Jun 11, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) —
We recently published an article entitled "Playing Politics with ISKCON History", calling the question: by what means did the recently released Ramesvara Interview come into the public domain? The transcript was first published on the Net around May 17th, when Ritvik devotee Madhudvisa das posted it on his website and widely distributed it to his mailing list. When we inquired of Madhudvisa where he had gotten the document -- where it had been all these years, and how it happened to now be leaked to the public -- he told us that he wasn't at liberty to disclose that information. Nor did any of the dozens of devotees who subsequently sent the document to the Sun for publication seem to have an idea of its provenance. We ran the June 1st "Playing Politics" article hoping that someone would be honest enough to step forward and tell the story. No one was.
More recently, Madhudvisa das informed his readers that the Ramesvara interview has now been converted from a PDF document to a text document. His introductory statement in that announcement was very interesting. He wrote:
"We have made a more readable version of the transcript of Ramesvara's interview which we have now discovered took place sometime in 1981. The new layout has headlines that you can browse through and easily find the sections you are interested in reading.
This is not just about Book Distributution and the BBT but covers many areas of the history of ISKCON and is full of nectar.
http://krishna.org/ramesvara-1981-interview-on-history-of-iskcon-full-text/"
We found it fascinating that Madhudvisa should now announce that the interview was actually from 1981, not 1979, as originally described -- again without telling his readers how he came by that all-important information.
It seems that Madhudvisa dasa has been misinformed, and has changed the dates in error… or perhaps out of convenience. We have a first person report from a senior devotee who was told by Rameswara dasa himself that this was indeed the 1979 interview he gave for the Lilamrta. And under Madhudvisa's own website thread, 'Ramesvara-interview-1981', this was confirmed by Dinadayadri dasi, who wrote:
"I looked at the 321 page transcript, and I'm pretty sure it is Ramesvara's interview that was done for the Lilamrita. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was one of the transcriptionists who worked on it. There are two sets of initials at the tops of the pages — dd (that's me) and md (that was the other transcriptionist). We both worked on this because it was so long. Satsvarupa's team was overwhelmed by the volume of work so they would sometimes send us tapes to transcribe at the Archives, and we were glad to help out. Transcribing those interviews was one of the most ecstatic services I have ever done because it was so close to the events and everyone's memories were very fresh, and we were a lot younger so brains were working better. I have always remembered Ramesvara speaking very extensively in his interview about Srila Prabhupada's adamant insistence that his books not be tampered with by anyone after they were published. I have always wondered why nobody ever tracked Ramesvara down and asked him to give his input on this most important issue. So I am wondering where this transcript came from — did Ramesvara give it to you? Most devotees who gave interviews for the Lilamrta were sent a copy of their transcript (I still have mine). This is important because apparently the original Lilamrta transcripts burned up in a fire at Gita Nagari. I have always wondered why Ramesvara didn't speak out vociferously about the book changes since he has so much first-hand knowledge about it directly from Srila Prabhupada. I am a little out of the loop on events in this arena, so probably much has happened that I am not aware of. Please let me know if you can if it is Ramesvara who is making this transcript public. I would be very proud if him if he has in fact finally done so."
Madhudvisa dasa replied to Dinadayadri dasi:
"I am not completely sure of the circumstances as to how it became public but it is certainly not Ramsesvara who has made this public."
Dinadayadri devi is not the only one who would like to know where this document has been, and how it came to be released. In Madhudvisa's forum thread Prahlada-Nrsimha das recently wrote:
"Why has this not been released till now?
Why are the BBTI (un)trustees not following Srila Prabhupada's orders to not change his books?
Why are they lying to us in so many ways claiming the opposite of what Srila Prabhupada said?
If the BBTI devotees are not following Srila Prabhupada's orders, and knowingly lying about and suppressing direct instructions that they have been given by Srila Prabhupada, then what is the position of devotees that follow them?
Why has this document been suppressed for 34 years?
If this important document with so much direct Instructions from Srila Prabhupada has been completely suppressed and hidden for 34 years what else is being hidden?
How can we have faith in devotees or institutions that are lying about and changing direct instructions they have been given by our Acharya and jagat guru Srila Prabhupada?
These and many many other questions are on my mind…"
These are very good questions, Prahlada-Nrsimha prabhu.
As we stated in "Playing Politics", we know the answers to some of these questions, as do some other devotees. One senior Prabhupada disciple recently sent us these comments, to help fill-in the blanks:
"What I know about the interview with Ramesvara is that it was originally done to be used in the Prabhupada Lila-Amrita by Satsvarupa, but it was never included or even used in any way. So it had been in the Bhaktivedanta Archives for years. Only a few knew about it. Then a few devotees got a hold of it and it was part of a private discussion for some time. Recently, one senior devotee who had connections with the Archives and had been a part of that discussion shared it with a few other senior devotees.
One was so incensed by what was said in it, especially at the way Srila Prabhupada was so particular about the way he wanted the books to be printed, and how they were meant to appear, that he decided to release the interview openly. So, there is some awkwardness in this in that the devotees did not want their names mentioned, but at the same time, they wanted it known how particular Srila Prabhupada was regarding his ideas on how the books should look, and how they should not be changed, and how Ramesvara was trying to convince Srila Prabhupada how they should be changed in certain ways, which Srila Prabhupada did not agree with.
Jayadvaita Swami may or may not have been approached about this, I'm not sure. But now Ramesvara seems to be saying that he had nothing to do with the release of the interview, and that there is more to the explanations in the interview than is included. Although if anyone reads the interview, it would seem that the contents make things perfectly clear without any need for additional explanations."
So, who were the senior devotees who had connections with the Archives, and who got hold of this document and 'shared it with a few other senior devotees'? One of them was Ekanath dasa, who runs the Archives. Exactly when the Ramesvara Interview first came into the Archives' possession (many years ago), and why the document has been kept hidden all these years -- these are questions that Ekanath dasa can and should answer. By rights, he should have provided this information when the questions were first posed publicly.
The second senior devotee who had a hand in all this is, we're told, Sravanananda das. One of the individuals who further distributed the document told several different parties that he received it from Sravanananda, a fanatic Ritvik devotee who recently acquired a seat on the Archives board of directors after helping to shepherd big Ritvik donations into the Archives for their legacy vault project. We wrote about this situation in a February 2, 2013 article, "Ritvik Representation on the Bhaktivedanta Archives Board". We encourage our readers to revisit that article, because the contents are all the more important now, as our concerns are proved to be well founded.
Sravanananda das is working closely with Madhu Pandit das, trying to raise support for the Bangalore Ritvik temple, and has been canvassing devotees, hoping to garner support for a deal in favor of Bangalore in the lawsuit. Meanwhile, ISKCON is pouring boatloads of Srila Prabhupada's money into lawsuits with the Ritviks, in Bangalore and Long Island.
And whose side is the Bhaktivedanta Archives taking in all this? Well, the proof is in the pudding. Here we have an extremely important document that should never have been kept from the devotees for even a few years, let alone 34 years. And what inspired the Archives to finally release it? Money, apparently. The Ritviks have infused the Archives with much needed capital, and in exchange, they clearly have put themselves in a position to leverage that influence.
What did Sravanananda das do with this important transcript once the Archives let him have a copy? Is there any sane reason to believe that he didn't make a beeline to Madhu Pandit with that document, a feather in his cap, to see if Bangalore could somehow put it to use in bolstering their position in the legal battle with ISKCON Mumbai? We don't have proof that this is the case, but as to the likelihood …
When we first got a copy of this document and were informed by multiple parties that it had been liberated from the Archives by Sravanananda, we knew with certainty that the first place we would see it published would be on a Ritvik website. Sure enough… The long lost interview has inflamed those who are opposed to the unauthorized book changes, as well it should, and the Ritviks are using that sentiment to surcharge their own combative position against ISKCON. They present it as proof that the GBC are wrong, and the Ritviks are right.
Strangely enough, we are told that Jayadvaita Swami approved the Archives accepting a large infusion of Ritvik cash, and putting Sravanananda das on the board. We can only say that the predictable end result is a sad kind of poetic justice. The Ritviks now have a new cache of ammunition to use against the book change editors, who essentially handed it to them on a silver plate, delivered by Sravanananda.
We again ask the ISKCON leaders to accept a word of caution: it is well known that the Archives is full of a great deal of long-hidden information that has not been released because it could be problematic for the GBC, BBT and other leaders. As we have been discussing in the ISKCON Inc./DOM series, the Ritvik lawsuits represent a tremendous element of risk for Srila Prabhupada's movement. While devotees never want to think of other devotees as 'enemies', when it comes to lawsuits, one would be foolish not to accept the reality of that designation. Allowing Sravanananda das access to the Bhaktivedanta Archives -- giving him access to closely held information that can be used to advance the Ritvik cause, even by swaying sentiment in their favor, is foolish beyond measure.
If the leaders, starting with Jayadvaita Swami, don't have the good sense to plug this leak in the dam, we can only hope that the devotees themselves will do so, by withdrawing all financial support from the Archives until the Ritvik presence has been routed out, and all questions have been answered by Ekanath das to the satisfaction of the devotees.
