Srila Prabhupada-Lilamrta: censored due to guru pressure, admits GBC

Srila Prabhupada-Lilamrta:
censored due to guru pressure, admits GBC

Winter 2006/7

Back in BTP 6, we published an analysis of the so-called "authorised biography of Srila Prabhupada", Srila Prabhupada-Lilamrta, written by one of the founders of the ISKCON guru hoax, Satsvarupa Das (Goswami), who was later prevented by the GBC from taking more disciples following an exposé of his illicit relationship with a married woman in 2004.

Not only does Satsvarupa's "biography" portray Srila Prabhupada as a conditioned soul struggling to maintain his Krishna consciousness amidst the rampant materialism of the West, but as we highlighted, the book audaciously fabricates evidence to support the Great Guru Hoax by inventing words Srila Prabhupada never spoke in the famous May 28th, 1977 conversation.
While Satsvarupa shamelessly desecrated the actual words of his spiritual master, it transpires that this was not the only truth in the book that was suppressed, as the following admission from ex-GBC Chairman Ravindra Svarupa Das reveals:

"the first and major crisis was a crisis involving Kirtanananda. This happened towards the end of 1967. This is not in Prabhupada-Lilamrta, here is a problem with writing history, Satsvarupa Maharaja, this was Prabhupada's first major crisis when Kirtanananda tried to take his place, is really what happened in 1967. [ …]
It is not in the Lilamrta because when the Lilamrta was being written Kirtanananda didn't want it in there, and he was at that time one of the major acharyas and Satsvarupa Maharaja had no recourse but to bow to this kind of pressure and leave it out.
Similarly in Prabhupada-Lilamrta all the scandals of ISKCON are not discussed, first of all it's not about ISKCON it's about Prabhupada so you don't have to tell all those things. But it's the problem of writing history when people are around, so some things are in there. What Prabhupada called the fratricidal war 75/76 is in Prabhupada-Lilamrta, also in some ways it is soft -pedaled."
(Ravindra Svarupa Das, "Issues in ISKCON Reform" lecture, June 29th-July 3rd, 1999)

So here an ex-GBC chairman and current GBC and GBC-elected guru is confessing that facts involving "those who were around" with influence, were suppressed. In addition, many scandals are not included, and those which are, are "soft-pedaled". In sum, the Lilamrta is heavily censored to protect those who had a stake in the Great Guru Hoax, and thus has no credibility as a source of authority.