Back To Prabhupada, Issue 66, Vol 2, 2020
In our hugely popular book, The Book Changer: The Life and Teachings of His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami, we have a chapter titled "Disturbed by Srila Prabhupada Worship". In this chapter, we quote ISKCON guru HH Jayadvaita Swami ("JAS") expressing his intense disturbance at, and distaste for, the worship of Srila Prabhupada in the Gurvastakam prayers which are sung every morning during the mangala-arati ceremony in every ISKCON temple in the world. JAS states:
"In the mangala-arati I always cringe when I hear some of my Godbrothers' disciples chant, beginning by chanting with Srila Prabhupada's mantra. What happened to their Guru Maharaja? [...] So when someone who's not Prabhupada's direct disciple begins by offering pranama mantras to Prabhupada, my hearing takes a beating. I think, "What's wrong with this person?" [...] The next thing that disturbs me, sometimes we hear right in the middle of Samsara-dava "Jaya Prabhupada Jaya -- ". What the hell is that? "Samsara-dava" is not the Prabhupada song. It's the guru song. It's the song offering respect to the spiritual master which doesn't mean the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON. [...] And therefore it even disturbs me when they finish the Jaya om stuvams... "Jaya Prabhupada", as if again it was the Prabhupada song. [...] what if somebody else is thinking of his guru? God forbid! Then you've spoiled his meditation. Because you're thinking it's the Prabhupada song."
(JAS, Kirtan Standards Seminar, ISKCON Juhu, November 2014)
JAS believes that these Gurvastakam prayers are meant for ISKCON gurus such as himself, and not only for Srila Prabhupada. We are now delighted to report that one of JAS's leading disciples, the ISKCON Leicester (UK) Temple President Pradyumna Dasa ("PD"), has rejected his guru's bogus teachings and is now instead glorifying Srila Prabhupada as the bona fide and authorised spiritual master to be worshipped during mangala-arati, as can be seen from a video he wrote and co-produced titled "O Master, My Shelter - A Meditation on Gurvastakam: A poem in honour of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami" (see screenshot below):
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In this video, PD makes it clear that the Gurvastakam prayer applies to Srila Prabhupada, even though his own GBC guru JAS has ordered that for him, it can only apply to JAS, and not to Srila Prabhupada at all. Thus, JAS's complaint quoted above of intense disturbance and the "beating" his hearing takes, when he hears his "Godbrothers' disciples" glorifying Srila Prabhupada during the Gurvastakam prayers, such that he wonders, "What's wrong with this person?" – he actually needs to direct closer to home, because it is his own disciple behaving in this way!
In the previous article "Trying to Push Back Prabhupada", we documented that so powerful is the truth about the position of Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON's only bona fide diksa (initiating) guru, that it has wittingly or unwittingly entered the consciousness of ISKCON devotees. Similarly, the IRM's preaching has wittingly or unwittingly entered the consciousness of every ISKCON devotee who has come across our literature. A perfect illustration of this is a video tribute by one of the disciples of recently deceased ISKCON guru HH Bhakti Charu Swami ("BCS"). As we see from the snapshot below, the video, titled "Memori(e)s of Bhakti Charu Swami Gurumaharaj" features the cover of the IRM's biography of BCS, 100 Contradictions: The life and teachings of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, as part of this "tribute" to BCS.
In addition, following his death, BCS's own disciples have wondered at BCS's contradictions regarding his death. Bhakti Charu Swami died in a US hospital in July 2020 from multiple organ failure following the contraction of the coronavirus, but had earlier said that the coronavirus would not harm him. Thus, his disciples have said:
"Since Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita "na me bhaktah pranasyati", how did it happen that the words of a pure devotee did not come true? When His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami said, ‘If we have faith in Krsna, corona cannot do anything!' Is it not an injustice to the words of a pure devotee?"
"Will Srila Prabhupada be happy to put His dearest devotee in such a situation when a small virus defeated all the devotees' prayers?"
(Q&A with Jayapataka Swami, 5/7/20)
Order your free copy of 100 Contradictions via the IRM website or by writing to us, and learn about BCS's teachings. From this book you will learn, amongst other things, that BCS taught:
1) That Srila Prabhupada is the only spiritual master who can deliver us back to Godhead and he functions as the diksa guru for ISKCON (Chapters 2, 5 and 6).
2) That GBC gurus such as BCS himself function only as rtviks or officiating priests (Chapters 1, 3 and 4).
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