Back To Prabhupada, Issue 56, Summer 2017
elcome to Issue 56 of Back To Prabhupada (BTP).
1) An outcome that puzzles devotees is the GBC gurus and the IRM both supposedly reading and accepting exactly the same teachings from Srila Prabhupada, but reaching diametrically opposed conclusions. However, if one begins with a preconceived idea then one will interpret whatever one reads as being in line with that preconceived idea, regardless of what one is actually reading. This is the meaning of prejudice. The word prejudice means to "pre-judge". Thus, instead of the philosophy one follows being dictated by the facts, whatever they may be, one will instead start with a philosophy one desires and let that desire dictate the "facts" one "sees". A stunning example that illustrates this phenomenon of prejudice blinding one to the truth involved GBC-elected diksa guru, HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami ("BVKS").
2) On his website, BVKS presents daily quotes from Srila Prabhupada, which BVKS then titles based on the points he thinks the quotes are making. On 6/6/17, BVKS presented a quote which he titled "Sannyasis as gurus". Part of the quote stated that:
"This is parivrajakacarya because our sannyasis they can begin there and then there is paramahamsa stage. When one becomes a little advanced and purified by this process he can take some disciples."
He then gave the reference for the quote as being "From Srila Prabhupada's lecture at the sannyasa initiation of Trivikrama Maharaja–July 27, 1971, New York".
(One can see a screenshot of the website from that day as evidence here).
3) However, this quote that was presented as being from a lecture by Srila Prabhupada is actually not from Srila Prabhupada at all. Rather it is from a lecture by one of Srila Prabhupada's disciples, Rupanuga Dasa, and his name is clearly marked as such before the lecture begins, and his voice can be heard on the recording for this lecture. Rupanuga is the same person whose lecture BVKS posted on his website to promote a revival of the already discredited "zonal acarya hoax" – see BTP 52, "Zonal Acarya Hoax Revival Continues".
4) BVKS is an example of "sannyasis as gurus", who wants to "take some disciples". He sees a quote which he needs to be from Srila Prabhupada in order to try and use it to support his position. And he then ends up "seeing" this quote as coming from Srila Prabhupada even though it does not, and titles it "Sannyasis as gurus"! Whereas, we correctly see the quote as not coming from Srila Prabhupada. Hence, BVKS's desire to be a guru pushes him to somehow see what he wants to see, rather than what is actually there. And the IRM's desire to find the truth helps us see the truth. Thus, the preconceived ideas or prejudices we have matter, for they will dictate what we will conclude. Therefore, to go back to the outcome stated at the outset which puzzles devotees, sometimes the GBC gurus and the IRM are not even actually reading "exactly the same teachings from Srila Prabhupada"!
5) Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport to Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 7.15 about those whose "knowledge is stolen by illusion". How such persons are "mostly very learned fellows–great philosophers". And that even though they may be "scholars of the Gita" and the Gita states its conclusions in "plain and simple language", such persons still ignore these "clear statements" because "the illusory energy misguides them". Illusioned by the desire to be worshipped ‘as good as God' and usurp Srila Prabhupada's position as ISKCON's diksa guru, we see a similar parallel with the unauthorised GBC gurus in ISKCON. Though such persons may also be "learned fellows", "great philosophers" and "scholars" of the scripture, they are no less illusioned due to their illicit desires. And this illusion has stolen their knowledge of what Srila Prabhupada actually states, leading them to faulty conclusions–as evidenced in every BTP issue.
Thank you and Hare Krishna.
In Srila Prabhupada's service,
Krishnakant
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