Back To Prabhupada, Issue 1, Autumn 2003
he IRM’s campaign to revive ISKCON is bearing fruit within the highest circles of scholarship, with some of the foremost academics acknowledging the IRM as the official voice of reform, revival and re-newal in ISKCON. Evidence of this is given by the following:
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg – a leading ISKCON academic has been persuaded by the serious nature of the IRM’s work to hold an official debate with the GBC, which will be published in a book and distributed to scholars and academic institutions throughout the world.
Columbia University Press – one of the world’s leading academic publishers will be publishing a chapter by the IRM in its book on the Hare Krishna movement. The IRM chapter will be the only one in the book that challenges the current ISKCON Guru orthodoxy.
American Family Foundation – the author of the book The Final Order, Krishnakant, has been invited to give a presentation on the IRM’s work in ISKCON to the largest anti-cult organisation in the world, the American Family Foundation, which is funded by the US government. The presentation will be attended by some of the world’s foremost religious scholars, psychologists and sociologists in the field, as well as representatives from the media.
‘The False Dawn of Guru Reform’ – this is an acclaimed philosophical paper published by the IRM which exposes the ISKCON Guru hoax, and has received a number of acknowledgements from the academic community, for example:
“Highly informative and thought-provoking and I look forward to seeing how the various parts of ISKCON will respond.” - Professor James Beckford, Dept. of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK
“Very interesting and useful in understanding the differences that exist at the present time with the Hare Krishna Movement.” – Professor John Saliba, Religious Studies Dept.. University of Detroit Mercy, USA
“Interesting to read. Best wishes – Marcus.”– Rev. Marcus Braybrooke, President, World Congress of Faiths.
The world’s media has also not been slow to follow the progress of the IRM. The world’s largest and most famous broadcasting organisation – the BBC – has considered the IRM’s campaign against the ISKCON Gurus displacing Srila Prabhupada and violently oppressing the IRM devotees serious enough to warrant prominent national and global media coverage. Here are extracts from two recent programs:
BBC: “After Prabhupada’s death his disciples declared themselves ‘Gurus’, and set about carving up the lucrative ISKCON worldwide empire, which included millions of dollars of property in the United States, Europe and India. Now, in an effort to rehabilitate Prabhupada, a breakaway group - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Revival Movement, or IRM - has been set up.”
BBC: “But all is not well within the Hare Krishna movement. [...] Some devotees are claiming they suffered reprisals for criticising the way the movement is run. They believe the late Founder, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, left specific instructions stating that he was to be the only Guru of the movement, and that after his death it should be managed by lower-ranking priests. But those in charge now in some parts of the world, though not at Bhaktivedanta Manor, are referred to and treated as ‘Gurus’. Krishnakant Desai, a graduate from Cambridge University, is the brain behind the dissident movement and says this is all wrong.”
‘India Today’, the most influential and widely read magazine amongst Indians worldwide – selling millions of copies every week - carried a 2-page article devoted specifically to the campaign of the IRM. ‘Asian Age’, a leading daily newspaper, also published an article on the IRM. Here is an extract:
“Revival Movement spokes person Krishnakant, who is based in London and the author of The Final Order – a report on the interpretation of Acaryaship, which sparked off the revival movement, claimed: ‘The ISKCON Revival Movement is a worldwide movement of ISKCON centres, which wish to follow the directives given by ISKCON’s saintly founder, His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.’”
CONCLUSION: Many people have felt for some time now that something was not quite right with ISKCON. With negative media coverage and regular high profile scandals, there is a growing sense of unease at the way the Society is being managed. At the same time, no one questions the enormous integrity, purity and achievement of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and the wonderful philosophy given in his books. Thus it hasn’t always been easy to reconcile this paradox and put one’s finger on exactly what the problem was. We hope now that you have been given a glimpse into not only the cause of the problem, but also the solution.The good news is that Srila Prabhupada lives, and is just as available today as he has always been, to accept us as his disciples and give us his mercy. And therein lies the solution to present day ISKCON’s woes – we need to get “Back To Prabhupada”! For those of you who wish to find out more, and have more than just a glimpse into reality, simply fill in the pre-paid card and please drop it in the mail-box – no postage required anywhere in the world. If you care about Srila Prabhupada and the wonderful movement he started, then you owe it to yourself to find out the truth and what you can do to help. “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. Thank you and Hare Krishna.
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