The Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya
BY: ROCANA DASA
Jan 7, CANADA (SUN) — In his article of January 3rd, ISKCON's literary sharpshooter, Ravindra Svarupa, responded to discussions that have been unfolding here in the Sun in the wake of my original Obeisances article about Radhanatha Swami.
Ravindra Svarupa has now encapsulated his whole concept of fault-finding into a neat package he refers to as "being in the Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya. He places personalities such as Janmastami dasa and Giri-nayaka dasa into this group. This pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's is presented in the Caitanya-caritamrta Antya Lila 8:51, entitled Ramacandra Puri Criticizes the Lord. Upon reading this chapter, it became clear to me that this particular pastime had nothing to do with the personalities that Ravindra Svarupa was pointing the accusation towards. Actually, the story is very much applicable to Kirtanananda and Radhanatha Swami, more than anyone else. Readers are encouraged to read this pastimes for themselves, which can be read here, even being going on with what I have to say in this article.
As our readers know, my main theme is that Srila Prabhupada is a Sampradaya Acarya, and this pastime has to do directly with who, essentially, is within our Sampradaya. As we know, Madhavendra Puri, Isvara Puri, and of course Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu are part of our disciplic succession, as it is presented by the recent Sampradaya Acaryas, namely Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and Srila Prabhupada. Isvara Puri's Godbrother, Ramacandra Puri, is described by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta in his purport:
"…common people nevertheless addressed him as Goswami or Gosai because he was superficially in the renounced order and dressed like a sannyasi."
Within the community of Vaisnavas in Jagannatha Puri at the time Lord Caitanya's pastimes took place in His Antya lila period, Ramacandra Puri was essentially the most senior sannyasis, being Lord Caitanya's spiritual master's Godbrother. When we reflect on the fact that in ISKCON, with Srila Prabhupada being the Sampradaya Acarya who is essentially on the same level as Isvara Puri, we can reflect on that fact that Ramacandra Puri could easily be depicted as being one of Srila Prabhupada's Godbrothers who criticized Srila Prabhupada. Or, we could also consider him to be like Kirtanananda, who gained so much power within ISKCON on account of him being the first sannyasi. Since the 1960's, Kirtanananda was considered to be the most senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada.
As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati says in his comments on Ramacandra Puri, I would contend that Kirtanananda was only superficially in the renounced order. We all now know that he was having homosex with young boys and men for a long time. Consequently, how could he be a sannyasi at all?
So essentially, the essence of the message given in this whole section of the Caitanya-caritamrta is that Ramacandra Puri is not in our Sampradaya, because he had the audacity to criticize Madhavendra Puri, his Spiritual Master, at the time of his departure, when he was expressing the mood of separation from Krsna. Of course, this mood is an essential pillar of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's philosophy.
Isvara Puri, on the other hand, served Madhavendra Puri in the mood of a servant, free of any criticism, and performed the most menial type of service, which Ramacandra Puri wouldn’t do. Madhavendra Puri became very angry at Ramacandra Puri, and basically threw him out of the Sampradaya. As described in this chapter, the reason Ramacandra Puri had the audacity to instruct his Spiritual Master, the Sampradaya Acarya Madhavendra Puri, is that he was contaminated by Mayavadi philosophy. As such, he wasn't advanced enough to appreciate the mood of separation, which is the most distinguishing aspect of our Sampradaya. This same mood led him in due course to criticize the sannyasi followers of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and then eventually to find fault with Lord Caitanya Himself.
What I would like to point out in this article is how close the similarity is between the dynamics of these characters and the contemporary character, Kirtanananda. As indicated by all the dialogue and information we've been made aware of in the Sun recently, one of the most dramatic aspects of Kirtanananda's pastimes was the murder of Sulocana prabhu. There's all sorts of circumstantial evidence to lead one to believe that Sulocana was threatening Kirtanananda and other members of New Vrindaban. But what was at the root of this was that Sulocana had gotten access to the forbidden early letters Srila Prabhupada had written to his disciples, and he began broadcasting their contents. One of the facts contained in these letters was that Srila Prabhupada had actually thrown Kirtanananda out of ISKCON early on, being very displeased with him. As is corroborated in the excerpts from the book by Dave Gold recently published in the Sun, this was the reason Kirtanananda went to West Virginia in the first place, and started the New Vrindaban commune. In fact, prior to Srila Prabhupada having ejected Kirtanananda from the movement, Kirtanananda, much like Ramacandra Puri, had the audacity to try and tell Srila Prabhupada how to run his preaching in the West. And the tactics Kirtanananda suggested, which Srila Prabhupada rejected, were the very same ones he instituted later at New Vrindaban, where he and Hayagriva began building their own movement. So just as Madhavendra Puri became very angry with Ramacandra Puri, Srila Prabhupada had become very angry with Kirtanananda.
By Srila Prabhupada's magnanimity, and due to his causeless mercy, he managed to get Kirtanananda and New Vrindaban back into the ISKCON fold. In hindsight, we can see that they never really were part of ISKCON, in the sense that Kirtanananda was just like Ramacandra Puri, always critical of his Spiritual Master, his Godbrothers, and the rest of ISKCON. Kirtanananda always remained quite separate from this rest of the movement, and his distilled his own mood in as he built New Vrindaban, which was essentially his own Sampradaya - not the Sampradaya Srila Prabhupada had established through his ISKCON.
Kirtanananda and his New Vrindaban leaders always projected the mood that they were special and more empowered than anybody else in ISKCON. This mood was clearly communicated at the Mayapur festivals, as the old-timers who regularly attended these festivals will recall. Even during Srila Prabhupada's manifest lila period, when Kirtanananda came to the Mayapur festival, he and his entourage would always remain separate from the rest of the prabhus. He had his own agenda. He would only stay for the shortest possible period of time, and he would remove himself as quickly as he possibly could from the association of the rest of the devotees. To this day, we don’t' know what actually took place during these GBC meetings, and what Kirtanananda contributed to the discussions, but from what I understand, he always remained rather aloof and condescending, projecting the attitude that he was better than everyone else. We see that same mood projected by the members of Kirtanananda's Sampradaya today.
We could list all the different types programs that Kirtanananda instituted within ISKCON, even during Srila Prabhupada's presence, that were outside of our Sampradaya. These include the women's parties, and all of the other nefarious, demoniac programs that have now become a well-known part of ISKCON history. As I've already mentioned in a previous article, I feel that it was Kirtanananda who infected the rest of his Godbrothers with the mood that eventually resulted in the Zonal Acarya system.
Kirtanananda was essentially envious of Srila Prabhupada, and in the beginning, subtly criticized Srila Prabhupada. Later on, his criticism of Srila Prabhupada became more outwardly offensive. The whole interfaith crossover was essentially Kirtanananda saying to the world and to the rest of the Vaisnava community that Srila Prabhupada had made some big mistakes, that he should and could have introduced the same kinds of program Kirtanananda was, and if he had done so, ISKCON would have been far more successful. In fact, as we've learned from other sources, he actually proposed these very programs to Srila Prabhupada while he was still present on the planet, and Srila Prabhupada rejected his ideas. But obviously, Kirtanananda kept these desires within his heart and never accepted Srila Prabhupada's instruction.
As evidenced by the statements above, I believe that those who were in New Vrindaban were not part of our Sampradaya, because they accepted Kirtanananda over and above Srila Prabhupada. This whole discussion began with comments I made about Radhanatha Swami, in response to his article on Dandavats wherein he basically described his own conception of his personal Sampradaya. If you re-read that article, you'll see that Radhanatha went from being a Shiva worshipper to being a crossover Vaisnava of some kind, influenced by the pujari from Vrindavan. Interestingly enough, he hardly mentions Srila Prabhupada, but goes straight to the fact that he went to New Vrindaban and joined Kirtanananda's apasampradaya. He remained there for well over 20 years, actively serving as Kirtanananda's number one disciple.
Now the question is, at this point is he still a Kirtanananda disciple? I say he is, and I say that all the Swamis who were part of Kirtanananda's sampradaya are contaminated. No one who served for any length of time at New Vrindaban is 100% free of the infectious influence that Kirtanananda imbued in them. Some have recovered more than others. Of course, we're concerned first and foremost with the Radhanatha, then Umapati, Chandramauli, Devamrita, and so on. We're led to believe that somehow or other, these devotees left New Vrindaban and immediately "saw the light", have renounced Kirtanananda and his apasampradaya. Of course, this could easily be the mood they project to the rest of the society out of political expedience, now that Kirtanananda's s branch has completely dried up. Although they've all tried to make it appear that they hopped the branch before it broke off, leaping over to Srila Prabhupada's actual ISKCON branch, there are many symptoms and indications that they're still contaminated. One of the greatest indications of this is the fact that we have no written explanation by them of how it is that they became so enamored with Kirtanananda, to the point that they were supporting Kirtanananda 100%, most for a long period of time.
In the case of Radhanatha and Devamrita Swami's, there are other important symptoms that they didn't abandon their attachment to Kirtanananda's apasampradaya, leaving it to join Srila Prabhupada's transcendental Sampradaya. We have corroborating evidence from several sources that when they left New Vrindavan, Radhanatha and Devamrita went to Australia and New Zealand, where they quickly established their own tailored preaching programs… which were fundamentally based on the contaminated practices they had enjoyed under Kirtanananda's sampradaya. So they had not renounced Kirtanananda and left New Vrindaban, as they would not like to make out is the case.
When Devamrita Swami first arrived in New Zealand, he quickly set-up his own "interfaith" project, replete with monk's robes. In 1993, their preaching location was outfitted with three Asian-style altars, one of which was Christian, one Buddhist, and one Krishna. They were promoting silent chanting, and were holding seminars on various New Age subjects like aliens, but presented with a Hare Krsna spin. Women were instructed to wear saffron saris or monks robes.
Similar accounts are given about Radhanatha's activities with Devamrita in Australia, where they were also encouraging the devotees to step out of their dhotis and kurtas and put on monk's robes. Rather than chanting the maha-mantra as Srila Prabhupada had instructed, they were taught to put in earplugs and chant silently. Clearly, neither Radhanatha or Devamrita had actually left the New Vrindaban mood behind. In fact, there were staunch members of the Kirtanananda Sampradaya, which they continued to advanced in other parts of the world, after the scene at New Vrindaban had become too hot to handle.
Today, we find Ravindra Svarupa harshly painting devotees like Janmastami dasa and Giri-nayaka dasa as being chronic fault-finders. But let's be honest here - these are really just "small time" personalities in the overall scene. By his own admission, Janmastami was just a follower, a foot soldier in Kirtanananda's army. Like Tirtha and others who had been conscribed into Kirtanananda militia, they were really victims of this whole sad saga. The main personalities that Ravindra Svarupa should be focusing his criticism on are Radhanatha Swami, and all the other senior men who led everyone to believe that Kirtanananda was everything he was projecting himself to be - namely Srila Prabhupada's number one sannyasi, and a pure devotee.
Going back to the Antya lila chapter of Caitanya-caritamrta, we see that the true sannyasis and followers of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu were in a dilemma, because they very much disliked Ramacandra Puri's criticism of Lord Caitanya. Mahaprabhu had cut his portions of prasadam in half on the basis of Ramacandra Puri's criticism. Ramacandra Puri was the most senior Vaisnava, according to the diksa lineage conception of the disciplic succession. Therefore, everyone was obliged to pay him all respects, as even Lord Caitanya did. The other Vaisnavas of that time, particularly Paramananda Puri, didn't want to criticize Ramacandra Puri, but all the Vaisnavas were in great anxiety on account of Ramacandra Puri's criticism of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They felt that it was more important to just bring their criticisms of Ramacandra Puri to Lord Caitanya. And as the pastime unfolds, He, being non-different from Supersoul, arrange that Ramacandra Puri left the association of the Vaisnavas there and went on pilgrimage, never to return.
In drawing the parallel to Kirtanananda, we can see how Lord Krsna took care of Kirtanananda. Like Paramananda Puri, all of us Godbrothers are relieved to see the end of Kirtanananda, as well as many of the other Zonal Acaryas who have been eliminated by Krsna, not by the GBC.
Throughout the whole melodrama unfolding on the Sun, where the activities of infamous characters like Tirtha, Janmastami and so on are being rehashed, and in some cases heard for the very first time, what becomes very clear is that their rationale was that they did these things "in the service of Kirtanananda" and his Sampradaya leaders. We can see that the philosophical essence of what they did and why they did it came directly from the sannyasis, beginning with Kirtanananda, then Radhanatha. I'm not sure exactly what the pecking order was that had been established at New Vrindaban, but there's no question in my mind that Radhanatha Swami was second in command there. Basically there was an army of small-timers who were following the lead of those above them. And although, from a legalistic point of view it may be difficult to ascertain who gave what order when, and what the chain of events was that took place, there is absolutely no question that Kirtanananda was not following Srila Prabhupada's mood. He had set-up his own Sampradaya, and it was very different from Srila Prabhupada's. On the spiritual level, Kirtanananda felt that he was non-different from Srila Prabhupada.
As Tirtha has stated, he felt that he was protecting a great Acarya by his actions. He even says that Kirtanananda essentially ordered him to kill Chakradhari. But as for who actually gave the marching orders in terms of Sulocana's murder, who must consider the fact that Kirtanananda was just coming out of a comatose condition at the time. Who else but his most senior sannyasis would be the logical choice in this matter? While Tirtha, to this day, has apparently made a personal vow to continue supporting these people, others are not so loyal. Direct allegations have been made and corroborated that it was Radhanatha who organized the murder of Sulocana dasa.
In his recent article, Ravindra Svarupa also reveals the fact that the Prison Ministry was part of Kirtanananda's "Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya". This has been overseen or controlled by Chandramauli Swami. Ravindra states that Tirtha informed him that his life would be in danger if he testified against Kirtanananda, who he had finally, supposedly renounced. Then Ravindra reveals the fact that this statement proved to be almost true, as Tirtha was cut up by somebody in prison. Now who but Chandramauli could have instructed someone in prison to do this to Tirtha? The average prisoner wouldn't have a clue who Kirtanananda was, or what Tirtha's actions were and how they had impacted anyone. While it could have just been chance, it seems much more likely that some prisoner was informed that Tirtha should be attacked. But who would do this? Tirtha is so foolish to this day that he can't connect these dots.
Today, the Prison Ministry is still overseen by the very same person, and Tirtha continues to be co-opted as an honorary member of this same Sampradaya. So Tirtha is still within the Kirtanananda Sampradaya, under direction of the Prison Ministry run by Chandramauli, who is still part of the Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya. We're all left with the question, who amongst all the GBC/sannyasis, namely Radhanatha, Devamrita, Umapati, Malati, et al., are essentially still part of this same Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya today? From what I can gather from the way that this discussion is unfolding, it appears that they are all still infected by the same disease that Kirtanananda infected them with, spiritual AIDS. And there's practically no cure for it. The GBC themselves have not informed us, philosophically, of how they have divested themselves from the mentality that Kirtanananda introduced.
In fact, by doing some peripheral reading of Radhanatha Swami's methodologies in terms of how he runs his Sampradaya in Chowpatty, we see many symptoms that his program is cut from the same die as Kirtanananda's. In the booklet "Simple Steps for a Simple Temple," Radhanatha warns his followers that they'll be thrown out if they question or criticize anything done by the leadership:
"Before the successful applicants move in, we tell them that if there is ever a day when they are asked to do a service and they say no, that is the day they must leave the ashram. And if they ever gossip or get involved in any level of politics, they must leave the ashram."
This is not remotely like Srila Prabhupada's mood or program. It is, however, exactly what it was like at New Vrindaban. If you gave any hint that Kirtanananda was what he really was, you were run out on a rail, if not killed.
As for Ravindra Svarupa, I don’t know what Sampradaya he's in. He's now defending these very same people, right down to the lowly Tirtha. Those who are in positions of authority within ISKCON have to question whether or not, if or how, they've been affected by these crossovers from the Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya.
This whole drama began with a discussion about how Radhanatha is re-writing history, and creating the mythical Radhanatha Swami. He's essentially trying to convince his followers and other members of ISKCON that he has divorced himself from the Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya, but there are very serious indications that that's simply not true. As for the devotees today who are disciples or followers of those who were leaders at New Vrindaban, I suggest that they be very careful not to get infected with the same disease that Kirtanananda infected all the members of New Vrindaban with, to varying degrees.
The question for Tirtha is, before he leaves his body in prison is he going to remove himself from the Kirtanananda Sampradaya, and join Srila Prabhupada's pure transcendental Sampradaya? Because it's obvious that he still considers himself a member of the Ramacandra Puri Sampradaya, even though the entire circumstance he's personally in is a direct result of his membership in that Sampradaya. And the way Ravindra Svarupa is defending him, it appears that he, too, is an honorary member.
