IRM Makes World Headlines - Kumbha Mela Special

[Guest guest]

>"Adridharan das"

>

>43 - IRM Makes World Headlines - Kumbha Mela Special >Mon, 19

Feb 2001 17:27:51 -0000 > >Newsletter of the Iskcon Revival Movement (IRM)

>Issue 43 > >Message from Adridharana Dasa, Temple President ISKCON Calcutta: >

> > > >1. IRM Makes World Headlines >2. IRM Releases Its First Brahmastra > >

>1. IRM Makes World Headlines > >Sorry for the deIay in sending out our

newsletter, but as you will see from below, we have been very busy! > >When we

set up our huge IRM preaching camp at Khumba Mela, we had two specific

objectives: > >1) To perform massive book distribution. > >This was based on

the inspiration we received from the comments which Srila Prabhupada made on

the 1977 Khumba Mela festival, which he personally attended: > >"Our recent

success in distributing 30,000 books in Kumbha Mehla indicates that there is a

big scope for this distribution in India." >(Letter to Jagat-Guru Maharaja,

31st January, 1977) > >"In five days at Kumbhamela we were able to distribute

30,000 pieces of literature. Therefore we can expect to receive 1 lakh

collections per month from all the centers." > (Letter to Giriraja, 31st

January, 1977) > >2) Also since this was the first Khumba Mela festival to be

extensively covered by the media, we wanted to put the IRM's mission to promote

Srila Prabhupada on the world map. > >We focused all our efforts on achieving

these two key objectives. Unlike other groups, we were not so interested to see

if we could get an opportunity to ride in the bathing procession with elephants,

or to entertain the crowds with drumming. In keeping with Srila Prabhupada's

vision for the Khumba Mela, we were here only to preach. > >On both of these

fronts I can report unprecedented success, as I will now detail. > >Our

strategy to achieve these objectives was two-fold. The first was a spiritual

exhibition which would make all other camps seem ordinary, and which would have

the public and media flocking in their hordes. And this is exactly what

happened. Unlike other camps we did not need to send our devotees out scouring

the site to preach - everyone came to us in their hundreds of thousands -

literally. The center-piece of our exhibition were 60 foot high Gaura Nitai

statues, which could be seen from almost a mile away. Perched between Gaura

Nitai was a 20 foot high Srila Prabhupada. This was important since the whole

mela was full of so many pretender Gurus, and having Srila Prabhupada loom

large over the mela, immediately helped distinguish his position amongst all

the other 'Gurus' at the mela. These statues were made of fibre glass, and it

took 30 men working 13 hours a day 42 days to complete them. And

Bhaktisiddhanta Das who makes the Srila Prabhupada deities which are installed

in all ISKCON temples, flew down especially from Vrindavana to complete Srila

Prabhupada's face. In addition as mentioned previously, we had 11 huge floats,

each with moving dioramas, plus 26 separate dioramas surrounding the floats, as

well as a 50 foot high 2500 square foot temple, with Krishna Balarama deities.

The whole exhibition cost over $175,000 to put together. > > >*World's Media

Covers IRM Camp* > >With the main bathing day to be on the 24th January, when

30 million pilgrims would come, we had planned to have everything ready and

constructed on the weekend before that on January 21st. We then kicked

everything off on that day at 5 pm by convening a special VIP preview of this

unique spiritual exhibition for the media only. Giving the world's media

exclusive access to the newly constructed site did the trick, since they came

in the dozens. At the VIP preview over 50 representatives came from the world's

media including: > >Reuters, Associated Press, CNN, CNBC, BBC, Channel 4,

Doordharshan (India's national TV Channel) Star TV from Japan, as well

magazines from far afield as Brazil, Russia and Austria. > >The special VIP

preview was itself inaugurated by our special guest Sri Ashok Tandon, who is

the District Magistrate for the whole of Allahabad, and thus the person who has

the ultimate authority over the festival. Mr Tandon had also been instrumental

in us acquiring such a huge piece of mela land to begin with. > > >*Book

Distribution Strategy* > >Whilst the press preview was going on, we began to

prepare the public. For this we unveiled the second part of our strategy. This

was the fact that in order to gain admission to see the exhibition, the public

had to purchase a book by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada's books thus

became their ticket to get in. Each 'ticket' would cost 10 rupees, which not

only covered the cost of printing the book, but also allowed us to make a

profit. Huge crowds had began to clamour to get entrance to see the spiritual

exhibition. We told them that the exhibit would not begin until 7pm that

evening, after the press conference had ended. However they became so

determined to get in that they began besieging our 'ticket counters', where

devotees where selling Srila Prabhupada's books. We needed at least 8 'ticket'

booths to meet the demand, with long queues stretching into the middle of the

road. Even though we were not ready to sell them Srila Prabhupada's books, they

began to try and 'force' us to take their money. First they began shoving 50

rupee notes through the gaps in the barricades that separated the book-sellers

from the public, so desperate where they to get in to see the exhibition.

However our devotees remained firm and refused to take the money. When the

crowd saw that their tactic was not working they actually began THROWING the

money at our ticket sellers, thinking that this would definitely force us to

take their money and sell them a book. Thus we now had the unprecedented scene

of large groups of people throwing money at the devotees and begging for one of

Srila Prabhupada's books! Surely Srila Prabhupada will have been very pleased at

seeing such a scene. This ultimately forced us to open early, even whilst the

press people where still on their 'tour' and taking their pictures. Thus at

6.30 pm, the first of what was to subsequently be a record-breaking crowd

surged in clutching Srila Prabhupada's books in their hands. In just the first

hour, we had let in 1500 people. That is approximately one person every 2

seconds, which was actually as fast as we could let them in, since to keep the

crowds controlled and make sure they all purchased one of Srila Prabhupada's

books to get in, we had decided to have only 1 entry gate. By approximately 8

pm so many people had entered the exhibition in such a short time that huge

bottle-necks began to form in the middle of the exhibition. If they continued

to come in at this rate we feared a human tragedy as too many people began to

become squeezed into a small space. We thus had to suspend selling tickets. And

the exhibition was only 1.5 hours old! With over 3000 books sold, it was now

approaching 9.30 pm, and still the queues outside the ticket booths were huge.

We realised that this could go on all night, so we decided to shut for the

night, so the devotees could rise for Mangal Arati. > >We put the huge rush

down to the novelty of the opening night and the fact that it was a busy Sunday

evening. Exhausted and shattered, we took a good rest and planned to open again

the next day sometime 'around mid-day'. However as early as 7am crowds had

began to form again. Our location on Sangam marg meant that the millions of

pilgrims all streaming into the mela HAD to pass our site. One devotee thus

decided to open the camp himself at 8 am. Very quickly he needed help and again

we were off. All day the crowds streamed in. That night we had to stay open till

midnight, since the crowds >kept on coming. On our first full day, we sold over

10,000 books. Which meant we collected over 1 lakh rupees in book sales. And

this phenomenon continued the next day, and the day after, in fact every single

day. It seemed the sales we were making were only limited by how fast we could

make them! > > >*Book Sales Prevent Riot!* > >On January 23rd, just over a day

after the exhibition opened, we realised that at this rate we were very quickly

going to run out of books. We had put in huge orders to the BBT, but they were

not arriving quickly enough. We were stuck. What to do? We could not close for

a day or two awaiting the shipment of books to arrive at Allahabad. THAT would

have caused a riot. For very quickly all the pilgrims who had seen the

exhibition had spread the word around the whole mela, and all their friends now

also wanted to get in on the action. Unfortunately at about 4pm on that day the

inevitable happened - there were no books left at all. We had sold out! We had

to close the gates again, with a huge growing crowd outside getting more and

more restless. Then we came up with a brain-wave. The ISKCON - G.M. camp (G.M.

- Gaudiya Matha - so christened since they share the same bogus 'kill guru and

become guru' philosophy), had a huge supply of books which they were struggling

to sell. We immediately went across town to their site and offered to buy all

the books they had from them. Thankfully they agreed to sell. We needed to send

a large van 3 times to collect all of them. When the crowd saw more books

arriving they all shouted - "The books have come", happy that the exhibition

would once again be open for them. Fully stocked again with books we continued

to sell them with relish. Republic Day, on January 26th, was an extremely huge

day, when we did almost 20,000 books just on that one day. In this way this

massive book distribution continued every day, such that by the end of the

festival on the 21st February, we will have distributed *over 200,000 of Srila

Prabhupada's books*, all at full sale price from just one spot. > >In terms of

book sales to separate individuals at full cover price, this will have been the

biggest book distribution of its kind in the history of ISKCON in India. We are

pleased to present to Srila Prabhupada, that 2 kumbha melas on, we have been

able to increase from a 1 lakh collection a *month* achieved at the 1977 Khumba

Mela, to 1 lakh collection a *day*. And every single rupee was from book sales

alone, all sold at full price - no paraphernalia, no subsidised sales, and

block purchases of books by single individuals. Most of the sales were of the

small paper-back books in Hindi, but we also were able to sell books 'twice'.

For once they had entered the exhibition, the public were given the chance to

'trade-up' the books they had purchased at the entrance. Thus while a family of

5 will have paid 50 rupees to purchase small books as tickets, once inside they

were able to swap their 5 small books and pay extra for a hard-back Bhagavad

Gita. In this way we were able to increase our book sales still further. The

ISKCON G.M. camp who had *10* times the number of devotees were unable to sell

even half our total, and this includes the fact that most of the books they did

sell, they sold to us! > >Thus our first key objective of unprecedented huge

book distribution had been achieved. > >Plus over 200,000 visitors will have

read about and experienced the glories of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. Part of

the centre-piece of the whole exhibition were 12ft high boards in English and

Hindi which were suspended under the huge statues of Gaura-Nitai and Srila

Prabhupada. Since everyone who came could not help but stop and stare at these

huge structures, they also stopped to read the boards which stated the

following: > >*Board under Lord Caitanya* > >"In 1486, Lord Krishna himself

incarnated in Bengal as Lord Caitanya, the avatara (incarnation) for the

current age we live in. The figure you see above is Lord Caitanya accompanied

by his associate Lord Nityananda. Lord Caitanya inaugaurated the chanting of

the great mantra for deliverance, known as the Hare Krishna mantra: > >Hare

Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare >Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama

Rama Hare Hare > >Lord Caitanya travelled throughout India and spread the

chanting of this mantra all over the country. However, 500 years ago, well

before the age of mass communication and global travel, he also made the

following prophecy: > >Prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama >sarvatra pracara

haibe mora nama > >"In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be

heard." > > >*Board Under Srila Prabhupada* > >"Hundreds of years came and went

and no one was able to fulfil Lord Caitanya's prophecy.Then His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, who you see here above you, left for

the West in 1965. Arriving in the United States with nothing but his firm faith

in Lord Caitanya's prediction, he single-handedly organised a world-wide

movement known as the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON),

which in a very short period had spread all over the world. Within a few years,

thanks to Srila Prabhupada alone, the chanting of Hare Krishna had spread to

all the major cities of the world, and Hare Krishna was a household word. Lord

Caitanya's prediction had come true, and it is clear that Srila Prabhupada had

specially been sent by Lord Caitanya himself to accomplish this task. Though

Srila Prabhupada passed from our material vision in 1977, he also made a

prophecy: > >"I will never die. I will live from my books and you will

utilise." >(Press Conference, 16/7/75, San Francisco) > >The ISKCON Revival

Movement (IRM) is dedicated to ensuring that the legacy of Srila Prabhupada

will indeed live on and that all future generations will continue to have

access and shelter of him as the genuine Bona Fide Guru, and become his

disciple." > >In addition a cup of halva was also distributed to those who

entered the exhibition, and to tour the exhibition took an hour. > > > >*IRM

Camp Wins Highest Accolade From World's Biggest News Channel* > >In terms of

our second objective of achieving media exposure, we have already mentioned the

huge turnout we got at our special VIP press conference, and let me supply you

the following quote aired on international television, which sums up the

coverage we got: > >*** "The ISKCON-IRM camp is the most attractive and best in

the whole Khumba Mela" *** >(CNN World News) > >Here we have the objective

judgement of the biggest and most famous news channel in the world, aired all

over the world. To find out what really happened, one need not rely on personal

prejudiced opinions or hearsay. > >And this was a comment repeated by many

members of the press as well as many distinguished visitors. On January 24th,

we had a visit from the head of Doordharshan's TV crew at the Khumba Mela.

Doordharshan, is the national TV channel of India with hundreds of millions of

viewers, and they had provided daily coverage of the mela with over 40

permanent cameras. He had brought some of his friends over to have dinner with

us at the camp. He related that following our VIP press conference that

Doordharshan had aired a 9 minute piece on our camp all over India.

Subsequently Doordharshan came again twice to interview the devotees at our

camp. We also held hour long interviews with German, Japanese and Croatian TV,

as well as many local and national newspapers and cable channels. > > >*Indian

Dignitaries Request To Stay At IRM Camp!* > >Our camp caused such a stir in the

media that following the coverage the Governor of Bengal called us up and said

he wanted his whole family to come and stay our camp. Also other distinguished

visitors who had seen our coverage in the media and thus had called us up to

stay in our camp included members of the Royal Family of Rajasthan and Orissa!

In fact we were besieged with Brahmacaries from the ISKCON - G.M. camp who had

sneaked away to see our exhibition. Throughout the whole festival most of the

devotees from the ISKCON -G.M. camp had come and seen our exhibition. In fact

those who were staying at the other camp such as Mahaprabhu Das and Mahamantra

das, themselves had declared that the IRM camp was the best in the mela. > >So

on all fronts we were able to make huge headway in our mission of pleasing

Srila Prabhupada and glorifying him to the world. No hot air is required as the

facts speak for themselves - the huge number of books distributed, the large

number of visitors who came and the world media exposure gained for Srila

Prabhupada. There is no more fitting way to end than to leave you with the

unbiased testimonies of the visitors to the camp themselves: > > >*Testimonies

>From Indian VIPs* > >"I have always had the desire to visit the KM and when my

daughter mooted the idea of the ISKCON IRM camp, I took this opportunity as

Lord Krishna's mercy and got ourselves a reservation at your camp.We were there

along with our friends for three days and were able to tour to a great degree

the massive Khumba Mela site. I must say you all have done a wonderful service

by setting up the most attractive and functional camp. The exhibits were

extraordinary in the sense it made our ancient culture come alive in a way that

from even the most simple farmer to the most sophisticated city-dweller as well

as foreigners could appreciate.Those huge Gaura Nitais and the beautiful form

of Srila Prabhupada along with the awesome temple of Krishna Balaram has

created a mini spiritual world, and that to in the middle of nowhere. I am sure

this experience has left an indelible impression in the mind of millions who

were fortunate to visit this camp because there is nothing like this anywhere

else. As for myself I have truly learnt so much about this great saint Srila

Prabhupada and his mission and I am wonder-struck by what he has achieved and I

want to cherish the moments I have spent here for the rest of my life." >[Her

Highness Queen Mother Rajamatha Mukut Rajya Laxmi of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan; >Her

Highness Maharani Rashmi Bangjdeo of Mayurbhanj, Orissa] > >"I am happy to have

come here and my stay has been very comfortable. My husband the Governor had

met Srila Prabhupada and I am sure he will be pleased by what you have done

here.Your camp is inspiring, especially the statue of Srila Prabhupada."

>[srimati Anjana Viren Shah, Wife of Sriman Viren Shah, The Honourable Governor

of West Bengal] > >And finally a quote from a senior Prabhupada disciple from

the ISKCON - G.M. camp, who after seeing our exhibition and the huge preaching

which was going on was forced to comment on the differences between the two

camps by stating that: > >"We can see that even 80 'physical' Gurus all put

together have not been able to do anywhere near the preaching of just one Guru

- Srila Prabhupada". > >Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai! > > >* 2. IRM Releases Its

First Brahmastra * > >Ever since the early days of its conception, some of

ISKCON's most loyal and long-standing financial supporters of the movement have

been the Life member community, which consists pre-dominantly of the Indian

professional and business classes in India and abroad. Over 85% of the Life

members are located in India alone. As part of our campaign to bring Srila

Prabhupada back to centre-stage in ISKCON, we have taken our campaign to this

very sensitive and important constituency of ISKCON's support. The most

prominent, wealthy and oldest life-members are located in Mumbai, where Srila

Prabhupada launched the life-membership program. There are over 22,000 life

members in Mumbai. The complete mailing list was supplied to the IRM by a

prominent devotee inside the temple who is sympathetic to our cause. We then

sent the letter below to all the life members in Mumbai, enclosing a pre-paid

reply card which they could tick indicating their support for the IRM. Now as

any one who has done mail-shot campaign will know, one does not normally get a

response rate above 1.5 %, and especially in the case of the Life members where

over 90% of them are not so actively connected with ISKCON, we >did not expect

that much of a response. However since sending out the letter in the beginning

of January, we are pleased to announce that the replies are still coming in and

we have already received well over 1000 replies, which is way above what we had

hoped for. This means that a large proportion of the active life members in

Mumbai have already indicated their support for the IRM just following sending

one letter! > >The 15,000 life members in Calcutta have also received this

letter, and here we are already receiving over 100 replies a day, with the

letter having been received only recently. > >We are planning a big follow-up

with all those who have responded positively. This breakthrough amongst the

life-member community is just the beginning of our campaign to ensure that

there will be no hiding place for the pretender Gurus. By the time we are

through, we intend to ensure that everyone connected with ISKCON will know that

only Srila Prabhupada is the true Guru of ISKCON, and that they should pressure

the movement accordingly to put its house in order. We have already hit over

30% of all life members in India in one shot, with extremely favourable

results. And all we have done so far is sent one letter!. We haven't even got

going yet. > >Please find below the full text of the letter sent, which is

galvanising the Life Member community into action: >

>---------------

> >PLEASE READ CAREFULLY - CONTAINS VITAL INFORMATION WHICH HAS BEEN >KEPT

HIDDEN FROM YOU. THANK YOU > > >Dear Life-Member, > >Have you ever felt 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. Of course no one questions the enormous

integrity, purity and achievement of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada. As a supporter of ISKCON you, like we four long serving ISKCON

Temple Presidents, will naturally wish to see Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON

flourish and prosper in its mission to increase knowledge and devotion to Lord

Sri Krishna. It is a sad fact however that since Srila Prabhupada's physical

departure his society has been insidiously deviated from its proper path. If

you care about ISKCON, and have sensed there might be some underlying cause to

its problems, then you owe it to yourself to study carefully the contents of

this letter. Our efforts to resolve this matter internally having failed, we

cannot simply stand by as valued supporters such as yourself are kept in the

dark. > >Put very simply, Srila Prabhupada set up a system within ISKCON which

allowed him to remain the Diksa (initiating) Guru for new disciples for as long

as the society existed. Immediately after his departure, on the 14th November

1977, his leading disciples unauthorisedly stopped this system and set

themselves up as the new initiating gurus - thus grabbing all future disciples

for themselves. In essence it is this deviation from the order of our founder

Acarya that is the root cause of the society's ills, which has resulted in the

mismanagement that I am sure many of you will have experienced. Today there are

at least 70 new 'successor' Gurus, many travelling business class all over the

world siphoning off donations and followers, whilst our saintly founder, Srila

Prabhupada, has been unceremoniously sidelined. We four Temple Presidents,

along with a growing number of others, are fighting tooth and nail, to get this

state of affairs reversed. To this end we have formed the ISKCON Revival

Movement (IRM), with the ISKCON temples in Bangalore, Vrindavana, Calcutta and

Singapore as founder members, but also with ISKCON branches all over the world

including New York and London. This is a movement inside ISKCON for those who

wish to purify ISKCON from all the corruption and mismanagement that has gone

on over the years, so that ISKCON will once again regain its glory. We are

confident that the IRM will rectify the problems in the movement, so there is

no need for anyone to leave ISKCON or seek any other acaryas other than Srila

Prabhupada. Along with this letter is an invitation for you to attend a meeting

at which you can hear more about how the IRM will do this, and where we can also

hear your views on the matter. > >Over the years those who have taken on the

role of diksa gurus, have left the movement in scandalous circumstances.

Worshipped as though they were as good as God, they often took with them

hundreds of loyal followers, hundreds of thousands of dollars, Temples and

other assets that rightly belonged to Srila Prabhupada.. Just recently one of

the first impostor gurus, Harikesa, left with hundreds of thousands of dollars

reducing his 'zone', which included most of Europe, to practically a sixth of

its previous size - almost over-night. Thus much of the bad news we hear in the

press is due only to this original disobedience to Srila Prabhupada. Our success

in spiritual life, and in particular ISKCON's success, can only come through

strict adherence to the order of the Spiritual Master. > >The following sets

out the facts of the issue, which are straight-forward and indisputable: > >1)

Srila Prabhupada's final, signed, legally binding directives conclusively

>established that he would remain as the sole initiating Guru for ISKCON. > >2)

Just after his departure his leading disciples disobeyed these directives,

>preferring instead to unauthorisedly replace him with themselves as initiating

>gurus for ISKCON. > >3) As early as 1970 Srila Prabhupada established a

Governing Body Commission, >or GBC, as the means by which the ISKCON society

was to be governed. >In 1975, he approved the following definition for the GBC,

which set out the exact >parameters within which the GBC could act: > >"The GBC

has been established by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami >Prabhupada

to represent Him in carrying out the responsibility of managing >the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness of which He is the

>Founder-Acharya and supreme authority. The GBC accepts as its life and soul

>His divine instructions and recognises that it is completely dependent on >His

mercy in all respects. The GBC has no other function or purpose other >than to

execute the instructions so kindly given by His Divine Grace and >preserve and

spread His Teachings to the world in their pure form." >(Definition of GBC, GBC

Resolutions 1975) > >Thus far from being a law unto themselves, this governing

body was set >strict parameters within which it could act. > >4) The above

resolution makes it clear that: > >a) The GBC can ONLY execute instructions

given by Srila Prabhupada >b) The GBC must maintain without change these

instructions > >"The GBC has no other function or purpose other than to execute

the >instructions so kindly given by His Divine Grace and preserve and spread

His >Teachings to the world in their pure form." > >This letter will show that

not only did the GBC fail to execute the instructions >that Srila Prabhupada

gave in regards to his position as Guru, but that it also >executed a whole

host of instructions that were never issued by Srila Prabhupada. > >5) In 1977,

in his Last Will and Testament, Srila Prabhupada confirmed that >this method of

managing the society via the use of the GBC, as described >above, would remain

the standard for ISKCON: > >"The Governing Body Commission (GBC) will be the

ultimate managing >authority of the entire International Society for Krishna

Consciousness." >(Srila Prabhupada's Last Will and Testament, Registered

7/6/77, Paragraph 1) > >Thus it is clear that the GBC are legally bound to

continue to act as we >have outlined above in paragraph 3, and only implement

and preserve those >systems and teachings given by Srila Prabhupada, even in

Srila Prabhupada's >absence. > >6) Just before his physical departure from this

world, on July 9th 1977, >Srila Prabhupada signed a directive that he requested

his secretary to >issue to the GBC, and all temple presidents (branch

managers), giving >specific details for how he would continue to give diksa

initiation from >that time onwards. This directive is set out in full below: >

>July 9th, 1977 > >To All G.B.C., and Temple Presidents > >Dear Maharajas and

Prabhus, >Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. Recently when all of

the >GBC members were with His Divine Grace in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada

>indicated that soon He would appoint some of His senior disciples to act as

>ritvik-representative of the acarya, for the purpose of performing

>initiations, both first initiation and second initiation. His Divine Grace

>has so far given a list of eleven disciples who will act in that capacity: >

>* His Holiness Kirtanananda Swami >* His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami >*

His Holiness Jayapataka Swami >* His Holiness Tamala Krsna Gosvami >* His

Holiness Hrdayananda Gosvami >* His Holiness Bhavananda Gosvami >* His Holiness

Hamsaduta Swami >* His Holiness Ramesvara Swami >* His Holiness Harikesa Swami

>* His Grace Bhagavan dasa Adhikari >* His Grace Jayatirtha dasa Adhikari > >In

the past Temple Presidents have written to Srila Prabhupada recommending >a

particular devotee's initiation. Now that Srila Prabhupada has named these

>representatives, Temple Presidents may henceforward send recommendation for

>first and second initiation to whichever of these eleven representatives are

>nearest their temple. After considering the recommendation, these

>representatives may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila

>Prabhupada by giving a spiritual name, or in the case of second initiation,

>by chanting on the Gayatri thread, just as Srila Prabhupada has done. The

>newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. >Bhaktivedanta

Swami Prabhupad, the above eleven senior devotees acting as >His representative.

After the Temple President receives a letter from these >representatives giving

the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the >fire yajna in the temple

as was being done before. The name of a newly >initiated disciple should be

sent by the representative who has accepted him >or her to Srila Prabhupada, to

be included in His Divine Grace's "Initiated >Disciples" book. >Hoping this

finds you all well. >Your servant, >Tamala Krsna Gosvami >Secretary to Srila

Prabhupada >Approved: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami [srila Prabhupada's signature

>appears on the original]

>----------

>-------------------- > >7) The above

directive makes it clear that Srila Prabhupada was to remain as >the Guru for

ISKCON. This fact is stated 3 times in what is itself a short >directive. It is

clear from this directive that his disciples were simply to >act as

'representatives' who would facilitate this process by issuing names >to the

prospective disciples on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. This directive >had

specifically been sent to the GBC for it to implement within ISKCON. > >8)

However on November 15th, 1977, the day after Srila Prabhupada's >departure

from this world, without any countermanding instruction from Srila >Prabhupada,

the GBC took it upon themselves to stop the execution of this >directive. Thus

they were immediately guilty of acting outside their remit >as we have set out

in their defining parameters as given above in paragraphs >3 and 4, which make

it clear they must continue to only execute the >instructions given by Srila

Prabhupada, even after his departure. By >suspending the system of managing

initiations that was set out in the >directive, whereby all initiates became

Srila Prabhupada's disciples, the >GBC was also guilty of acting in direct

violation of paragraph 2 of his Last >Will and Testament, which states: > >'The

system of management will continue as it is now and there is no need of >any

change' >(Srila Prabhupada's Last Will and Testament, Registered 7/6/77,

Paragraph 2) > >That Srila Prabhupada was expecting to continue to act as the

sole initiator >in ISKCON is further evidenced in the Will under paragraph 3.

This deals >with how new directors of the society's permanent properties such

as Mayapur >and Vrindavana (which were expected to remain for thousands of

years) were >to be selected: > >'...a successor director or directors may be

appointed by the remaining >directors, provided the new director is my

initiated disciple...' >(Srila Prabhupada's Last Will and Testament, Registered

7/6/77, Paragraph 3) > >This makes it clear that future directors for properties

in ISKCON for >thousands of years to come could only be selected from Srila

Prabhupada's >initiated disciples. Clearly such a provision could only be

enacted if Srila >Prabhupada had also made a provision for himself to continue

initiating new >disciples in ISKCON. Otherwise the pool of potential directors

would quickly >dry up. > >9) Instead the 11 disciples who had been appointed in

the directive as >representatives, issuing names on behalf of Srila Prabhupada,

suddenly >declared themselves as having being appointed as new successor Gurus:

> >"16. The GBC will consider each year at Gour Poornima the appointment of >new

Spiritual Masters to be approved by a 3/4 vote. However for 1978 no new

>Spiritual Masters shall be appointed other than the 11 selected by Srila

>Prabhupada. >(GBC Resolutions, 9.30 am, March , 19th, 1978) > >Thus with this

disobedience to Srila Prabhupada's final orders on who should >be the Guru for

ISKCON enacted, his replacement as the Guru for ISKCON by >his many disciples

was effected, with the subsequent seizure of Srila >Prabhupada's society and

assets by these men. This deviation was expanded in >1985 when it was declared

that anyone who is a disciple, and who got the >necessary number of votes,

could be admitted as a diksa Guru: > >"4. A GBC vote on adding an initiating

guru requires a quorum of 3/4 members >of the GBC Body to be present. To be

approved,a candidate must receive a vote >of 2/3rds of the members present at

that meeting." >(GBC Resolutions, February 27th, 1985) > >10). Thus more Gurus

were added so that today we have at least 70, with a >continuous flow of new

gurus being 'voted in' as others leave due to falling >down into moral

impropriety. This Guru expansion in the mid-80's was led by >Ravindra Svarupa

Das, who just happens to be the ISKCON Chairman right now, >and who also made

himself a Guru directly as a result of the changes he >instituted. In this way

the problems just went from bad to worse, and has >merely expanded the

deviation and degradation of our societies reputation >even further. > >11) The

GBC have never been able to justify terminating the system of >initiation Srila

Prabhupada personally put in place with his last >institutional directive on

this matter. They simply say that the directive >must terminate automatically

on the departure of Srila Prabhupada from this >world, for when Srila

Prabhupada departed, the directive died with him. >However this reasoning is

based on a faulty assumption - that the directive >is tied to the physical

presence of Srila Prabhupada. However the >circumstances of the July 9th

directive are that it is issued for, and to be >implemented within, and by, an

institution. Thus the applicability of the >directive is tied to the

institution, and therefore only the demise of the >INSTITUTION can terminate

its applicability. The physical presence of the >Founder who authorised the

instruction has no relevance to terminating the >directive. Thus the directive

must remain in force for as long as the >institution remains. Arguments based

on considerations of 'tradition', the >practice of other institutions, etc.

have no applicability in determining >how Srila Prabhupada intended his

institution to be run. We can only decide >that from his own institutional

directives on the subject. Just like Srila >Prabhupada also issued so many

other directives to the movement stating that >we must read his books, follow

his teachings etc. None of these directives >became invalidated just because

Srila Prabhupada departed - and neither does >this one. Srila Prabhupada's

position as Guru is not dependent on his >physical presence, juts as he taught:

> >"He lives forever by his divine instructions, and the follower lives with

>him." >(Bhagavata Purana, Preface) > > >Conclusion > >7 of the original 11

disciples selected as Ritviks in the above-mentioned >directive who

unauthorisedly took on the role of Diksa Gurus subsequently >left the movement

in scandalous circumstances, falling down into gross moral >debauchery. This is

itself testament to the fact that the original replacement >of Srila Prabhupada

by these new Gurus could not have been correct. And >many of the dozens of

Gurus who were later added have not fared >any better, with a resultant huge

loss in manpower, properties and prestige >for ISKCON. All this trauma,

disruption and embarrassment is clear proof >that the society could not

possibly have been executing the instructions of >the infallible Acarya, Srila

Prabhupada. Even though not all the gurus have >acted outrageously, still even

the best of them are not actually following >Srila Prabhupada's instructions on

this most fundamental issue. Thus much of >the bad news we hear in the press is

due only to this original disobedience >to Srila Prabhupada. Our success in

spiritual life, and in particular >ISKCON's success, can only come through

strict adherence to the order of the >Spiritual Master. > >As we start to stand

up to the gurus they and their supporters are going to >increasingly desperate

lengths to cling to power. Most recently one of the >gurus was named in setting

up a false rape case to discredit the IRM >which led to an innocent devotee

committing suicide. As a result of this the >guru in question, Jayapataka, is

on the run, being wanted by the Calcutta >police. Indeed the Temple President

of your own Juhu Temple has stated that >he will spend every last penny of the

Temple to fight the IRM, even though >we are only trying to re-instate Srila

Prabhupada as the Guru for ISKCON. > >As Temple Presidents we have worked very

hard to build and maintain temples >such as Bangalore, Vrindavan, Calcutta,

Singapore and are very concerned >that ISKCON be revived as the glorious

institution it once was, united under >the one and only original Guru, Srila

Prabhupada. Otherwise the disruption >and mismanagement will continue, and the

most painful thing for all of us is >when people blame Srila Prabhupada for all

the mess, when in reality he set >up as near perfect a system as is possible in

the material world. For years >we have tried quietly to put things right, but

it has not worked, so >regrettably we have had to take our fight to the

movement's supporters and >well-wishers. The situation is serious, but can be

rectified quickly as long >as we restore Srila Prabhupada as the Guru for

ISKCON- just as he >instructed. > >Thank you so much for taking the time to

read this heartfelt letter. We pray >that you will grant us your blessings in

this endeavour. Please show your >support for Srila Prabhupada by returning the

enclosed pre-paid card. Thank >you. > > > > >Thank you for taking the time to

read this newsletter, and please keep your >letters, and e-mail addresses of

other devotees who should be added to our >list, flowing in. A hard copy of our

main position paper 'The Final Order' >is available on request. All other IRM

papers can be accessed through the >EDITORIAL SECTION of the IRM website at > >

>http://farsight.members.beeb.net or http://come.to/irm > > > >If you would like

to receive any of the back issues of the Newsletter please >let me know. > >No

1. Invitation to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja >No 2. GBC Lose First Round of

Court Case >No 3. The Story VNN Refused to Publish >No 4. Poison Theorists

Accuse Adri of Complicity >No 5. Iskcon Continues to Promote Child Abusers >No

6. Invitation to Malaysia >No 7. United World Body Formed >No 8. Does Srila

Prabhupada Support Poisoning Theory? >No 9. PADA Attacks IRM Position >No 10.

PADA Continues to Present False Evidence >No 11. GBC Funded Video says Ritvik

Spiritual >No 12. Child Rapist Selected by Gurus to Defend their Legitimacy >No

13. GBC Facing Perjury Charge in Calcutta High Court >No 14. Sahajiyism Makes a

Comeback in Iskcon. >No 15. Govt. Minister Inaugurates Bangalore Rathayatra >No

16. Iskcon Calcutta Triumphs Following Arson Attack >No 17. Fighting Lies with

Truth Not More Lies >No 18. GBC Resolutions Continue to Provide Laughter >No

19. Indian Leaders Endorse IRM Position that GBC Confused >No 20. Convicted

Child Abuser Officially 'Returns' to Parampara >No 21. GBC Special Issue - GBC

Chairman Admits ISKCON 'Disintegrating' >No 22. Krsna Confirms Iskcon Rebirth -

New York Special Issue >No 23. Hare Krsna Explosion Begins in New York as IRM

Temple Opens >No 24 IRM Launches Media Campaign to Defend Srila Prabhupada >No

25 GBC Teaches That 'Living Gurus' NOT Required >No 26 BBT Admits Books Changed

to Fit GBC Philosophy >No 27 Big Breakthrough for Krishna in Singapore >No 28

Bangalore Tops World Book Distribution >No 29 City of New York to Honour Srila

Prabhupada >No 30 Gurukula Lawsuit Special - The Facts >No 31 BBC Glorifies

Srila Prabhupada to the World >No 32 Harinam Revived in World famous Times

Square >No 33 ISKCON Guru on Run From Police - Suicide Case Special >No 34 GBC

Declare All Out War >No 35 GBC Fail Again in Second Expulsion Attempt >No 36

Indian Press Glorifies New York IRM >No 37 Iskcon Temple in Bangladesh Joins

IRM >No 38 All Ports Alert for Jayapataka To Be Issued >No 39 The GBC's Best

Trick Yet >No 40 Biggest Prasadam Distribution Program Ever Begins >No 41

Double Edition - IRM Granted Prime Kumbha Mela Site >No 42 Danavir Invents A

New Philosophy > > >Your comments, questions and feedback are appreciated.

Please write to me at >adri (AT) cwcom (DOT) net > >Your Servant, Adridharan das > >If you

do not want to keep receiving this Newsetter please return with >""

>in the subject box and we will remove you from the mailing list. > > > > > >

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