Concerning Satsvarupa Maharaja GBC Executive Committee Statement

[Guest guest]

i am not in any way offended to be recognized as a devotee of srila narayana maharaja

 

but i humbly think that my way to understand some basics of guru tattva is simply gaudya vaishnava.. not belonging to a particular school or sect

[livingentity]

He reasons ill who tells that Vaisnavas die

When thou are living still in sound!

The Vaisnavas die to live, and living try

To spread the Holy Name around!

 

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

[Kulapavana]

there is nothing wrong with having your own opinion that may seem different than others. the main point is to chant the Holy name and serve Krishna.

 

(and btw: if you nameless guests started to use at least screen names it would be easier to have a decent exchange of ideas here)

[Guest guest]

"if we are sincere krsna sends to us a sincere guide, if we are not sincere krsna sends nothing or a fake"

according to this formula, seems like a huge (more than 90% ?) percentage of post-Prabhupada devotees were nothing but a bunch of insincere pretenders.

---krsna directly or through maya gives us exactly what we deserve, there's no injustice or partiality. And it is not strange that who is in the material world, fallen here with the purpose of forgetting krsna, has mixed desires about going back to godhead. And surely, who has taken shelter in a pure devotee, will say to you (me the first) that he has done like that for unlimited and unconditionated krsna's mercy and not for personal effort or faith.

 

what choice did "sincere" devotees have under the old zonal acharya nonsense?

-- (said from one who was saying "jaya" to that nonsense situation) there's never shortage of vaishnavas in this world.. at that times there were gaura govinda maharaja, bhakti pramod puri maharaja, srila sridhara maharaja, bhakti vaibhava puri maharaja, narayana maharaja... and surely many in iskcon more fit to act as master but less accepted by the establishment. (satsvarupa was a zonal acharya)

 

if you are sincere you will continue your devotional life despite the fact that your guru (or several gurus) fell down.

--i am sorry... but i am very angry if someone tries to cheat devotees and i do not know, between one who out of delusion leaves apparently krsna consciousness and one who dressed in dhoti and kurta perseverates in the mistake of following false gurus.. who is the one who is making advancement

 

 

[Guest guest]

As far as I am concerned Srila Prabhupada is a living guru.

 

not for us... we can communicate with one who is on transcendental plane

 

also bhaktisiddhanta, bhaktivinoda takura and chaitanya mahaprabhu were alive when srila prabhupad was accepting disciples and giving initiation

[Guest guest]

sorry

 

"we cannot communicate..."

[Kulapavana]

"if we are in this world we are insincere "

 

if you really think like that why did you divide them into sincere and insincere categories?

 

 

 

"i am very angry if someone tries to cheat devotees"

 

why be angry if according to you: "krsna directly or through maya gives us exactly what we deserve, there's no injustice or partiality". according to you, they want to be cheated anyway.

 

 

"said from one who was saying "jaya" to that nonsense situation"

 

make sure you are right THIS TIME, otherwise you might again be cheering something not quite proper in our sampradaya.

[Guest guest]

"if we are in this world we are insincere "

if you really think like that why did you divide them into sincere and insincere categories?

--change in less insincere if you are more comfortable

 

"i am very angry if someone tries to cheat devotees"

why be angry if according to you: "krsna directly or through maya gives us exactly what we deserve, there's no injustice or partiality". according to you, they want to be cheated anyway.

--it is right.. but sentimentally i am more sorry for the ones that show more dipendence, weakness.. even ultimately you are perfectly right. The cheater and the cheated are the same phenomenon

 

"said from one who was saying "jaya" to that nonsense situation"

make sure you are rigt THIS TIME, otherwise you might again be cheering something not quite proper in our sampradaya.

---are you cursing me? a devotee is not happy if anyone has found a pure vaishnava? have i to take it as an offence to my spiritual master? (seeing your way to reasoning there's no need that i say the name of my guru to let you judge if i am wrong... harekrishna)

[Kulapavana]

"are you cursing me? a devotee is not happy if anyone has found a pure vaishnava? have i to take it as an offence to my spiritual master? (seeing your way to reasoning there's no need that i say the name of my guru to let you judge if i am wrong"

 

 

lol! you misunderstood my comment. it was just sarcasm that we should double check our position before recommending it to others. every time... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

I'm certainly not cursing you (crows have no power to curse anyway). I have a deep, deep respect for Vaishnavas from all branches of Lord Chaitanya tree and would never question their purity, especially in front of their disciples: that is offensive and completely un-Aryan. no disrespect was intended to anybody. Hare Krishna!

[theist]

 

As far as I am concerned Srila Prabhupada is a living guru.

 

 

[krsna]

 

International Society for Krsna Consciousness

Founder Acarya: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

His Holiness Satsvarupa das Goswami

 

4719 Quail Lakes Drive, Suite G-159

Stockton, CA 95207

Satsvarupa_dasa_Goswami@hotmail.com

May 10, 2004

 

Dear disciples, friends, and family of devotees,

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

I’m going to start by falling at your feet and asking for forgiveness for a mistake I

committed a year and a half ago involving inappropriate dealings with a woman. I’ll tell

more about this later in the letter.

I want to thank you for all of the outpourings of love and support I am receiving

in the many letters coming from godbrothers, disciples, and friends. In this letter, I’m

going to answer some of the questions that have been raised. You have been waiting too

long for these answers. I will also continue to respond by letter to each of you. Let’s start

with the first question.

Question 1: Can you please explain what happened?

Answer 1: For the past twenty years, I have been contending with the dominant

battle in my life—a painful and serious disease. I’ve tried to treat this disease in a

number of ways. For ten years I took no medicine of any kind, either herbal or

allopathic, while receiving treatment from a naturopathic doctor. Naturopathy did not

relieve me of my pain, nor did it make me better. It simply left me underweight and

anemic. I won’t bore you with the list of alternative medicines that I tried. From

acupuncture to Ayurveda, I have tried them all. But there were no positive results. When

I first started with allopathic treatments, I tried over-the-counter medicines and soon

wound up with what are called rebound headaches, where the “cure” itself gives you

headaches. I went to a doctor, who prescribed more sophisticated and expensive

medicines, which gave me a few days off from the pain, but these too created rebound

headaches. It was despairing to live each day with constant and acute pain. Somehow, in

the hours in between pain, I managed to write, including letters. I even pursued a lot of

traveling and visiting temples. Sometimes I would give a Srimad Bhagavatam class and

afterwards I would have to lie down in a van in my bed all day. Then I would give

another Srimad Bhagavatam class the next day. Devotees didn’t recognize symptoms of

migraine and many still can’t. They didn’t realize how sick I was. The travel and

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lecturing only exacerbated my condition. Finally, my health almost reached a complete

breakdown.

As some of you may remember, I was Guru and/or GBC manager for a

geographic zone including Ireland, much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United

States, the Caribbean, Vancouver, and Gita-Nagari farm. Over time, the weight of this

service began taking its toll on me until, with the illness, I was often confined to bed.

This occurred simultaneously with a crisis in the GBC itself and dissatisfaction within the

members of the movement over the “zonal guru” designation. At this time, I resigned

from the GBC. I tried to keep traveling as a sannyasi even with the realization that travel

worsened my headaches.

While many events in my life led to this condition, severe headaches were first

triggered by my experiences as a manager and “zonal guru.” My work in ISKCON in

these capacities involved doing kinds of services for which I was not well suited. My

psychophysical nature is more to be a poet and writer and lead a quiet life, not to be

doing management and “quarrelling” with godbrothers—it hurt me to have to face my

duties in this way.

Finally, I found a psychiatrist M.D., who accurately diagnosed me as suffering

with anxiety disorder, the apparent cause of the migraines. Additionally, when I worry

that I’m going to get a headache, the worrying itself actually causes a migraine. This is

called anticipatory anxiety syndrome. He prescribed that what we must do is stop the

pain. This became our priority. He said that the side effects of medicine were not as

dangerous for me at the present moment as complications from chronic pain. At the same

time, I should enter counseling and fully occupy myself with trying to improve my

situation with this kind of health treatment. I began to try to balance my healthcare needs

with my responsibilities to Prabhupada and my disciples.

The choice of counselor did not work out. First of all, especially for a sannyasi,

it’s not ideal that the counselor and the client be of different sexes. Among devotees,

however, there were not many counselors from which to choose. This person was

recommended by a close disciple and another devotee counselor because she had the

same disease and had received treatment for it. In fact, she had not been formally trained

as a counselor.

At first, we began working by exchanging correspondence. By telephone, she

would give me different practices to do like breathing and listening to certain tapes that

aid a person with my condition. Anxiety disorder is actually a widely prevalent disease

in the United States, which affects millions of people. There was not too long ago a

cover story about it in Time Magazine. She recommended that we have person-to-person

sessions, in which she could try to confront the anxiety disorder. At first, this work

produced some good results.

Unfortunately, a naturally occurring emotional attachment between the counselor

and client was mishandled. As soon as we realized what was happening, we saw the

danger of it—me being a sannyasi and she a married woman. We talked seriously and

decided that we had to stop our counseling, and end our friendship, having no contact at

all. I see no reason to go into further detail except to say that we did become physically

intimate and this was wrong.

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Question 2: Why were you silent about the inappropriate action until it had been

exposed?

Answer 2: We did not see the need for it since the relationship had been

completely closed. My disciples and many others could suffer because of just one

incident. To broadcast it all over would simply cause more harm than good. Those who

theorize about the truth and say that anything other than broadcasting is a “cover up”

have a technical and theoretical definition of truth, which is not necessarily absolute. I

saw a higher morality in continuing on with my devotional service by working through

this test on a daily basis in counseling, this time with a trained male devotee counselor. I

felt I was rectifying the mistake within my relationship with Prabhupada and Krsna and

that the greater good would be served by trying to protect my community of loved ones.

Question 3: Why did it take so long to hear from you after the news came out?

Answer 3: An anonymous letter was sent to the Sannyasa Minister, who began an

investigation. Dissatisfied with the pace of the inquiry, the anonymous author posted his

story on the Internet. I had already responded to the Ministry as well as the GBC

Executive Committee and they had asked that I not write my letter to my disciples in

order for them to have time to conduct a proper inquiry. Out of respect for their request, I

did not communicate with you directly at first. This accounts for why you didn’t hear

from me, why I was silent.

You had to hear rumors about me while I could say nothing from my side. I had

to wait for the GBC to come to their final conclusions and it took a long time. I was on

pins and needles every day waiting. At the end, I felt I was again collapsing from the

pressure that was building. I was waiting for it for myself and I was waiting for it for

you. My hands were tied; I could not tell you.

Question 4: Why did you continue operating the press if you knew you had a

problem?

Answer 4: Since writing and publishing is the lifeblood of my service to others

and to Krsna and Prabhupada, I went right ahead with it. It is stated in the Nectar of

Devotion that if a devotee commits a mistake he does not have to perform some

atonement or prayascitta. He just picks himself up and goes right on with his devotional

service. So I acted in that way.

Question 5: Why did you keep initiating?

Answer 5: Actually for several years it has been my intention to stop initiating

because of my chronic ill health. Every time I take on a disciple it involves so much

entanglement for me in that person’s life and in that person’s family, which may include

their in-laws and many, many domestic problems. I am slowing down with old age and I

want to use my remaining vitality for attending to the disciples that I have and for doing

my preaching work. I actually declared an event that would be the very last initiation.

Since then because I am soft hearted, a few people have “snuck in.” These devotees were

highly recommended and in some cases had been waiting for years.

Question 6: Are you still our Guru? Can you care for the disciples you have?

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Answer 6: Yes. I am happy to be Guru of the family I have. You and I have

developed very loyal and loving service exchanges. Together, we are producing

innovative service that is helping the whole movement. Throughout the world, as

spiritual master and disciples we are carrying on Prabhupada’s mission by preaching

through management, farms, book sales, seminars and academic studies, deity worship,

devotee care, business, and family life. There are myriad forms of Krsna conscious

expression and Krsna and the spiritual masters appreciate them equally when done

sincerely and wholeheartedly. This is the fruit of our guru-disciple relationship and is

pleasing to Prabhupada and Krsna.

I have learned from letters that not only my disciples but also devotees and nondevotees

all over the world continue to be inspired by our preaching. Srila Prabhupada

gives the example that when one is hungry and one eats, one does not need a certificate to

show that he is satisfied. Only you can say if you are satisfied being my disciple. Only

you can say if I am still your Guru. No one can sever our relationship or the connection

between you and me and Srila Prabhupada. This is our eternal relationship.

You are helping me in my old age, to do things I couldn’t do alone. You don’t

just cook meals for me but you use your advanced life skills to get things done on my

behalf. Let us use the power of our connection to spread Krsna consciousness together.

Preach on my behalf and allow me more solitude at this stage of my life.

I want you to know I see the love in your hearts and know you receive the love

that I am giving. You see me as a human being who is struggling but fully accept me as

your spiritual master. You are fighters. You are nurturers. You are my family.

Question 7: Are you still my link to Prabhupada and Krsna?

Answer 7: The main thing I have told you is to follow the teachings of

Prabhupada and Krsna, right? Gurus teach their own realization, in their own voice. I

have linked you eternally to Prabhupada and Krsna. The fact is that some disciples may

or may not follow their Guru, and they may or may not follow Prabhupada and Krsna.

We all have free will. So, my dear disciples, I will stay loving and faithful to you but

perhaps this current event may separate those who love me and are faithful to me from

those who are not. The U.S. Marines induction poster reads, “the few but the proud.”

Read volume three of My Letters from Srila Prabhupada and you’ll see what a few

“hundred percent fixed up” devotees could do for their spiritual master and how he could

give them individual care in his own way.

Question 8: How do I stay personally connected with you from a distance?

Answer 8: I have already explained my inability to give you direct vapu

association on a regular basis. We should remember that very important statement that

Prabhupada writes in the concluding words of Caitanya-Caritamrta. He says after the

passing away of his spiritual master that he still feels that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati

Goswami is always by his side giving him directions what to do. I feel something like

this when I write and serve Prabhupada. The Srila Prabhupada Murti is very helpful if

you have one. You can keep some pictures of me and of course read my books and it is a

kind of vapu. I wouldn’t believe this unless I had heard it myself many times from

devotees who say they feel more with me when they read my books than when they

5

gather and see me. They actually experience things that way. Because I write so

personally every time, every day they read my books they feel that all their questions are

answered, all their doubts are removed, and they have a grand time being with me

personally. When they go to a gathering they get distracted by other people being there,

by an inevitable feeling of envy towards other devotees, and the travel, etc.. They see me

sitting on a chair, and if time allows, there may be an opportunity for us to speak

personally. But when they are reading the books they also feel like they are talking to me

directly. You may find some devotees who have this experience and talk with them and

then you’ll believe it. Better yet I hope you can experience it yourself and see that it’s

true.

I also want to encourage you to gather together, and in association, practice

Prabhupada’s and my teachings. Someday, my body will be gone and what will you do

then? Please take this seriously and connect authentically with our spiritual family

members, study my books together, and develop the relationships that will help you in

your Krsna consciousness. Prabhupada said, “Your love for me will be proven by how

well you cooperate together when I have gone.” I say also that your love for me will be

proven by how you come together now, while I am here. Help each other, find real and

lasting devotional friendships, and make relationships based on care and honesty. Then

later, when I am gone you will have my books and each other to carry on.

Question 9: If I don’t feel full faith in you as before should I go on serving

anyway?

Answer 9: I ask you please to not lose faith. If you do feel some loss of faith

then go on serving anyway. The service itself is so powerful that it will sustain you and

gradually bring back your faith. After all our main connection is service to please Krsna

and to please Prabhupada. It will be a healing method; the service will bring you closer

to me and gradually remove your doubts. Although you may have heard me tell lots of

Prabhupada stories from the 11 years that he was here, I saw him relatively few times.

Prabhupada himself said he saw his spiritual master only about 11 times. But

Prabhupada was always engaged in his service and that made him feel staunchly

connected. Don’t dwell on this fault I have committed and don’t listen to people who talk

anything bad about me. Go away from their presence. Go on with your service to Krsna

and pray for our loving bond. Stay with disciples who have a positive, loving attitude

toward me. If they are not living near you then write to them regularly.

Question 10: When we get together as disciples, how can we help, care for and

nurture each other and what do I tell others?

Answer 10: I don’t think you should try to just cover things over politely. Some

may be more on the strong side or faithful side. Others may be more on the weak side and

perhaps even afraid to speak up about it. Some may be openly doubtful. I think at these

meetings everyone should be given a chance to speak. At the beginning there should be a

designated person to set boundaries for this kind of a meeting. There should not be

blasphemy. Frank questions should be asked and those who have faith and knowledge

should try to answer them. In other words, a positive and not a negative conclusion

should be the goal of the meetings. It’s not that one person is acting as a know-it-all. But

I would hope there would be at least several people there who will have faith and enough

6

information, from their experience with me, reading books, and reading these recent

letters, and in touch with my representatives to know the answers to this situation. We

are not trying to lie and say that I did no wrong. But we are taking a realistic look at it

and saying there is every reason to continue to go to me as a spiritual master and not have

an artificial view of the spiritual master, that he is on a pedestal and never makes

mistakes. Think of all the good that I have done for you and the good I am willing to

continue to do for you. Such meetings should be upbeat but there should be a time for

facing negative and doubtful questions. When the questions are not satisfied, the doubter

can ask again and again, until he is reasonably satisfied. If he is not satisfied then he/she

should be told to take their time and write more to me or my representatives because time

can heal wounds. Pray to Krsna that these wounds will be healed.

Question 11: What about taking another Spiritual Master?

Answer 11: I would advise you not to turn away from me and be in a hurry to take

a siksa Guru and reject me. I don’t think I’ve done anything so wrong that it cannot be

discussed realistically, within the bounds of the sastra, and we can see the justification

for me to continue being your spiritual master. It is reasonable and sastric to give me

forgiveness and continue to trust my word. I’ve set the grounds for my own humility and

making of mistakes in my books and now I have actually fulfilled the role in real life. I

have laid the foundation for you to make mistakes as well, for me to accept you, and for

you to accept me, on the basis of us being imperfect human beings. And I have made a

place for us to have not merely an institutional relationship but a real relationship of

people who may see mistakes but, out of love, overlook them.

Question 12: What is your current treatment status?

Answer 12: There are concerns that my use of medication is addiction rather than

treatment. My doctor oversees my medicine. I talk with him regularly, and according to

my symptoms, he may decrease or increase dosages or take away a certain medication.

In addition, my treatment team monitors my health daily and, working with my doctor

and counselor, track my progress through daily logs. I do not take medicine on my own

whimsy but under my doctor’s guidance. I have pain control now with decreasing

complications. I believe we can build a sustainable recovery based on rest, recuperation,

and regularity. I am able to function peacefully in my present treatment environment.

Question 13: What are your current spiritual standards?

Answer 13: When I first began to assimilate the medication and their side effects,

I found that they made me sleepy and it was difficult for me to sustain my quota of

sixteen rounds. This was some time ago. For many months, I have been holding to

sixteen rounds a day, and if I miss, I make them up the following day. For those who

want to know, I follow the four regulative principles. I have a very regular schedule of

rising early in the morning and chanting with the devotees, followed by writing and

reading. Soon we will be bringing my new Prabhupada Murti into my house and I am

expecting Gaur-Nitai deities to arrive as well. I like to worship my deities closely as part

of my daily routine. The rest of my day includes writing letters and painting pictures of

Radha and Krsna and Gaur-Nitai.

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Question 14: Is there some connection between your painting, your avant-garde

writing, and the fact that you had that mistake a year and a half ago?

Answer 14: This is my devotional service to Prabhupada. I think of it as holy.

My first publishing was in Back to Godhead magazine. Surprisingly, the first poems to

go in the magazine were beat, free verse poems and Prabhupada liked them. These

examples are in the Handbook for Krsna Consciousness. After reading one of them,

Prabhupada looked at me and said I like this.

When we were chanting

Hare Krsna

and the light of the sky

was going in and out

My pleasure was so

great I was afraid

lest I be swept to Indra’s heaven

and there given a chariot ride

down the length of the rainbow.

Whereas here on earth,

standing on Houston Street,

I can chant

the holy name of Krsna and

He is with me

(kindly dancing on my tongue),

Who is the Source of Everything.

One time there was a meeting of the whole BBT, who brought in a sales expert to

see how sales could be increased. The man asked us what the purpose of Back to

Godhead was and I knew he was looking for commercial answers. I couldn’t help but

remember hearing Prabhupada say that the purpose of Back to Godhead is to give my

devotees a chance to write just as I am writing books so my disciples should learn how to

write and Back to Godhead is a vehicle for that.

I’m bringing up this incident of the old days and the Back to Godhead under the

larger topic of change. Some of my disciples and readers are complaining that my

writing has changed over the years from the more standard, what they call the “straight

stuff” or more exactly how Prabhupada writes in his books. They see that I write

differently in a more avant-garde style and with my own personal voice. It’s true that in

the twelve years in which Prabhupada was with us I wrote very much the way he wrote.

He wrote me many letters praising my articles and most of my essays were taken from

Srimad Bhagavatam and written up into articles, almost an imitative style, like his. They

weren’t exactly cloning but they were retellings. He especially liked my retelling of the

entire Ramayana in one issue even though it was drawn from a book he hadn’t translated

and commented on. Just before he passed away, I also published a semi-scholarly book,

Readings in Vedic Literature, in which I did a lot of historical criticism of the first

pioneers who translated the Vedas with a Christian bias. He liked that book. He said I

had read the rascals without being contaminated by them.

8

After he passed away, my original vocation returned, to be an original writer.

I started writing again in my own voice, in my “adopted religion.” More

accurately, my religion is not adopted. In one of his speeches on a record, Prabhupada

said “Krsna consciousness is not an artificial imposition on the mind but it is the original

energy of the soul.” So my original Krsna consciousness started to become expressed in

this vein as a New Yorker, a boy with a certain amount of experiences in a tone of his

own voice. People liked it more and more and I’ve written in that direction. That is the

change that people have noticed.

I don’t think it is less holy or less parampara. It is less carbon copy and it is

certainly not a cloning of Prabhupada. But I remember back to those beat poems that he

liked. He never wrote poems like that and yet he appreciated when we came out with

them.

My writing continues to change. It is a kind of code to break and read. It’s easy

but you have to understand the writings by reading them my way, not just expecting to be

spoon-fed in the way we have read doctrine or traditional theology in the past. There is a

poem by William Carlos Williams, which was to his wife (and to everyone of his

readers).

All this – was for you, old woman.

I wanted to write a poem

that you would understand.

For what good is it to me

If you can’t understand?

But you got to try hard –

(“January Morning” 1932)

Please stay with me to crack the code.

The same is true of my paintings. They are simple, innocent. I did not go to art

school to learn to paint like this. For thousands of years people have painted in a

primitive or naïve style and many people have been attracted to it. In the mid-20th

century a great revolution occurred and top painters rebelled against the previous

century’s concepts of beauty such as Greek sculpture and the renaissance. Painters like

Picasso and Miro and many other modernists began painting in very free style not

regarding the official codes of the beauty that one learned in the academy. The leading

advocate of this kind of painting was Jean DuBuffet, and he called it arte brute. In

America, they usually call it outsider art. It is now very popular, and some outsider art

sells for a million dollars. It is appreciated for its lack of pretentiousness and its raw

truthfulness. People also make sculpture out of found objects and it’s similar sometimes

to jungle cultures. Some of this has even been done in India and there is a wonderful

charm to it that can’t be matched by taught artists who have very strict standards of what

“beauty” is. I have painted and shown paintings so far in two galleries—Govinda Gallery

in Washington, DC and the gallery in the Nuyorican Café on the lower east side of New

York City. I received a very good review for my work by a Washington Post art critic,

who saw the paintings and described them as “awfully exuberant.” I mention this to

point out that the painting is preaching. Ninety percent of my paintings are Radha and

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Krsna, Gaura Nitai, or Krsna subjects like cowherd boys. Everybody knows they are

Krsna paintings. But I paint them in a modern style. Not exactly copying the admirable

paintings, which are the illustrations in BBT books but in a more outsider style, which is

all I really know. It is also good therapy for me in treating my disease.

So I ask you please not to see my avant-garde writing, which is thoroughly Krsna

conscious, and my original painting, as something that is drifting from the original

Satsvarupa das Goswami because it is not “straight stuff,” scriptural teachings like other

sannyasis are doing or that its not more exactly like Prabhupada’s books. My works lead

one to Prabhupada’s books. I receive letters from people saying that they couldn’t

approach Prabhupada until they approached me.

Question 15: Can we visit you?

Answer 15: Sometimes I may leave my more reclusive spot in California and go

to New York where I stay in my disciple’s home. When I am in New York, I am

sometimes able to tolerate more visits, but I have to be careful to limit the number of

visitors as I find it can be quite stressful.

I hope to increase my association by audio and video presentations that you can

see as a group or with your family.

Regarding personal visits from friends, sometimes, I’ll be having a good time

talking with a friend and getting good instructions, but at the same time the downside is

so heavy that it almost outweighs the good advice and the uplift of being with the saintly

person. I have to go to my bed right away and it may take hours for me to recover from

the benefit of “association.” Sometimes if people have traveled a long distance they

expect to stay a few days or even a week. I’m sorry to have to say this but I really dread

these kinds of visits. Even from close friends. It means I have to see them the next day

or at lunch and again. This builds up and builds up more and more anxiety for me.

Remember how I described my disease as anticipatory anxiety with accompanying

migraine. I become anxious about another meeting and another meeting. My body wants

to rest but I have to meet. It is something I’m forced to do by the situation and I have to

take more pills to get through it. By then I’m locked into the situation.

Question 16: Are you associating with other devotees?

Answer 16: I live in the association of several devotees and count on the many

members of Gita Nagari Press around the world for their on-going involvement with me

in my writing, editing, production, publication, and distribution of my creative work.

* * *

As your spiritual master, I want to know if in your heart the crack of faith has

occurred. I am sorry that I did wrong when I started working alone with a devotee

woman. But you did wrong if you placed me on a pedestal, thinking that I’m not a

human being who could commit a mistake. In the Bhagavad-gita it says that even a

person who commits a bad mistake should still be seen as a pure devotee, provided he is

determined in his Krsna consciousness.

I was very vulnerable at the time I made the mistake and I’m trying to become

strong again. I pray and I promise that such a mistake will not happen again.

I want to continue our relationship as spiritual master and disciple. Yes you

should see me as human not as perfect but you should trust me to guide you despite my

mistake. Think of all the years in which I have guided you rightly and forgive me just as

I have forgiven you so many times.

The best thing I can do for myself now is to mostly stay alone with a few

assistants and restore my health in such an atmosphere. The best thing you can do as

disciples is to become strong in your sadhana and principles, and to meet together as my

disciples. Write to me and my appointed representatives with any questions. Pray that

you will not lose faith and not allow this to weaken our bond. Time can heal things and

is on our side. Please use it in that way. Now let us pray and ask for this blessing. And

please read my books.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Satsvarupa das Goswami

[Guest guest]

terrible, he's saying openly to have a lot of problems with his spiritual and material life but he does not resigns and keeps obstinately the disciples bound to him

[Guest guest]

... and he signs as "goswami (master of the senses)"

[gHari]

That is so sick. You just aren't qualified to hold an opinion. God knows where such foolish ideas originate; do you?

 

twit<blockquote> (twit) tr.v. twit·ted, twit·ting, twits. 1. To taunt, ridicule, or tease, especially for embarrassing mistakes or faults. See Synonyms at ridicule. --twit n. 1. The act or an instance of twitting. 2. A reproach, gibe, or taunt. 3. Slang. A person regarded as foolishly annoying. [short for obsolete atwite, from Middle English atwiten, from Old English ætwºtan : æt, at; see AT1 + wºtan, to reproach; see weid- below.] --twit“ter n.</blockquote>

[Guest guest]

God knows where such foolish ideas originate; do you?

 

they originate from my foolish mind, if i were not foolish i were in vaikunta...

 

so to condemn and insult me is not a great thing.. if you have some explanations to change my opinion i accept them

[gHari]

I recommend studying the spiritual classic known as the Bhagavad-gita which contains the basics of the saintly quest. Even a cursory reading should leave you with the understanding that you are not qualified to have an opinion.

 

Not accepting the foolish mind is still a long way from Vaikuntha. But it is a good start.

[Guest guest]

He is real so humble.

[theist]

he noted how his illness became much worse at the same time as the zonal guru fiasco manifested. Connection? Who can say. Let's just hope that with his stepping back from those sorts of GBC organizational issues his health becomes restored.

 

He may even drop the gosvami tag, even as he lives the life, for futher lessening of causes of subtle anxiety.

 

As a side note it will interesting to see how many of us have been walking around with stones in our pockets just waiting for someone to stumble so that we may pull them out and enjoy the process of pelting a good soul at a time when a hand back up is needed.

 

Not that we should ignore the lessens this may have for us but piling on is never called for.

[krsna]

As a side note it will interesting to see how many of us have been walking around with stones in our pockets just waiting for someone to stumble so that we may pull them out and enjoy the process of pelting a good soul at a time when a hand back up is needed.

 

Not that we should ignore the lessons this may have for us but piling on is never called for.

[Guest guest]

When I read this new statement by Satswarup Maharaj three things came to my mind.

 

One is that it is perfectly clear that Satswarup Maharaj is not a liberated soul. The second thing, is that he has not attained transcendental Krishna Consciousness. Or in other words, that he is a kanistha adhikari. The third is that he is trying hard to keep his disciples, even though he is not Krishna Conscious.

 

I feel disciples should not accept a Guru or follow a Guru who is situated on this level. Disciples should find a highly qualified Guru, and not people who Srila Prabhupada has described as "ecclesiastical gurus". If a person accepts initiation from an ecclesiastical guru or follows an ecclesiastical guru, then he has only himself to blame when things go wrong.

 

- Muralidhar

<hr>

The Nectar of Instruction verse 5

 

TRANSLATION

One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krsna, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [diksa and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that Pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.

 

PURPORT

In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami advises the devotee to be intelligent enough to distinguish between the kanistha madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari .The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has given some practical hints to the effect that an uttama-adhikari; Vaisnaava can be recognized by his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaisnavism. One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari .A neophyte Vaisnava or a Vaisnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal of life under his insufficient guidance . Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master.

[Guest guest]

I'm very disturbed with the parts of this message in which he equates doubts about his spiritual position with personal weakness, and tries to encourage disciples to stay with him, i.e.

 

" I don’t think I’ve done anything so wrong that it cannot be discussed realistically, within the bounds of the sastra, and we can see the justification for me to continue being your spiritual master. It is reasonable and sastric to give me forgiveness and continue to trust my word. "

 

...and this too, after admitting, "we did become physically

intimate and this was wrong."

 

Anyway, what more can be said? It's obvious that a certain individual here has taken up the position of chewing out anyone who expresses doubt.

 

Let's just hope SDG gets better for the sake of his health. I do so dislike seeing people suffer.

 

 

[theist]

I am trying within myself to evaluate the lessons honestly and at the same time not take some perverted pleasure in Satsvarupa's misdeeds. I have never tried to do this before. Usually I am one of the first to pile on.

 

But there are important things here that should be considered. Can we take the needed lesson without dumping on Satsvarupa? I think we should try. Pretending all is OK when its not makes us complicit after the fact.

 

When I read the letter the same things that guest mentioned also bothered me.

 

 

[Guest guest]

 

When I read the letter the same things that guest mentioned also bothered me.

 

 

 

I'm glad I was not the only one. On one hand, a mistake of this magnitude should be a cause for great humility. Yet the last half of the letter seems to be full of reasons offered by him as to why he should continue to be guru, why his mistake was not so bad, why his disciples should still have faith in him, etc etc. Also, I found dubious the reasoning he offered as to why he didn't come out with the truth until now. Sure, he has disciples and doing so might hurt their feelings. But at least after the "fall down" happened, he could have stopped initiating at that point and retired from his managerial responsibilities.

 

 

[gHari]

We know what didn't happen. For a sannyasi, in his mind, holding her hand would be considered intimacy. I think maybe our libidos are getting carried away here.

 

They all want to hold my hand. Is it wrong that I give them a smile now and then, describe their beauty with my eyes, make them feel okay? Is it okay? Is it Krsna's desire? Crush the rose or give it the water it needs to grow in the right direction, towards the sun? Moment by moment, I don't think there is a hard and fast rule.

 

Hare Krsna

 

 

[krsna]

When I read this new statement by Satswarup Maharaj three things came to my mind.

 

One is that it is perfectly clear that Satswarup Maharaj is not a liberated soul. The second thing, is that he has not attained transcendental Krishna Consciousness. Or in other words, that he is a kanistha adhikari. The third is that he is trying hard to keep his disciples, even though he is not Krishna Conscious.

 

I feel disciples should not accept a Guru or follow a Guru who is situated on this level. Disciples should find a highly qualified Guru, and not people who Srila Prabhupada has described as "ecclesiastical gurus". If a person accepts initiation from an ecclesiastical guru or follows an ecclesiastical guru, then he has only himself to blame when things go wrong.

 

- Muralidhar

 

--

 

The Nectar of Instruction verse 5

 

TRANSLATION

One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krsna, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [diksa and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that Pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.

 

PURPORT

In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami advises the devotee to be intelligent enough to distinguish between the kanistha madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari .The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has given some practical hints to the effect that an uttama-adhikari; Vaisnaava can be recognized by his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaisnavism. One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari .A neophyte Vaisnava or a Vaisnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal of life under his insufficient guidance . Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master.