NEWSLETTER No.44

3RD MARCH 2001

GBC Meetings End in Fiasco!

1. GBC Meetings End in Fiasco

2. The Gaudiya Matha’s False Order

3. Narayana Maharaja’s Final Order
   

As even the GBC has acknowledged, ISKCON is facing many problems, is deeply divided and is disintegrating. Legal challenges to bankrupt ISKCON abound, Narayana Maharaja is rapidly taking over ISKCON congregations, and faith in the GBC has hit rock bottom. Even very senior members have called for mass resignations. All sections of the Society have agreed that ISKCON faces many deep-rooted and fundamental problems which need to be tackled. In short, there needs to be change. Though opinions are divided on exactly what needs to be done, it is agreed by all that SOMETHING definitely needs to be done, and that there has to be some change. In response to this international clamour for change from the devotees, the GBC had trumpeted this year's GBC meetings as the time when finally these radical changes would take place in our Society. Our GBC Chairman, Ravindra Svarupa Das, who was instrumental in dismantling the zonal acharya system, would once gain apply his 'reforming' magic, and herald the radical changes required. Of course, to ensure that no REAL change occurred - i.e. the removal of the impostor Gurus which is the root cause of the Society's ills - these changes would only be concerned with the 'GBC structure'. Thus, as we have been reporting through our newsletter, grand new schemes were dreamt up, such as the proposals to have a new 3-tier management system. On the ISKCON COM conferencing system, many mainstream devotees were formulating their proposals for the changes required. Even those who had some sympathy for the IRM had instead put their faith in these radical changes that were to be upon us, insisting that change must be done via the GBC in a systematic, and not revolutionary manner. The desire for change was gaining momentum and gathering a head of steam as this year's GBC meetings were upon us again. Surely the time had finally come for something to happen? It was inconceivable that even the GBC could continue fiddling while ISKCON burned.

We have often remarked on the GBC's ability to amaze, displaying incompetence and bad judgement on a scale that even the IRM could not have predicted. However, they have surpassed themselves yet again. For after many days of heated debates, discussions, straw votes, sub-committee meetings, plenary sessions, more plenary sessions, manager's meetings, deputies meetings etc., the net result has been that the GBC have decided to do
*NOTHING*. That is, they have agreed that things should remain exactly as they are; in other words, there should be NO CHANGE. In case you are doing a double-take, I will repeat that: The GBC has decided to change absolutely
*nothing*. It has concluded that things are fine just as they are. Even the report on the GBC meetings published on the CHAKRA website states:

"This year one of the major topics involved restructuring the GBC. A sub-committee of twelve senior devotees representing different regions, ashrams and viewpoints considered several related proposals. Among their conclusions that were accepted by the GBC body:

"1. Membership on the GBC body should not be limited by ashram or external consideration but should be open to any qualified devotee."

i.e. Keep things exactly as they are now, with absolutely NO restructuring of the GBC!

To give you an indication of what a fiasco these meetings were, even some of the disappointed GBC members remarked that the GBC had finally adopted the IRM's 'No Change In ISKCON Paradigm'! Only, they decided to begin from NOW - rather than 1977! This is not a joke. This is exactly what happened and what was said. We know all this because some GBC members and deputies were so upset that they called us and told us. It seems that Jayapataka Swami's (JPS) late entry on the scene, combined with his hundreds of disciples voting on the internet for his proposal, which would leave things basically as they are, won the day. It appears that after the humiliation that Ravindra inflicted on JPS in the 1986 'zonal acharya' debacle, JPS has finally taken his revenge. Such is the weakness of our Society that one man has been able to swan in and thwart the supposedly international grass roots call for change. It would seem that JPS, with his thousands of disciples, is the only power base left in ISKCON.

The one thing the GBC DID decide was that ISKCON's resources should be marshalled against an all-out war against the IRM - now there's a surprise!
Their strategy is to attack myself with all the ferocity they can muster whilst simultaneously doing everything possible to appease the IRM secretary and 'grand-disciple' Madhu Pandit Das (Temple President of ISKCON Bangalore). In this way they think they can break the IRM. It seems, however, that they are doing a pretty good job of breaking *themselves* up without any help from the IRM. They have decided to put all their efforts into salvaging what is left of India, by trying to destroy the IRM, which has had great success in India. This is because they are already resigning themselves to the fact that outside of India, what little is left of the Society will be bankrupted by the Turley child abuse lawsuit. For Turley has re-filed his original suit, taking out many of the obvious errors which had previously been highlighted, resulting in a new motion which the GBC now agree is 'strong' legally. They have calculated that just the pre-trial hearings alone will cost them around 50 thousand dollars a month. They have realised that the case is not going to go away any time soon, and at the very least the negative publicity will severely harm their ability to collect funds to keep the ship afloat.

Another change that was made was that the GBC Chairman Ravindra Svarupa was voted off due to his incompetence. Devotees levelled many different charges against him, with the main one being that he was running the GBC like a dictatorship and was a hopeless manager. Some examples of this incompetence which were raised at the meetings included:

1. His dreadful support for convicted child abuser Dhanudara Swami, overturning an official ruling of the ISKCON Office of Child Protection.
   Please see Newsletter No. 20 for full details.
   

2. His 'soft' stance towards fallen 'Gurus', Rohini Suta Das and Suhotra Swami.
   

3. His secret re-organisation meeting in Detroit, where only his hand-picked pals were invited to assist in his plan for the radical carve-up of ISKCON. Many senior members of ISKCON were not even aware that such a meeting was taking place.
   

4. That though he was the GBC for various countries in Europe, throughout his whole term he had not even visited these countries *once*; that even the Temples under his care in the USA are crumbling.
   

5. Concern was also raised about a $50,000 donation he had personally been given for the 'GBC Restructuring Project' (which never was!), by Srinathji Das (Dr. N.D. Desai), a wealthy industrialist disciple of Radhanatha Swami.

He has now been demoted to being a Vice-Chairman limited strictly to only ONE portfolio - to fight the IRM. In this he will be forming an unholy alliance with Gopal Krishna Maharaja and his nemesis, JPS, who between them will be heading up the anti-IRM drive. The new GBC Chairman is to be Ramai Swami, who is currently a GBC in Australia.

 

 

 Recently the English translation of an undated Bengali conversation held between Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja (NM) has been widely circulated on the internet by the followers of NM, with the translation also provided by the NM camp. The conversation is supposed to have occurred sometime during October-November 1977, and is titled by NM's followers as being:

"Prabhupada's Final Order: On Iskcon and Srila Narayana Maharaja"

They claim the conversation presents a 'Final Order' from Srila Prabhupada in which he:

"has personally ordered Srila Narayana Maharaja to give spiritual guidance to his disciples and followers, and that he wants his disciples and followers to accept that guidance."

As we will now show, Srila Prabhupada does not actually say anything of the kind, and far from the conversation being any sort of 'Final Order' from Srila Prabhupada, it is actually only a FALSE Order from the Gaudiya Matha group, who in their desperation to divert devotees away from Srila Prabhupada, are presenting things which are not there. We will print below the relevant portion of the transcript presented by the NM group as being the 'evidence' for their claim and see what it really says. (We are, of course, here relying on the accuracy of the translation from the followers of NM, which could also be incorrect.)

First we reproduce the phrase which the NM group has highlighted in capitals as being the evidence for their claim (they have only claimed this one phrase as the evidence for their claim, and thus this is all we need to deal with):

"[Srila Prabhupada]: YOU KINDLY INSTRUCT THEM ON THIS MATTER."

Now this above sentence was definitely spoken by Srila Prabhupada to NM.
Thus the issues are:

1. WHO was the 'THEM' that NM was to give this instruction to?

2. WHAT was the 'MATTER' on which Srila Prabhupada wanted NM to give instruction?

3. WHEN was this instruction to be given?

Obviously without the answers to these questions, one cannot claim anything about what Srila Prabhupada is saying. And to find the answers to these questions, we obviously need to read the text before and after the phrase in question to understand the context. The full portion therefore is:

Srila Prabhupada:	Are any of my god-brothers in Vrindavana now?
Narayana Maharaja:	Yes.
Srila Prabhupada:	Who?
Narayana Maharaja:	Van Maharaja might be there, as well as Indupati Prabhu from Caitanya Gaudiya Matha.
Srila Prabhupada:	Any more?
Narayana Maharaja:	Only these two at the moment.
Srila Prabhupada:	Who is Indupati?
Narayana Maharaja:	Indupati. He comes here often.
Bhakticaru Swami:	From Madhava Maharaja's matha?
Narayana Maharaja:	Yes. No one else is here.
Srila Prabhupada:	Please call both of THEM. Van Maharaja and him.
Narayana Maharaja:	This is very good proposal by you.
Srila Prabhupada:	Please sit down. They will call THEM.
Narayana Maharaja:	All right.

Srila Prabhupada:	This cutting of arguments happens sometimes...
Narayana Maharaja:	These are insignificant matters in such a substantial worldwide mission. A little something here and there is of no consequence. You have done this wonderful preaching work for the benefit of the whole world. There was no self-interest. You did everything only in devotional service to Krishna - for benefiting all people at large.
Srila Prabhupada:	It is all by your blessings.
Narayana Maharaja:	You have done a wonderful thing. It is necessary to care for and preserve this mission, and see that it is managed skilfully.
Srila Prabhupada:	YOU KINDLY INSTRUCT THEM ON THIS MATTER. I'm unable to speak.

1. It is very clear that the 'THEM' refers to Srila Prabhupada's Godbrothers who were to arrive shortly, for they are referred to as 'THEM' *TWICE* in the *IMMEDIATELY* preceding conversation - please see the highlighted text above. Thus, Srila Prabhupada is actually asking NM to instruct THEM - his *Godbrothers* - who will arrive shortly.

2. And what is it that he is to instruct them on? That is clear from what NM has just said before Srila Prabhupada asks him to "instruct them" - that any "cutting of the arguments" that Srila Prabhupada may have done in relation to his Godbrothers should not be taken seriously, because in a worldwide preaching mission this is insignificant, and part of caring for and preserving the mission. Srila Prabhupada had referred even earlier in the conversation to "this cutting of arguments":

Srila Prabhupada:	I wish that my god-brothers forgive my offences...While preaching, many times we do say things contrary to each other, or we cut each other's philosophical arguments. That happens. Please ask my god-brothers to forgive my offences. (inaudible)
Narayana Maharaja:	All right.

Thus we can see that how Srila Prabhupada is again now asking Narayana Maharaja to speak to his Godbrothers regarding Srila Prabhupada's "cutting of their arguments", and to explain how this can happen in preaching, since NM has himself now echoed the earlier words of Srila Prabhupada that "while preaching" these things "happen".

3. And when was this instruction to be given? There and then, *and then only*. The proof for this is that immediately after NM is asked by Srila Prabhupada to give instruction, Srila Prabhupada immediately states: "I'm unable to speak" - and that's why he is asking NM to make these points to his godbrothers on his behalf.

[Srila Prabhupada]: YOU KINDLY INSTRUCT THEM ON THIS MATTER. I'M UNABLE TO SPEAK

The above points are established simply from reading the preceding conversation, and are proven from the translation of the rest of the conversation provided by the followers of NM themselves! Each of the 3 points ALONE defeats the assertion that Srila Prabhupada was giving an order to NM to instruct his disciples continuously in the future. And putting all of the 3 points together makes the conclusion crystal clear:

That far from being an instruction to NM to continually instruct his (Srila Prabhupada's) disciples about spiritual life 20 years later, the sentence in question is actually a request to NM to instruct Srila Prabhupada's *Godbrothers* to not mind Srila Prabhupada "cutting" their arguments, because Srila Prabhupada at the time was weak and "unable to speak".

 

 

 However, it is significant that the followers of NM have conceded that statements made in this conversation can be seen as 'Final Orders'. Due to the timing of the conversation, which was in Srila Prabhupada's Final days, the followers of NM are happy to accept that statements made in this conversation have a nature of finality about them. Thus they have labelled Srila Prabhupada's statements in this conversation as being:

"Prabhupada's Final Order: On ISKCON and Narayana Maharaja"

(even though as we have seen above, they weren't!)

We are glad, however, that they have conceded this point, for in the same conversation later on NM himself makes some very important and instructive statements. Thus we are also justified and happy in calling these statements from Narayana Maharaja as being:

*** "Narayana Maharaja's Final Order: On ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada" ***

We reproduce them below:

Narayana Maharaja:	All of your duties are completed. You have fulfilled everything in your lifetime. There is no need to worry for anything. Only remember the lotus feet of Sri Radha-Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada:	By Their blessings only.
Narayana Maharaja:	Yes, you have done everything. Nothing is left unfinished.

Please carefully note the words - 'EVERYTHING' (mentioned twice), 'ANYTHING' and 'NOTHING'.

And also please note that here NM definitely IS talking about Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON (unlike the false dawn heralded by the followers of NM regarding the statements of Srila Prabhupada, as seen above). Thus there is no room for doubt. NM is very clear and final here. Everything has been completed by Srila Prabhupada, and there is nothing is left to finish in regards to his ISKCON mission. Srila Prabhupada was able to complete everything in his lifetime. He did not run out of time.

*This is Narayana Maharaja's Final Order regarding Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON. *

From this statement of NM, it is clear that if someone came preaching many years later that 'Swamiji' had NOT completed everything, that 'Swamiji' had ran out of time, that his mission was still unfulfilled, that this person should be consulted on how best to complete Srila Prabhupada's mission -
then I am sure that NM would be the first personality to blast such a false prophet of doom! Unfortunately, there *is* such a person who is now making these very claims, in direct contradiction to the clear and instructive Final Order of NM above. We reproduce some extracts below:

"Here, one thing is that ultimately bhakti is only uttama-bhakti. He wanted to preach all of these things in the western countries also - that which Rupa Goswami has given in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu and the Ujjvala-nilamani, and that which has been written by acaryas like Raghunath das Goswami and Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami. He wanted to give all these things in western countries, BUT HE COULD NOT DO IT. HE HAD SO LITTLE TIME."
(Lecture given on the disappearance day of Srila Prabhupada, 10th November, 1992)

"But why he did? Because worldly persons, general persons, those who are not rasika vaisnavas, they don't know tattva, they have not gone to association with any vaisnava, they think that this is a very good thing. To preach whole world the name of Krishna...and to give Gita Sandesh...is the very good thing. This was done by...you should know. So I want to say that your Prabhupada has given these things...ONLY THESE THINGS...AND NOT BEYOND THESE THINGS. Then he was only the servant of Mahavisnu, not of Krishna. A strange thing...fact...but for them who are ignorant."

"But to dig and to sweep is not everything. To dig for basement of this big temple is not everything. So Swamiji has at first cleared the atmosphere.
Prepared the ground...by preaching name and the sandesh of Gita...he prepared. So very important work ... so he has done this task and it was so necessary for that world...for all world...he has done BUT HE HAS NOT DONE EVERYTHING BY DOING THAT. IT WAS ONLY BASEMENT.

And I think if he was alive ...for most one or two more years more...he would completed Srimad Bhagavatam...he would completed Ujjvala. Nilamani.
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Vidagdha Madhava which are necessary to know Caitanya Mahaprabhu...rasa, rasika and rasika sekhara. But...we are deprived of that...HE COULD NOT COMPLETED HIS WORK"
(Lecture given on September 19th, 1994)

It is clear therefore that these statements are in complete contradiction to the profound Final Order on ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada which has already been given by NM. Unfortunately to confuse matters, the personality making these contradictory statements also calls himself Narayana Maharaja, which does raise the possibility that all these contradictory statements are indeed made by the same personality. We, however, have discounted this possibility, since it is unthinkable that an advanced Vaisnava such as Narayana Maharaja would make such blatant contradictions, especially to a wonderfully accurate Final Order on Srila Prabhupada's legacy.
Contradictions which by the way could only serve the purpose of being nothing more than a vain attempt to try and attract followers away from Srila Prabhupada.

We would therefore urge any followers of the original Narayana Maharaja (who spoke the wonderful Final Order about Srila Prabhupada in 1977 reproduced above) to inform him that there is an imposter Narayana Maharaja on the loose preaching the preposterous speculation that Srila Prabhupada had actually not "fulfilled everything in his lifetime". We are sure this original Narayana Maharaja will want to reprimand his impersonator most severely.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please keep your letters, and e-mail addresses of other devotees who should be added to our list, flowing in. A hard copy of our main position paper 'The Final Order' is available on request.

If you would like to receive any of the back issues of the Newsletter please let me know.