Joyriding
BY: ROCANA DASA
May 16, 2011 — CANADA (SUN) — After watching a video that accompanied the recent article entitled "Yamuna Adventure", which documents HH Mahavishnu Swami's journey down the Yamuna River, I wanted to offer some commentary. The video gives us a glimpse of one of the older ISKCON gurus, who is about my age and is someone I've been acquainted with over the years. Although it's seen as 'going against Vaisnava etiquette' to criticize the activities of ISKCON leaders, what Mahavishnu Swami is engaged in and is projecting to the world with this YouTube video brings up a number of important issues that need to be addressed.
It appears that the devotees within Srila Prabhupada's movement are entertained and amused by pastimes like Mahavishnu Swami's, believing this to be bona fide activity for a sannyasi, and something that Srila Prabhupada would be pleased with. But personally, I don't believe that Srila Prabhupada would be pleased by the activities of the Swami and his team of "Salty Dogs" – a name having mixed connotations, more than one of which are very mode of ignorance.
Anyone who took the opportunity to look at this video will hopefully understand why I'm writing this article. Firstly, we're looking at a sannyasi who represents the ISKCON movement and Srila Prabhupada. By his behavior, he is setting a certain precedent, an example for others to follow. Of course, that is essentially what a sannyasi's position within human society is supposed to be -- he has a responsibility to show society what human beings who are dedicated to advancing in Krsna consciousness should aspire towards. But what we see in this video is someone who, by his own admission, has engaged in this activity several times prior to this particular video being made.
The Swami has his group begin their journey way up into the Himalayas. The adventure apparently also requires that his team use very unprofessional, primitive means in terms of the raft and equipment they're using, to venture down these very fast moving waters, navigating through dangerous stretches of the River Yamuna.
The group begins their video by depicting that Lord Krsna has agreed to protect them. And so far it seems that He has, regardless of the fact that they don't have the training nor the proper approach to taking these kinds of risks – unnecessary risks for devotees and a sannyasi.
The only real benefit that the Swami can admit to getting in his video, other than "associating with devotees", is that he's preaching to a few people and gaining some newspaper and press attention by doing this. But where is he meeting the press, and where is he preaching along this particular stretch of water? Could he not start at a place where the danger factor is not so high, in the foothills or where the Yamuna becomes a placid river? It certainly doesn't seem that the dangers involved are necessary in order to get press coverage or preaching benefits, about which very little is conveyed in the video.
To me, this is a very foolish, childish, and immature pastime. Mahavishnu Swami is taking unnecessary risks, to himself and his followers. And it seems very apparent to me that he's doing this simply on the basis that he likes doing it. Naturally, there's a big adrenalin rush in doing such activities. Where I live, in British Columbia there are many rafting companies who offer this sort of adventure to people who are looking for a thrill. At least they're supervised by the government, and have all the proper equipment and safety measures. And still there are accidents. There couldn't help but be accidents. The fact that this crew of devotees have gotten away with no accidents over the last so many trips doesn't mean there isn't going to be an accident, and the Swami indicates that he's going to continue doing this.
Of course, accidents that occur in this kind of context are nothing but bad publicity. They expose the society to possible lawsuits, what to speak of the loss of a life of someone who's trained in Krsna Consciousness to actually preach. But this doesn't seem to be a factor of concern to Mahavishnu Swami. He seems totally nonplussed by what would be the very high cost to Srila Prabhupada's movement if it were to lose someone who's in his sixties, who's been around the movement for decades in a leadership and preaching capacity. And although he's in his late sixties, he seems not to have noticed all the reactions that have come about by devotees taking unnecessary risks.
I believe I can state categorically that if Mahavishnu Swami had been engaging in such activities during Srila Prabhupada's lila period and it came to Prabhupada's attention, he would have put an end to it without hesitation. I was recently listening to a tape of a morning walk, I believe it was in Philadelphia. The devotees were exclaiming, in their youthful exuberance, that they had been driving very, very quickly, far beyond the speed limit in order to meet Srila Prabhupada at the airport. As a result, they were pulled over by the Police. They had a whole story about how the policeman was very favourable, etc. But when Srila Prabhupada heard they were driving at breakneck speeds, he told them – not once, but twice during this encounter – that he does not want his disciples to break the law and drive dangerously. We have had some serious car accidents as a result of devotees driving beyond the speed limit, while they were out distributing books, preaching and on Sankirtan. We can understand what Srila Prabhupada's opinion would be of taking such risks while joyriding on the Yamuna.
Yet here we have a group of sannyasi-led devotees, including a woman who's apparently part of the crew along the way. As we see in the video, the Swami and his friends are traveling together in a makeshift raft, encountering all these dangerous circumstances, just for the thrill. Such activity is very unbonafide in Krsna Consciousness and is not at all sastrically approved, what to speak of being sanctioned by the Sampradaya Acarya. It doesn't fit into any varnasrama concept whatsoever, and really, it has no lasting benefit – it's just unnecessary risk for the thrill of it. This is just one of the points that should be made.
Another point is that the Swami and his devotee friends are setting a certain example, that it's OK to do these things. Not only is it OK, but it's great fun and at the same time, Krsna conscious because it's "associating with devotees". Of course, most devotees, especially those who aren't supported by disciples or the society, just don't have the time or money to go on these sorts of adventures. This is something extravagant a rich karmi would more likely do. Aside from it being a waste of a devotee's time doing these kinds of activities, what to speak of the danger, and it being in the mode of passion, the example set by the Swami also creates a certain enviousness amongst those devotees who aren't free to go out having all this fun. But for those who can manage to get the time and money, the example being set by the Swami affords a certain degree of approval, that now brahmacaries or whoever can look at this video and say well, this is OK, this is bona fide, this is a good thing to do.
Of course, other than "the preaching", the redeeming factor of this rafting trip is supposed to be that it's taking place on the sacred Yamuna River, and not some other river. But personally, I don't believe that Mother Yamuna would approve of this activity for representatives of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtana movement.
In the latter part of the YouTube video, the Swami is showing people that he and his crew are actually swimming in the Yamuna, right at the most contaminated part, around Delhi, where all the foam is in the water. So here we have a long-term health factor, another potential problem. You can get serious diseases from swimming in water like this. Now if their message is that the ugra karma industries in cities like Delhi are contaminating, and therefore disrespecting Yamuna Devi, then swimming in this water is not a very good example of what to do for the people in general. Is this a good thing? Either the water is getting very polluted and it's a risk to health, or it isn't. And if it is, then you should stay away from it.
Srila Prabhupada, in another class, pointed out the reality that people from Calcutta will go all the way to the base of the Himalayas where the Ganges is coming out, like Haridwar or Rishikesh, to bathe in the Ganges River for purification -- when the Ganges is flowing right through Calcutta. It's the same Ganges. It has the same purifying effect whether you're at Calcutta or Haridwar. But people want to go on a vacation. People want to have a good time. People want to bathe in the clear water, although from a spiritual point of view, it's a total waste of time.
Srila Prabhupada also says that when you go to a sacred place, it's not just to bathe in the river, it's to find a person who is actually Krsna conscious and associate with them. To hear and chant and get in the mood of Krsna Consciousness. The actual bathing in the river part of it is relatively insignificant in comparison.
So all in all, we see that on one hand, ISKCON is trying to regulate and control persons taking sannyasa. They have the Sannyasa Ministry, and you can read in the GBC Resolutions that they have waiting lists of people for years on end, most already over 50 years old, which means they're automatically entitled to take sannyasa according to sastra, without getting some institutional rubber-stamp of approval. ISKCON has had so many "approved" sannyasis fall down, so their approval process is obviously far from foolproof. And they seem to pay no attention at all to the activities of the approved sannyasis once the rubber-stamp is given. Thus, no oversight of activities like Mahavishnu Swami's rollicking ride down the Yamuna.
Prahladananda Swami is now the Minister of both Sannyasa and Health and Welfare. He's been a sannyasi himself for almost 30 years, so we can understand his role as Minister of Sannyasa. But why does he have the post as head of Health and Welfare? The reason seems obvious – it's because he wants to practice Hatha Yoga. He's made a practice of this since the very early days of ISKCON, and he's very attached to this lifestyle and physical practice. Of course, Srila Prabhupada has made statements to the effect that he doesn't want his disciples and followers to get distracted or to be deviated in this Hatha Yoga practice. He's criticized it as simply being exercise, just for health. In this day and age, one is not actually following the Yoga – the exercise is just a small part of the practice, which is impossible in this age to follow properly. Yet we have another ISKCON swami sanctioning this activity by practicing it himself, and by teaching it – with the institution's full approval.
I can tell a personal story in this regard. When Srila Prabhupada was still present and we were going to Mayapur every year as a temple authority, one of the common practices was to go onto the roof of the guesthouse in Vrindavan. There, the devotees would get a little extra sun at certain times of the day and relax a bit. That's when I first observed Prahladananda Swami going up religiously every day to do his Hatha yoga, for an extended period of time. Even though it was commonly known that Srila Prabhupada said this was not a good thing. As a temple authority, I've often had to discourage especially newcomers, who had come through the door being Hatha yoga enthusiasts, to not spend the kind of time they wanted to practicing their Hatha. But there was Prahladananda Swami, setting the opposite example – and he's doing so even more blatantly today.
There are so many swamis who have all this time on their hands, to go river rafting and practice Hatha Yoga. Another example is the Canadian sannyasi/GBC/Guru, an old friend of mine, Bhakti Marg Swami. He's gone on walking treks across Canada for years now. The second longest country in the world, and he goes for months on end, just walking across Canada for no apparent reason. He sometimes says he does it because he "likes to meet people", or sometimes explains, "it's for the publicity", but the publicity we've seen and read shows that he's barely preaching Krsna Consciousness at all. In fact, he hardly comes across as a Hare Krishna devotee at all in many of these press pieces. The articles in the newspapers are totally useless, but he has all this spare time to dedicate to taking his walking treks. At the same time, he holds a GBC post and has many disciples, and the devotees would naturally expect that a person who's assuming these responsibilities like guru and GBC would actually give them an opportunity to associate with him. But unless you're ready to walk across Canada with him, or join the drama troupe, you're not likely to get much association. He hardly ever comes to Vancouver, and obviously doesn't have time to get to know his disciples, what to speak of really preach to them or properly train them. This is his duty-bound responsibility, but instead he's taking long walks to nowhere.
So these swamis, whether they are into doing rock and roll-like concerts on stage with dancing young women, because they like it and they were into music before they were sannyasis, or they were into yoga before they were sannyasis, or they were Boy Scouts, like Mahavisnu says, and liked the outdoors -- this is maya. This is becoming a mouse again. This is not renunciation. This is not approved, and it is a disturbance in the Sankirtan movement.
I've only mentioned three swamis – I'm sure there are many more, because this has become vogue in ISKCON. It's now 'the thing to do' -- retired rich gentlemen called sannyasis, who now have the time to pursue their youthful desires. They never had a chance to do all these things when they were younger, so now they're into doing all these crazy things -- instead of doing what sastra describes. Sannyasis are supposed to become very, very strict in their Krsna Consciousness, hearing, chanting and preaching. That's what simplicity and austerity is supposed to represent. Those are the bona fide activities -- not river rafting, Hatha yoga, or walking through wilderness.
But where are the GBC? Where are the senior godbrothers? Where are the only persons who can straighten out the sannyasis who are engaged in these bogus activities? Actually, these are not true sannyasis. I think they're just taking advantage of Srila Prabhupada's society, of their own disciples and the devotees who support them. They're taking advantage of the fact that they don't have to worry about anything, especially the time and the money that they're spending. And they justify it in their own minds, and have obviously convinced themselves to the degree that they don't try to hide it – they now promote it, with videos on YouTube.
The most pathetic part about it, really, is that there's not a hue and cry amongst the grassroots devotees. If the GBC and their fellow sannyasis can't, or more likely won't straighten these people out, then there should be a grassroots outcry: put an end to this nonsense and let's get down to some serious business. That is what the Sampradaya Acaryas preached.
