PADA, ISKCON’s Watchdog
BY: URDHVA KETU DAS
May 19, USA (SUN) — Which staunch devotee hasn’t delighted in the PADA newsletter (pada@neteze.com); it is the National Enquirer of ISKCON. Some of their stuff is truly classic cloak and dagger material.
Many feel that PADA has rendered a real service to the devotees, keeping them aware that something is rotten in Denmark, and in the GBC. The problem with a watchdog group is that they generally consist of dogs sniffing other dogs. A watchdog-or any dog-always sniffs the same place. Whether you introduce a dog to a king or a queen, where the dog sniffs is predictable, because a dog is just a dog. In Sanskrit, the word paad means “feet”. But in Hindi, the word pada means “fart.” So running a watchdog group can mean becoming an expert in farts.
Some say PADA stands for “People Against Devotee Association.” Run by a perennial malcontent named Puranjana das, or Timothy Lee, he is a man with his own past and questionable future. Puranjana’s olfactory PADA is a one-man show that is seen by some to be a purificatory force in Krishna consciousness. However, when did Srila Prabhupada devote 100% of his time to fault-finding? Of course, faults will always be there and they must be recognized and checked-starting with our own-but as devotees we have other activities as well, like chanting and preaching the purifying glories of the holy name:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
I wish all the PADAphiles well in their quest to purify ISKCON. As any redneck will tell you, there are any number of varieties of flatulence and analyzing their differences, while an unusual science to be sure, leads to predictable and insatiable results. One should eliminate the gases in one’s own intestines before swimming worm-like in the digestive systems of others. Fault-finding for the sake of fault-finding does not lead to Krishna consciousness.
