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An Honest ISKCON Part 2 of 4
By bhakta Eric Johanson What Really Happened!?!? – A Very Tangled Web The General Pattern By now many devotees know the events that followed Srila Prabhupada’s departure. Rather than implementing just some of his common-sense guidance above (see part 1), the GBC established a dangerous pattern of merely reacting after the fact to the independent actions of the most powerful (and often most audacious) movement leaders. In many regards this has continued into the present. And by independent we very much mean that the actions were (are) often dictated by false ego ambition and desire for distinction. Because these actions sometimes do not concur with Srila Prabhupada’s…
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An Honest ISKCON Part 1 of 4
By bhakta Eric Johanson What Should Have Been Done? It’s easy to complain, but the question remains, “What should have been done by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada, especially in regard to initiating new devotees?” He certainly left instructions, some detailed, and there were the examples in the scriptures and of the previous acaryas (gurus). The greater context, however, was his desire to have what he developed maintained: “Our philosophy is perfect, and we cannot be defeated by anyone. So it is up to you to learn it and be able to present it nicely. Now you have everything,…
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Have You Come To Krishna To Disturb Him?
Prabhupāda: Hm, go on. Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, (audio start) Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (leads chanting of verse, etc.) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat) tathā paramahaṁsānāṁ munīnām amalātmanām bhakti-yoga-vidhānārthaṁ kathaṁ paśyema hi striyaḥ (SB 1.8.20) (video – 18:58) Prabhupāda: Next anyone. Devotees: (Repeating the verse in turn) tathā paramahaṁsānāṁ munīnām amalātmanām bhakti-yoga-vidhānārthaṁ kathaṁ paśyema hi striyaḥ (SB 1.8.20) (Video – 21:52) Prabhupāda: That’s alright, word meaning. Devotees: (repeating) tathā—besides that; paramahaṁsānām—of the advanced transcendentalists; munīnām—of the great philosophers or mental speculators; amala-ātmanām—those whose minds are competent to discern between spirit and matter; bhakti–yoga—the science of devotional service; vidhāna-artham—for executing; katham—why; paśyema—can observe; hi—certainly; striyaḥ—women. (audio 01:44)…
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The Witches in Our Hearts
Lecture on The Nectar of Devotion, January 29, 1973, in Calcutta by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Bhavānanda: (reading) “. . . if someone has desire for material enjoyment or for becoming one with the Supreme, these are both considered material concepts.” Prabhupāda: Yes. Three kinds of happinesses: bhoga, tyāga and bhakti, sevā. Bhoga tyāga sevā. The karmīs, they are after bhoga, sense enjoyment. And the jñānīs, they are after another side of negation of sense enjoyment. When one is fed up with sense enjoyment . . . just like in your country, the young boys, they are practically fed up with the way of sense enjoyment as their fathers…
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Dons of the “ISKCON” Empire
by Kailāsa Candra dāsa HARIḤ OṀ NAMAḤ evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa “Having thus been received by disciplic succession, this spiritual science was understood by the self-realized kings. That great science of yoga was scattered (destroyed) in this world by the influence of time.” Lines of spiritual and devotional disciplic succession are not maintained like organized religions. They require perfect men in an unbroken line of succession in order to continue them. They can be much more easily destroyed than the organized religions of Kali-yuga. The classic example is that Lord Kṛṣṇa reveals to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra…
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ISKCON Authority: Where Did It Originally Come From?
(And Where Does “ISKCON” Power Come From?) By Kailāsa Candra dāsa HARIḤ OM NAMAḤ We find the following excerpt from an important room conversation between His Divine Grace Śrila Prabhupāda and members of his Governing Body Commission at the Krishna-Balaram temple on May 28, 1977 in Vṛndāvan, India: Leading Secretary (1): The people who they give dīkṣā to, whose disciple are they? Prabhupāda: They’re his disciple. Leading Secretary (1): They’re his disciple. Prabhupāda: Who is initiating. He is grand disciple. Leading Secretary (2): Yes. Leading Secretary (1): That’s clear. Leading Secretary (2): Then, we have a question . . . Prabhupāda (interrupting): When I order, “You…
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Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma Meet the Inhabitants of Vṛndāvana
Kṛṣṇa Book, Chapter 82 Once upon a time, when Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were living peacefully in Their great city of Dvārakā, there was a great occasion of full covering solar eclipse, as it takes place at the end of every kalpa, or one day of Lord Brahmā. At the end of every kalpa the sun becomes covered by great cloud, and the incessant rain covered the lower planetary system up to Svargaloka. As usual, by astronomical calculation people was informed about this great eclipse prior to its taking place. Therefore, all men and women decided to assemble at the holy place of Kurukṣetra known as Samanta-paṣcaka. The Samanta-paṣcaka…
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Review of Branding Bhakti
Pranams. Jaya Srila Prabhupada! Religious studies academics are prone to the same weakness in relation to the religious institutions they examine as media organizations covering government. It becomes far too easy to trade objectivity for ease of access to official information. At worst the reporter or academic becomes “embedded” and more or less acts as the mouthpiece of the state or institution. The journalist I.F. Stone said, “All governments lie,” and religious institutions are not that different. The author of Branding Bhakti, Nicole Karapanagiotis, PhD., is also relatively young and therefore more dependent on previous scholarship on the ISKCON institution (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) which was founded in 1966.…
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God Speaks (and Firmly Refutes Impersonalism)
Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.12, Hyderabad, November 17, 1972 Prabhupāda: na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param (BG 2.12) Kṛṣṇa is giving more enlightenment on the living entity, soul. “Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” Now, Kṛṣṇa says that, “In the past I existed. So also you. And so also all these soldiers and the kings who have assembled in this fighting. They existed in the past. For the present, there is no question of asking . .…
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Bank of America belongs to you?
Srila Prabhupada speaks on the absurdity of material enjoyment (criminality) and renouncement (madness). Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 02.03.20-21, Los Angeles Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (leads chanting of verse) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat) Just do over that . . . on page 155, text 20, read over the verse and then read the purport. Prabhupāda: No, one more . . . chant the verse. Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse) bile batorukrama-vikramān ye na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ (SB 2.3.20) (break) (Līlāvatī chants) Prabhupāda: That’s all. You have . . . word meanings are recited? Pradyumna: Yes, we…
