Concerning Satsvarupa Maharaja GBC Executive Committee Statement

[krsna]

Concerning Satsvarupa Maharaja

Posted May 11, 2004

 

GBC Executive Committee Statement

 

Dear Devotees,

 

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

The following statement from the GBC Executive Committee represents ISKCON's official position on the subject at hand.

 

At the end of this posting you will find a candid letter from Satsvarupa dasa Goswami about a falldown that occurred in his spiritual life about a year and a half ago. This took place within the context of his ongoing endeavors to serve while struggling with debilitated health.

 

The GBC Executive Committee would first like to express its deep gratitude toward Satsvarupa das Goswami, a much loved devotee in the Hare Krsna movement, and acknowledge his career of dedicated devotional service, exemplary sadhana, and inspired literary preaching on behalf of Srila Prabhupada.

 

As a GBC Emeritus, Satsvarupa Maharaja holds no official position in the management of ISKCON and is unlikely ever to do so.

 

In consultation with the GBC EC, he has agreed to retire from initiating; he will not initiate any more disciples.

 

His present disciples are encouraged to go on steadily in their devotional service to ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada, and he will continue to offer guidance and care as they so desire.

 

As Srila Prabhupada writes in Bhagavad-gita (9.30): "Sometimes. . . it may be seen that a person in Krsna consciousness commits some act which may be taken as most abominable socially or politically. But such a temporary falldown does not disqualify him. The material contamination is so strong that even a yogi fully engaged in the service of the Lord sometimes becomes ensnared; but Krsna consciousness is so strong that such an occasional falldown is at once rectified. Therefore the process of devotional service is always a success."

 

Satsvarupa Maharaja has re-dedicated himself to his vows and asrama and is committed to his full recovery and service to Srila Prabhupada. We offer him our wholehearted affection, encouragement, and support.

 

Out of respect for Satsvarupa Maharaja, we request all devotees to give him the time, space and privacy he requires to recover fully. Out of respect and honour for the sacrifices he has made on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON these many years, we encourage devotees everywhere to offer him their support, prayers, and good wishes.

 

Thanks and appreciation from dipika.org to our sponsor and host,

 

Your servants,

 

GBC Executive Committee

 

-----end

 

Letter From Satsvarupa Maharaja

 

May 1, 2004

 

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

 

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

 

There has been gathering exposure that I, Satsvarupa Maharaja, and a female therapist had a short-lived romantic involvement about one and a half years ago. As many of you may know, I have tried many therapies over the years to try and cure what is a severe case of "anxiety disorder anticipatory migraine." In one such effort a Godsister was helping me as a counselor, and regrettably I held sessions alone with her. And so the relationship developed.

 

I certainly committed a mistake, and I felt relieved when I wrote a letter of confession to the ISKCON sannyasa minister. He asked me if she and I had sexual intercourse, and I honestly said "no." Krsna saved us from that.

 

I feel like I want to explain what steps I've taken to protect myself from further problems. The saying "once burnt, twice shy" certainly applies to me. In addition to any consequences endorsed by the GBC, I feel great personal shame. On the other hand, this has increased my intimacy with Krsna in prayer. I know, for example, that a sannyasi should never be alone with a woman. I am suffering third-degree burns by disobeying this simple first instruction for sannyasis. I'm determined to never make that same mistake again. I am praying constantly to Prabhupada and associating with my Godbrothers in a humble mood.

 

My health is not good, but I don't wish to dwell on it here. I'm under the care of an expert psychiatrist MD and an authorized counsellor who is helping me with my anxiety issues. I consider my status to be semi-retired. I will not be initiating any new devotees. I am serving the devotee community by writing books and also answering letters. I served in an active capacity for almost 40 years and I can't keep it up. I am not avoiding the society of devotees. I simply can't travel in cars or planes to go to temples or festivals, to sing or dance or give lectures. Maybe each of you will reach that stage sooner or later.

 

I am profoundly sorry that I slipped and fell on the road this way, a 64-year-old sannyasi who had no other brush with a woman. I thought for sure I'd get through to the end with a perfect record. Krsna must have seen I was proud. I pray He allows me to remain in ISKCON and follow the rules and regulations to my dying day. I heard that Sridhara Swami told a Godbrother just before he passed away, "Be who you are and make a contribution." I think I have written this same sentence in my books. I fall at the feet of all devotees and ask their forgiveness.

 

Yours in the service of Prabhupada,

Satsvarupa das Goswami

 

[Kulapavana]

you would think ISKCON sannyasis would not fall for this female "therapy" nonsense anymore...

 

I guess bodily health concerns make a lot of people compromise their principles... and it makes for a good excuse... /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Guest guest]

Haribol. PAMHO AGTSP.

What happens to the woman involved? Isnt it partly her responsibility to have not been alone with a sannyasi?

I offer my humble obeisances to HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami and to all Vaisnavas. Hare Krsna!

[Guest guest]

"What happens to the woman involved? Isnt it partly her responsibility to have not been alone with a sannyasi?"

 

what do you want to do to her? beating? putting in jail? a fee? electric chair?

 

she's not goswami, one who control senses.. she's not a spiritual master

[theist]

Maybe this is Krsna clearing Satsvarupa's path back to Him of a subtle hurdle. Maybe he felt some internal dis-ease about the intiating guru issue. Headaches a symptom of that? Who knows.

 

Spot on the moon comes to mind. Although when the spot falls on a trigger point great havoc can be caused throughout the body. the initiating controversy might have been such a trigger point.

 

I would expect a stronger, clearer Satsvarupa to be giving Krsna conscious advice in the near future.

 

 

[Govindaram]

 

So all is forgiven.

 

Makes you think though, if a devotee of his standard can fall-down temp, then who are we? I know this is about Sanyasa, but just seeing things as they are, a pure devotee is rare indeed.

[Guest guest]

What is our problem?

 

After thousands of pages of Srila Prabhupada's books, hundreds of his classes and millions of instructions, we still think we can bit the system Lod Krishna initated???

 

All what we need is LOVE, which means:

 

a flower bud can bloom only IF THERE IS ENOUGH SUNSHINE, that is SADHU SANGA.

 

A woman that is not godly can always make a shade and a bud can not flower out. The point is: TO BLOOM ALL AROUND AND EVEN MAKE THIS WOMAN TO BLOOM, but somewhere else. Not together.

 

[Guest guest]

***Headaches a symptom of that? Who knows.

 

jadurani - NM - Kirtananada.

[Guest guest]

 

a flower bud can bloom only IF THERE IS ENOUGH SUNSHINE, that is SADHU SANGA.

 

 

 

The question is: where or what is SADHU SANGA??!!!

[Guest guest]

 

you would think ISKCON sannyasis would not fall for this female "therapy" nonsense anymore...

 

I guess bodily health concerns make a lot of people compromise their principles... and it makes for a good excuse...

 

 

 

Dear Kulpavana,

 

Please give the man some room. After serving 40 years in a position for which people in Kali Yuga are rarely qualified, the man was courageous enough to go public with his "falldown". Bodily concerns are not "excuses". Let us see how much you think of Krishna if put down by chronic migrane. Love for Krishna takes time and tests the individual in various ways to get him to realize a lot of things which he, or his "Sadhu Sanga", took for granted.

[Guest guest]

I do want to point out one thing:

 

He didn't go public with this until after someone had spam mailed the internet with his concerns about SDG.

 

However, that doesn't change the fact that this is a very unfortunate situation, and it is really quite tragic.

 

I completely understand Kulapavana's concerns. sannyAsis are supposed to avoid the association of women very strictly. So also should brahmacharis. In iskcon I have noticed this custom being relaxed of late, and with disastrous consequences. I hope that people learn from this incident that they should follow the regulations strictly, and stop trying to rationalize not doing so.

 

 

[Guest guest]

People are always calling this kind of thing "tragic", or sad, or a "fall down" or what ever. But I am thinking that it could also be a kind of positive thing . I mean if a person is living a kind of dishonest life, or taken a position that they are either not qualified for or have some kind of un-genuine motive, it is proboly better for them to "fall down" from it, i.e become an honest person. Being an honest genuine person is more important and beneficiali for spiritual advancement than acting in some false position or living a lie. I'd like it if SDg would write about this situation. I think that would be a genuinly inspiring spiritual story. The story of a real person...but perhaps he is more concerned with fitting into some role or social convention...A

[Guest guest]

Oh boy, another one bites the dust. Now we are so happy, so much to talk about, another fallen by the wayside.

 

Funny thing, though, Srila Prabhupada never felt such exhuberance and joy at hearing of a disciple facing difficulty they would have never faced had they never became his disciple.

 

Didnt we ever read or hear than any service we perform in Krsnas service is a transcendental bank account? Didnt we ever hear that we cannot lose by taking as much as we can of this glorious prasadam? Why are we speaking of a dearly loved disciple of Srila Prabhupada as if he has become a loser? No, he is not, and his service cannot be measured even by the demigods, let alone the flies on sores who love these stories.

 

haribol, ys, mahaksadasa

[Guest guest]

Why are we speaking of a dearly loved disciple of Srila Prabhupada as if he has become a loser?

 

because he has cheated many innocent devotees showing him as a real sannyasi and guru, because he gives a bad image of the movement, gaudya vaishnava... and of religion in general

 

 

[gHari]

I'm glad those thoughts don't come into my mind.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Me too, gHari, because my Spiritual Master embodies mercy. He knows the difficulties faced by westerners, and he forgives even before we make our predictable falldowns.

 

But some insist on demeaning his disciples thinking they can withhold the mercy that Srila Prabhupada does not. Who is pretending to be guru here?

 

hare krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[theist]

I noticed those same negative sentiments came into my mind when I first heard of this. My mind seems to house contradictory feelings on most issues. Perhaps many have similar mixed feelings. not surprising since most of us are mixed devotees at best.

 

I have to always work to try and energize the positive even if I have to fake it alot of the time.

 

I can understand the resentment all things considered. Alot of water has gone under the bridge. So let's show the same generousity towards those wounded by the past mistakes that we show to Satsvarupa.

 

All in all I believe something very positive will come from this.

[Govindaram]

 

Maybe we can learn from this apparent fall-down, it could be a pastime for us.

[Guest guest]

Hey, haribol. I am sorry if anyone thought I was criticizin, because I am guilty too. Ya see, its a MATERIALISTIC trip to try to think I am advanced on the back of others having difficulties. And perhaps many have suffered under reigns of imperfect people. But this is kali yuga, and things are full of flaws. While we may think that putting the word "krsna" in front of everything, the flaws magically go away, but this may not be the case.

 

I think of the example given that taking up this process, we pull the plug on the fan of materialism, but lo and behold, the blades are still flippin about. This is my concern, plus the fact that ifd one does accept the "heavy" responsibility of accepting disciples, not only do we face the fan flippin about, but now we take on the karma of all those who have sought refuge from us.

 

I believe (from my own experiance, so I guess realize is a better word here) that Srila Prabhupada is authentic. Therefore, I understand that those who have provided valuable service to his missionary work are PROTECTED. There may be falldown, but it is stated that even if a devotee may seem to be doing abominable activities, such things may be overlooked. Not disregarded, not undiscussed, but we should wish only the best for ALL of those so seriously LOVED by Srila Prabhupada. I have no doubt that this person is seriously loved by Srila Prabhupada. I also know that his offence discussed here is not that serious. (I also seriously doubt that Visnu Jnana committed suicide for a similar infraction). My basis is Srila Prabhupada Himself, who ALWAYS forgave, immediately, infractions by his disciples, even serious ones that may have caused disrepute of his foundation.

 

So, I do not hold Satsavarupa to a shame that is not even possible for my guru maharaja to have. We are not speaking about a rookie here, this is one who has thirty five years of service under his belt. Mistakes, of course, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

Sanyassi was given to youthful disciples by Srila Prabhupada. This was done not because they were renounced, but because the sanyassi position helped their preaching effort. It was a risk, but a risk worth taking by someone under PROTECTION of parampara. Same goes for brahmana initiation. Srila Prabhupada did not award the sacred thread to brahmanas, he gave it without regard to actual position, hoping and having faith in his disciples that they would one day develop brahmanical qualifications.

 

Srila Prabhupada was not full of fear because of vedic principles. His job was to plunder the storehouse of love of god and distribute its contents, never thinking of the recipients qualifications, knowing that the process itself was enough to purify all who came into contact with Krsna, lila, rupa, namah. No naistika brahmacariesw joined from the west. We were all free lovers, intoxicated, rowdy, jagais and madhais, but we are all valid branches of the tree of life, linked up to the main trunk called Srila Prabhupada. This so-called problem is an ocean, but Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga make the ocean no bigger than a puddle made from the hoof of a calf.

 

Pick ourselves up, and continue.

 

Hare Krsna, your servant in cooperation, mahaksadasa

[Govindaram]

 

Mahak Dasa

'Therefore, I understand that those who have provided valuable service to his missionary work are PROTECTED'

 

 

 

I like this what you said, PROTECTED, makes me feel safe.

 

We live in a Negative world, its easy to see the faults of others, like the pastime of the devotee who would feed Vaishnava's then criticize them, that they have overeaten, why not look at the Good qualities? They far out Way any small discrepancies {if at all}, I agree that in our mind we may/may not see something else, then whoever trusted the mind?

 

[Guest guest]

Haribol. The one thing I hate about fanatic christians is their bumber sticker slogan "Christians arent perfect, just forgiven". This implies nothing similar to what Im trying to say here. In fact, the slogan implies an elephant offence against the Holy Name, sinning on the strength of chanting.

 

By protection, it is meant that we will come out of temporary insanity, but we still have to deal with the problem. We know the solution, but we are not inclined to take the medicine. The medicine must be taken, the sadhana bhakti process must be taken up again.

 

The protection is the lifeline that is within our reach, but we have to take hold. The captain of di ship dangles the line, hoping we will grab on, but WE have to grab on, hold tight, knowing that this line CAN slip away forever.

 

Protection also means that we have a whole bunch of folks pulling for us, wishing us success. Just because we may hear of one who is out of sorts, we do not withhold our well wishes. If we pull for him, so will our Guru, so will Our God. This is what personal relationships is all about. Bhakti yoga is never performed in a mechanical vacuum, it is joyously performed congregationally, where we all protect each other.

 

hare krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[Govindaram]

By protection, it is meant that we will come out of temporary insanity, but we still have to deal with the problem. We know the solution, but we are not inclined to take the medicine. The medicine must be taken, the sadhana bhakti process must be taken up again.

 

 

 

We should fool the mind, tell it--'take this medicine and at the end I shall give you sweetmeats' trick is without saying you Shall recieve something, why will it act?

 

Because Bhakti is without any want, how can we compare sweet to love? Sorry if I sound insane /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Guest guest]

Haribol. Insanity is not a reason to apologize. We are all mudmen here, not a sane one in the bunch. The sane, those who think the world will keep spinnin and the sun will keep shinin, now these guys are nuts, sane and nuts.

 

Mudmen (or madmen who never listened to "Obscured by Clouds" by pink floyd) need no apology for feeling like they be fish outta water. I just apologize for sounding so sane on the world events station. It is all perspective.

 

Haribol, ys, mahaksadasa

[Guest guest]

our goal can be to be madyam adhikari... a madyam adhikari is mercyful, he is ready to forgive, he does not exclude anyone from devotional service.. but he discriminates the behaviours... there's nothing bad

 

 

[Guest guest]

 

Twenty years ago when Jayapataka Swami and several other GBC members went to speak with Srial Sridhar Maharaj, just after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told them what sort of situations might arise for the new Gurus. Hed said that if a Guru were to fall from the path then the disciples should wait for a while, and examine the behavior of the Guru, and see if he may come back onto the proper path.

 

From what I have read of Satswarup Maharaj's predicament, it is clear that Satswarup is a sincere Vaishnava. He has been very honest and humble in revealing his situation, it seems. So his disciples and friends may rightly feel that he is a sincere devotee.

 

But something else in what has been said seems to suggest to me that I cannot accept he is any sort of qualified Guru. That is, Satswarup Maharaj is seeing a psychiatrist and counsellor in regard to his internal turmoil.

 

This is not a good path to follow for a devotee. A devotee should take shelter of the holy name and his Guru's lotus feet.

 

Seeking shelter from a psychiatrist is to my mind a greater fall than becoming affectionately involved with a lady. If a man cannot control his own wayward mind, how can he give guidance to a disciple about the message given by Sri Krishna in the Gita? Has he turned his back on the teachings in the Gita, which has so much information about how to deal with depression, grief, and illusion.

 

I think Satswarup is a good devotee. But I also feel he is not qualified to be anyone's Guru.

 

- m.