Feb 02, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) — Throughout 2012, the Sampradaya Sun on a number of occasions ran news stories and banner promos for the Bhaktivedanta Archives project. Under the leadership of Ekanath das, the Archives was fund-raising for a legacy vault in which to safely store Srila Prabhupada's audio, writings, images, etc. The construction project is now well underway, having raised the needed funds and pledges.
On November 14, 2012, Ekanath das published a list of donors. Following the extremely generous sum of $26,461 donated by Madhusevita prabhu of Scotland, we read with interest that the next two largest donors were Ritvik devotees Madhu Pandit das/ISKCON Bangalore, who donated $9,990, and Jitarati das, who gave $6,506.
We were also interested to hear, quite recently, that Sravanananda das (who donated $505) had been made a member of the Bhaktivedanta Archives Board of Directors. We received this news with quite a bit of concern given that over the last two years, Sravanananda has been closely associating with the Bangalore temple and told us that he was actively canvassing devotees in support of Madhu Pandit and the Bangalore Ritvik temple.
In early 2012, we had occasion to talk with Sravanananda das on a number of occasions. What began as a fairly cordial exchange quickly degenerated into a screaming match peppered with expletives (he screamed, we listened), when he decided that the Sun editors were great demons because we would not publish various statements of his that we considered to be gratuitous Rtvik propaganda and undocumented anti-ISKCON invective.
Sravanananda sometimes presents himself as an ISKCON loyalist, and at other times rages against the ISKCON machine, siding with the Ritviks. His Ritvik sentiments are typically delivered more with a passionate mood of retribution against the GBC than with anything approaching a sound guru-tattva argument. By early 2012, he was singing the glories of the Bangalore temple, having visited there and found their Ritvik program and preaching mood to be 'so much better than all the rest of ISKCON'. He could not bear the idea that the Sun would reject propaganda that glorified Bangalore, thus the falling out between us.
We should also mention that prior to this parting of the ways, Sravanananda had been attempting to broker a fence-mending session between us and Madhu Pandit. (He initiated this campaign, not at our request.) He had gone to Madhu Pandit and arranged an agreement that Madhu Pandit would pay our costs to travel to Bangalore for meetings. Our response was that before flying half-way around the world, he should first arrange for Madhu Pandit to engage in some introductory phone conversations to discuss guru-tattva with us, since we are clearly polarized on that front.
The mood of largess represented by the proffered plane tickets quickly flew out the window when Sravanananda realized that even with a free trip to Bangalore hanging in the wings, we were still unwilling to publish the Ritvik propaganda he wanted to post on the Sun.
Now, a year later, we learn that Sravanananda das has been given a seat on the Board of Directors of the Bhaktivedanta Archives. The Board is currently comprised of Jayadvaita Swami, Ekanath das, Govinda, Nitya-trpta dd and now, Sravanananda. Strangely enough, a year ago when we were receiving regular phone calls from Sravanananda, one of his favourite topics of discussion was the book changes. He regularly and passionately railed against Jayadvaita Swami for changing the books. Now, he shares a Board seat with him, while the ISKCON News website applauds his participation.
We raise this issue today not because we want to re-start a squabble with Sravanananda. Rather, we are raising the red flag -- ringing the alarm bells -- for what should be a reason obvious to every reader.
Madhu Pandit das and the Bangalore Ritvik temple are engaged in a fierce battle with ISKCON. Even as we speak, both sides are preparing for the next round of combat before the Supreme Court of India. Yet here we have a close ally of Madhu Pandit's, sitting on the Board of the Bhaktivedanta Archives. It seems more than a little likely that the hefty Ritvik donations may have had something to do with Sravanananda's sudden installment on the Board.
Has anyone on the Archives Board given any thought to the potential pipeline that has been opened here? A fanatic Bangalore ally now has a hand in the Archives. Wouldn't it be convenient for Madhu Pandit, in the course of putting on his legal defense, to have access to documents tucked away in the Archives? Could there be unreleased material stored in the Archives that might be used towards securing a Ritvik win over ISKCON in court? And what about the other more outside risks? Consider this…
How many times in history, particularly in litigious America, have board members sued the corporation they represent on the basis of some set of legacy circumstances that the board member felt represented a risk to his being able to fulfill his fiduciary duty? Lawsuits like this are more than common. What would happen if a Board Member found convenient fault with the Archives (real or imagined) and launched a lawsuit, funded by money flowing out of Bangalore? Is it possible that the Archives could find itself faced with a huge legal defense bill and no money to pay it? And if there was a default due to lack of ability to fund a defense, is it possible that the assets of the Archives could be attached and taken over by the Bangalore Ritviks? We are not lawyers, so we can't say… but we can certainly raise the questions. We can also easily imagine that the Ritviks would put a big feather in their cap if they managed to win the Archives, like the Queen on a chess board.
Is there any GBC or BBT oversight of the Bhaktivedanta Archives? Does Jayadvaita Swami represent any kind of an official voice on the Board? It's well known that Ekanath das and the other prabhus working at the Archives have struggled for long years to make do with far too few resources. While we have joined the chorus of voices complaining about Srila Prabhupada's legacy audio that has not yet been released or released in proper condition, or even inventoried and accounted for publicly, we were more than happy to help by publicizing the Legacy Vault fundraising project. But we have grave concerns about the risk represented by having Madhu Pandit's close ally, Sravanananda now sitting on the Archives Board.
Unfortunately, Ekanath das seems to be unaware of the risk. We wrote to him recently, inquiring about this, and he replied by saying that he does not believe Sravanananda agrees with post-samadhi ritvik diksa. But we can personally attest that while talking with Sravanananda in late 2011 and early 2012, he was very vocal in his support of the Ritvik model. We understand that he moderates some of his more public statements, and we wouldn't be surprised if in some conversations, he patently disagrees with Ritvikism. But ask yourself this: given the severity of the battle and the high dollar stakes represented by the Bangalore vs. ISKCON/Mumbai suits, does it make sense that Madhu Pandit das would open his arms to a non-Ritvik advisor? That he would be taking close counsel with one who disagrees with his now mission-critical stance on Ritvik-vada?
This is Ekanath prabhu's opinion about it:
"He [Sravanananda] went to Bangalore to help in the mediation in April and feels the lawsuits are a terrible waste of Srila Prabhupada's money. Yet he has had a long and close relationship with Madhu Pandit and feels it is
better to be friends and discuss, than to label him a demon. There are ongoing discussions to try to reach some amiable reconcilation.
He has been very instrumental in helping us collect almost half the funds for the Vault. I do not think he wants the destruction of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON, in fact he wants unity with some diversity to push the movement forward."
We can say with great certainty that in February 2012, when we would not publish his pro-Ritvik, pro-Bangalore commentary, Sravanananda had no interest at all in 'unity with diversity'. Rather, he wanted to burn us at the stake for not publishing his defense of Bangalore. And as the following text illustrates, Sravanananda does not demonstrate much of a 'unity in diversity' mood toward ISKCON either.
Just for the record, we share below some of the text Sravanananda submitted for publication in the Sun. Anyone curious to judge Sravanananda's neutrality or bias for themselves should find it illuminating.
While we did not publish the material at the time, we did offer editing notes to Sravanananda, explaining how he could revise the article to enable us to publish it. Our comments generally asked him to provide evidence in support of various allegations [including some unsupported criminal allegations we can't reproduce here], and to eliminate some of the gratuitous Ritvik-esque propaganda. That request caused him to go ballistic.
On February 23, 2012, Sravanananda das (Daniel Perlmutter) wrote:
"Banglore temple and its preachers have been abused, assaulted, slandered and in the process of trying to be destroyed so that ISKCON can steal all of its assets, and finances. Nothing else is to be said.
…The devotees have suffered for years as they tirelessly preach with Srila Prabhupada as the pure center of their synergy and only distribute Srila Prabhupada's pure, unrevised Pre-1978 books.
Now we know there is a controversy in regards to what has been used as a derogatory term "Ritvik" or Post Samadhi Diksha. Now some Vaishnava Sampradaya have declared it is an acceptable form of Diksha and there appears to be this term used continuously thru Prabhupada's writings.(That of course is another subject to discuss, but it is not better to have Srila Prabhupada as the center?)
What would you rather have the continuous fall down (43 at present) of Post Samadhi Acharya Diksha/Shiksha appointed voted unqualified gurus or His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada as the center who has the power to lead, instruct, manage, and initiate into the Sampradaya.???? He is present ……isn't he?
Could this be any more clear?
Srila Prabhupada Lecture, October 2, 1968, Seattle:
Tamala Krsna: "Can a Christian in this age, without a spiritual master, but by reading the Bible and following Jesus' words, reach the...
Prabhupada: When you read Bible, you follow spiritual master. How can you say without? As soon as you read Bible, that means you are following the instruction of Lord Jesus Christ, that means you are following spiritual master. So where is the opportunity of being without spiritual master?
Madhudvisa: I was referring to a LIVING spiritual master.
Prabhupada: Spiritual master is NOT the question of... SPIRITUAL MASTER IS ETERNAL. SPIRITUAL MASTER IS ETERNAL. So your question is without spiritual master. Without spiritual master you cannot be, at any stage of your life. You may accept this spiritual master or that spiritual master. That is a different thing. But you have to accept. As you say that "by reading Bible," when you read Bible that means you are following the spiritual master represented by some priest or some clergyman in the line of Lord Jesus Christ. So any case, you have to follow a spiritual master. There cannot be the question without spiritual master. Is that clear?"
Have we turned the pure eternal Vani of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada into a mundane religion? Where tenets and scripture have been manipulated for the benefit of conditioned leaders with ill intent? Where pure spiritual principals are now molded in a mundane fashion to satisfy the materialistic goals of covered souls? Have we not seen this before in history? (King James Version, etc)
The one line that comes to mind used that was spoken by the principal Guru at Bangalore at the time of his reign that really started the whole separation of Bangalore from the whole of the rest of the movement was when they asked about having a more direct connection with Srila Prabhupada. Of course they had observed the inconsistencies and lies of their presiding Guru and were beginning to lose faith anyhow, but he uttered:
"Srila Prabhupada is dead…….and he can no longer procreate.!!!"
Can you imagine any sincere follower of Srila Prabhupada tolerating such blasphemy.?
Well they didn't tolerate any of that offense………..and so the story began.
They had the intelligence, the strength and the courage to sacrifice everything!!!!! They had no care for their own personal lives and they definitely don't care about money. Krishna has given them plenty. They are accused of so many falsehoods but anyone can go there and see what sincere first class Vaishnavas they are. They are fully transparent on every level and the top accounting firm in the world does their books. They live simply and their constant thoughts and words are of Srila Prabhupada and no one else. Now they have become very suspicious since ISKCON Mumbai has organized spies who have cracked into their databases to send out slanderous letters to all of their life members, etc, etc. It is too disgusting for me to describe everything they have done as it makes my blood boil and I would like to remain civil in this story.
Is this the organization you want you and your family to proudly say you are a member of. I will always say proudly to anyone I am a follower of Srila Prabhupada, but I am about to take my rejecting of the present institution to a public level if this does not stop. Just as the brave soldiers of Vietnam came and threw their medals at the footsteps of the Capital building (I was there) to protest the injustices of the war and lies of the government I am feeling the same. All the street marches that ensued to stop the madness. Students were killed.
ISKCON is trying to destroy a preaching branch of Srila Prabhupada's movement that has been so successful and has been fully transparent. They are about to embark on some of the most amazing accomplishments that the movement would ever know but due to the constant attacks of the INDIA ISKCON Bureau/Council and the funding from India ISKCON leaders that are trying their best to destroy everything.
We have seen, we have heard and we have observed:
"Evil arises when good men do nothing!"
Now we can watch the destruction of one of the most potent preaching arms of the movement.
"Will you do nothing?"
[ ]
In American courts rarely do these cases make it to court. They are usually settled in a mediation environment. Everyone knows it is so much cheaper that way. The only ones benefitting are the lawyers who will celebrate with champagne in this debacle of insanity.
Then of course will the leaders of ISKCON India be able to assume the properties and conduct the high level preaching activities of the present Bangalore staff and devotees who all have 1 or more prestigious degrees from the best Universities of India. I think not if you have served in India and had to work with some of the corrupt leaders who continuously pocket ISKCON money to own some of the finest properties and yet many come from villages and have never had a job. Please don't use the inheritance lie anymore. We have seen the constant pilfering.
No, the fine work will be replaced by their hard aspiring and ill profit motivated newly initiated villagers and millions of dollars will be acquired by selling off most properties to pay off the legal debt borrowed from rich gurus and innocent life members
Are the egos of the twisted leaders conducting this anti Bangalore campaign more inflated and distorted than those of intelligent Karmis. I think so. I have worked with them and seen their barely intelligent management decisions based on mundane selfish goals and not highly spiritual preaching motivated decisions or based on fairness.
I am hoping and praying for a fair outcome where ISKCON Bangalore may continue their powerful and pure preaching. If they are not allowed to proceed I can only foresee more empowerment to those who have impure agendas. Then I will publicly disassociate my self from this corrupt institution that is not at all in line with Srila Prabhupada anymore as he did with the Gaudiya Math."
By the above statement (emphasis added), we can clearly understand Sravanananda's opinion on guru-tattva. The Bangalore temple preaches Ritvik-vada and conducts post-samadhi ritvik diksa initiations. Sravanananda consider this to be "pure preaching", when in fact, it is asiddhantic.
And this underscores our reason for calling the matter of Sravanananda's seat on the Bhaktivedanta Archives Board to the reader's attention.
