Duties of GBC and Guru in ISKCON

[bhagavad-gita]

http://www.hare-krishna.org/articles/370/1/Duties-of-GBC-and-Guru-in-ISKCON/

 

A nice article by Prahladanandan Swami, but still he fails to address the root cause of the problem. According to him, the improper functioning of GBC is the cause of the problems. But according to Prabhupada, the problem is the gurus themselves who became gurus in the first place. I will post the quote sooner.

[suchandra]

 

http://www.hare-krishna.org/articles/370/1/Duties-of-GBC-and-Guru-in-ISKCON/

 

A nice article by Prahladanandan Swami, but still he fails to address the root cause of the problem. According to him, the improper functioning of GBC is the cause of the problems. But according to Prabhupada, the problem is the gurus themselves who became gurus in the first place. I will post the quote sooner.

 

Good points by the chief of SAC (ISKCON's Sastric Advisory Council), HH Prahladananda Swami, ISKCON'S gurus arent above the three modes of material nature and have to be controlled by the Governing Body Commissioners (GBC), just one little questions remains, why it took them 30 years to find out, whereas new bhaktas said the same again and again years ago?

[ananda]

Hare Krishna!

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

why it took them 30 years to find out, whereas new bhaktas said the same again and again years ago?

 

Simple....we never tend to look internally and always seek solutions externally. In other words, we look from the inside out assuming the inside is perfect.

 

So we should learn from this, we should criticize our own habits and abilities and work on trying to become the devotee Srila Prabhupada talked about and if everyone works hard on that, we will surely have a model society of Krishna Con devotees who also are qualified to become GBC members.

 

Haribol!

 

anand

[Guest guest]

 

ISKCON'S gurus arent above the three modes of material nature and have to be controlled by the Governing Body Commissioners (GBC)

but those who are on the GBC also are not above the modes of material nature, and are not even spiritualy advanced enough to have become gurus yet

[Guest guest]

 

So we should learn from this, we should criticize our own habits and abilities and work on trying to become the devotee Srila Prabhupada talked about and if everyone works hard on that, we will surely have a model society of Krishna Con devotees who also are qualified to become GBC members.

 

anand

either that or we will have a society of sheep where those who would want to take advantage of such a situation can go on unchecked

[Guest guest]

Evidence to backup your claim?

 

 

but those who are on the GBC also are not above the modes of material nature, and are not even spiritualy advanced enough to have become gurus yet

[Guest guest]

you are saying they are above the modes of material nature? Pliease, you go first and show me your evidence.

[Guest guest]

I said nothing about their position. You made that claim.

 

 

you are saying they are above the modes of material nature? Pliease, you go first and show me your evidence.

[theist]

 

Good points by the chief of SAC (ISKCON's Sastric Advisory Council), HH Prahladananda Swami, ISKCON'S gurus arent above the three modes of material nature and have to be controlled by the Governing Body Commissioners (GBC), just one little questions remains, why it took them 30 years to find out, whereas new bhaktas said the same again and again years ago?

 

So what makes the GBC qualified to controll the gurus? Are they themselves free from the three modes of nature? IF so then THEY ARE THE GURUS THEMSELVES. So why do they bother calling these other gurus gurus?

 

This is the basic problem with all religious(vs. transcendental) systems. The whole system is just a series of concoctions and attempted adjustments with more concoctions.

 

Prabhupada wrote that he met his spiritual master by the order of the transcendental system so where did all this ecclesiastical nonsense come from? It is anti-Prabhupada. The Christians have their anti-Christ and the Hare Krsna's have their anti-Prabhupada's. Taking the transcendental message Prabhupada gave and twisting it into some mundane religious formulea is indeed anti-Prabhupada.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

 

Evidence to backup your claim?

 

Though it wasn't my claim, I think history has amply shown that many members of the GBC in the past were not liberated souls (i.e. serious criminal activities have been perpetrated by past GBC members). These criminal activities, fall downs and other occurences are regular and consistant, not only restricted to a particular time period for ISKCON. The same defects have been found in sufficient ISKCON gurus as well.

 

There are so many varying characters on the GBC, many often hating each other and fighting through their meetings. Take for example the GBCs attempts to throw out Gour Govinda Swami from ISKCON, and recently the GBCs attempts to do the same to Bhakti Swarup Damodar Swami (due to a conflict between him and his former disciple Rasaraj). Once the saintly devotees pass away, the GBC tries to pretend they always loved them, and they even go so far as to put their birth days on the yearly ISKCON calendars to celebrate. An amazing turn around from how they actually treated them while they were present.

 

Thus from the past functioning of the GBC and numerous criminal activities perpetrated by GBC members, it is clear that at least some (and likely the majority, or even all) of the GBC are not liberated souls.

[bhagavad-gita]

In the article, Prahladanandan Swami (PAS) mentions some points on why ISKCON may also fail like the Gaudiya Matha. Just replace gaudiya matha with ISKCON in the following conversation of Srila Prabhupada.

 

Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He, before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'This man should be the next acarya.’ But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acarya. That is the failure. They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction so many things, why he did not say that this man should be acarya?’ They wanted to create artificially somebody acarya and everything failed. They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acarya, why did he not say? He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it. They declared some unfit person to become acarya. Then another man came, then another, acarya, another acarya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection." - Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 08-16-76, Bombay

 

 

To spread Krishna consciousness in the absence of an advanced uttama-adhikari Vaishnava, third-class and second-class Vaishnavas must follow the instructions of Srila Prabhupada and learn the art of cooperation.

 

Here PAS advises other devotees to follow the instructions of Prabhupada only when "an advanced uttama-adhikari Vaishnava" is absent. If the devotees are advised to follow Prabhupada when "an advanced uttama adhikary vaishnava" is absent then why not follow the instructions of Prabhupada always and forever. Why expect the presence of a so called "advanced uttama-adhikari Vaishnava" when Srila Prabhupada is already present in his books and has given enough instructions for all to follow?

 

Thus the GBC/gurus are always trying to take the position of Prabhupada in instructing the devotees and eclipse the position of Prabhupada while his instrctions are always are present in his books for all generations to come.

[Guest guest]

JN das,

 

It is interesting to hear of these developments. What was the issue with Bhakti Svarup Damodar Maharaja and his former disciple Rasraj? WHy do you say 'former'? Did he abandon his Guru? It's surprising why the GBC intervened in this.

 

 

Though it wasn't my claim, I think history has amply shown that many members of the GBC in the past were not liberated souls (i.e. serious criminal activities have been perpetrated by past GBC members). These criminal activities, fall downs and other occurences are regular and consistant, not only restricted to a particular time period for ISKCON. The same defects have been found in sufficient ISKCON gurus as well.

 

There are so many varying characters on the GBC, many often hating each other and fighting through their meetings. Take for example the GBCs attempts to throw out Gour Govinda Swami from ISKCON, and recently the GBCs attempts to do the same to Bhakti Swarup Damodar Swami (due to a conflict between him and his former disciple Rasaraj). Once the saintly devotees pass away, the GBC tries to pretend they always loved them, and they even go so far as to put their birth days on the yearly ISKCON calendars to celebrate. An amazing turn around from how they actually treated them while they were present.

 

Thus from the past functioning of the GBC and numerous criminal activities perpetrated by GBC members, it is clear that at least some (and likely the majority, or even all) of the GBC are not liberated souls.

[Guest guest]

 

What was the issue with Bhakti Svarup Damodar Maharaja and his former disciple Rasraj? WHy do you say 'former'? Did he abandon his Guru? It's surprising why the GBC intervened in this.

 

Pl. read the GBC meeting report 2006. There is a line mentioned about the tussle that Rasaraj had with Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja. Rasaraj accepted ritvikism and rejected his guru Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja. Also, he is said to have forged Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja's signature to claim full control over Bhaktivedanta Institute. Looks like the GBC sided with Rasaraj in this issue for some reason. This caused a lot of pain for Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja.

 

All these may be true, I am not sure.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

There is also an article on the Sampradaya Sun by Jayo Das called something like "BBT and BI, ISKCON's Kurukshetra War".