Kiss the Swami Goodbye
BY: SHIV CHARAN SHRIVASTAVA
Feb 04, 2011 — KANPUR, INDIA (SUN) — I read with interest the wisely-written article, "ISKCON's Tolerance of Sannyasa Mockery" by Shri S.V. Sharma in yesterday's daily dose of Sun. The Vaishnava author discusses the dilemma that the Hare Krishna Movement has lodged for itself by allowing a free reign to its sannyasi leaders to squirrel away unwieldy bank accounts.
With their carte blanche for exploitation of their trembling "subservients," ISKCON's arrogant tormentors once upon a time practically corkscrewed the entire Hare Krishna movement into the ground. And neither have today's danda-wielding lovers of gold learned their little lesson of history. How the Movement was saved from itself in its dark generation following the acharya's mahasamadhi is witnessed by the saga of a few really dedicated and selfless renunciates, who somehow remained within the ranks despite the hubbub caused by the society's would-be castrators.
The personalities who do walk the walk within ISKCON deserve their due share of credit and we do not suggest in this our diatribe that the baby should be thrown out with the bath water. Unfortunately, the honest ones are vastly outnumbered. But as any fool can recognize from the alarm bell of Sharma's article, a thorough tune-up of ISKCON is in order…
As the world is aware, ISKCON's most egregious example of saffron pilfer and exploit was the concocted Zonal Acarya system, orchestrated by the now nearly defunct Pad Squad, a gang of dacoity as ruthless as any that ever screamed across headlines. It was led by a number of lop-sided individuals whose tragic demises and plummets from grace were no different than the fall of Ravana.
It is apparent that when Shrila Prabhupada noted that many demons were operating within the scenery of ISKCON in a purport of his Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita, he was not referring to the new bhakta who oversleeps or the mataji who wants a husband. No, His Divine Grace was referring to the demons whose bloodshot eyeballs were riveted onto the very throne of the True Guru. The unqualified disciple who seeks to usurp the sitting place of the spiritual master within the ashram of Shri Guru is no less than the servant who rapes the wife of his master. By the dubious blessings of that outlandish gang of exploiters, the devoted services of thousands of decent and good members of the sangha--members whose only desire was to serve their spiritual family--were unlawfully terminated in a mighty quick fell swoop. Apparently Heaven's Eleven thought that Shrila Prabhupada's disciples were disposable, like used tissue paper, and could be easily replaced like paper towels on sale at the convenience store where replacement sycophants are purchased. Apparently, at least a few learned too late that the karmic retribution for such Vaishnava aparadha is decapitation in the court of the Supreme Lord.
Yet of the thousands of devotees who were unceremoniously issued walking papers, many still long to serve their Spiritual Master in the mode of worship that Shrila Prabhupada arranged by the grace of Shri Guru Parampara. They long for glorious days of attending diksha yagna and the fragrance of ghee and incense at aratiks within Shri Guru's Holy Ashram, something that was denied to them in the blood lust and feeding frenzy of nuvo-gurudom. And now--see the irony--most of the replacement disciples of the Chosen Phew, I mean Few, have long since grabbed whatever they could make off with and absconded in the foot tracks of their shudra mahajans. The scandalous history of the Shadow Acharyas is no dark secret and is plainly visible to anyone with Internet.
Therefore, since those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it, Shri S.V. Sharma's point about bank account swamis is well-taken. For example, to this day, the imposter self-chosen "Acharyadeva" openly uses his intelligence primarily for arguing in favor of his chosen luxurious lifestyle. In his article, Sharma uses the term "ISKCON's tolerance" in this regard. Such "tolerance" is rather created by descending and fearsome threats rather than the tolerance Shriman Mahaprabhu spoke of in His immortal Sikshastaka, wherein the Lord stated:
trinad api sunichena taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih
"One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly."
No, ISKCON's tolerance is not like that of Shri Rupa and Sanatana. Rather, the society's members are cautioned with thinly veiled commination not to criticise superior fake Vaishnavas, at least the imposters who are exploiting the real ones. In this way any voice of protest is de-tongued and quelled. With the threat of dissent duly neutered, the authorized and approved lackeys--the servants and ministers of the Good Boy Committee who are bent upon transfiguring the very foundation of Krishna consciousness--are shown the green light when it comes to their whimsical refurbishment. In ISKCON, tolerance is defined as changing the teachings of the sampradaya acharya while turning a blind eye to millionaire swamis. Unfortunately there is little tolerance for the shocking truth that Sharma in his article represents.
There is probably no better place to witness the lackadaisical predilection that grows beneath the fertilizer of forced tolerance than on the propaganda machine site www.planetiskcon.com. There, stories are rampant about the joy of interfaith, the very acceptance of which infers that Krishna Consciousness is another bodily form of material religion. There are features celebrating emerging third world democracies, although Shrila Prabhupada called vox populi -- a system in which little dogs vote for bigger dogs -- as "demon-crazy." There are the usual votes of approval for cow-eaters perceived as great humanitarians, like the speech of Rev. Martin Luther King now featured on the site. Or Bhakti Charu Swami waxing eloquently about India's Independence Day. There is a story of ghosts by Keshava Krishna das that mentally speculates in most offensive terms about the eternal sampradaya acharyas in the same breath as disembodied haunting spirits. Another article discusses how Muslim writers will change their image within Hollywood. There is an article on the UN-sponsored World Faith Harmony Week. As if the United Nations, an illegally-formed arm of demonic international corporatism -- one that Shrila Prabhupada sharply criticized and one that has soldiers "keeping peace" all over the world (in oil rich nations) -- gives a damn about global harmony. And then there is something everyone will always agree on when there is cause for disagreement. Hot off the press: the latest recipes from the Vegan Cook Book. In ISKCON's new age environment, vegan means cooking for "devotees" who wish to pretend that cows don't exist. "Devotees" who do not know that veganism is the other side of the coin of cow slaughter; it is a concoction for austerity-minded demons who have forgotten that the Lord of the Hare Krishna Movement was a cowherd boy.
Let us return our rant to the point of Shri Sharmajee's article on ISKCON's false tolerance. Perhaps Planet ISKCON's most egregious assaults on the very foundation of dharma are penned by the Old Aparadhi himself. "Poetry" scribed by one of the original founders of the despicable Zonal Acarya system, the iron hand in the soft calfskin glove that destroyed the spiritual life of thousands of Prabhupada's disciples. And that means ISKCON's self-proclaimed poet laureate, Satsvarupa Go! Swami, whose filthy drivel drips all over Planet ISKCON like cooking grease that soils an old stove. Make no mistake about it. Such forced tolerance is like the charitable attitude of a cowardly fool who is getting pick-pocketed on a crowded subway towards his cozy thief.
Planet ISKCON is a mindless website that has spun out of orbit. It is a site without sight. The following nauseating prattle recently showcased there is an example of what ISKCON is forced to endure because of the tyrannical reign of millionaire all-expense-paid swamis who preach their own form of tolerance for you -- and not for them -- to follow. Read the following Go! Swami doggerel, and weep for the unfortunate foolish ashramites who are admonished into thinking that this piece of decaying garbage would please the sampradaya acharya for a single lava (1/18th of a second):
"We kissed at night and went to bed in domestic ecstasy"
-Satsvarupa Go! Swami
Japa Poem
Satswarupa Go! Swami
Waiting for Krishna
I must drink as much
water as possible at
least one and a half liters.
I'm on the side of
a happy family. I
wrote my reminiscence
of not having a car or
TV, but we kissed at
night and went to bed.
It's a domestic ecstasy,
snuggling under your covers
on a cold night. I only
wish you could sleep longer.
You can't so you primp
yourself on three
pillows and commence
japa to a consoling
alternative Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna early morning
bird.
Can we be sure that it is water he is drinking? Read these lines from another intolerable piece of gibberish currently up on Planet ISKCON:
Winter
Satsvarupa Go! Swami
We play violin while icicles drop from eaves.
Christmas too, and bad times can be overlooked with a little wine and warm food—vegetarian, please. And offered to Krishna.
The only charity that a blubbering "vantasi-with-a-fantasy-about- kissing" deserves is not money, but an old spoon with which to take pleasure in his own vomit.
As a footnote, here in Kanpur I showed this poem to a number of associates at a recent club get-together, many of whom were considering becoming Life Members of ISKCON. Each one of them changed their minds after reading it. ISKCON must do better before requesting the blood, sweat and tears of the working men and women in the form of their hard earned paychecks to plaster the coffers of millionaire swamis. The Go! Swami's gabble should be recycled just as much as he dishonestly recycles his own hallucination of himself from one generation to the next.
Ironically, Planet ISKCON is also featuring an article by one of ISKCON's qualified spiritual masters and noted Vaishnava authors, H.H. Bhaki Vikas Swami. The article/lecture is entitled "Our Movement Will Very Soon Become the World Religion." Doubtless that is true, because Mahaprabhu predicted it, and the Hare Krishna Movement is authorized by the disciplic chain of shuddha-bhakta acharyas. However, no sane person will join Planet ISKCON's Hare Krishna Movement. Neither mundane heroes nor national holidays; Muslims in Hollywood nor the United Nations calling for world harmony; nor disgusting misrepresentation of past acharyas by spiritually illiterate and subversive mental speculators will attract a lone genuine devotee.
The leaders of Planet ISKCON, nay ISKCON in general, should be ashamed of themselves for offering a gutless and perverted representation of Shrila Prabhupada's pure message to the world. I join with the one voice with thousands of my countrymen and declare enough of the false tolerance.
