Compiled by: Prabhupadanugas
Srila Prabhupada explains why Gaudia Math / ISKCON failed after he left:
"Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru."
In the following quotes, we find Srila Prabhupada's clear condemnation of acharya/guru by GBC appointment/no objection. And Srila Prabhupada's clear instruction that the 'appointment of gurus 'not be followed within ISKCON. Unfortunately, by the quotes we are left to conclude that all the diksha-gurus appointed by the GBC and the GBC themselves are being disobedient to Srila Prabhupada. Thus, their eventual gross falldown is practically unavoidable, because their initial assumption of "diksha-guruship by GBC appointment" is in itself the falldown of disregarding the order of one's spiritual master, the 3rd offence against the Holy Name:
As Srila Prabhupada stated in a letter to Rupanuga P. on 28th April 1974:
"In the latter days of my Guru Maharaja he was very disgusted. Actually, he left this world earlier, otherwise he would have continued to live for more years. Still he requested his disciples to form a strong Governing body for preaching the cult of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He never recommended anyone to be acharya of the Gaudiya Math. But Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja, and he and others who are already dead unnecessarily thought that there must be one acharya."
"If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acharya, he would have mentioned, because on the night before he passed away he talked of so many things, but never mentioned an acharya. His idea was acharya was NOT to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said openly you make a GBC and conduct the mission. So his idea was amongst the members of GBC who would come out successful and self-effulgent acharya would be automatically selected. So Sridhara Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acharya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acharya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps, the acharya is being changed three times a year. THEREFORE, WE MAY NOT COMMIT THE SAME MISTAKE IN OUR ISKCON CAMP. Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acharya. So it is better not to mix with my Godbrothers very intimately because instead of inspiring our students and disciples they may sometimes pollute them. This attempt was made previously by them, especially Madhava Maharaja and Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja but somehow or other I saved the situation. This is going on. We shall be very careful about them and not mix with them. This is my instruction to you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are very competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful about them."
The following conversation of Srila Prabhupada’s clearly explains the reasons for ISKCON’s decline after Prabhupada’s departure. Though Srila Prabhupada was speaking about the failure of the Gaudiya Matha, amazingly it perfectly matches ISKCON’s own post-samadhi history, line for line. Seven sentences have been numbered for direct comparison to ISKCON.
1) Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru.
2) He, before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'This man should be the next acharya.’ But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acharya. That is the failure.
3) They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction so many things, why he did not say that this man should be acharya?’
4) They wanted to create artificially somebody acharya and everything failed.
5) They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acharya, why did he not say? He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it.
6) They declared some unfit person to become acharya. Then another man came, then another, acharya, another acharya.
7) So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection."
– Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 08-16-76, Bombay
1) "Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru."
Srila Prabhupada: Room conversation, Bombay: August 16, 1976
"Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta), before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'This man should be the next acharya.' But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acharya. That is the failure. They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction in so many things, why he did not say that this man should be acharya?' They wanted to create artificially somebody acharya and everything failed. They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acharya, why did he not say? He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it. They declared some unfit person to become acharya. Then another man came, then another, acharya, another acharya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection."
Srila Prabhupada purport: Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 12.8-10:
"Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively. He did not instruct a particular man to become the next acharya. But just after his passing away, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of acharya, and they split in two factions over who the next acharya would be. Consequently, both factions were asara, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. Despite the spiritual master's order to form a governing body and execute the missionary activities of the Gaudiya Matha, the two unauthorized factions began litigation that is still going on after forty years with no decision…. The members of the self-appointed acharya's party who occupied the property of the Gaudiya Matha are satisfied, but they could make no progress in preaching. Therefore, by the result of their actions, one should know that they are asara, or useless.
History Repeats Itself: The Following is the ISKCON update of the Srila Prabhupada quote directly above:
"Why this ISKCON failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He (Srila Prabhupada), before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'These eleven men should be the next acharyas.' But these people, (the GBC) just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acharya. That is the failure. They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction in so many things, why he did not say that these eleven men should be acharyas?' The GBC wanted to create artificially eleven paramhamsa-acharyas and everything failed. The GBC did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint eleven devotees as paramhamsa-zonal-acharyas, why did he not say? Srila Prabhupada said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And still to this day, the GBC insist on appointing diksha-gurus. They declared eleven unfit persons to become acharyas. Then another man came, then another, acharya, another acharya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection."
Srila Prabhupada: "When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas…. Persons who strictly follow the orders of the spiritual master are useful in executing the will of the Supreme, whereas persons who deviate from the strict order of the spiritual master are useless. "
So from the above quotes we see that the GBC's policy of appointing diksha-gurus, whatever way it is termed (no-objection, etc.), is a deviation from the directions of Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada clearly condemns the concept of GBC appointment for the "attainment of diksha-guruship".
Srila Prabhupada further clarifies that those who deviate from the order of the spiritual master are "useless". Therefore one must conclude that all the ISKCON 'gurus' that have been appointed by the GBC deviation are "useless".
This is a hard truth to swallow, but these are the statements of Srila Prabhupada and so the unavoidable conclusion remains: GBC appointed diksha-gurus are "useless".
Srila Prabhupada undoubtedly wanted the qualified amongst his disciples to be "regular-gurus", i.e., give diksha to their own disciples. However it is clear from the above Srila Prabhupada didn't want the GBC to be involved in "appointing those disciples as diksha-gurus". The inability of the GBC to recognise this and act accordingly is the very heart of the problem of "diksha-guru-falldown " since November 1977.
ISKCON has also failed horribly in the 30 years since Srila Prabhupada's departure. The reason is simple: the ISKCON leaders tried to be more than their guru by manufacturing so many speculative things (zonal acharyas, voted in acharyas, successor acharyas, suspended acharyas, fallen acharyas, etc.).
Srila Prabhupada established a system in his temples whereby his unique position as founder-acharya (samsthapaka-acharya) was highlighted through his own worship in every single ISKCON temple. Some of the specific ways in which Srila Prabhupada did this was by having his vyasasana installed in all temples, installation of his deity while he was still living (in Vrindavan), having his photo on all ISKCON altars, having all disciples worship him every morning through “guru-puja”, etc. As soon as Prabhupada departed, ISKCON leaders suddenly tried to compete with him, installing their own Vyasasanas in all temples, keeping their own photos on the altar, instituting mandatory worship of themselves through “guru-puja” in all ISKCON temples, etc. Oddly, one will not find a single instruction by Srila Prabhupada to any of these ISKCON leaders, nor to ISKCON as a whole, to implement any of these changes to his institution. Srila Prabhupada specifically instructed how worship and sadhana in his movement should be carried out. Every detail of the morning program, evening program, japa, worship, etc., was given by Srila Prabhupada for all ISKCON devotees. Yet in an instant, the ISKCON leaders decided they were more than their guru, and made all sorts of unauthorized changes to his movement.
2) "He, before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'This man should be the next acharya.’ But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acharya. That is the failure."
Srila Prabhupada also gave all instructions before departing. Yet he never said "this person will be next acharya" or "these people will be the next diksha gurus". Despite the fact that he never authorized anyone to be the next diksha guru, immediately after his departure his disciples fought over the position of acharya, throwing out anyone who did not accept their chosen 11 leaders as equal to Srila Prabhupada.
3) "They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction so many things, why he did not say that this man should be acharya?’"
After Prabhupada's departure, the ISKCON leaders never thought "Why Srila Prabhupada did not say that these men should be acharyas?" Prabhupada gave so many instructions, yet he specifically never authorized anyone to be the next acharya and diksha guru of ISKCON. Instead of understanding the reason Prabhupada never authorized or appointed anyone, the ISKCON leaders immediately fought over who would succeed Srila Prabhupada as acharya. It is a fact that Srila Prabhupada did not say that any of the 11 appointed zonal-acharyas should be acharya. It is also a fact that Srila Prabhupada did not say that any of the present 100 mini-acharyas should be mini-acharya. “So why did he not say that this man, [insert SWAMI X here], should be acharya?” That is Prabhupada’s own question. You can take it up with him.
Tamal Krishna Maharaja, one of the 11 zonal acharya's, explained their mood at the time of appointing themselves as successor acharya's:
“They immediately… these eleven people are the selected gurus. I can say definitely for myself, and for which I humbly beg forgiveness from everybody, that there was definitely some degree of trying to control. There's a degree of this in most GBC's parts, in most temple president's parts. This is the conditioned nature, and it came out in the highest position of all. ‘Guru, oh wonderful! Now I'm a guru, and there is only eleven of us’.”
4) "They wanted to create artificially somebody acharya and everything failed."
The ISKCON leaders wanted to artificially appoint themselves as acharya, and as Tamal Krishna Maharaja explained above, it was due to their desire to control, due to their conditioned nature, and due to their desire to become gurus (only 11 people, worshipped as good as God Himself). Once the 11 zonal acharya's were artificially created to replace Srila Prabhupada, everything in ISKCON failed. The history since that time has been one disgrace after another, so much so that devotees are embarassed to let other people know they are devotees. All of Prabhupada's wealth and assets, meant for Krishna's service, have been looted and stolen; many wonderful temples have been closed down and sold off; and worst of all, tens of thousands of devotees have been exploited and then left abandoned by fallen "gurus" and "acharyas".
5) "They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acharya, why did he not say? He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it."
To this very day the ISKCON leaders still do not consider this point with common sense. If Srila Prabhupada wanted to appoint some people as acharya, why didn't he say so? Srila prabhupada taught so many things, yet they think he missed this simple point, forgetting to specify who will be acharya and diksha guru after him? Prabhupada's use of the phrase "and they insist upon it" is amazingly relevant to ISKCON today. The ISKCON leaders repeatedly insist that Prabhupada failed to specify who would be the next diksha guru. They insist upon it so much, that if you do not accept their view on this matter, then you are banned and thrown out.
6) "They declared some unfit person to become acharya. Then another man came, then another, acharya, another acharya."
This is the perfect summary of ISKCON's history after Srila Prabhupada. First they fought and appointed unfit people as successor acharyas. As they began to fall, in order to make it less noticeable, they tried to dilute the guru list by adding even more unfit successor acharyas. As those false gurus also began to fall, they further tried to hide it by diluting the guru list even further. I have actually heard one of the original zonal acharya's use the "fall percentage" as evidence that the current system is doing alright. He said, "If you take all the gurus in ISKCON and calculate how many have fallen, it isn't a very high percentage." But that is only because they have repeatedly added new dilutions to cover the original falls. If you take the original 11 self-appointed zonal acharyas, you have 80% of the gurus who have unconditionally fallen. And of the remaining two you have one person who suffers a serious brain stroke and one person who advocates acceptance of homosexual marriage:
Officially fallen down: Kirtanananda Swami
Officially fallen down: Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Officially fallen down: Bhavananda Swami
Officially fallen down: Hamsaduta Swami
Officially fallen down: Ramesvara Swami
Officially fallen down: Harikesa Swami
Officially fallen down: Bhagavan dasa Goswami
Officially fallen down: Jayatirtha Swami (dead-decapitated)
Officially not fallen down, but dead: Tamala Krsna Goswami (died in car crash)
Supposedly not yet fallen?: Jayapataka Swami (suffered brain stroke)
Supposedly not yet fallen?: Hridayananda Goswami (advocates acceptance of homosexual marriage)
Thus the whole point of "adding new gurus" was just to dilute the list and make the fall percentage appear more reasonable. But if you were to take the second and third batches of added gurus (dilutions 1 & 2), and wait for the same amount of time that the first zonal acharyas had to manifest their fallen nature, you will find a similar percentage of fallen gurus in the subsequent batches. In other words, give the second and third batch of gurus 30 years, and they will also show a 80% fall down rate. This is inevitable, as going against the order of the Acharya will, without fail, lead to falldown.
Now at this year’s GBC meetings they have passed a new resolution calling for all of Srila Prabhupada's disciples to come forward and be "diksha gurus" – the final dilution to cover their original mistake of appointing unfit people as zonal acharyas. Please read: Tamals bogus guru system. This brings up a serious flaw in their line of thinking. When you make a mistake, and you realize it is a mistake (as with the appointment of the zonal acharyas), what should you do? You should stop and undo the mistake, and then move forward. Anyone with common sense can understand this. But rather than stopping the zonal acharya's and removing their acharyaship (i.e. undoing the first mistake), they instead chose to add MORE acharyas to cover the first mistake. When this was shown to be a second mistake, they added EVEN MORE acharyas. And now that it has become a joke, they are trying one last dilution – everyone come forward and become acharya. Having admitted that the appointment of zonal acharyas without authorization from Srila Prabhupada was "the greatest disservice to the movement", they must stop and undo this great mistake. But their solution is to dilute more and more. If you have clear water, and if a drop of red ink falls in it, the entire cup of water will become red. To make it go away some people will try to keep diluting it by adding more and more clear water to the already dirty red water so that it becomes less noticeable. But when the drop of red ink is instead poison, it doesn't matter how much clean water you add, it will always be poisonous. Violating the instructions of the Acharya is spiritual poison. No matter how much dilution they do, it will always remain as poison.
Prabhupada's Conclusion:
After pointing out six reasons for the failure of the Gaudiya Matha (and subsequently ISKCON), Srila Prabhupada gives the solution:
7) "So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection."
Prabhupada's solution to the problems faced by the Gaudiya Matha and ISKCON is simple. "Remain perpetually directed by Guru Maharaja, that is perfection." Already he has outlined the six mistakes that the Gaudiya Matha and subsequently ISKCON made upon the departure of the Acharya. Now his solution to those mistakes is to simply follow the directions of the Acharya. If the acharya's instructions are followed, then ISKCON will again rise from its present state of failure and spread throughout the world. In case anyone has forgotten the Acharya’s instruction on this matter, here it is:
"I wish that each and every Branch shall keep their independent identity and cooperate keeping the Acharya in the centre. On this principle we can open any number of Branches all over the world. The Ramakrishna mission works on this principle and thus as organization they have done wonderfully." – Srila Prabhupada (letter to Kirtanananda, 11 Feb. 1967)
Srila Prabhupada wanted to remain as the Acharya of ISKCON, just as Ramakrishna is the Acharya of the Ramakrishna mission. He never said, "Once I depart, replace me with 11 zonal acharya's because I am dead." Ramakrishna had been dead for years and years – yet still he was the center of their movement. Srila Prabhupada wanted to follow the same system where he is kept at the center as the Acharya (not being obscured by 11 zonal acharyas, nor 100 mini-acharya, nor 1,000 micro-acharyas). Working on this principle, the Ramakrishna mission as an organization "has done wonderfully". Compare that to Prabhupada's analysis of those who manufacture false acharyas:
"They wanted to create artificially somebody acharya and everything failed."
So the choice is there for everyone: do you want to manufacture false acharyas and have everything fail (as has happened since Prabhupada departed), or do you want to keep Srila Prabhupada in the center as the Acharya and have ISKCON do "wonderfully" as an organization. The GBC refuses to even hear anything on this matter, and as such is the greatest block for the advancement of ISKCON today.
In the "Pyramid House Confessions" (recorded in 1980, at Topanga Canyon), Tamal Krishna Maharaja, one of the 11 zonal acharyas, stated the following:
"Actually Prabhupada never appointed any gurus. He appointed eleven ritviks. He never appointed them gurus. Myself and the other GBC have done the greatest disservice to this movement the last three years because we interpreted the appointment of ritviks as the appointment of gurus… You cannot show me anything on tape or in writing where Prabhupada says: 'I appoint these eleven as gurus'. It does not exist because he never appointed any gurus. This is a myth."
Thus it is very clear by their own admission that Srila Prabhupada never appointed anyone as diksha guru or successor acharya for ISKCON. Since they have admitted that Prabhupada never appointed any gurus, let us look again at Prabhupada's 5th point in the original quote:
"They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acharya, why did he not say?"
If Srila Prabhupada had wanted to appoint somebody as acharya, why didn't he say so? It is proven that Prabhupada did not tell anyone to be acharya. Thus, as per Srila Prabhupada's own logical statement above, he did not want to appoint somebody as acharya. Yet, ISKCON leaders have gone ahead, against the desire of Srila Prabhupada, and have appointed nearly 100 of them. This again shows how they are “trying to be more than their guru”, Prabhupada’s first point for why they failed.
Srila Prabhupada's November 1977 instruction: "No Such Thing As 'Here Is Leader'. "
On November 2nd 1977, just twelve days before his disappearance lila, Srila Prabhupada was asked privately by some Indian guests who would succeed him as acharya. (Actually the leader of the group was Mr Bajaj of Indian scooter fame – he wanted Srila Prabhupada to appoint an "Indian" acharya.) Srila Prabhupada described his answer moments later to his disciples when Bajaj and his group had left and the devotees were back in the room of Srila Prabhupada. (emphasis mine):
Srila Prabhupada: "[They asked] …after you, who will take the leadership?” And [I replied] "Everyone will take, all my disciples. If you want, you can take also. (laughter) But if you follow. They are prepared to sacrifice everything, so they'll take the leadership. I may, one, go away, but there will be hundreds, and they'll preach. If you want, you can also become a leader. WE HAVE NO SUCH THING THAT 'HERE IS LEADER." Anyone who follows the previous leadership, he's a leader. 'Indian,' we have no such distinction, 'Indian,' 'European.' "
Brahmananda: "They wanted an Indian to be the leader?"
Srila Prabhupada: "Yes. (laughs) 'Everyone, all my disciples, they are leaders. If you want to follow, you can become a leader. You are Indian. But you don't want.' I told them that."
Clearly with, "We have no such thing, that 'Here is leader'." Srila Prabhupada indicates that he did not intend to appoint a successor acharya, or have such a GBC appointment system institutionalized within ISKCON. With such an answer, Srila Prabhupada follows in the footsteps of his own Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta P.
Furthermore, Srila Prabhupada states, "As purely as they follow, they become leader." Clearly, this is a restatement of the eternal principle of guru-parampara: One must be a perfect disciple-that is the basis of any spiritual qualification, particularly the qualification to be 'guru'.
This restates Srila Prabhupada's position on those qualified to be gurus after his departure, given in the May 28th GBC conversation, repeated here:
Srila Prabhupada: "And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajaya guru hana. One can understand the order of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he can become guru. Or one who understands his guru's order, the same parampara, he can become guru."
The simple summary of all Srila Prabhupada's copious directions on guruship was that the "message should be delivered unchanged". The question then arises: What is that message?
That "message" is guru, sadhu and shastra. For instance, in Chaitanya-caritamrta Madhya, 20. 352, Srila Prabhupada quotes and explains Srila Narottama dasa Thakura:
"Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says, sadhu-shastra-guru-vakya, cittete kariya aikya. One should accept a thing as genuine by studying the words of saintly people, the spiritual master and shastra. The actual center is shastra, the revealed scripture. If a spiritual master does not speak according to revealed scripture, he is not to be accepted. Similarly, if a saintly person does not speak according to the shastra, he is not a saintly person. Shastra is the center for all."
The GBC have failed to understand that their guru-appointment system is a deviation from Vedic shastra and Srila Prabhupada and is therefore not a bona fide branch of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Parampara.
The bona fide method for continuing the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Parampara is given by Sanatana Goswami in the Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa. This book was composed under the direction of Supreme Lord Sri Chaitanya the bestower of religious principles for this age of Kali. In the book, a period close mutual examination is prescribed between the prospective guru and prospective disciple.
The First Vilasa:
Text 74
The Mantra-muktavali instructs, "The guru and aspiring disciple should live together for a year. They should
examine each other to find out their nature, character and compatibility. There is no other way of achieving this."
Text 75
The Sruti states, "An aspiring disciple who does not stay together with the guru
for a year should not be given diksha-mantra by the guru."
Text 76
The Sarasangraha also declares, "The guru should examine an aspiring disciple under his tutelage for a year."
Text 78
It is described in the Krama-dipika, "The disciple who is desirous to receive diksha [in the Gopala-mantra] must serve the guru for three years employing his wealth, simplicity of heart, affectionate behaviour, full physical endeavour, gentle speech and favourable attitude with the understanding that the guru is as good as the Supreme Lord. In this manner, when the disciple satisfies his guru, he may beg for diksha."
The process of examination is based on the requisite qualifications mentioned within the shastra. Thus accepting a guru is not an off-hand casual affair. One should be educated in sastric standards and spend considerable time in respectful examination. Accepting a guru superficially on the basis of an institutional rubber-stamp is pure foolishness. And the GBC, to their discredit, have created the dynamics for such foolishness within ISKCON. Moreover the GBC appointment system directly subverts the sastric direction of mutual examination, because when the naive hear that "this guru is GBC appointed", they tend to be diverted from the necessity of close personal examination.
Until the GBC start to obey Srila Prabhupada and thus stop "rubber-stamping" "diksha-gurus" and instead just present the parampara-shastra AS IT IS, then we may be assured the big diksha-guru-mess in ISKCON will continue.
Certainly the GBC appointed persons can never be true representatives of Srila Prabhupada and the Brahma-Madhava-Gaudiya-Sampradaya until they realize their mistake and vigorously campaign against this "useless" deviation.
To be Continued….