EVERYONE IN THIS MATERIAL WORLD IS FACING THE PROBLEMS OF MARRIED LIFE

 

Letters of  His Divine Grace A. C. Bhativedanta Swami Prabhupada   Calcutta 13 November, 1967    My Dear Gargamuni, Please accept my blessings! I am in due receipt of your letter dated Nov. 8, 1967. You have written to say that your wife and you have a problem on which you require my help. The whole world, beginning with the highest planet to the lowest in this material world is facing this problem. Combination of husband and wife is a necessary satisfaction of the sex urge. The foolish people see everyday this problematic situation, still they are not intelligent enough to avoid it. Training of brahmacari life is especially meant for this purpose, and a student is advised not to indulge in sex life just to avoid these problems. It is very difficult to satisfy a woman by a person who has no good income, neither very good health. The woman as a class wants sufficient means to eat, and decorate and at the same time full satisfaction of sex. Any husband who cannot satisfy his wife by these three items, namely sufficient food, sufficient dress and ornament, and sufficient satisfaction of sex, must meet all these problems. And as soon as one becomes engaged in solving these problems it is very difficult to make any progress in Krishna Consciousness. If one is serious to make any success in the matter of Krishna Consciousness, one should avoid the association of woman as far as possible. Married life is a sort of license to the incapable man who cannot avoid sex life. On this statement, you can understand your real position. I do not agree with your wife’s statement that New York is unfit for human habitation. A real Krishna Conscious person can adjust things nicely even in hell. A fully Krishna Conscious person is always in transcendental position and he is not afraid of any place which is so called, unfit for human habitation. A Krishna Conscious person is always satisfied whether in Vaikuntha or in hell. His satisfaction is not the particular place but his sincere service attitude towards Krishna. I have no objections if your wife and you go to San Francisco and live there peacefully as man and wife concentrating your attention for Krishna Consciousness. Hope you are well Your ever well-wisher A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

A white paper on Guru Groupism

 

Introduction

ISKCON’s code and ethics are based on Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and the direction of GBC the governing body appointed by him to govern ISKCON. The personal life of devotees is again largely governed by the above two. The practicing devotees seek shelter of a spiritual master in ISKCON as part of their sadhana bhakti which also brings another dimension to their spiritual life namely the serving the spiritual master or diksha guru in his specific service to the movement. Today there are many Srila Prabhupada disciples serving as spiritual masters and guiding their disciples in Krishna Consciousness. As Krishna exhibits many a mellow or rasa in dealing with his devotees his devotees too are heterogenous in the way they relate with him. So this plurality within the ambit of teachings of Srila Prabhupada is undoubtedly strength of our movement and gives a spirit of unity in diversity. But on the dark side there are dangers of guru based groups with a sectarian outlook which could weaken the ideals that Srila Prabhupada envisioned for ISKCON. The following article by H.H. Bhakti Vikasa Swami titled Dangers of Guru Groupism is a candid analysis of this syndrome and some suggestions on how to keep the central point i.e. keeping Srila Prabhupada’s ideals without having to compromise the plurality in the movement. This was published in Congregational Preaching Journal of ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry in Jan–Mar 04.

Article By Bhakti Vikasa Swami

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, more and more people worldwide are coming to Krishna consciousness. Congregations especially are increasing. Along with this naturally come challenges, but better to face the challenges that arise from preaching than to have no preaching.

A unique feature and strength of ISKCON is having many devotees awarding initiation. But this can also engender problems. One problem that negatively affects the development of preaching is that of “guru groupism.” In some places there is no such competition, either due to enlightened leadership or more commonly because something resembling the old zonal acarya

system is still prevalent, with new devotees having little choice in who they should take initiation from.

Although devotees have been aware of guru groupism, some have come to accept it as part of life, and to openly discuss it has seemingly been taboo. However, I submitted this topic for open discussion among ISKCON leaders. I suggested that in our movement some disciples tend to form groups centered around their gurus. Thus, rather than functioning as a united organization centered on serving the mission of Srila Prabhupada, we tend to form smaller sub-groups within the institution, each with the petty agenda of increasing its numbers, and-in competition with other such groups-to canvass new devotees and to promote their guru as best. Guru groupies become preoccupied with competing for new recruits rather than educating devotees on the principles and practices of spiritual life as taught by Srila Prabhupad. Significantly, no one denied that such problem existed and discussion ensued as to the effects of this syndrome. His Holiness Lokanatha Maharaja commented that guru groupism is one of the greatest dangers facing our movement: if left unchecked it could lead to a complete splintering into various factions. It should be checked now, before it’s too late.

Guru groupism tends to promote a neophyte, fanatical, divisive, and separatist mentality that cannot be healthy, neither for the individuals who subscribe to it, nor for our movement as a whole. Certainly there can be no real cooperation and unity if this syndrome persists.

Despite the above, my observation is that in many areas of the world devotees initiated by various ISKCON gurus tend to serve Srila Prabhupada’s mission in a spirit of cooperation. Although each devotee has a personal relationship with the guru, it is a private matter that creates no separatism in the interactions with disciples of other gurus. These devotees tend to better respect all gurus and senior devotees and to identify themselves as members of ISKCON and followers of Srila Prabhupada, rather than as members of a guru-based subgroup.

Other points I raised:

(1) Many people come to Krishna consciousness because they want to get away from the superficiality of material life, in which everyone is competing with each other. When they read Srila Prabhupada’s books they become inspired by the high ideals His Divine Grace articulates. But when such newcomers become subjected to the manipulative tactics of guru groupism, they think that the temple environment is the same as the material environment from which they seek

relief. Upon encountering this neophyte competition, many intelligent people back off and leave Krishna consciousness altogether.

(2) On the positive side, it was noted that if disciples of different gurus could unite more, we could achieve wonderful results, considering the ripeness of many of the affected preaching fields.

(3) The stress should be on educating newcomers in what it means to be a disciple and what are the qualifications of a bona fide guru, thus enabling them to come to an intelligent decision based on genuine faith in guru. Without this, the number of disciples may increase, but the

quality of guru-disciple relationships might be shallow and based on hype rather than genuine spiritual exchange.

(4) Although every disciple has an individual relationship with the guru, our preaching should be as members of Srila Prabhupada’s mission; we must understand that ISKCON’s initiating gurus have no other mission than that established by Srila Prabhupada. Our preaching efforts should be on behalf of Srila Prabhupada for ISKCON, and we should feel happy if a new devotee feels attracted to any bona fide guru within ISKCON.

(5) Some devotees believe that canvassing for new initiates is a service to their guru. But it is actually a disservice to the guru to bring him people insufficiently educated in what it means to be a disciple. Later, such recruits’ dubious activities would give the guru a bad reputation and

extra karma. Another result of such aggressive canvassing is that later some devotees lament that they were unduly influenced or practically forced to take initiation without being given the chance to thoroughly examine the guru and make a thoughtful choice.

(6) Local leaders in areas where gurus spend little time become de facto gurus if all devotees under them are their junior Godsiblings. Although this may appear to be a smart managerial ploy, it rarely helps—either the de facto gurus or those under them—to mature in Krishna consciousness.

(7) Temple leaders should invite initiating gurus other than their own to visit their preaching area and let all devotees benefit from a multiplicity of association.

(8) The sustained input of gurus is required to rectify matters. Gurus should make clear to their disciples their duty to educate newcomers about the process of initiation, which includes making a personal decision based on knowledge and without undue pressure from others.

Bhakti Vikasa Swami

 

BRAND BUILDING BASED ON ILLUSTRIOUS GURU(s) opposed to temple unity

Brand building exercise (could be based on a guru or another charismatic leader/temple) to gather the cream of the devotee community at the expense of the local temple. We know what was the reaction of Srila Prabhupada when Radha Damodhar Sankirtan party devotees would wean away brahmacharis from local temple he was furious.

These some characteristics of Brand building exercises,

1. They don't share the lessons learnt and other community development techniques, initiatives, good practices they bring from pervious experience with the entire temple. But they internally work in their own minority groups and would focus developing only their group to enhance the brand value for their group as opposed to sharing the benefits with entire temple community. Its always easy to divide and rule as opposed to building the whole community.
2. When the temple works for ISKCON's interests or local GBC interests the group although would never openly oppose any such initiatives and even participate with lack luster interest but they are very committed to their groups interests and work overtime.

3. They may officially hold posts in the temple as IYF leaders or Bhakti Vrksha leaders but they will be seen working overtime outside their service domain. The new recruits from both IYF and Bhakti Vrksha will be nourished separately independent of temple by the local leaders and brand ambassadors.

4. They will never develop a feeling of loyalty to temple. Temple problems and challenges are not of their concern. They will never take pains to see to that the good practices are adopted by the temple and pioneer in implementing them. If temple authorities request them they may offer some consultancy or lip service. Whereas both the leaders and new recruits will have strong loyalty to the brand ambassadors whose books and lectures they proliferate.

5. They may come to temple on festival days and engage in some service to avoid any blame.

6. Group interests supersedes temples interest all the time.
7. The brand ambassadors are sometimes ready to help only if the yatra takes their leadership if not they may consider some advice but never active support in terms of manpower.

How to avoid Guru Groupism

1. Follow GBC. GBC has published a position paper on authority.

2. Report violations to local GBC.

3. Adopt an open training process like Congregational ministry's siksha system in which devotees are encouraged to first officially accept Srila Prabhupada as one's siksha guru before thinking about a guru.

4. See your spiritual master from the perspective of Srila Prabhupada rather than seeing Srila Prabhupada through your Guru.

5. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Maharaj says Guru bhakti is internal and should not be revealed.

Unmistakable evidence to prove Vishnukanta Dasa's questionable activities

Hypocrisy destroys faith

Hypocrisy destroys Faith. We may pose as a great person, but the substance of our character determines who we really are. We may fool the world with our external exploits, but God is seeing our motivations from within, and if these motivations are dubious we will ourselves feel emptiness in the heart. -- H.H Radhanath Swami

Here is a list of evidences on which Vishnukanta das will hesitate to write anything about in his blog. This has been made available for reference  for those concerned about Vishnukantha Das or Venugopal Ananthakrishnan (IBM). Look at the preceding article on Questionable activities of Vishnukanta das & Guru Groupism.

Vishnukanta Dasa or Vishnukanta Das (or Venugopal Ananthakrishnan) expertise in word jugglery is reflected in his emails and blog postings. He carefully avoids everything that he is culpable and beats around the bush on unrelated things. If you had seen closely he would have avoided talking on the 8 points below which is the core issue. Only the guilty would like to divert like this.

In his last email by saying " They seem to have all been taken out of context & misinterpreted.". He has definitely agreed to be a party to these events and that they indeed happen. Otherwise he would say all these are false. Obviousy he didn't want to lie blatantly infront of his spiritual master but when it comes to blog postings which no one is aware of how he cooks all his stories he puts his expertise to good use in misleading the audience in his blog postings.

In Questionable activities of Vishnukanta das & Guru Groupism you can see the email conversations sent to all concerned devotees and Vishnukanta Das himself was copied so that he could justify his postion which he did not do for almost an year and finally when he was being proved he just wanted to wriggle out of it with lame excuses saying his actions are being misinterpreted and he doesn't want to discuss any further.

The subject matter of the emails were discussed in person with temple presidents of Bangalore, Chennai. They all agreed to brand building activities going on and have taken up the matter in person with H.G Radheshyam Pr and GBC H.H Jayapataka Swami. 

There is evidence for all the subject mentioned in the emails with respect to.

1. Marriage Issue  On Vishnukanta Das's seeking a good looking (from his marriage profile) and a HH Jayapataka Swami aspiring bride from HG Radha Priya mataji. Please contact her grace she will provide details. To convince her on putting an extra effort he unecessarily accuses all RNS disciples as narrow minded. If anyone needs proof for this you will be provided with audio recording of mataji narrating this incident or you could call her directly and confirm.

2. Brand Building On Brand building exercises the letter talks on enough incidents proving without doubt the universal phenomenon on HH RNS brand within ISKCON Bangalore. 

3. He seeking a good looking bride  not someone on the merits of Krishna consciousness is there is his marriage profile. This proves his hypocrisy throwing lofty ideals he professes to air but wants only a good looking bride.

4. On his dropping out of BBT Sanskrit school and falsly claiming his scholarship ask Matsyaavatar Das.

5. His writing an email saying all spiritual masters have multiple roles to perform so their classes should not be taken literally. If you need the original email he wrote mail me (below).

6. He calling some pioneers in Krishna cosnciousness as fools.

7. In his marriage invitation and his blog postings he is falsely claiming as a siksha disciple of his HH Jayaptaka Swami. Let alone the fact he wasn't accepted on first place he didn't even seek Maharaja for siksha. We know nobody except ritviks become a disciple by claiming as one. And also for wrongly attributing some words to HH regarding taking instruction.

8. His counsellor HG Shankarpandit Pr has written in the emails (see here) to send these emails to anyone concerned about Vishnukanta Dasa or Guru Groupism in Bangalore. Please read the emails you will know.

Just because  someone had some material education one should not become puffed up... should we mention how he was rubbished by Madhva scholars when he wanted to argue about superiority of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. They just tore his arguements to pieces. Humility is the weapon that can conquer the hearts of people in Kali Yuga. That was amply demonstrated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with mayavadis in Varanasi. 

We just requested him to apologise to those whom he offended and for that he has been throwing tantrums in the blog postings against devotees who have done what they needed to do as member of ISKCON Bangalore management council when these issues happened. We appeal to all readers to help us do that by talking to Vishnukanta Das.We don't want to hurt anyone but we don't want to tolerate injustice done by people using the good name of H.H Radhanath Swami.

Contact

For any evidences concerneing the topics discussed please feel free to write to truelies AT activist.com feel free to copy madhuananth AT gmail.com.