imitation avatara: not God but dog

[Guest guest]

....there was a press conference in the reception room of the Tibetan Suite

(Hong Kong). Half a dozen reporters and TV men, mostly Britishers, came and

fired questions at Srila Prabhupada in the usual manner. When Srila

Prabhupada mentioned the need for renunciation, one of the men remarked,

"You speak of renunciation, and here you are in the presidential suite."

"For me," Prabhupada replied, "I could live under a tree, but would you come

to the press conference?"

One of the men asked Prabhupada his opinion of a popular, controversial

guru. Prabhupada had been asked such questions before, and he would

sometimes say, "I don't know him, but in Bhagavad-gita Krsna says ...," or

something like that -- straightforward and yet avoiding a personal

criticism. But this time Prabhupada answered in an overwhelming way. "He is

a cheater," Prabhupada said. "He claims that he is God. Anyone who says that

he is God is actually just the opposite. Instead of being G-O-D he is

D-O-G." The answer caused a ripple of laughter and excitement among the

reporters.

 

(From "Life with the Perfect Master" by SDG)

 

A third reporter asked Prabhupada a bombshell question: "One yoga group in

Hong Kong is led by an Indian guru called Bal Krishna Yogesvara. His

followers call him 'Guru Maharaj Ji.' This fellow says that he is Krsna.

Would you say something about Guru Maharaj Ji?"

Prabhupada's eyes narrowed, but he declined to answer.

The reported rephrased his question. "Is Guru Maharaj Ji's group the same as

your Krsna consciousness group or different?"

Prabhupada didn't seem interested in making a comparative study. He again

avoided the question. "We don't know about other groups. If you wish to know

about Krsna consciousness philosophy, you can ask. We are not here to speak

about others."

But Prabhupada was becoming annoyed. The reporter sensed a story brewing and

again pushed Prabhupada. "What do you think about this Guru Maharaj Ji? His

group is spreading quite quickly, isn't it?"

Prabhupada suddenly decided to answer. His eyes opened wide. "This Guru

Maharaj Ji is a cheat! Yes, he is a cheat, but Krsna is God. He can be a

bigger cheat!"

The reporters quickly scribbled in their notepads.

"Guru Maharaj Ji is a cheat but he will get cheated by Krsna," Prabhupada

continued, as he sat back on the plush couch, his hands defiantly crossed

across his chest.

The reporters smiled. They had come for a story and they got one.

The next day the story broke in the Hong Kong Standard, a major Hong Kong

newspaper, that the guru of the Hare Krsna movement had publicly called Guru

Maharaj Ji a cheater.

Prabhupada smiled broadly when he saw the headline and had us purchase many

copies. The story was later picked up by Time magazine, which ran it on

February 11, 1974, under the title, "Trouble in Paradise."

Trouble is stirring in Nirvana. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami of the Hare Krishna

movement, at a news conference in Hong Kong last week denounced a rival

guru: self-styled divinity Maharaj Ji, 16, now counseling his disciples in

California. The ascetic swami, whose followers constitute a kind of

saffron-robed Hindu version of the Salvation Army, began by saying, "You've

got to decide whether he is God or a dog." Noting the young swami's

luxurious lifestyle, the swami declared rather ominously, "He is cheating

people, but he will be cheated in a bigger way. When God meets cheats He can

be a better cheat than they."

 

(From "My Glorious Master" by Bhurijana Prabhu)