generally make it a point not to respond to most critics unless they show some genuine character, free from prejudice (internet trolls don’t factor into that!) What I would like to address is what their reaction reveals – the culture of criticism and lack of maturity within the Vaiṣṇava world, the widely misunderstood concept of aparādha, and why plurality in the Vaiṣṇava world is not merely tolerable but necessary.

On Offense and the Offended

One of the most common weapons wielded in the Vaiṣṇava world is the charge of aparādha. In Sanskrit, aparādha means offense – specifically, an offense against the holy name, against the Vaiṣṇavas, against the spiritual master, or against the Lord Himself. From a deeper understanding, aparādha means that which is against Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī – the very embodiment of bhakti Herself. 

These are grave matters, and the śāstra treats them seriously. But something strange has happened to this concept in certain contemporary circles – it has become simultaneously inflated and cheapened.

Inflated, because everything is now an offense. The word has become a blunt instrument, used not out of genuine concern for others, but as a means of social control.

Cheapened, because those who deploy it most aggressively are often the least careful about committing real offenses themselves. There is something ironic in someone launching a vitriolic personal attack on a devotee and in the same breath accusing that devotee of aparādha.

My Guru Mahārāja, Swami B.G. Narasingha, once said, “I don’t hate anyone. Hate is not a part of my life.” But for those who knew him, he was an intense personality, who guarded his gurus and the siddhānta with great care and attention. This was sometimes mistaken by others to be hatred or even envy. 

Energetic argument and disagreement free from envy and hatred is 100% justified in pursuit of the Truth and in pursuit of clarifying the siddhānta – what is real and what is not real, and what will help us in our progress on this path towards becoming conscious of the reality of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

In answering a question on how to balance wishing everyone well and staying strict to the teachings of one’s guru, my Guru Mahārāja said: 

"We hate the sin, not the sinner. If we fall into the plane of hating the sinner then there is aparādha. We don’t hate the butcher we hate butchery. We don’t hate the pseudo-rāsikās, we hate the misrepresentation. If we allow ourselves to be consumed with hatred then even though we may be defending the conception of our gurus, that may be aparādha."

The misuse of the word aparādha reveals a deeper spiritual immaturity. A genuinely advanced devotee is kṛpā-sindhu – an ocean of mercy. Such a devotee does not run to condemn; they run to help and correct. The urge to pronounce that someone else is going to hell, that a fellow practitioner has condemned themselves to 10,000 koṭi kalpas in Kumbhīpāka, generally says more about the speaker’s own false ego than about the spiritual condition of the accused. 

The senior devotees, preachers, sannyāsīs, and especially gurus must approach spreading the word of Caitanya Mahāprabhu with energy, enthusiasm and a desire to help others through correction – not pass sentence as judge, jury and executioner.

The Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī Mentality

The kaniṣṭha mentality says: “Kṛṣṇa is here, in our group, with our guru, in our temple. He is not there.” And yet Kṛṣṇa Himself declares in the Bhagavad-gītā that He pervades all of existence – every atom of every living being. Every sincere seeker is animated by Paramātmā within the heart. How can a devotee simultaneously believe in the omnipresence of Kṛṣṇa and insist that He is absent from sincere practitioners in other Vaiṣṇava communities?

The tragedy is not that kaniṣṭhas exist – the tragedy is when the kaniṣṭha mentality hardens into a permanent state. A devotee who has spent years in practice but never grown beyond “we are right and everyone else is wrong” has missed something essential about the magnanimity of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and misunderstood what proper discrimination is for.

This same mentality produces the strange phenomenon of devotees judging fellow practitioners more harshly than they judge non-devotees. A complete stranger who has never even heard of Kṛṣṇa is met with enthusiasm and compassion – “Come, chant, take prasādam!” But a devotee from a different community, or with a different guru, is immediately treated with suspicion and contempt.

Plurality Is Not a Problem to Be Solved

My original article argued that loyalty to the guru and the siddhānta is not the same as loyalty to a particular institutional framework. Some read this as an argument for abandoning structure, anarchy, or some form of spiritual relativism. It was none of those.

All this goes to reinforce the essential nature of the guru-disciple relationship. The guru is diagnosing the individual patient, and according to their necessity, he is giving them the medicine they need. The path of bhakti is highly personal and individualistic, and while there are many aspects that all devotees follow, there are always gradations within that. What is good for me may not be good for someone else. What is good for others may not be beneficial for me.

As the practitioner grows in their own spiritual awakening, they also begin to help others in the same way that their guru helped them. However, it is important to note that following in the footsteps of the guru is not the same as imitating the guru. To follow in the footsteps means to follow the example of the guru according to one’s capacity and adhikāra. Imitation of the guru, on the other hand, means that strong statements made by the guru to correct others may be taken by the immature disciple as a free pass to say whatever they want for ‘preaching.’

If we understand this material world and all of our activities to be a reflection of the spiritual reality, then we can see that plurality is not only a consequence of this material cosmos – it is part of our spiritual identity. Light has no meaning without darkness. Compassion has no meaning without a fit recipient, love without a lover, or service without an object of worship. Kṛṣṇa means infinite spiritual variety; He is an ocean of rasa – so many personalities are taking part according to their nature, and there is competition, disagreement, play, argument and service, all aimed at the origin of everything – the Sweet Absolute Truth, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. 

This is all free from envy, hatred, and the anarthas of this world.
What the original article argued – and what I wish to reinforce here – is that the Vaiṣṇava world is inherently plural, and that this plurality is not a deviation to be corrected. It is the natural expression of how Kṛṣṇa works in the world.

Where There Is Sincerity, There Is Kṛṣṇa

Kṛṣṇa is not static. He does not wait in one place to be found by only those who have chosen the correct organizational affiliation. He is dynamic, present, and responsive. Where there is sincerity of search, there is Kṛṣṇa. This is not a philosophical novelty. It is the testimony of every ācārya from Brahmā to the present.

The ‘foam at the mouth’ critic, the institutional zealot, the devotee who cannot disagree without descending into personal attacks – these are not enemies. They are, most often, souls who have found something precious in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and are trying, in their own limited way, to protect it. That impulse is understandable, but it is a sign of weakness and immaturity. When you don’t know how to deal with something or someone, the reaction is, “Ban it! Excommunicate them! Throw them out! Attack!”

There is a distinct lack of maturity in the broad Vaiṣṇava world. I am not so bold as to say that I know exactly why this is, but I would guess that the modern Vaiṣṇava world has brought in so many people in the last fifty years that the predominating voice is one of immaturity. In other words, the majority of devotees fall into the category of kaniṣṭha, not necessarily by how long they’ve been around, but by how they behave. 

My Guru Mahārāja was not an advocate of increasing the numbers of kaniṣṭha devotees in the world, but for “boiling the milk” as Śrīla Prabhupāda himself said. What does that mean? “Boiling the milk” means devotees becoming mature, diving deep into the understanding and feeling of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – it means the process of anartha-nivṛtti is happening. When the kaniṣṭha mentality petrifies into a rock, it is very difficult to break in this lifetime. Let us not allow our hearts to remain hard as stone and our heads even harder.

It gets so bad in the comments section of any slightly controversial social media post by devotees that it practically resembles medieval peasantry coming with pitchforks and torches to burn a heretic. It is shameful and embarrassing to see this type of mentality shown to the broader world – the pinnacle of theistic thought and practice coming from the most magnanimous personality of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu being misrepresented so badly.

I am not advocating for the kicarī principle of unity with everyone together harmonized on a superficial basis, nor am I advocating for division based on false ideas. Maturity means, “What I know is by the grace of my gurus; what is good in my life is the grace of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees; what is bad is my own fault, and I discriminate with sincerity of purpose for my own good and the good of others.”
Disagreement is not aparādha. Robust discussion is not aparādha. Kṛṣṇa is present in the heart and already knows who is sincere and who is not – we just need to understand what is most beneficial for ourselves and act on that. 

PADA: First of all, the only reason that Paramadvaiti, Aranaya, Sudhir, Pancadravida, BG Narasimgha and others went to Sridhara Maharaja in the first place is -- the GBC and people like Ramesvara were sending ISKCON's sannyasas to Sridhara "to take advice." No one even knew who Sridhar Maharaja was before he became the darling consultant of the GBC. And Sridhar was the GBC guru's biggest cheer leader and ghost writer of many of the early post 1978 GBC documents.  

But Srila Prabhupada warned us that Sridhar Maharaja is the leader of the "severe offenders" Bagh Bazaar party, and thus we should NOT consult with him. And Srila Prabhupada told us the history of Sridhara Maharaja: after the departure of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati on Jan 1 1937, some of the leaders of the Gaudiya Matha -- especially BR Sridhara Maharaja, Professor Sannyal, Madhava Maharaja -- and others -- decided to artificially designate Ananta Vasudeva as the next acharya. 

They wanted to make some sort of institutional conditioned soul figurehead as the acharya, something like the Pope. Srila Prabhupada says "they violated the order of Guru Maharaja to make a Governing body." After 1978 the Sridhar Maharaja people were also big time against us Prabhupada devotees, because we did not want to promote worship of their conditioned soul figurehead acharyas.  

Later on, Sridhar's false prophet messiah Ananta Vasudeva was exposed as writing love letters to a female with a dubious reputation -- and some of the dissenters who exposed those letters were beaten with bricks, had their faces pushed into dog stools, and some were terminated -- and they lost their lives. And that is because Sridhar makes very fanatical personality guru cults that are -- dangerous -- if not deadly -- for anyone who disagrees. 

So when we are discussing heated debates among "kanistha" Vaishnavas, descending into criminal mayhem, violent behavior, and / or terminating the lives of dissenters, Sridhara Maharaja is one of the original pivotal past masters / founder fathers of that entire process. He engineered that to happen after 1937 already. A devotee said, "Let us make barking dogs into gurus and then make pretend we do not know where all the barking comes from." 

Did I forget to mention bona fide kanisthas do not engage in cat and dog fighting because they all agree to promote the bona fide acharya, and not promote themselves as the acharya? Yep, "If you convince a dog he is the master, he will bite the actual master." 

Then later Ananta Vasudeva's female lover administered poison to the son, because the son was on the verge of exposing that she had continued her prostitution business activities, even after becoming "the guru mother of the Math." And when Ananta Vasudeva found out that their son was terminated "to save the mission," he took the same poison and terminated himself. 

Srila Prabhupada said, that is how the scandal was ended. Of course Srila Prabhupada also said Ananta Vasudeva was heterosex, homosex, sex and sex, so he was for sure -- a loose moral standards debauchee. In other words, Sridhar Maharaja was unable to distinguish a pure devotee acharya -- from a conditioned soul non-acharya. He does not understand how they are different. So he juxtaposes these platforms together artificially. 

And when Sridhar Maharaja was later asked by some news media folks about the problems his program generated, he answered -- there is a lot of violence and death in the Bhagavad Gita, we have to expect that result. WTF? We have to expect that Vaishnavas will be beating and terminating one another, because someone like Sridhar Maharaj wants to make conditioned souls -- if not debauchees -- into Krishna's acharyas? 

Yep, we should make conditioned souls into messiahs, and when the wheels start to come off our program, we blame Krishna for giving (bad?) advice to make violence in the Gita. What does Krishna and His Gita have to do with their debauchee acharya's program? This is how Sridhar tries to shift the blame for his mistakes onto God, which is very misleading -- to say the least. Yeah God says violence is a good idea, so we are going to spread it among Vaishnavas. That is insulting God, for starters.

So when the GBC came to Sridhar in 1978, he was one of the world's leading living eye witness experts to the tragic and odious history of what happens when we artificially make conditioned souls into acharyas. He knew more than anyone else on the planet at the time; conditioned soul gurus will create fall downs and scandals. And then there will be violence, even more -- and much worse scandals, dissenters being terminated, bad public news media, because that is how false messiah cults tend to end up repeatedly. 

And worse, we could likely end up with children getting severe problems as well, which happened to Ananta Vasudeva's child. False guru programs place children into peril. He knew that -- in spades. 

GBC pictures on altars. 

This was another boondoggle invented by the GBC and their "advisor" Sridhara Maharaja. Srila Prabhupada personally told me -- we cannot change the bhogha offering system or it will NEVER be ACCEPTED by Krishna. But right away Sridhara helped the GBC come up with their bogus system of offering bhogha to the photos of conditioned souls. 

I said at the time, offering food to intoxicated womanizers will give people the intoxicated womanizer beeja (desire) and not the bhakti beeja. And worse, this will make a loose atmosphere by giving people the lusty and intoxicated desire beeja or seed. I said worshiping predators will attract more or same. 

And just as I predicted, this created a mass child mistreatment problem because the lusty beeja was fanned and encouraged. Worship of lusty and intoxicated people is even condemned in mundane mleccha society. 

Did I forget to mention that my ex-witch lady friend says -- offering food to contaminated people -- contaminates the food, which she says -- is why so many Krishna devotees are getting sick and dying of CANCER. She said this is a well known Satanic principle, offering food to the contaminated, contaminates the food, and this is making devotees fall down, get sick, and die. And BG Narasimgha himself got cancer and died.   

When was ANY of this "offering bhogha to conditioned souls" system authorized by Srila Prabhupada? It was not, he condemns such systems.  

Acharya of the zone.

Sridhar said there will be "the acharya of the Zone." Srila Prabhupada said -- when he was once checked from entering a country -- there are no geographical restrictions on a pure devotee. And the people who make geographical restrictions on pure devotees are making offenses to pure devotees. In short, there is no such thing as pure devotees having physically restricted geographical Zones. 

That makes the acharya a mundane business franchise operator and not a guru. The acharya is called Jagat guru, which means he is the acharyas all over the universe, never mind a small GBC Zone. OK the whole Zonal Guru idea is a deviation, a scam, and against the Vedic principle of Jagat Guru. 

Jayatirtha. 

Sridara was told that Jayatirtha is taking intoxicants and is having affairs with female followers. And yet Sridhar said -- Jayatirtha has to stay in the guru post or "we will disturb the faith of the sisyas (followers)." We want people to "have faith" in worshiping lusty intoxicated debauchees? And why would we force little children to worship contaminated, lusty debauchees as their messiahs? 

Again, even in mleccha society no one wants their children to worship lusty and intoxicated debauchees as their messiahs. That is never accepted even in mleccha society.

Hansadutta. 

Hansadutta himself told Sridhara he was taking intoxicants and having affairs -- with half dozen ladies (or more?). But he was told by Sridhar to -- stay in the guru post -- repeatedly. And this went on and on and on, all the way up to 1985 when Hansadutta finally realized, I am going to die following this person. 

Hansadutta later told me, Sridhar's telling me to stay in the guru post when I was near SUICIDE was the WORST advice anyone every gave me in my whole life. I could easily have DIED from all the intoxicants (and he almost did die a number of times, and required doctor's treatments). I am lusty, I am intoxicated, what should I do? There is only one thing to do, be worshiped as good as God! WTF?  

Vote in the envious.  

When Sridhara was told some people were envious of Ramesvara, he said "then vote them in as acharyas" so they will be appeased. We need to vote for the envious as acharyas? 

Mahajanas.

Around 1980 Sridhara was helping the GBC write "The Mahajanas Have Difficulties" -- which compares the failures of the GBC gurus -- with alleged failures of the Mahajanas. What do fallen down conditioned souls have in common with the Mahajanas? So this is another means of insulting the Mahajanas in order to prop up their false guru system. 

Taking Karma.

We also argued with the GBC in 1979 that none of us are authorized to take karma (as diksha gurus). Srila Prabhupada told us never to even have people touch our feet. But they all disobeyed this order, and Sridhar encouraged them to take disciples and take karma. 

BG Narasingha was himself totally defying this order for us NOT to take karma, and he eventually suffered from CANCER. Sridhar Maharaja has no idea how the process of pure devotees helping resolve sins operates, he thinks any conditioned soul can take the post of Jesus and take sins. That is not possible. Srila Prabhupada says a false guru will go to hell and so will the followers. The process of conditioned souls taking sins like Jesus is not even done in mleccha society, they know only a person like Jesus is qualified to take the post of diksha guru.   

None should protest.

When we challenged the GBC early on, they began to flash copies of conversations they had with Sridhara in my face to shut me down. "The acharya is an absolute monarch." "The acharya should not be questioned -- or it disturbs the faith of the sisyas." "The acharya must be seen as the highest realm, rati keli siddha (serving the gopis)." ETC! 

And as for us dissenters? "None should protest." OK so all the banning, beating, molesting, lawsuits and murders -- should not be protested by anyone. How is that going to end up? Well lots of people are going to be banned, beaten, molested, sued and -- killed, because we cannot protest any of that. And there were thousands and thousands of victims as a result, including evidently thousands of children. But -- none should protest? 

So we would argue that when Vaishnavas are being systematically banned, beaten, molested, sued and killed we have A DUTY to protest and try to salvage the situation from getting worse. And even the karmis have a law, if you know about crimes (especially against children) it is YOUR DUTY to protest. But Sridhar says, we should not. OK that makes us targets for violence if not assassination.

None should protest! So, lets go stop these aparadha protesters! The good news is the karmi laws enforcement and FEDS saved me from Sridhara's violent cult program. But yeah, the followers of Sridhara are advocating for violent cult gurus, and at the same time asking for everyone to cooperate. 

OK anyone who cooperates with a program of banning, beating, molesting, suing and killing devotees of God -- shares in the karma with the perps, orchestrators, enablers, facilitators, advisors (like Sridhar) and "gurus." It is the duty of all human beings to stop evil acts from be committed upon God's devotees. 

That is not only our duty to God, but our duty to human society as a human being. Sridhar says no, our duty is to help the program that is banning, beating, molesting, suing and killing. He is wrong. 

And as far as the kanistha problem, sorry the people who saved me from Sridhara's guru program are the meat eating karmi police and FEDS, they are many times more advanced than Sridhar and his violent personality cult guru process. If I had lived in the 1940s, Sridhar's program would have eliminated my life and taken me to the morgue. He wanted that same thing to happen to us dissenters again after 1978, because he either never learned, or he knows what happens and he wanted that. 

So if we want to know who created all the banning, beating, lawsuits, murders and overall violence against us "aparadhis," it is Sridhar and his followers, which includes the GBC who all followed him and made him their "senior most Vaishnava consultant on the planet." We want to stop the violence among Vaishnavas, and keep our deviants and conditioned souls in the guru seat which is the root source of the "aparadhi" labels being thrown around, that will never work. We have to re-establish the worship of the bona fide acharya so we can UNITE everyone under one flag. 

ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com 

It gets so bad in the comments section of any slightly controversial social media post by devotees that it practically resembles medieval peasantry coming with pitchforks and torches to burn a heretic. It is shameful and embarrassing to see this type of mentality shown to the broader world – the pinnacle of theistic thought and practice coming from the most magnanimous personality of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu being misrepresented so badly.

YEP!

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ISKCON's ATHEIST ACHARYA

WAYNE BOYD (Vipramukhya Swami)

I went from being deeply religious to being an atheist, but it was not a quick emotional reaction or a desire to rebel. I joined ISKCON in 1973 after a failed marriage and dropping out of physics at college. I spent nearly three decades in the Hare Krishna world. I was initiated, later accepted sannyasa, served as a teacher and leader, and lived inside a religious framework about as completely as a person can.

I had my own disciples, served as the Regional Director for Washington State and Western Canada, ran the U.K. Bhakta Programme, and served as temple president of both London’s Soho Street temple and Bhaktivedanta Manor. I collected Salagram Silas from the Kali Gandaki river bed in Nepal, climbed the Himalayas up to Muktinath, prayed to Krishna many times a day, always chanted my 16 rounds daily, and used to coach others who “fell behind” to “catch up.”

So for me, religion was not something I only knew from the outside. It was my identity. My name was Vipramukhya Swami. The name Prabhupada gave me was Vipramukhya dasa Brahmachari.

What changed me was the slow realization that sincerity and devotion do not make a belief true. I began to see the difference between powerful religious experience and reliable evidence. People in every religion have profound experiences, deep convictions, answered prayers, miracles, scriptures, saints, and traditions. They cannot all be right in their specific claims, but they can all feel completely certain from the inside.

Over time, I became less willing to accept claims simply because they were traditional, scriptural, emotionally meaningful, or supported by a community I loved. I wanted beliefs that could survive honest questioning. The more I looked at religion through evidence, history, psychology, and science, the less reason I had to believe supernatural claims were true.

For me, it was not only one claim. It was a whole pattern.

Humans walked on the Moon. Life evolved gradually through common descent. The Earth is not arranged according to ancient sacred cosmology. The Moon is not farther away than the Sun in any ordinary astronomical sense. Disease is not cured by ritual purity. Cow urine is not divine medicine. Karma, reincarnation, demigods, subtle bodies, heavenly planets, and hellish planets may be meaningful religious beliefs to those who hold them, but they are not supported by empirical evidence in the way scientific claims must be.

That distinction became impossible for me to ignore. I could still respect sincerity, devotion, discipline, and service, but I could no longer treat scriptural claims as true simply because they were traditional, emotionally powerful, or central to the life I had lived. I still value compassion, honesty, discipline, humility, and service. I am still a lacto-vegetarian. I just no longer think those things require belief in God.

PADA: Right, so Vipramukhya and Danavir once confided to me, they would never have joined ISKCON and worshiped a person like Jayatirtha themselves. They would not be part of ISKCON if they had to accept these people as gurus. But everyone who is coming now has to accept Jayatirtha, like it or not.

Anyway Vipramukhya went on to become a guru and he was acting like a goofball, getting his feet massaged by his favorite female devotee, riding horses -- and falling off and breaking both arms -- and lecturing really silly mundane examples and materials. However, Srila Prabhupada said we cannot take sins or we would have to suffer. To his credit, Vipramukhya later complained that he was hesitating to take more disciples because -- everytime I initiate someone it makes me sick (by taking karma).

So fast forward to now, and he is an atheist. OK this is one of the results of making offenses and taking karma and so forth. It makes a person lose faith, as has happened here. What is remarkable is how the GBC takes people who have very weak faith, not far from being atheists, and they make them into their "shaksat Hari" (good as God) sin absorbing newly minted Jesus like saints, acharyas and gurus. Then when their guru leaves (bloops) the ISKCON GBC wonders why his followers lose faith in the religion, and also leave. If the GBC is making borderling atheists into God's successors, they are not doing a good job of testing their would be messiahs. ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com

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BHAKTI TIRTHA WAS A KIRTANANANDA CLONE

May 29, 1991: On this date in history 35 years ago, Bhakti Tirtha Swami, the ISKCON guru for most of Africa, defends his sannyasa guru (who was convicted for racketeering two months earlier at the Martinsburg, West Virginia courthouse):
“Swami Bhaktipada’s position is like that of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. All three of these men dedicated their lives very selflessly in trying to bring peace to mankind, but in the process they were often misunderstood and even violently attacked. The Swami is a man of the stature of these two great stalwarts of peace.”
For more, see, Gold, Guns and God, Vol. 9, p. 17.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

ISKCON Bombay Tax Status / Succession Crisis Book / Karma and Mistreating 05 27 26

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https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/tax-exempted-institutions

ISKCON BOMBAY's TAX EXEMPT STATUS

"Why Business May Still be As Usual"

Recently Basu Ghosh wrote to temple presidents in India who are in the ISKCON Mumbai group of temples and in that email he informed them that they may continue with "business as usual." In the United States, donors may rely on a search of the official IRS page at https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos regarding donations to assure them that a particular organization is still recognized as exempt. 

The donors are then assured that donations to that organization will be deductible as charitable contributions. However, if the IRS revokes the 501(c)(3) organization status of a particular organization and later posts it, a search again on that website will show the revocation. Up until the IRS updates their data, donors (except corporate insiders) may deduct charitable contributions. However, after that date of update, no taxpayer may deduct donations to such organizations. It appears that India has the same -- temporary delay -- system.

Indian companies and individuals who want to be able to know that they may deduct on their income tax return the amount of their future donations to ISKCON Mumbai must search through https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/tax-exempted-institutions and put in the box under "Pan" the PAN (Permanent Account Number") of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Mumbai), which is AAATI0017P. 

Today, at the top of that page, under the heading "Exempted Institutions", is "Last Updated: April 6th, 2026". The listing would be updated every 2-3 months. From the point that the listing of ISKCON Mumbai has been changed to show that they lost their exemption under section 80G section 133, companies and individuals may not deduct donations to ISKCON Mumbai. 

From the date of such a public internet update ISKCON Mumbai may not indicate on websites or solicitation materials that it is an exempt organizations nor that donations to it are deductible as charitable contributions.

The article at https://studycafe.in/reliance-iskcon-pd-hinduja-hospital-and-breach-candy-hospital-trust-to-income-tax-exemption-denial-over-commercial-activity-allegations-419586.html was dated May 6, 2026. Therefore, updates to the search engine data for ISKCON Bombay on Incometaxindia.gov should soon be made.

====


Ravindra Swarup dasa


*** Expanded the 11 fake messiahs to over 100.


*** Physically assaulted the "ritviks" for challenging his
pedophile messiahs project.


*** His main idea? "ISKCON's children must worship
his homosexuals and pedophile messiahs as their path to God."

Leading the Hare Krishna Movement

The Crisis of Succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

By Angela R. Burt (Disciple of Ravindra Swarupa)

ABSTRACT

This book examines issues of leadership and succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which was founded in by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. After the founder’s death in 1977, the movement was led by a group of gurus in a "zonal system" until their authority was challenged and reformed in the mid-1980s. 

PADA: The "crisis" was artificially created when people like Ravindra swarupa made his homosexual and pedophile pals and assorted deviants into "God's successors." And he helped Satsvarupa promote that Kirtanananda (a homosexual pedophile) is "like Jesus, Haridas Thakur and Prahlad" -- so he could make me and Sulochana targets for assassination. And then have his pedo buddies buried in samadhis in the dham. 

There was also no reform or change to the Zonal Guru system. The same gurus who were in charge of various areas remained there. The newer gurus were assigned other "lesser" areas. For example Bhakti Vikas was given the less significant Zone of Salem India, while his mentor and sannyasa guru Jayapataka kept the crown jewel of Mayapur. Nothing actually changed for the original Zone holders.

And every year these gurus are assigned often the same Zones, same as before. Worse, as part of the reform, they re-instated Bhavananda as Vishnupada, despite reports he was engaged in oral sex with taxi drivers in the holy dham.

At the heart of the book is an exploration of the developments, conflicts, and defining characteristics of leadership in ISKCON in this decade. Themes of hierarchy, status, power and authority, and the routinisation of charisma are shown to be keys to understanding the events of the time. 

PADA: I personally never felt any of the 11 had any charisma. Satsvarupa was always a geeky guy who was later hiding out living in Howard Johnson Motels. He does not conduct emotional kirtans, leading samkirtan or preaching of any significance, but neither do most of them. Hansadutta was a drunk. Bhagavan was arrogant. Kirtanananda had a gay vibe. And so on. 

Never felt any charisma vibes from any of them. People keep telling me Kirtanananda had a lot of charisma ... ok but only ... for them to worship. I always viewed him as a Mott Street bum who came across a place to exploit and make himself a position. 

Never had a lot of respect for the guy. And I considered him as potentially dangerous since he had a propensity to challenge Srila Prabhupada. OK the opposite of me feeling ANY charisma. I saw him as a potential for trouble, and he was.

With careful analysis of interviews and documentary evidence, the research offers a unique insight into ISKCON as an organisation and the broader religious community in which ISKCON is located. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of new religious movements and those concerned with religious leadership.

PADA: There was no leadership. Devotees were being banned, beaten, molested, sued and killed and there was no real checks and balances. If the leaders of a company bankrupt the company, and create one scandal after the next, they will be fired and sued for destroying the company. 

In the film The Paper Chase, two law students break into an enclosed area of the Harvard Law School to gain access to their professor's notes. On locating them, one student asks: “Do you realise what this is? This is it. This. This is the unbroken chain. This is the ageless passing of wisdom”. He reads the notes:

After all I am almost the living extension of the old judges. Where would they be without me? I carry in my mind the cases they wrote. Where the hell would they be if it wasn't for me? Who would hang their pictures if there were no law students? It's hard being the living extension of tradition.

(The Paper Chase 1973)

PADA: Yeah, they started calling homosexuals and pedophiles the unbroken chain from Krishna. Sorry, that is about as broke as it gets.

A crisis of charismatic leadership in the post-succession period

Many of us here, older Godbrothers, are very concerned in two ways—

1) that the 11 gurus not having been appointed to the position of acarya and for which they are unqualified both by: 

a. the insufficient knowledge of sastra and 

b. the incomplete realization of Krsna consciousness, are accepting worship on that level—and this may lead to anomalies in the society and personally, because of lack of complete detachment in atmajnana, leading to a buildup of pride and subsequent falldown, and 

2) that the united society ISKCON, because of illegal division and control by a few members instead of the joint GBC will become broken up in separate societies and the unified preaching effort very much hindered.

PADA: The gurus were not appointed. Well yeah, so why did Ravindra and others support that the 11 are gurus -- if none of them were ever appointed as gurus? Yup. NOT HAVING BEEN APPOINTED. That means they usurped the post of acharya.
 
The zonal acharya system was this very archaic style of management and I am not saying it's wrong. But it requires a different civilisation.

PADA: No, all civilizations reject worshiping deviants as messiahs.

Experiences of disciples of the gurus and women

My dear godbrothers, it was too much too soon, they weren't pure devotees, they weren't able to handle it … I'm not blasting them because if I had been in the situation where I would have -- you know -- hundreds of people bowing down before me throwing me money … we had gone from an absolute to a relative. With Srila Prabhupada it was an absolute and with the godbrother gurus it was relative and it became increasingly difficult … to remain inspired.

PADA: So they were not appointed and not pure devotees, so the whole thing was a scam.

Long-term effects of the zonal acharya system and the guru reform movement

I wouldn't have left if I could have been a guru in a different way. I wouldn't have felt I was living a nightmare. 

PADA: Well yeah the devotees who were being banned, beaten, molested, sued and killed were and are living a nightmare. Why did Ravindra support the GBC program, and he attacked us thus co-creating the nightmare? 

That could have saved people like me. I think people can have a completely different concept of guru without thinking of them as having completely realised experiences of Radha-Krishna and Govinda in Goloka Vrindavan. 

PADA: OK a less realized guru is a shiksha guru or a ritvik, exactly what we said. Except Ravindra would not allow us to promote that process.

Hierarchy, status, and the distribution of power and authority

The great tension was how to hold these gurus together within the institution of ISKCON, and ISKCON was struggling mightily to do that.

PADA: They were not kept together, one by one the gurus left, often in scandals, and often took a bunch of followers with them. Or they lead people away to Sridhar or Narayan or others and that siphoned off people en masse. 

Systemic and individual issues in religious leadership in ISKCON

I think it was less a matter of an adjustment or two, than a pattern of behaviour over time, a repetitive pattern that said something's wrong intrinsically here. It's not just an individual or two individuals; there's something that's happening because it's so pervasive now. … Structure is not per se wrong … don't condemn the system, condemn the people who manipulate that system to the wrong end.

PADA: The system is, everyone has to promote conditioned souls as absolute or be driven out. Sorry, that is the wrong structure from square one. We cannot make conditioned souls into absolute and realized souls artificially, it won't work, and never has worked, and never will work.

Conclusion
 
I think ISKCON's main strength … is its ability to be self-correcting. The decision to restore or give authority to the GBC … those are decisions that at one point would not have been possible … but enough people saw reason and had the welfare of the institution in mind to agree to move somewhat to a different position. No institution that is not self-correcting is going to survive.

PADA: There was no correction made. The gurus are still being worshiped as absolute and those who disagree are still being exiled and punished, or even sued. ys pd

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

KARMA AND MISTREATING DEVOTEES

PADA: Notice that lots of devotees are talking about persons who abuse their authority, and then the abusers seem to think their karma is non-existing, and they are not in trouble. Not so fast! Karma is always going to apply -- eventually. 

ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com  


Jagannath Nitya Dasi

The evil one was arrogantly asked, “When will he face the consequences of his wrongdoings?” The answer is simple: the consequences of karma are already on their way.

The greatest delusion of the wicked is -- believing that a delayed consequence is a canceled debt. 

No empire built on the blood, sweat, tears, and suffering of innocent people survives forever. Every enjoyment, from sensual pleasures to luxury gained through injustice, from the pain of innocents, carries a curse within it. Cruelty may appear powerful for a time, but destruction is already growing inside it.

When a man spends his life torturing his innocent wife and children, he does not merely harm them — he commits a crime against the very fabric of justice itself. He takes the peace, dignity, resources, and lifeblood that rightfully belonged to others.

Then he feeds his corrupt companions with the profits of that cruelty and mistakes their greed for loyalty. But parasites are never loyal.

The people surrounding him do not love him; they love what they can extract from him. They feed on his ego, his wealth, and his wrongdoing like vultures feeding on a dying body. The same people applauding his cruelty today will become the architects of his downfall tomorrow.

Because nothing built on shattered innocence can stand forever.

The lies, manipulation, abuse, and deceit they use to dominate their society or even legal family are already eroding their own life from within. The same deceit that lifted them will become the weapon that destroys them. The suffering they inflicted upon innocent souls will return with greater force. The betrayal, harm, and destruction they spread into the lives of innocents will slowly consume their own world piece by piece.

They believe that because consequences have been delayed, they escaped them.

Profoundly mistaken. The universe keeps an absolute ledger, and every injustice creates a debt. People who built their lives upon greed, oppression, and blood money are living on borrowed time. Their pleasures are temporary distractions hiding an irreversible collapse. And when the downfall finally arrives, the very people who stood beside them celebrating corruption will drag each other into ruin to save themselves.

Consequence is the law of the universe.

Every act of cruelty leaves a mark upon the one who commits it. Every abuse digs a grave inside the soul of the abuser long before the world witnesses the collapse.
Karma is not merely a distant punishment waiting in the future.

Karma is the slow destruction already unfolding beneath the surface while the wicked mistake temporary comfort for victory. And when the illusion finally shatters, they will stand alone in the ruins of a life destroyed by their own hands.

Illusion: The collapse is not coming.

It has already begun. 

#LawOfKarma #ExistentialJustice #Consequences #MoralLaw #Truth See less

Monday, May 25, 2026

Message to Padambhuja / Bangalore is Correct 05 25 26


CANCER EPIDEMIC

PADA: Oh oh pilgrims, another youngish devotee lady -- 40 yrs old maybe -- has had to have surgery and chemotherapy for cancer. This is another example of something amiss in the devotee community. I decided not to give her name, but I wish her well. 

She said "this was totally un-expected," well yeah, but this is repeating all too often. It is almost expected! My Mormon nurse advisor says, the Krishna devotees are doing something toxic, I think it is stress. Well yup. And eating food offered to predators and / or Satanic beings might not help much either.  

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





Padambhuja Dāsa was Bhakti Abhaya Carana Swami, a former ISKCON initiating guru who is no longer active in ISKCON’s guru system. He appears in lists of fallen or retired post‑1977 ISKCON gurus.


GBC RESOLUTIONS 2000

Sri Padambhuja Das

613 [ACTION ORDER] 1. Sri Padambhuja Das (formerly known as Bhakti Abhay Caran Swami) shall not be privileged to wear saffron cloth and shall be referred to by his initiated name given by Srila Prabhupada. He is indefinitely suspended as a spiritual master, therefore, he cannot initiate nor maintain an absolute siksa position in relation to his disciples and he must follow other aspects of suspension as per ISKCON Law.

2. The GBC Body encourages those who have taken initiation from him to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada and his other followers, as Sri Padambhuja Das is not competent to deliver absolute instruction or receive gifts or veneration at this time. They should refer to the directions in the Guru-asraya paper issued by the GBC Body and stated in ISKCON Law Book at 6.5.1.3-5, which also gives guidance for those who have lost faith in their initiating guru.

3. A program of rectification shall be given by a committee of Jayapataka Swami, Guru Prasad Swami and Virabahu Das.


PAMHO

Open letter to Padambuja das

By looking at your page and reading what you are posting and writing, I sincerely perceive that you are not feeling very well either emotionally, mentally, even physically, as happened to Satsvarupa Maharaj. And I think this might be due, at least in part, to the many offenses you committed in the 1980s by posing yourself as a guru.

You committed many offences by beginning to receive worship you did not deserve, as a supposed representative of Vyāsadeva. You also received money, service and worship from many people without truly being authorized to hold that position. And deep down you yourself know you were never a faithful guru. You know perfectly well that you took on a role that wasn't meant for you.

Therefore, as a friend and as a spiritual brother, I sincerely recommend you to write a letter asking for forgiveness to all those people who accepted you as a Guru and from whom, knowingly or unknowingly, you took advantage of. People who adored you for years, who gave you their trust, their service and their money.
You should do that now that you are still alive, because afterwards there will be no chance to ask for forgiveness. 

And I say it from my heart, because I remember the friendship we had. Follow the footsteps of other ex gurus like Hansadutta das who did apologise to his disciples before becoming the allies of the Ritviks.

There's another issue as well. You still have followers who see you as an exceptional or extraordinary person, and any comment or criticism a spiritual brother makes to you, is immediately considered an offense. And that's not the case.

My words and my counsel I give to you with sincerity and affection, as a spiritual brother. And if they want to participate in this exchange of ideas and words, then they must do it in accordance with the Vaishava etiquette. I must be treated with the respect I deserve by a spiritual brother who has been singing Hare Krishna for over sixty years.

Although I did not formally surrender in 1970, when I met the devotees in Austin, Texas, I was already a Vaishnava from then and was building a home with a person I thought was also a devotee. Later, in 1977, I accepted initiation from one of those false gurus — and you know exactly who I'm talking about — but today I consider that initiation was really Ritvik, because he wasn't authorized to give initiation other than Ritvik.

That is why I consider myself a disciple of Srīla Prabhupāda, and therefore I am also your spiritual brother. So tell your followers to respect me if they want respect from me. Because if they talk to me like karmīs, then I'll treat them like karmī or worse.

That's what I wanted to tell you.

And as Krishna told Arjuna, now do what you want
Hare Kṛṣṇa.

PADA: This happens a lot with these GBC gurus. 

1) They give themselves divine guru status as God's living successors. 

2) Then they have most of us rank and file banned, beaten, sued and maybe killed, and orchestrate a mass child abuse process direct or de facto. All this so they can reign as imperious tyrants without anyone questioning their absolute status. 

3) Then they often fall down into scandals. I think this guy had an affair with a female disciple.

4) Then they just waltz out the door, quit and resign, without ever explaining who gave them the post of absolute guru in the first place. And worse, often not even apologizing. And worse, not explaining that none of them were ever appointed as gurus. And worse, not explaining that Srila Prabhupada is their actual guru.

5) Worse, creating the public impression that Krishna and Srila Prabhupada wanted all these conditioned souls to be taking the post of their guru successors, when Srila Prabhupada and Krishna never said anything like that.  

6) The upshot is, the temples just get more and more and more empty as the disillusioned, cheated, fleeced and exploited leave ISKCON -- and that makes it an empty shell. And these guys are never held accountable by the GBC. Which is why the Isopanisad says these false gurus can escape the laws of the mundane society, but never escape the laws of God. 

But it is not only these leaders who should make a public retraction of all the nonsense they co-created and orchestrated, many of the rank and file who acquiesced and empowered all this should also make a public disassociation from all this, and explain that Srila Prabhupada should be the guru. And yeah, they are all getting older and dying, so they should say something now before it is too late.

Someone else wrote to ask me, how can guys like Giriraj live with himself knowing we all heard from his girlfriend -- he was getting oral sex in the temple room -- and yet he just waltzes around like nothing is wrong? When is he going to apologize or explain any of this? OK their track record is, they mostly never do anything to rectify the situation. And that is very sad because then Yamaraja will double or triple their prison time for their lack of remorse. 

ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com

======


PADA: It looks like the work of some of the Bangalore devotees is drifting around here and there, and people are seeing -- it makes a lot of sense. I think we have to give them a lot of credit for helping explain this stuff to others. 

Rather oddly, the Dayalu Nitai / Prahlad das / Prabhupadanu EU / HKC Jaipur guys chastised PADA repeatedly, demanding to know: "are you working with Bangalore"? Umm, am I working with the people who promote Srila Prabhupada? I dunno. 

Why would I work with you guys and promote Saint Radhanath's molester messiah's project cheer leaders? Same thing, no explanation ever given, because there is none that sounds good. But to answer their question, no I am not in favor of cheer leading the anal reconstructive surgery epidemic messiah's program along with you guys. Neine danke!     

Anyway, good writing here!

ys pd 


BANGALORE's IDEA IS CORRECT

Apurba Indadyumna: 

ISKCON-GBC Gurus Do Not Give Real Initiation by Śrī Suvyakta Narasimha Dāsa.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Viśva-guru, Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jai. In different parts of the Vedas, it is explained that the varṇāśrama system was born from the different parts of the virāṭa-puruṣa incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Thus, the varṇāśrama system is divine and hence it is eternal.

However, over time, this divine varṇāśrama system gradually degraded and morphed into its present vitiated form of the by-birth caste system of Hinduism. It is to the credit of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura that he demolished this longstanding belief that varṇāśrama is based on birth. He was the ācārya who vociferously, vigorously, and boldly preached that the caste system by birth is not authorized according to the Vedas.

Because of his breaking the stereotype, many influential castes of the time became inimical to him. Listen to Śrīla Prabhupāda talk about this.

Morning Walk ‒ February 10, 1976, Māyāpur

Prabhupāda: Allen Ginsberg introduced. “Yes. Gāñjā smoking is not taken as bad in India by the sādhus, not ordinary men.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right. He told me, Mr. Das that it increased his meditation and ecstasy.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, gāñjā smoking by the sādhus, sannyāsīs, is not taken very badly. The hippies learned from them.
Yes.
Allen Ginsberg introduced it.
Yes. Yes.
Gāñjā smoking is very good by saintly persons.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think your Guru Mahārāja spoke strongly against such persons.
Oh, yes. And from him we learned that intoxication, any kind of intoxication, is bad.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura also was... He was also not very serious. But Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was very serious.
And we learned from him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is it... Here it is, śāstra. No intoxication. Good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is it that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was not so strict in that regard, yet his son, who learned from him, became very strict like a rod?
Prabhupāda: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, so strict [laughs] that because he married twice, he used to say, strī-saṅgī, attached to women, even about his father. He was very strict. Sometimes when he would be angry, he would say, strī-saṅgī. And don’t discuss this thing.
He was very strict. No excuse. No compromise.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That’s where you got all of that from.
Prabhupāda: My imitation, but his was real. All these Navadvīpa people were afraid of him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Afraid.
Prabhupāda: Strong-hearted. They made a, what is called, conspiracy to kill him.
Hṛdayānanda: Who did this?
Prabhupāda: Oh, the Navadvīpa Gosvāmīs. They raised twenty-five thousand rupees and wanted to bribe this police officer: ‘You take this money, we shall finish him. Don’t take any action.’
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the policeman said?
Prabhupāda: Refused. ‘Yes, we take bribes, but not in such cases.’
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why?
Prabhupāda: “He’s a saintly person. We cannot agree to that.” Everyone knows who takes bribes. They admit, ‘Yes, you take bribes, but not in such cases.’ This was told by Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisi… to me. He was talking many things confidently.”
___________

So, because Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura established on the basis of śāstra that caste is by qualification and not by birth, the casteists even hatched a conspiracy to assassinate him, but they failed. The casteists were, as it is, unable to counter Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura on the basis of śāstra. Over and above that, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura also started giving brāhmaṇa-dīkṣā, or initiations, to people who were born in non-brāhmaṇa families, provided, of course, they were following the four regulative principles and chanting sixty-four mālās of Hare Kṛṣṇa daily.

This further challenged the hegemony of the higher caste and dented the false ego of the casteists, and hence their desperation to silence him at all costs. But Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was undaunted and continued preaching unabated. His disciple Śrīla Prabhupāda too adopted the same intrepid mood, and with the foundation laid by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave brāhmaṇa-dīkṣā even to those born outside Hindu families, smashing all previous stereotypes, superstitions, and customs.

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the śāstric basis for initiating or giving dīkṣā to people who are not born in brāhmaṇa families in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 

Chapter 7, Verse 47, purport:

“In this Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī gives definite instructions that by proper initiation by a bona fide spiritual master, one can immediately become a brāhmaṇa. In this connection, he says:

yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti kāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥ tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām

‘As bell metal is turned to gold when mixed with mercury in an alchemical process, so one who is properly trained and initiated by a bona fide spiritual master immediately becomes a brāhmaṇa.’

Sometimes those born in brāhmaṇa families protest this, but they have no strong arguments against this principle. By the grace of Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, one’s life can change. This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by the words jahāti-bandham and śuddhyanti.”

So, that revelation of divya-jñāna and vanquishing of sinful reactions is dīkṣā-vidhāna, or the process of initiation. Remember, initiation is a process, not a one-time activity. And in that process, which is a very lengthy one, the one-time activity of the ceremony, which is explained in the July 9th order, is a formality.
But then, the process of dīkṣā involves two things: divya-jñāna and pāpasya saṅkṣaya. When a devotee starts hearing, immediately the revelation of divya-jñāna begins. So, there dīkṣā starts.

What about pāpasya saṅkṣaya (the destruction of sins)? Papa, or sinful reaction, is of two kinds. One is the stored-up or accumulated sinful reactions for which one is bound to suffer. Another is the propensity to perform sinful activities. When we start following Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions, we gradually take up the four regulative principles. That means our mind is gradually shifting away from the propensity to act sinfully.

We are no longer inclined to engage in the four sinful activities. That vanquishing of the propensity to act sinfully is one aspect of pāpasya saṅkṣaya. Hence, the moment a person starts reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and starts following his instructions, starts following the four regulative principles, both divya-jñāna and pāpasya saṅkṣaya have commenced.

In other words, dīkṣā-vidhāna has started. The process of initiation has started. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda is saying that the eternal bond between the disciple and spiritual master starts the day one begins hearing, and that when one decides to follow Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions seriously, that is real initiation, because dīkṣā-vidhāna has started from that moment.

The ceremony—the fire sacrifice, chanting on the beads, handing them over, and giving a spiritual name—is all simply a formality. In Message of Godhead, Chapter 
One, Śrīla Prabhupāda says:

“The process of initiation begins from the date when we establish our transcendental relationship with the spiritual master.”

That means when we begin hearing from Śrīla Prabhupāda, the transcendental relationship of dīkṣā-guru and disciple is established eternally between Śrīla Prabhupāda and us. And this relationship is forever. This is the beginning of the process of initiation.

Now comes the natural question: What then is the need for formal initiation? One may even ask: Why is the July 9th order needed then? Why is a ṛtvik needed? We might as well take formal or official initiation from any one of the unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON. How does it matter? After all, it is only a formality or official procedure.

This raises the question: Are the devotees of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ISKCON group overemphasizing the matter of formal initiation by insisting on following Śrīla Prabhupāda’s July 9th order? Because what is the July 9th order? The July 9th order of Śrīla Prabhupāda simply lists the procedure for formal or official initiation. That’s all.

So, if the devotee in his heart accepts following Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions, then he is truly initiated by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Officially, or as a formality, he may take initiation from any one of the hundred-plus dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON, or maybe even from someone outside ISKCON. How does it matter?

To gain clarity on this, let us go through this letter to Satsvarūpa Prabhu dated 14 November 1968, in which Śrīla Prabhupāda throws more light on this:

“Yes, there is definitely a vast difference between initiated and non-initiated. One who is initiated is authorized, and one who is not initiated is not authorized.
Just like, for example, Pradyumna is attending Sanskrit classes in a college. He is given a chance to learn Sanskrit, but he is not equal with the regular students.
One who becomes initiated is channeled to the authorities in the disciplic succession. 

One who is not initiated may chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and should certainly be encouraged to do so and serve in his own way, and gradually by doing so he may want to be initiated. But otherwise, he may fall away from following the rules and regulations.”

If you recall, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in a previous quote we shared, said that formal initiation is like admission to a school: a formality. Extending that same example here, Pradyumna Prabhu did not get formal admission into the Sanskrit college, but he was definitely a Sanskrit scholar. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda says he is not equal with those who underwent formal admission into the Sanskrit college.
That is why Śrīla Prabhupāda said to Suresh Chandra, “If you follow my instructions, then you are as good as my disciple.” Prabhupāda did not say, “Then you are my disciple.” Prabhupāda said, “You are as good as my disciple.” There is a difference between the two.

So, although one may not undergo formal initiation but still follow Śrīla Prabhupāda without fail, there is still some difference between such a devotee and another who has undergone the formal ritual initiation ceremony.
What is the difference? What are the things that make a devotee who has undergone official ritual initiation different from one who has not?

In his letter to Jadurāṇī Mātājī dated 4 September 1972, Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote:
“The spiritual master accepts the sinful activities of his disciples from the first initiation. I may give initiation very easily, but what can I do? I am prepared to go to hell for the service of Lord Caitanya.”

So, this means that when one undergoes formal initiation, Śrīla Prabhupāda takes the accumulated sinful reactions of the disciple at that time. The same thing was conveyed in a letter by Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī to Satsvarūpa Gosvāmī on 7 August 1977:

“Śrīla Prabhupāda explained the difference between first and second initiation as follows:

‘Why do you believe in rumors that first initiation is not so important as second? I have already said that it is equally important, but you say a rumor. Actually, first initiation is more important. We can go without second initiation. If the first initiation is executed very thoroughly, that is sufficient. First initiation stands strong.

The spiritual master accepts the disciple’s sinful reactions upon giving first initiation. The Vedic system was to give the sacred thread at the first initiation. We are following pāñcarātrikī. Vedic initiation was given to a person born to a brāhmaṇa. That is not possible in this age. Therefore, he has to be prepared by harināma initiation and then second initiation. He is given a chance. Therefore others protest that I am giving initiation. “He is not born of a brāhmaṇa. How can he be initiated?”’

At the time of formal initiation, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the dīkṣā-guru, accepts the disciple’s sinful reactions.

For a devotee who is not formally initiated, Śrīla Prabhupāda removes the propensity to perform sinful activities, but the devotee still has to suffer for the accumulated sinful reactions. Those sinful reactions are absorbed or accepted by Śrīla Prabhupāda only at the time of formal initiation. This is one aspect of formal initiation.

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains another aspect of what happens during formal initiation in this letter to Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī dated 19 August 1968:

“The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is our main business. That is real initiation. And as you are all following my instruction in the matter, the initiator is already there. Now the next initiation will be performed as a ceremony officially. Of course, that ceremony has value because the holy name will be delivered to the student from the disciplic succession. It has got value. But in spite of that, as you are going on chanting, please continue with this business sincerely, and Kṛṣṇa willing, I may be coming to you very soon.”

So here, the second thing that happens at the time of official or formal initiation is that the holy name is delivered to the disciple through the disciplic succession.
Hence, Śrīla Prabhupāda says in this letter that the official or formal initiation ceremony has value. We cannot neglect it.

In yet another letter to John Darsinos, dated 23 November 1968, Śrīla Prabhupāda says:

“In answer to your question about the importance of initiation, it is to be understood that initiation means that power is coming from the Supreme by the bona fide disciplic succession. This is required. Of course, for anyone to hear the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will produce a favorable result. But formally, one should receive this knowledge from the disciplic succession.

For example, Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa were friends, but still Arjuna submitted himself formally as Kṛṣṇa’s disciple. This is essential. We should take example from these great personalities. Arjuna was hearing Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa, but still he submitted: ‘Now I am Your disciple. Please instruct me.’ So this is the process. I hope this will clear up your question sufficiently.”

So here, Śrīla Prabhupāda stresses that formal initiation is essential. Śrīla Prabhupāda gives the example of Arjuna, that he was hearing from Kṛṣṇa, but still he formally submitted himself as Kṛṣṇa’s disciple. So this formality is also essential in the entire process of initiation.

At the time of formal initiation, those two things—that of accepting the accumulated sinful reactions of the disciple and delivering the holy name from the disciplic succession to the disciple—are performed by the dīkṣā-guru.
Pāpasya saṅkṣayam actually has three aspects. One of them, as we have discussed, is the removal of the propensity to act sinfully, which is done before formal initiation. The second aspect of pāpasya saṅkṣayam is the acceptance of the accumulated sinful reactions of the disciple by the dīkṣā-guru, which is done at the time of formal initiation.

The third aspect of pāpasya saṅkṣayam is explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.1.35, purport:

“When a person, even though a caṇḍāla, is initiated by a pure devotee into chanting the holy name of the Lord, his body changes as he follows the instructions of the spiritual master. Although one cannot see how his body has changed, we must accept on the grounds of the authoritative statements of the śāstra that he changes his body. This is to be understood without argument.
This verse clearly says sa jahāti bandham—he gives up his material bondage. 

The body is a symbolic representation of material bondage according to one’s karma. Although sometimes we cannot see the gross body changing, chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord immediately changes the subtle body, and because the subtle body changes, the living entity is immediately freed from material bondage.

After all, changes of the gross body are conducted by the subtle body. After the destruction of the gross body, the subtle body takes the living entity from his present gross body to another. In the subtle body, the mind is predominant, and therefore if one’s mind is always absorbed in remembering the activities or the lotus feet of the Lord, he is to be understood to have already changed his present body and become purified.

Therefore, it is irrefutable that a caṇḍāla, or any fallen or low-born person, can become a brāhmaṇa simply by the method of bona fide initiation.”

So, the third aspect of pāpasya saṅkṣaya is that the dīkṣā-guru changes the subtle body of the disciple and grants him a brāhmaṇa body.

One receives one’s gross and subtle body due to previous karma. The dīkṣā-guru destroys one’s karmic subtle body and grants one a new brāhmaṇical sāttvika subtle body, which one could not have attained otherwise through one’s karma.
That is how, although a person is not born in a brāhmaṇa family—he may not even be born in a Hindu family—if he takes pāñcarātrika-dīkṣā from a bona fide spiritual master, from a pure devotee, as we saw in the first quote from Śrīla Prabhupāda, then he can chant the Gāyatrī mantra and worship the Deity of Viṣṇu, which is allowed only for brāhmaṇas.

So the question comes: What kind of spiritual master can do this? This requires extraordinary power—the power to absorb previous karma and grant a fresh new subtle body of a brāhmaṇa. This cannot be done by some “no-objection” dīkṣā-guru.

Only a dīkṣā-guru who is a pure devotee, as we saw in the first quote—only a dīkṣā-guru who has been specifically empowered by the authorization of his predecessor dīkṣā-guru to become a dīkṣā-guru himself—only such a dīkṣā-guru has the power received from Kṛṣṇa and his predecessor dīkṣā-guru to absorb accumulated pāpa-karma and to replace one’s subtle body with a brāhmaṇical sāttvika subtle body.

That is why Śrīla Prabhupāda says in several places that unless one is a pure devotee, one must not even attempt to become a dīkṣā-guru.
The GBC, however, in its Resolution No. 409 of 2004, has categorically denied any such power in their “no-objection” dīkṣā-gurus. Then what is the value of the dīkṣā that they are giving?

The unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON are not replacing the subtle body of their disciples, nor are they revealing divya-jñāna in the hearts of their disciples, nor are they removing the sinful propensities of their disciples, nor are they absorbing the accumulated sinful reactions of their disciples. They are not doing any of these things.

The only thing they are doing is giving formal or official initiation—not real initiation—to their disciples. What is the value of such initiation or dīkṣā? We urge you to please consider this very seriously.

Now, from the side of the disciple, due to formal initiation there is another thing that happens. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes it in his letter to Dayānanda Prabhu dated 24 March 1974:

“All initiated devotees must chant at least sixteen rounds daily without fail. Now that they are initiated, there is no question of not doing their rounds. You may hold a fire yajña, and Jagadīśa Prabhu may chant on their beads.

In court, when a person swears to tell the truth, he can be punished for perjury if he does not take it seriously and tells a lie. So those who promise before the Deity to follow the rules and regulations of initiated disciples will be punished if they fail to do so.”

So this means that if after formal initiation a disciple fails to follow the instructions of the dīkṣā-guru, he will be punished for it. That may not be the case with a person who has not undergone formal initiation.

Such a devotee who has not taken formal initiation may not be punished if he transgresses any of the regulative principles. But if a formally initiated disciple does that, he will be punished for it. Hence, formal initiation is also a serious matter.

Although it is only one step, a one-time activity in the whole process of initiation or dīkṣā-vidhāna, still it is a serious matter.

Therefore, although the ṛtvik initiation ceremony outlined in the July 9th order is only formal initiation—the formality part of the entire initiation process—still it is essential and has great value.

It follows, therefore, that we cannot say: “I will accept Śrīla Prabhupāda as my guru in my heart, but officially, as a formality, I will get initiated by any one of the unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON.”

You see, everyone in ISKCON gets divya-jñāna by reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Everyone gives up sinful propensities by following the four regulative principles, and who has given these four regulative principles? It is Śrīla Prabhupāda who has given them. None of these unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus are giving the regulative principles.

So every devotee in ISKCON, without exception, has established an eternal bond with Śrīla Prabhupāda as his disciple from the day he begins to hear from Śrīla Prabhupāda, from the day he begins to read Prabhupāda’s books. Śrīla Prabhupāda starts the process of initiation, or dīkṣā-vidhāna, in every devotee’s life in ISKCON.

Now, when the time for formal initiation comes, if the devotee is told that formally he should accept someone else as his dīkṣā-guru—one of the unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON—is that not an insult to Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Śrīla Prabhupāda did all the hard work, revealed transcendental knowledge in the heart of the devotee, removed his propensity to act sinfully, and then what happens? An unauthorized dīkṣā-guru in ISKCON, who neither gave divya-jñāna nor performed pāpasya saṅkṣaya, claims that the devotee is his disciple.
Is this not a direct insult and offense at the lotus feet of Śrīla Prabhupāda?

By banning the ṛtvik system of initiations, is not the GBC of ISKCON declaring that Śrīla Prabhupāda must give divya-jñāna and remove the sinful propensities of the devotees in ISKCON, but must do so only to hand over the disciple to them? Is that fair?

If the unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON were revealing transcendental knowledge, divya-jñāna, in the hearts of their disciples from day one, and if those disciples never heard from Śrīla Prabhupāda, and if the unauthorized dīkṣā-guru removed all their sinful propensities by his powerful preaching, then the matter would be different. But that is not what is happening in ISKCON.

Śrīla Prabhupāda does all the hard work, and someone else enjoys the fruit of the disciple. Can you imagine that?

Have the GBC not made Śrīla Prabhupāda a servant of their ambition to become dīkṣā-gurus by relegating him to the position of some “preeminent śikṣā-guru,” when it is Prabhupāda who is doing all the hard work of real initiation—dīkṣā?
If some devotee was kept in the dark by the GBC and he took formal initiation from some unauthorized dīkṣā-guru sincerely believing that this was the system Śrīla Prabhupāda established, but later he comes to know about the July 9th order and accepts that Śrīla Prabhupāda alone is his dīkṣā-guru, and that the person whom he considered his dīkṣā-guru till then acted only in the capacity of a ṛtvik to oversee the formal initiation ceremony, then that devotee will be absolved of any offense at the lotus feet of Śrīla Prabhupāda because he was misled. It is not that he deliberately disobeyed Prabhupāda.

But if someone, after knowing about the July 9th order and knowing that the ṛtvik system of dīkṣā is available to him in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ISKCON group, still goes ahead and takes formal dīkṣā from any of the unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus in ISKCON, is he not directly insulting Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Please deeply ponder over these questions, and if you truly want to be saved from any offense to the lotus feet of Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is better to take formal initiation through the ṛtvik system of initiations.

The dīkṣā-vidhāna, or process of initiation in your life, was started by Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he alone is revealing divya-jñāna in your heart and removing all sinful propensities in your life. Hence, he is eternally your dīkṣā-guru.
The earlier you recognize this and surrender your allegiance as a disciple to Śrīla Prabhupāda instead of one of the unauthorized dīkṣā-gurus, the faster you will be relieved from the offense of insulting Śrīla Prabhupāda, which the GBC of the ISKCON Mumbai group is indulging in.

We trust that we have been able to convey the importance of the July 9th order. Although that order details the formal initiation ceremony and is not the entire initiation process itself, still it is very crucial.

We hope you understand why we are so vocal about supporting and propagating the July 9th order and the ṛtvik system of initiations. That is why it is important to follow the July 9th order of Śrīla Prabhupāda and implement the ṛtvik system of initiations in ISKCON.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Viśva-guru Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya.