Pertinent to the Directives of Srila Prabhupada
BY: TAMOHARADASA (ACBSP)
Feb 29, CALGARY, CANADA (SUN) — My obeisances to the readers of the Vaisnava weBsites. Those following the Sampradaya Sun and Dandavats both, will be a little familiar with my articles. I have gone from being brand new to the very word "ritvik" some roughly five years ago, to being flabbergasted and outraged at apparent abuses of devotees by those in high ranks. I have had to reach my own conclusions on the directions left for us by Srila Prabhupada, and clearly his expressed instruction were, to my best understanding, for a system of officiating priests to perform initiations on Prabhupada's behalf and orders. But, I also believe that there are those, like Srila Gour Govinda Swami and others, who are fully qualified and they may act as acaryas and diksa gurus, if they dare, and if there are those who wish them to be their guru, and as Krsna allows. This, dare I say, hybrid system, is my sincere belief as Krsna's plan and our Spiritual Masters instructions.
Still, at times, out of shock and outrage, I have basically grouped all together and condemned all ISKCON gurus for the fatal flaws of others. That has been unfair, and I apologize sincerely for my excesses in this matter. This does not negate my condemnation of abusers and unqualified persons who prematurely take up the reins of guruship to the sad degradation of all. Still, Bhakti is the yoga of love. I am finding that there are sincere and good people in both camps, or even shall I say all the various camps.
I am for the worldwide preaching of Narayana Maharajah Goswami, I appreciate the Ritviks' honesty and understandings, I value the services of the many devotees who have served with their hearts and souls even when their gurus fell into Maya. I am for all the
Vaisnavas, and cannot see how we should ultimately allow differences in understanding to blind us to the basics, which is that we are all for spreading love of Krsna through
harinama sankirtana, as widely as possible, and learning ourselves to give up envious
mentalities in favor of compassion and even love of others -- even so far as reasonably
possible towards those who see us falsely as their enemies.
Having said this, I humbly put it that we should condemn the haters, the fanatics, not
the groups in which we can conveniently label others and thus serve the purposes of
promoting paranoia and hate. Ultimately, our devotional service is between ourselves and
Lord Krsna. We ourselves have been subject to group labeling as Hare Krishnas, and have been abused and maligned as a group. Individually we know how unfair that can be. We have been wholesale condemned in the past for the excesses of other yoga groups, or of those within our own movement who have acted demoniacally.
Practically, there is no operational Ritvik camp in Canada for devotees to attend and
be part of full-time. The one person whom I spoke with, etc. of the so-called Rtivik group
that calls itself Radha Damodara temple, I have found to be a fanatical hater of other
Vaisnavas, accusing every one of the ISKCON devotees of being responsible for poisoning Srila Prabhupada. But by staying in ISKCON temples, I have seen many sincere souls and aspiring Vaisnavas. I have also experienced prejudice and hate and intolerance and paranoia of a most bizarre and uncalled for kind directed towards me. I have been honest when asked for my understanding, and told that I have understood Srila Prabhupada' s directives to be for officiating priests in his temples for perpetuity, with qualifying new gurus to go outside and start their own centers in cooperation with the pure and eternal center, Srila Prabhupada's temples. These ISKCON persons are like thought police, intolerant and as guilty as the group-labelers on the other side of the issue.
Anyway, it is the individuals who matter after all, not that a label can be used to cover
all. There are haters and there are sincere souls in all the camps. Let us kick out the sectarian hateful mentalities, let us cooperatively spread harinama, let us concentrate on our devotional service, and let there be compassionate dialogue and freedom of thought for all. Let the cultists and immature devotees advance in their spiritual lives, meanwhile let us not pander to them or even allow their immaturity to poison our relations with other Vaisnavas. They should not be allowed to spread sectarian hatred and abuse of any other persons whatsoever. We are adults and hopefully mature enough to be open-minded and able to listen, at least most of the time.
I admit to inflaming issues for the sake of trying to burn through a message to those
clearly abusing their authorities, but I may have gone too far in saying that all should
simply leave ISKCON. It isn't going to happen, anyway, lets face it. We shall have to
work with what we have.
We Ritvik-vadis and guru-vadis, ha ha, have far more in common than we have differences! We wear the same tilak, for Gods sake! It is Maya's plan to divide us against each other, all the better to implement kali-yuga in full horror. Let these bannings cease, let the wholesale condemnation of others cease, let us be tolerant, let the truth prevail, let
the Vaisnavas do their best according to their best understandings. Let the Vaisnava
aparadhs cease once and for all. Let the phonies be exposed, and the advanced
glorified. Let the qualified advance and be provided with all service opportunities without
prejudice, including that of acting diksa guru. Let ISKCON give up her envious bannings
and witch hunt. Let us be mature and level-headed, avoid the envious, make friends with
the devotees, and serve the actually higher Vaisnavas as best we can in our limited time
on this earth.
