Prabhupada: "Tilak is our position. That is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's stricture. You will not see one face if there is no tilak. He used to say it is cremation ground. Yes, without tilak. Pasanta mukha.(?) Tilak must be there." ( Room Conversation, March 31, 1977, Bombay)
Rocana Prabhu's view on Shri Radhanath Swami's book tour and TV interview was frank and well-deserved. Notwithstanding the righteous indignity of the Sun's Editor, we still hold the opinion that even a murderer who comes to Krishna can be considered saintly. There are many such examples, including even the great Adi-kavi Valmiki. This is also confirmed by Shri Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita As It Is (9.30):
api chet duracharo bhajante mam ananya bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah samyag vyavasito hi sah
"Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated."
I admit that there's a part of me that really wants to like Radhanath Swami and believe in his goodness and tolerance. But there's a voice within me that is nearly screaming for him to be more honest and straightforward with the media. It cries from the depths of my soul, "Take off the slick swami mask and just tell the truth." Radhanath's routine on Fox TV was like a bad episode from one of Bhakti Caru's Hindu-ized soap operas.
On one hand, many of HH Radhanath's disciples whom I have met casually in India have impressed me, and that is certainly to his credit. But what really bothers me in the Seattle interview was the cat and mouse game he plays of "Where's Prabhupada?" We were dealt the race card of his early persecution as a Jewish lad in Chicago. We were treated to smiling pictures of Radhanath schmoozing with cow eaters like Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama. There were more pictures of fashion Swamis with their hair-do's stylishly coiffed. But where were Srila Prabhupada and the mahamantra? Where was Krishna?
While Radhanath was drinking in the newscaster's praise that he is "one of India's spiritual leaders", he chose to bury the Gaudiya philosophy behind a bare tilak-free forehead.
Sure, we all know that New Vrindavana during the time of Radhanath was a cremation ground. It was a cremation ground…
-of murdered devotees like poor Sulochan Prabhu, who was shot in cold blood as he brooded silently and dejectedly over a movement he saw being destroyed by demons in saffron;
-of hundreds of men and women who were forced into unwholesome marriages of convenience so they could enjoy sense gratification for ten minutes before returning to fraudulently collecting for a charismatic megalomaniac named Kritanananda;
-of Vaishnava principles that were sold down the river in exchange for Kirtanananda's penchant for the Bible, for Pilgrim's Progress, and for re-writing the Purports to Bhagavad Gita.
-of dozens of children who were molested by an entire squad of perverts posing as teachers and spiritual guides, permanently scarring precious lives.
The cremation ground of Kirtanananda's killing fields is indelible history.
But there is another cremation ground. It is the forehead of a Vaishnava that is not adorned with tilak. Srila Prabhupada likened tilak to a badge that identifies an officer of the law and displays his authority to represent that law. Tilak is the insignia of the fearless preacher whereby he shows his authority to speak the truth, no matter how distasteful his words may be. It is the duty of a preacher who is blessed with the opportunity to reach millions to represent his guru openly and honestly. For a Vaishnava, that means wearing tilak, for its absence only announces that a devotee is no devotee at all and has no link to the Absolute Truth.
Why then did Radhanath not don his badge of gopi chandan and let his forehead do the preaching? Is he ashamed of being associated with the great Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya? His apologists will tell us that he must have forgotten his tilak in the rush to get on camera. Right. Just like he must have forgotten that Prabhupada never authorized devotees to murder one another.
The "beat-around-the-bush", "cremation-ground-forehead" form of preaching will bring no sincere soul into the fold of Vaishnavism. Wishy-washy compromising in the name of a vague God-is-love platform will only attract other spiritual weaklings who will ultimately be nothing but a burden on the society for their lack of courage and commitment. Radhanath may have left New Vrindavana, but his preaching is still back there with Jesus on the Vyasa Asan.
So to revive Radhanath's memory, as well as the other glad hand interfaith "preachers", here is a lesson in tilak. The tilak mantras are from the chapter entitled "Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs Shri Sanatan Goswami in the Science of the Absolute Truth" (Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya 20.202)
dwadasa-tilaka mantra ei dwadasa nama
achaane ei name sparsi tat-tat sthanedvadasa-ilaka-- for twelve marks of tilak; mantra -- the mantra; ei-- these; dvadasa nama -- twelve names; achamane -- in washing with water; ei name -- with these names; sparsi -- we touch; tat-tat-sthana-- the respective places.
TRANSLATION
"When putting the twelve tilakmarks on the twelve places of the body, one has to chant the mantra consisting of these twelve Vishnu names. After daily worship, when one anoints the different parts of the body with water, these names should be chanted as one touches each part of the body."
PURPORT
While marking the body with tilak, one should chant the following mantra, which consists of twelve names of Lord Vishnu:
lalate kesavam dhyayen narayanam athodare
vakshah-sthale madhavam tu govindam kantha-kupake
vishnum cha dakshina kukshau bahau ca madhusudanam
trivikramam kandhare tu vamanam vama-parsvake
sridharam vama-bahau tu hrishikesam tu kandhare
prishthe ca padmanabham ca katyam damodaram nyaset
"When one marks the forehead with tilak, he must remember Keshava. When one marks the lower abdomen, he must remember Narayana. For the chest, one should remember Madhava, and when marking the hollow of the neck one should remember Govinda. Lord Vishnu should be remembered while marking the right side of the belly, and Madhusudana should be remembered when marking the right arm. Trivikrama should be remembered when marking the right shoulder, and Vamana should be remembered when marking the left side of the belly. Sridhara should be remembered while marking the left arm, and Hrishikesa should be remembered when marking the left shoulder. Padmanabha and Damodara should be remembered when marking the back."
Radhanath's caricature of a tilak-free, made-for-the-gullible-public Swami routine has all the trappings of Satyajit Rays' bogus Birinchi Baba in his guru spoof, The Mahapurush (1965). Considering all the other non-sampradayic so-called spiritual leaders featured in the Radhanath's Seattle interview, here's one mayavadi holy man the Guru from Chowpatty should definitely have included:
