53 - High Court Grants ISKCON Bangalore Injunction Against Jayapataka

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Newsletter of the Iskcon Revival Movement (IRM)

Issue 53

 

 

1) High Court Grants ISKCON Bangalore Injunction Against Jayapataka Swami

2) Bangalore World No.1 Book Distributor For The Whole Of 2001

3) ISKCON Bangalore Honoured By Governor and Madhva Sampradaya

4) Ivory Coast Prime Minister Inaugurates ISKCON Bangalore Program

5) Narayan Maharaja Contradicted By His 'Mediator'

6) Krishna Kirti Fails To Answer "The Final Order"

 

 

 

1) High Court Grants ISKCON Bangalore Injunction Against Jayapataka Swami

 

On February 12th 2002, the Bangalore High Court was pleased to continue the

order of Status Quo protecting the ISKCON Bangalore management from

encroachment by 9 defendants, which include ISKCON Bombay, Jayapataka Swami and

Gopal Krishna Swami. This Status Quo order, ordering the 9 defendants to not

disturb the possession and control of ISKCON Bangalore by its current

management has actually been in place since October 16th, 2001. It has been in

force continuously since that day, and the High Court has now extended it even

further. Though a lower court turned down the request of ISKCON Bangalore to

extend Status Quo order indefinitely, the High Court has accepted ISKCON

Bangalore's appeal against the order, and has ordered that the Status quo

protection remain in place until the matter is heard fully.

 

Please find below the orders passed in this matter since October 16th:

 

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"Documents placed on record, prima facie, show title and possession of the

plaintiff [iSKCON Bangalore] over the suit schedule properties [Temple].

Plaintiff is a society registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration

Act, 1960. Plaintiff is an independent entity. Plaintiff apprehends unlawful

interference by thedefendants 1 to 9 [Jayapataka Swami et. al]. Apprehension of

the plaintiff cannot be said to be unfounded, at this stage of the proceedings,

in view of the pleadings and the documents on record.

 

Therefore, an interim equitable order is felt necessary to maintain the status

quo of the nature of the suit schedule property and the affairs of the

plaintiff-society. Hence, I proceed to pass the following

 

ORDER

 

Parties to the suit, except defendants 10 and 11 are directed to maintain

status quo of the affairs of the plaintiff-society and the nature of the suit

schedule "A, B and C" properties."

 

The following order was then passed on February 6th, 2002 by the Bangalore

Civil Court:

 

"Today, this court has passed orders on IA-2 dismissing the application of the

plaintiff u/o 39 rules 1 and 2 CPC and thereby discharging the ad-interim order

of status granted on 16-10-2001. There is no executable order. However, in view

of the submissions of the learned counsel for The plaintiff, that the

plaintiff wants to prefer an appeal against the order of this court passed

today, I feel it just and proper that there shall be status quo of the affairs

as obtaining today, till 13-02-2002."

 

Finally on February 12th, the Bangalore High Court passed the following order

which is the current situation:

 

"This Court doth Order that pending disposal of the above appeal, both the

parties i.e., Appellant and Respondents be and are hereby directed to maintain

status-quo."

Appellant:

 

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a society having its

registered office at ISKCON, Harekrishna Hill, Chord Road, Bangalore-10, by its

secretary Stoka Krishna Dasa.

 

List of Respondents:

 

 

1.. International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a registered

public Trust having its Registered Office at Harekrishna land, Juhu, Mumbai 400

049.

2.. Bhima Dasa, Major.

3.. Gopala Krishna Goswami, Major, 2 and 3 above are having their office at

Harekrishna land, Juhu, Mumbai - 400 049.

4.. Jayapataka Swami, Major.

5.. Vinay Kalro also known as Vibhava Krishna Dasa, Major.

6.. Ashok Kumar Gupta, Major.

7.. B. Kiran, Major.

8.. Sudhir Chaitanya Dasa, Major. 4 to 8 at No.5, I Cross, Sripuram,

Sheshadripuram, B'lore -20.

9.. Sarva Aishwarya Dasa, Major, ISKCON, Coimbatore Centre Harekrishna Land,

100 Feet, New Scheme Road, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

 

 

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We hope this will correct the lie that has been propagated by GBC sources that

ISKCON Bangalore has now been ordered by the court to return to the GBC. As can

be seen from the court orders above, the court has always directed that a

status quo be maintained between ISKCON Bangalore and the opposing parties.

This means that the opposing parties are restrained by the court from

disturbing the state of affairs as they exist today with full possession,

control and management of the temple in the hands of ISKCON Bangalore.

 

Last week Jayapataka Swami, Jayadvaita Swami and others arrived in Bangalore,

followed by 300 'devotee' thugs from Mayapur, Bombay and other places to

take-over the temple by force. They were hoping that the courts would not grant

ISKCON Bangalore the status quo protection it desired. However we are happy to

report that their nefarious plans were thwarted by the court order obtained and

they have now dispersed back to wherever they came from.

 

Our court action also prompted the following story which was carried

Internationally by the 'Asian Age' newspaper all over Asia as well as in the

USA and the UK:

 

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Dual Consciousness: ISKCON branches move court

 

By Madhu Prasad N.

 

Bangalore, Feb. 18: Differences over the acharyaship in the International

Society for Krishna Consciousness have created a wedge within the organisation

with members of the ISKCON Revival Movement challenging the authority of the

ISKCON Governing Body Council in the court of law. The revival movement,

spearheaded by Bangalore and Kolkata chapters of ISKCON, is taking on the GBC,

which is controlled by ISKCON Mumbai. While in Kolkata, members of IRM

dismissed from ISKCON by the governing body went to court in 1999 and managed

to get reinstated, the Bangalore ISKCON took preemptive action by filing a suit

in the city civil court seeking autonomy from Mumbai. The dispute has its roots

in the differences over beliefs on acharyaship within the movement. According

to members of the Bangalore chapter, the ISKCON Revival Movement believes that

the founder of the ISKCON movement Srila Prabhupada was the last guru and none

after him can be appointed to that position. On the other hand, the Mumbai

ISKCON and the Governing Body Council contend that the representative appointed

by acharya Prabhupada are his successors and hence can act as acharyas.

 

"Because of these difference, which have grown over the years, we thought it

was necessary to distance ourselves from Mumbai. So we took the matter to

court, filing for autonomy," a representative of Bangalore ISKCON said.

Representatives of ISKCON Mumbai, however, dismiss the talk of an ideological

battle between the two groups as a mere eyewash. They contend that the

Bangalore branch was filing for autonomy as it wanted get control of all

property belonging to the movement in Bangalore.

 

"Therefore we have opposed the claims made by ISKCON Bangalore in court," they

said.

 

The current court case filed by ISKCON Bangalore is simply the latest in a

long-line of legal battles between the two factions. Bangalore ISKCON had filed

a suit in the city civil court seeking autonomy from its Mumbai counterpart and

obtained a stay order restraining Mumbai from interfering with its

administration. Later, Mumbai ISKCON managed to get the stay annulled. The

Karnataka high court, however, restored the earlier stay order in favour of

Bangalore ISKCON.

 

Meanwhile, ISKCON Revival Movement spokesperson Krishnakanth, who is based in

London and is the author of the Final Order - a report on the interpretation

of acharyaship, which sparked off the revival movement - claimed in a

conversation with The Asian Age that; "The recent case which came up in the

Bangalore city civil court last week regarding ISKCON Bangalore asserting its

distinct legal identity from ISKCON Mumbai, has brought to the fore the

campaign by the ISKCON Revival Movement to cleanse today's ISKCON of corruption

and mismanagement."

 

"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. Following Srila Prabhupada's

departure in 1977, ISKCON has been characterised by abandonment of the key

directions given by Srila Prabhupada regarding how his ISKCON movement should

be managed," Mr Krishnakanth said.

 

The differences between the two factions began in 1999, after an attempt was

made by the GBC to expel the leaders of the ISKCON Revival Movement from ISKCON

Kolkata. This attempt however was successfully resisted in the courts, with the

Kolkata branch filing a suit challenging the GBC's decision to expel ISKCON

members. Later in April 2001, supporters of those aligned with ISKCON Mumbai

stormed the Calcutta temple and took control of it.

 

They were flushed out by the police.

 

"We don't want a similar situation to develop in Bangalore. So as a pre-emptive

move, the local ISKCON president filed a suit in the city civil court here

demanding autonomy from Mumbai ISKCON, which controls the GBC," a Bangalore

ISKCON representative said.

 

The battle is set to continue in the Karnataka high court, with both the Mumbai

and Bangalore chapters presenting their representative respective cases before

it.

 

(ASIAN AGE: 19/2/2002)

 

 

 

 

2) Bangalore World No.1 Book Distributor For The Whole Of 2001

 

The World Sankirtan newsletter has declared that ISKCON Bangalore was the no.1

world book distributor for the year 2001. The newsletter reports that ISKCON

Bangalore distributed almost 1/2 million pieces of literature in 2001. ISKCON

as a whole only distributed 2.9 million books worldwide. When the scores for

other IRM temples which are not listed in the newsletter are added, such as

Calcutta (which distributed almost 200,000 books in one month at the Khumba

Mela alone), New York, temples in Malaysia, Singapore etc., we come up with the

startling fact that more than 20% or 1 in 5 books distributed in ISKCON for the

year 2001 were distributed by IRM temples.

 

Another startling fact which the world sankirtan newsletter has highlighted is

that ISKCON Bangalore also came top as the most improved temple in terms of

increasing its book distribution for the year 2001. Its book distribution

scores were more than 2.5 times the number of books it distributed in 2000.

That means that not only is ISKCON Bangalore distributing more books than

anyone else, but its also increasing its book distribution faster than anyone

else.

 

As the GBC-Guru run ISKCON continues to disintegrate and files for bankruptcy,

the IRM continues to go from strength to strength, and we expect to make an

even bigger contribution in 2002.

 

 

 

3) ISKCON Bangalore Honoured By Governor and Madhva Sampradaya

 

We had reported in our last newsletter (Newsletter 52: "Chief Minister Honours

ISKCON Bangalore Temple President"), how the Chief Minister had honoured Madhu

Pandit Das, the Temple President of ISKCON Bangalore and Secretary of the

ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM), for the 'Akshaya Patra' program in which 30,000

school-children our served prasadam everyday. Now ISKCON Bangalore has gone

one better, with the Governor now conferring a special Republic Day Governor's

award on Madhu Pandit Das for the Akshaya Patra program. The award ceremony was

televised and attended by all the leading members of the Government, and the

award is considered most prestigious.

 

Also the Madhva Sampradaya from which our own Gaudiya Sampradaya has descended,

and which is based in Udipi, confers a special award once every 2 years when

the management of Udipi rotates between the mathas which were established by

Madhvaacarya. This year the special award was given to Madhu Pandit Das, on

behalf of ISKCON Bangalore, for their contribution in having spread Krishna

Bhakti via the distribution to date of almost 1 million of Srila Prabhupada's

books in Kannada, the local language in the State of Karnataka in South India.

The award was given at a special event to mark the hand-over in the management

of the math, and was attended by over 50,000 people and many prominent VIP's.

 

We include press cuttings of these events below, which confirm how ISKCON

Bangalore is increasingly moving in the various circles of influence in South

India.

 

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Rama Devi honours individuals, NGOs

BANGALORE, JAN. 26. The Governor, V.S.Rama Devi, and the Chief Minister,

S.M.Krishna, on Saturday felicitated individuals and organisations, who had

contributed to the public good at a function got up at the Raj Bhavan.

 

The recipient organisations and persons were honoured with citation, a cash

prize of Rs.20,000 and Rs.10,000 respectively. They were: Mannangi Ramanand and

Mannangi Devakka, freedom fighters, Thankamma Varkey, Mehboob Bee, J.Jakriya,

Subhash Agarval, social service, Reema Pascol Cardoza, blind news reader in

Tulu cable channel, K.Venkataraman, security guard, who averted a major railway

accident. Master Mohammed Swaroop, computer whiz kid from Puttur, Dinesh Kumar

Rawat, who saved 27 people from drowning in the sea, Samarthanam Trust, T.Raja,

Sirish and Shamanth of I.M.R.H.C voluntary organisation and Madhu Pandita Dasa,

President of the ISKCON Sri Krishna Temple, responsible for the "Akshaya Patra"

programme distributing mid- day meals to 20,000 rural children. The citation

appreciated the rural development he has taken up in a 100-acre organic farm

near Mysore which was training farmers.

 

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, M.V.Venkatappa, and Prema Krishna,

wife of the Chief Minister, were present. C.K.Jaffer Sharief, MP, J.Alexander,

MLA and former Chief Secretary, the Minister of State for Science and

Technology, Nafees Fazal, and the Chief Secretary, Teresa Bhattacharya,

attended the "At home" hosted by the Governor at the glass house on the Raj

Bhavan lawns.

 

Later, the Governor told presspersons that she had instituted these prizes to

recognise those who had done remarkable service and achievements but were not

encouraged in the existing system. The officials in the Governor's Secretariat

said that the Governor selected people for these honours while on her tour.

 

[THE HINDU, January 27, 2002]

 

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Udupi seer honours ISKCON President

SRI Madhu Pandit Dasa President of ISKCON, Bangalore, was on Thursday,

conferred with the honorary title 'Sri Krishna Kripa Patra' (recipient of Lord

Krishna's mercy) by the Seer of the Palimaru Mutt Sri Vidyadheesha Tirtha

Swami.

 

The honour was conferred for his contribution in propagating Sri Krishna Bhakti

and distributing to thousands of under privileged children through the Akshya

Patra Programme.

 

The pontiffs appreciated the service rendered by Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa to

society by helping to preach philosophy in Kannada.

 

The ceremony took place in the Raj Dharbar of the famous Udupi Sri Krishna

Temple. D. Veerendra Hegde of Dharmasthala, M.N. Venkatachalaiah, retired Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court and Union Ministor for Textiles Dhananjaya Kumar

were present.

 

[THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, January 19, 2002]

 

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4) Ivory Coast Prime Minister Inaugurates ISKCON Bangalore Program

 

IT seems everyone wants to be associated with ISKCON Bangalore these days.

ISKCON Bangalore had recently organised a 'Heritage Festival' involving

thousands of school-children, who participated in week-long events meant to

increase their appreciation of India's ancient Vedic culture. To inaugurate the

event we managed to get none other than the Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast!!

 

 

Please find a related newspaper article below:

 

ISKCON festival holds Ivory Coast PM spellbound

BANGALORE: It was a fun-filled week for school-going chil­dren at the ISKCON

Heritage Fest which ended on Sunday.

 

It concluded with a grand cere­mony, ' inaugurated by Affi N'Guessan, Prime

Minister of Ivory Coast, and Rani Satish, Minister for Kannada and Culture. For

the foreign PM it was a visual treat.

 

Affi N'Guessan, who enjoyed every bit of the function said: "I had come here to

see Indian cul­ture in its true form and I finally got to see it."

 

During the course of the week several competitions, like fancy dress, vedic

quiz and Indian dance, vocal music and instru­mental music, were held.

 

The winners of all the dance and music competitions put up an enjoyable 45

minute performance. The special effects like the lighting, smoke and the

digital projections accentuated the per­formances making it a visual treat.

 

Beautiful images of Udupi Krishna adorned in various dress­es were projected on

huge screens while classical songs by Purandarasa were sung by students. The

overwhelmed audience too joined in the singing.

 

All the 3,500 participants from over 225 schools have made the Heritage show a

success.

 

The prizes were given away by Rani Satish and the function was also attended by

Mohandas Pai, CFO.Infosys.

 

"We have used technology to promote the artistic and musical, expression of our

golden heritage which is a characteristic of ISKCON." said Madhu Pandit Dasa,

president, , ISKCON Bangalore.

 

[TIMES OF India, January 14, 2002]

 

 

5. Narayan Maharaja Contradicted By His 'Mediator'

 

In her article called: "Iskcon Is Much Bigger Than We Think", published on VNN

on 9th January, Jadurani prabhu (henceforward 'the Author') responds to an

article that was in the last IRM newsletter (Newsletter 52: "Chief Minister

Honours ISKCON Bangalore Temple President") entitled "Naryana Maharaja Confused

About Ritvik". The Author is a renowned follower of Narayana Maharaja (NM), and

since NM has not publicly objected to her paper we assume he must agree with

it.

 

Below we have given the first portion of our rebuttal to her article. The rest

of the article can be read by following the instructions given at the end of

this portion:

 

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In this article we will show that the Author:

 

1) contradicts what NM had said in his lecture;

 

2) puts words into his mouth that he never spoke;

 

3) tries to cover the fact that NM had misrepresented our position by launching

into her own separate attack on the ritvik position, and insinuating that NM is

beyond criticism;

 

4) these attacks on the ritvik position consisting of nothing but recycled GBC

arguments that were defeated long ago.

 

The Author herself admits her article is quite lengthy, so we shall just give a

couple of examples of each category, and in this way expose the flawed nature

of her stated position. All quotes from her paper (which also quotes our

newsletter) shall be enclosed thus, and will be followed by our comments.

 

<1) The IRM quoted Srila Narayana Maharaja: "Those who think, 'There is no need

to accept a guru as a mediator because we can chant the holy name, we can read

books, and we can do arcana and sadhana simply by the rtvik system,' are not

within the guru-parampara. They deceive others. They are actually cheaters; not

bhaktas."

 

The IRM replied: [Of course no one except NM has ever even proposed this. The

Ritvik system is DEFINED as accepting Srila Prabhupada as the Guru who

mediates.]

 

COMMENT: Srila Narayana Maharaja is not saying that Prabhupada is not the guru

who mediates. All acaryas in disciplic succession are gurus who mediate; no

doubt.>

 

Above we see the author contradicts NM, since he had stated that the ritvik

position (which by definition maintains that Srila Prabhupada is the 'guru who

mediates') means 'there is no need of a guru as a mediator'. Clearly then NM

does not accept that Srila Prabhupada can be a 'guru who mediates', since he is

the only guru the pro-ritviks claim is the 'mediator'. Jadurani feels

differently, she even claims that 'all acaryas' can do this, so then why not

Srila Prabhupada?

 

She then goes on to pose the absurd notion that we require a pure devotee to

understand another pure devotee.

 

"Srila Maharaja is simply saying that one needs the guidance of a pure devotee

to understand Prabhupada's mediation."

 

Aside from the fact that NM did not actually say this (in fact he was

completely dismissing the whole idea of Srila Prabhupada being a guru who

''mediates' since Srila Prabhupada is the only mediating guru within the ritvik

system); if the author were correct, it would necessitate an unlimited line of

pure devotees being present to understand anything at all, since each one would

require another one to explain the one before, who in turn would need another

one to explain what he was saying etc, etc, ad infinitum. We do not remember

Srila Prabhupada saying that with each of his books there must also be

distributed a little miniature pure devotee who will explain what is in the

book (and then of course another pure devotee to explain what that pure devotee

just said). The Author may argue that this is only necessary if the pure

devotee has physically departed, yet we see NM has not physically departed, and

yet here is the Author herself already having to explain what he meant, except

she is a 'mediator' who contradicts the 'pure devotee' she is meant to be

'mediating' for.

 

Of course the Author is promoting NM himself as the 'pure devotee' who we all

now allegedly need to approach in order to understand what Srila Prabhupada

meant when he wrote his books and gave his directives etc. Yet, following our

expose, she has had to step in and re-explain what he had said, so perhaps it

is the Author herself who we now need to approach in order to understand what

NM means.

 

What we all do need is association of more senior devotees, but these senior

devotees do not have to be 'pure devotees' ( if they are then all the better),

they just need to be able to read and repeat what Srila Prabhupada actually

said, and set an example by following strictly. And that is why Srila

Prabhupada established ISKCON, to provide that type of association. He

certainly never said we need another pure devotee, or 'mediator' to understand

what he said in his books.

 

 

<2) The IRM quoted Srila Narayana Maharaja: "Nowhere in the sastra is it

written that a rtvik can ever give bhakti. This can never be the case."

 

The IRM replied: [Nowhere has it ever been claimed by anyone that the 'rtvik

gives Bhakti'. Those who accept the rtvik system receive Bhakti from the

self-realized Guru, Srila Prabhupada.]

 

COMMENT: (.) Srila Narayana Maharaja is simply saying here that in order to get

bhakti from Srila Prabhupada, one has to be able to understand and then follow

his instructions.>

 

We removed some pre-amble, but as can be seen the Author has simply put words

into NM's mouth, words he never spoke, in order to deflect attention from the

fact that NM clearly had no idea what the ritivk system Srila Prabhupada

established entailed. So what are we to think? Either NM is deliberately

misrepresenting the ritvik position as established in The Final Order, a paper

based entirely on signed documentation, or he has no idea what it is. Either

way it is not going to help resolve the matter by just pretending he said

something he clearly didn't. That is not 'mediating', that is completely taking

over as a separate authority.

 

The Author then claims:

 

<By the association of pure devotees we can understand what was Prabhupada's

intention for initiations and everything else, after his departure, and

forever.>

 

We would have more faith in her assertion had NM actually addressed the

position he was meant to be helping us all to 'understand'. Instead he attacked

a position that nobody is advocating.

 

TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK ON:

 

(a) http://farsight.members.beeb.net/Jadurani_Contradicts_NM.htm

 

(b) Or go to the IRM website at http://farsight.members.beeb.net or

http://come.to/irm and click on Jadurani' in the 'Failed Challenges' section

on the home page.

 

 

6) Krishna Kirti Fails To Answer "The Final Order"

 

 

For the 5th time in 5 years, yet another attempt has been made to try and

defeat the IRM position paper "The Final Order". As usual this paper, entitled

"'Posthumous Initiation in ISKCON: Is it Sanctioned by Srila Prabhupada?'" by

Krishna Kirti Das, which was posted recently on CHAKRA, has met the same fate

as all the previous attempts.

 

 

We have given below the Introduction and conclusion of our rebuttal to this

paper, and the rest of the paper can be read by clicking on the hyper-link

given at the end, or by going to the IRM website and clicking on 'Krishna

Kirti' in the 'Failed Challenges' section on the home page.

 

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This is a reply to Krishna Kirti's (herein referred to as the 'Author') recent

paper entitled: 'Posthumous Initiation in ISKCON: Is it Sanctioned by Srila

Prabhupada?' This paper is the 5th attempt in recent years to try and defeat

the IRM position paper, "The Final Order" (herein referred to as TFO). So far

we have had 'Disciple of My Disciple' (Badrinarayan Das et.al, 1997), 'Timeless

Order' ( Vivek Pai, 1997), 'Point For Point Refutation of TFO' (Jahnu Das,

1998), 'Prabhupada's Order, (GBC, 1998). Each was pushed enthusiastically at

the time by the GBC, only to be replaced by the subsequent paper, once our

responses had soundly exposed the flaws in each paper. Even though the GBC

claim that each one of these papers defeats TFO, the very fact they always felt

compelled to subsequently back another paper belies their claim. If TFO truly

had been defeated as they claimed by each one of their papers, why the need by

them and their supporters to always come back with another try? This itself

confirms that the GBC and their supporters themselves tacitly recognize that

the papers in question had not done the job, and another attempt was required.

So after a gap of over 3.5 years, Krishna Kirti has now dared to 'have a go'

against TFO and put something in print. We commend him for his courage. It

appears a great deal of thought and effort has gone into the author's paper,

with him acknowledging the input of at least 4 devotees as well as a whole

think tank! Unfortunately for the Author, as we will now demonstrate, his paper

has met the same fate as its illustrious predecessors in that it too has been

soundly routed!

Most notably the Author relies heavily on the famous 'law of disciplic

succession', even though the GBC no longer follow it, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

never followed it, nor is it mentioned anywhere in any of Srila Prabhupada's

books. Although the Author offers a special get-out-clause - that the 'law'

need not apply if the guru gives his permission to a disciple to initiate in

his presence (no doubt with Sivarama Swami and Mahavishnu Swami in mind) - this

is not stated in the private letters from which the 'Law' was extracted. This

fact also severely damages the Author's overall position, since he is meant to

be defending the GBC's position, but relies heavily on a law that they have

dumped.

 

We were initially pleased to note that the Author has taken the trouble to

actually quote, verbatim, sections of TFO since most of the other GBC-backed

papers were mainly full of 'straw man' arguments, having not even bothered to

quote TFO. (A 'straw man' argument is the technique of answering arguments NOT

actually put forward by the opponent, since the actual arguments which are put

forward cannot be answered. In this way the illusion of 'victory' is presented

since a bunch of non-relevant arguments are successfully defeated.)

Unfortunately having quoted TFO extensively the author falls into the same

trap, in that instead of answering the TFO quotations he has just produced, he

instead proceeds to answer another 'argument' which he implies is stated in

TFO. Indeed his paper is very neatly structured in the form of 14 such

'arguments' sandwiched between an Introduction and discussion on the July 9th

directive, which he then proceeds to answer by demonstrating the 'fallacy' of

the argument presented, followed by a supporting discussion. However most of

these 'arguments' are also 'straw man' arguments, having not been put forward

by TFO. In this way, the Author also reveals his inability to deal with TFO,

taking shelter instead in phantom irrelevant arguments.

 

[...]

 

In Conclusion:

 

We have shown the following:

 

1.. 12 of the 14 key 'arguments' which the Author makes, and which form the

basis of his whole paper are 'straw-man' arguments. The vast majority of the

other supplementary points he makes are also 'straw-man' arguments. Thus the

main thrust of Krishna Kirti prabhu's paper is taken up attacking arguments the

TFO never makes, rendering his paper irrelevant. This is even more bizarre

since the Author is one of the few persons who has actually bothered to quote

verbatim from TFO. This simply demonstrates that TFO is an undefeatable paper,

otherwise why are its detractors forced to invent arguments that TFO does not

make in order to write a response? Why are they unable to even ADDRESS what TFO

ACTUALLY states?

2.. In relation to the handful of points the Author has made which do bear

some resemblance to what is stated in TFO, please note:

i) The paper relies heavily on a 'law' of 'disciplic succession' that:

 

1.. The GBC no longer follow (invented get-out-clauses not withstanding);

2.. Was not followed by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta;

3.. Was not described in any of Srila Prabhupada's books, but only in one

private letter that was not intended to be generally available to guide the

ISKCON movement;

4.. Was used solely to deal with difficult disciples, as practically admitted

by the Author, in order to STOP them from acting as diksa gurus;

5.. Indicates only the time period when it is theoretically possible for them

to initiate, not that they 'will' or 'shall' definitely do it, or are in any

way being 'authorised' to do it.

ii) The paper fails to explain how the 'amara' verse authorises Srila

Prabhupada's disciples to accept disciples when its purports state 'it is best

not to accept any disciples'.

 

In the 'acknowledgements' section of his paper the Author thanks his wife for

making 'sacrifices' so that he had 'time' to work on this 'project'. However

due to his failure to address the actual document he is supposed to be

responding to, we were able to dismantle his 'project' in under 3 hours. Our

sympathies therefore go to his wife for the precious waste of time incurred in

producing an irrelevant paper.

 

Thus TFO remains robustly resilient to yet another attempt to thwart Srila

Prabhupada's stated intentions. For the fifth time in as many years, once

again, 'The Final Order Still Stands'!

 

TO READ THE REST OF THIS PAPER PLEASE CLICK ON:

 

(a) http://farsight.members.beeb.net/Krishna_Kirti.htm

 

(b) Or go to the IRM website at http://farsight.members.beeb.net or

http://come.to/irm and click on 'Krishna Kirti' on the 'Failed Challenges'

section on the home page.

 

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

No 43 IRM Makes World Headlines - Kumbha Mela Special

No 44 GBC Meetings End in Fiasco

No 45 GBC Paralysis Documented in Resolutions

No 46 Mayapur Attempt to Storm Calcutta Temple Ends in Fiasco

No 47 Mayapur Attack Cover-up Exposed

No 48 Massive GBC Fraud Uncovered

No 49 BBC Broadcasts World IRM Special

No 50 Mayapur Bomb Blast Reveals GBC Terrorist Campaign

No 51 Mayor of New York Dedicates Srila Prabhupada Memorial

No 52 Chief Minister Honours ISKCON Bangalore Temple President

 

 

Your comments, questions and feedback are appreciated. Please write to me at

 

irm (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com

 

 

Your Servant, Adridharan das

 

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