Dear Bhagvatamrita Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisance’s. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
You asked yesterday why one would list Srila Prabhupada as a “sannyasi” in the MOA of Iskcon-India, rather than the” Founder Acharya” as Srila Prabhupada has originally listed. This happened around 1980 by a commission of the Bureau of Iskcon-India. You say it was for legal purposes? I begged to submit that this commission may not just be a simple legal maneuver but a symptom of the still ongoing conspiracy to remove Srila Prabhupada as the Founder Acharya of Iskcon and replace others unlawfully in that position.
FOUNDER ACHARYA OF ISKCON-HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C.
BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI SRILA PRABHUPADA
This point of Srila Prabhupada being the FOUNDER-ACHARYA of Iskcon is very pertinent and important. The quotations, examples and even attempts to remove Srila Prabhupada as the Founder-Acharya were there even when Srila Prabhupada was with us, what to speak of after His samadhi or in this case within the official documents which are now being scrutinized by the Supreme Court in the case between the Bureau of Iskcon-Mumbai vs. Iskcon Bangalore.
For the time being we will leave most of those historical quotes and incidents aside, besides the few quoted below, just to give the gist. As i hope we both agree that Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acharya of Iskcon? Correct? Not only Founder but Acharya! The principle of who is the Acharya, and how one becomes Acharya is the subject of another discussion (such as my claim that a Acharya has to be an Uttama adhikari and your claim that the Acharya can be a Madhyam Adhikari !) . We will confine this dialog to establishing the eternal principle of Srila Prabhupada as the FOUNDER-ACHARYA of ISKCON, which did not cease in November of 1977, nor did Srila Prabhupada ever intend that He would not be the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON after His samadhi. Did He? If you disagree, then please show where and when the principle of Srila Prabhupada being the FOUNDER & ACHARYA of ISKCON ceases to be the principle?
A few quotes from Srila Prabhupada on His being Founder-Acharya:
“So you can go ahead and register our Society there with taking all proper and necessary steps. Before the finalization of registration takes place I would request you to send me one copy of the constitution for our society there so I can approve it finally. My name should be there as the Founder-Acharya, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. I should have full authority in all matters. ” (Letter December 29th, 1974)
note: Srila Prabhupada still has the “full authority” through His books, Letters and Conversations as well as His Directives of Management of His Society.
“The Ambassador of the United States of America, Canakya Puri, New Delhi May it please Your Excellency, I beg to introduce myself as the Founder-Acharya of the above institution.”
(Letter to the Ambassador of the United States of America dated 27, July, 1976 -Delhi)
” “The deed for the property and temple should be made in favor of “His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” It cannot be dedicated to any of the office bearers. So I suggest that you become the president of the temple and Upendra become the secretary, and either your brother or your wife can become treasurer. There is no need of trustees. But in any circumstance the temple can’t be a private property in the name of ISKCON. If you want to keep it a private property then the ISKCON name should not be utilized.”
(Letter – New Vrindavna June 30, 1976)
Letter signed by Srila Prabhupada on September 28th, 1976;
“A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Founder Acharya ISKCON (all over the world) Vrindaban 28/9/76”
“I am not going to manage Spiritual Sky. This is ridiculous. Why they are dragging me into the management. Now the Acharya is meant for handling business? Jayatirtha should handle this. He is the manager. Jayatirtha and Karandhar are the chief men. They should manage. Why I have to manage? They have big, big brains. Why they are failing? Now the Founder-Acharya has to manage. Without my consent the BBT has financed.” (Vrindvana Agust 31st, 1974)
“TOPMOST URGENCY AMENDMENTS TO BE IMMEDIATELY ADDED TO ALL OFFICIAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS, CONSTITUTIONS, INCORPORATION PAPERS, ETC.
1.) It is declared that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the Founder-Acharya of (ISKCON) International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He is the supreme authority in all matters of the society. His position cannot be occupied by anyone else, and his name and title must appear on all documents, letterheads, publications, and buildings of the Society. In particular it shall be clearly understood that no real estate may be purchased or sold by any officer of the Society without the express permission of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON.
2.) There shall be a Governing Board Committee of trustees appointed by the Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad according to the document Direction of Management dated July 28, 1970. The GBC is to act as the instrument for the execution of the will of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad. Dated at New York, July 22, 1974. Approved: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Founder-Acharya”
“As more publications arrive from ISKCON Press in Boston, Prabhupäda is startled to see they have printed His name on one small paperback simply as A.C. Bhaktivedanta, leaving out “His Divine Grace” and “Swami Prabhupäda.” Another booklet ascribes him the title “Acharya” rather than “Founder-Acharya.” If that’s not bad enough, upon opening the book the binding cracks and some of the pages fall out. Prabhupäda is furious.” “It appears that a veil of mäyä descended over ISKCON in 1970. Seemingly innocent mishaps, or lapses in consciousness, led Srila Prabhupäda to conclude there was a conspiracy to minimize His position as the Founder-Acharya of His own institution. He understood that he was being pushed into the background—that his supreme authority was being challenged, even doubted, and that this would be dangerous for the spiritual well being of his disciples. This was the first major heresy on a societal level in Prabhupäda’s young movement. At the heart of the heresy, of course, was the direct challenge to his authority, which, he believed, originated in India. Even though it seemed to begin with seemingly harmless incidents, Prabhupäda immediately saw the potential for the corruption of Vaisnava philosophy.” “July 7 1970 as quoted in the biography) S
In the above historical reference Srila Prabhupada has taken special concern that the minimization of Him as the Founder Acharya would be “dangerous for the spiritual well being of His disciples”. How many 1,000’s of sincere souls have had their spiritual lives destroyed because they could not accept Srila Prabhupada as their Founder-Acharya and instead had to accept a conditioned soul as the Acharya due to institutionalized mandates?
Another point I was thinking is this. If a person admits that they are fallen, then there is the possibility of undertaking the process of Krsna consciousness and becoming un-fallen. After all, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is “patita pavana”. And Srila Prabhupada is ”maha-patita-pavana”. But is someone artifically proclaims themself, or allows themself to be proclaimed, as a pure devotee/Acarya, and accepts worship, while actually being fallen, it is a great offence. And there is no possibility of such a person getting the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. What they are doing is what the Srimad-Bhagavatam calls ”kaitava dharma”, or “cheating religion”, which is rejected by Srimad-Bhagavatam and all our Vaisnava acaryas. Think about it.
Srila Prabhupada describes below his vision as to how he wants to structure and operate (Materially and Spiritually) ISKCON. This letter is dated February 1967. Thus may understand that HDG Srila Prabhupada was very clear in the beginning days of ISKCON about the model he wanted to use for the future development and operation of ISKCON.
Srila Prabhupada: “I wish that each and every branch shall keep their separate identity and cooperate keeping the Acharya in the center. On this principle we can open any number of branches all over the world. The Rama Krishna mission works on this principle and thus as an organization they have done wonderfully.”
(Letter, February 11, 1967)
The main points are:
(1) Keep identity of each branch separate (avoid centralization)
(2) cooperate keeping the Acharya in the center
(3) Using (1) and (2) as criteria, open as many branches as possible all over the world.
Which “Acarya” are we going to keep in the center? (Founder-Acarya HDG Srila Prabhupada) Did Srila Prabhupada ever authorize another Acharya?
How long will that “Acarya” stay in the center of Iskcon? Acharyaupasana principle is eternal, is it not? So….. as was Srila Prabhupada’s desire in our Iskcon Society. This is what is meant by “Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON”, the Society established by Srila Prabhupada where he is the Founder Acharya not others. Srila Prabhupada’s statements to His disciples to become qualified and become “Guru” or “Acharya” never signified or authorized them to become Founder-acharya of ISKCON. That position is reserved for Srila Prabhupada alone for all time to come.
What does “cooperate keeping the acharya in the center” mean? Could it mean that in each temple there are hundreds of rubber-stamped gurus and guru candidates competing for glorification, disciples, dakshina, sundaris, vyasasana’s and land for their dead body to have a samadhi on? Stop competing with the “Acharya” and focus on Srila Prabhupada and his message.
Srila Prabhupada:”I am the Spiritual Master of this institution, and ALL the members of the Society, they’re supposed to be MY disciples. They follow the rules and regulations which I ask them to follow, and they are INITIATED BY ME spiritually.”
(Srila Prabhupada Radio Interview, 12 March 1968, San Francisco)
Srila Prabhupada: “He [Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaja] never recommended anyone to be acharya of the Gaudiya Math…. 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. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp.
(Srila Prabhupada, letter to Rupanuga das, April 28, 1974)
Srila Prabhupada: “Don’t be allured by cheap disciples. Go on steadfastly to render service first. If you immediately become guru, then the service activities will be stopped; and as there are so many cheap gurus and cheap disciples, without any substantial knowledge, and manufacturing new sampradayas, and with service activities stopped, and all spiritual progress choked up.”
(SP Letter (VI 1987), August 17, 1968)
Srila Prabhupada: “We haven’t got to manufacture. To manufacture ideas is troublesome. Why should we take the trouble? And as soon as you want to manufacture something to my…., that is DANGEROUS. …That you are singing every day, “what our guru has said, that is our life and soul.” …As soon as this POISON will come -suppress guru and I become Brahman- everything FINISHED. Spiritual life is finished. Gaudiya Matha finished, …VIOLATED the orders of Guru Maharaja.…And as soon as you manufacture, fall down. This manufacturing idea is very, very dangerous in spiritual life. …Our mission is to serve bhakta visesa and live with devotees. NOT THAT YOU TAKE THE PLACE OF GURU. THAT IS NONSENSE, VERY DANGEROUS. Then everything will be spoiled. As soon as you become AMBITIOUS to TAKE THE PLACE of GURU-gurusuh nara matih. That is MATERIAL DISEASE.”
(April 1977, Bombay)
Srila Prabhupada 3 x’s disbanded the GBC and Srila Prabhupada always held the Supreme Veto power over the entire GBC body. He created GBC as a managerial body under certain guidelines. And He never vested in the GBC body the power to remove Him as the Founder-Acharya or appoint another Acharya in His place.Did He?
Srila Prabhupada: “GBC does not mean to control a center. GBC means to see that the activities of a center go on nicely. I do not know why Tamala is exercising his absolute authority. That is not the business of GBC. The president, treasurer and secretary are responsible for managing the center. GBC is to see that things are going nicely but not to exert absolute authority. That is not in the power of GBC. Tamala should not do like that.”
The GBC men cannot impose anything on the men of a center without consulting all of the GBC members first. A GBC member cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of his power. We are in the experimental stage but in the next meeting of the GBC members they should form a constitution how the GBC members manage the whole affair. But it is a fact that the local president is not under the control of the GBC. Yes, for improvement of situations such as this I must be informed of everything.”
(Letter to Giriraja, London 12 August, 1971)
Srila Prabhupada: “This is the function of the GBC, to see that one may not be taken away by maya. The GBC should all be the instructor (SISYA) gurus. I am the initiator (DIKSHA) guru (ACHARYA), and you should be the instructor guru by teaching what I am teaching and doing what I am doing. This is not a title, but you must actually come to this platform. This is what I want.”
(To Madhudvisa, August 4, 1975)
Bhaggy both you and i know that Srila Prabhupada many times:
(1) Knocked down centralization
(2) Knocked down over ambitious disciples who wanted to be Guru
(3) Knocked down ruthless GBCs who wanted to supersede His authority
(4) Wanted His Murti in each temple and only His daily Vyasa Puja
(5) Wanted reading, learning, and preaching from his books – Guru-Sadhu-Sastra
(6) Rules and regulations given by Him are to be followed and not changed
(7) His name as Founder-Acarya on temple sign boards, Books and all property documents.
This important inclusion principle that has the Founder-Acharya principle as everything in Iskcon was never rescinded nor did Srila Prabhupada ever put a time limit on His being the Founder Acharya. Nor did he say to remove Himself as the Founder-Acharya.
Without keeping Acharya in the center, cooperation in not possible.
Remember the words of HDG Srila Prabhupada: “you can cheat, but it will not be effective” and “what is use of producing a rascal Guru?”
How can you have Srila Prabhupada in the center when in each temple, there are hundreds of rubber-stamped gurus and guru candidates competing for glorification, disciples, dakshina, sundaris, and land for their dead body to have a samadhi on?
How can you have Srila Prabhupada’s books in the center when you have disciples of hundreds of rubber-stamped ACHARYA’s peddling tapes, videos, and books of their own Gurus, even those who now fallen from disgrace?
Let us not turn Srila Prabhupada’s Temples, established as Temples with Srila Prabhupada as the Founder Acharya into temples of founders and acharya’s who are at best kanistha-adhikaris or madhyam adhikari’s posing as Paramahamsa’s, This will then become a laughing stock for the whole vaisnava world when cheaters, and liars occupy the vyaysasna as it has already started to happen.
Purty is the Force
Preaching is the Essance
Utility is the Principle
Books are the Basis
not
Purity is a Farce
Preaching is an Excuse
Futility is the Principle
Bucks are the Basis
your aspiring servant,
anonymous and infamous Bhakta Thomas