LettersThe Saints are a Living Conception (04/12/17)
LettersDeviations! (11/09/17)

Beating a Dead Horse (11/04/17)

Daṇḍavats ______ Prabhu,

Please see attached photo of the sign leading into Vṛndāvana…ISCON! It has been misspelled for at least four years. I have repeatedly brought this small issue to the attention of the ISCON authorities in Vṛndāvana and pointed out that Śrīla Prabhupāda would have this corrected immediately. Yet they are so consumed by other nonsense, court cases, etc. that they do nothing.

As you have mentioned in your email, “Kṛṣṇa is in control.” So that being said, it looks like ‘ISCON’ is the new spelling. Long ago, Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja commented, “ISKCON is cracked at the foundation. I fear they will become an apa-sampradāya.” That was said some thirty years ago, and it is as bad or worse now than ever before.

As recently as this past September, ________ Gosvāmī wrote an letter to his disciples and placed the blame for the implementation of the Zonal Ācārya system squarely on Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja.

“He (Śrīdhara Mahārāja) advised us strongly that the gurus are above the GBC, and that each guru must have an exclusive guru-zone.”

This statement by ______ Gosvāmī made the rounds on social media and many second generation devotees vehemently objected to ______ Gosvāmī’s statement, stating that they would not be duped into ‘institutional offenses against Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja’.

I took the GBC to task on this false claim in a special appointed three man GBC committee back in 2001, the result of which was the GBC issued a resolution in 2002 stating that Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja was not responsible for the creation of the Zonal Ācārya system, and furthermore that all ISKCON devotees should refrain from hearing or speaking any criticism of Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja. Here is the GBC resolution:

“Resolution from Mayapur, GBC meeting 2002 #403/2002…Sripad Sridhar Maharaja and the Zonal Acarya System

“Whereas, a committee composed of Bir Krishna dasa Goswami, Guru Prasad Swami and Kesava Bharati dasa met and discussed with Bhakti Gaurava Narasimha Swami the issue of Sripad B.R. Sridhar Maharaja’s relationship to the establishment of the zonal-acharya system in ISKCON;

“Whereas, the GBC Body recognizes that there may be a mistaken perception in some circles that the GBC holds Sripad B.R. Sridhar Maharaja responsible for ISKCON’s acceptance of the zonal-acharya system;

“[STATEMENT] Resolved, That the impression that may exist in some circles that the GBC Body regards Sripad B.R. Sridhar Maharaja as responsible for ISKCON’s accepting the zonal-acharya system is erroneous. The GBC Body realizes that regardless of how the zonal-acarya system evolved, it alone is responsible for its acceptance and implementation. Any imputation that Sripad B.R. Sridhar Maharaja is responsible is wrong. In this regard the GBC Body would like to restate, as per resolution 76 of the 1987 Annual General Meeting, that “ISKCON devotees should strictly avoid hearing or speaking personal criticism of Sripad B.R. Sridhar Maharaja.”

So there you have it. But due to their International Society Consciousness [ISCON], they continue in many ways their offences and as a result of their offences, they have become a cesspool of philosophical and historical mISCONceptions.

In the correspondence from ____ Dāsa, I did not see anything except an emotional response to my article, no philosophical refutation – only an emotional outpouring. Indeed, Śrīla Prabhupāda may have given specific instruction to put the Pañca-Tattva on the central altar – the point of the article however is about the importance of Sri Sri Gaura Rādhā-Mādhava and how They have been overshadowed, all but neglected etc.

To use the political vocabulary of our times, the complaints towards my article sound like those of the millennial, snowflake, lib-tards. Free speech is fine so long as it does not differ from their opinion.

But I must admit my recent article will probably do little, if any, good. Already there’s too much water under the bridge. Its like beating a dead horse!

Your servant,
Swami Narasiṅgha

LettersThe Saints are a Living Conception (04/12/17)
LettersDeviations! (11/09/17)