Back To Prabhupada, Issue 19, Spring 2008
elcome to Issue 19 of Back to Prabhupada (BTP).
Our readers will have recently received our second Special Issue ("SI2"), sent straight after Issue 18, which highlights a major trend that has been occurring in the last few years in ISKCON. And this is the attempt by ISKCON gurus to hold on to power by gradually appearing to adopt the IRM's position. Hence in SI2, titled "In their own words", we demonstrated how ISKCON leaders are agreeing with the IRM's arguments and conclusions. In this way, by arguing that their ludicrous guru system is actually a type of ritvik (representative of the acharya) system, they hope to defuse opposition to it, whilst continuing to practise the same Great Guru Hoax! This using the truth of Srila Prabhupada's position as a front to simply gain and hold on to power, we can now call "The Great Guru Hoax, Part 3". This continues the evolution of the guru hoax from parts 1 and 2 (where the guru pie was extended from the original 11 self-appointed gurus to everybody via a new voting system), as the guru hoax mutates and adapts, just like a virus, to new situations to survive and hold on to power. In The Great Guru Hoax, Part 1, "ritvik" was used as the tool via which guru ambitions were fulfilled, with diksa guruship (i.e. acting as an initiating spiritual master with disciples) being justified on having first been appointed as a ritvik (officiating priest). Now, in The Great Guru Hoax, Part 3, the hoax has extended further to claim one is even acting like a ritvik, whilst in practise one continues to try and act as a diksa guru.
In this latest part 3 hoax, the ISKCON guru hoaxers have also been joined by overt "ritvik" hoaxers, who even more than the ISKCON gurus are appropriating the ritvik approach to achieve similar ends to the ISKCON guru hoaxers: to keep the money flowing in, hold on to power and lord it over others - in sum, to satisfy the same subtle sex desire for profit, honour and distinction. However, the ritvik hoaxers go further than their guru hoaxer counterparts in their use of ritvik to garner position and power. Some examples are:
a) Accepting that there should be no diksa gurus currently, but then re-defining a ritvik as being a type of "apprentice diksa guru in waiting"; or re-defining ritvik as a stop-gap measure whilst everyone is a "diksa-guru in waiting". Additionally, the ritvik is also defined as having many of the powers of a diksa guru.
b) Accepting that there should be no diksa gurus, but then claiming that the ritvik as the "giver of initiation" can alone "connect" one to the parampara (disciplic succession) properly, thereby attempting to exercise control and power over the "disciple" just like a diksa guru would.
c) Accepting that there should be no diksa gurus simply as a means to reject the authority of a guru and GBC over a temple or project, thus giving sole control of properties, men and money to the temple or project leaders. Similarly, one can justify rejecting authority to launch any "project" one likes, which one can then "lead" independent of any control.
Hence, it does not matter what one may call it, but rather as the Vedic aphorism states, phalena pariciyate, everything must be judged by the result. Is the end result of adopting the ritvik approach that it has simply served as a tool to satisfy whatever personal desires one has - whether for guruship, money, power, properties, projects, or whatever? Who has benefited, and how? What has changed - has there simply been a shift in power, with every thing else being "business as usual", with no attempt made to actively combat the guru hoax unless one's position is threatened? The IRM, however, is the only organisation dedicated full-time solely to establishing the truth about Srila Prabhupada's position, rather than simply using Srila Prabhupada's position to either set up income streams or one's own personal project. This is done not as a convenience in order to gain or retain power over people and properties, but as THE mission, the only mission. Indeed, it is by attempting to harvest the fruits of this work that the ritvik hoaxers seek to also perpetrate The Great Guru Hoax, Part 3. So please beware of false imitations - demand the reality - contact BTP to find out who is real and who is just another hoaxer (guru or ritvik) using ritvik merely as a "front".
The Great Guru Hoaxes can basically be catalogued as:
The Great Guru Hoax, Part 1 - By appointment of ritviks.
The Great Guru Hoax, Part 2 - By voting.
The Great Guru Hoax, Part 3 - By re-defining/using ritviks (or the ritvik approach) as a front.
Part 3 is also called the "guru" hoax even though it can also involve the use of "ritviks" by ritvik hoaxers, since, just as with the guru hoax, there is the same aim to get profit, honour and distinction. So whether as a "guru" or "ritvik" hoaxer, the name of the game is the same: use Srila Prabhupada and his philosophy to get position, control and enjoy.
Please feel free to write to me at the following address if you have any questions, criticisms or comments: irm@iskconirm.com.
Thank you and Hare Krishna.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Krishnakant
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