Jun 06, 2019 — INDIA (SUN) —
PART FORTY-TWO: When the God of Sin Divides and Conquers
All over the world we can see the work of Kali during this, his dark yuga. He plots through his little tricks of dividing and conquering. Wherever you see nations divided, it means that Kali has personally sent in his representatives to split things apart and create enemies out of those who once lived like neighbors and brothers. When you see a Northern Ireland and a Republic of Ireland with brothers fighting, know that Kali was there. When on the map you see India, Pakistan and Bangladesh think back to the days when the followers of Mohamed and the Hindus lived peacefully side by side, before Kali came and interfered. The same is true of what was North and South Viet Nam, and what is now North and South Korea. To exploit the natural resources the African continent has likewise seen its nations cut into pieces, one after another.
Kali's government-funded schools teach the obedient students who is "bad" and who is "good," and which side they should be on and who he needs to hate. Entire countries are taught to despise other entire countries—when the dispute has been merely manufactured for the convenience of a few nasty politicians and their banking overlords who serve Kali as his emissaries.
Kali, though secret and lurking in the shadows, is known by his fingerprints. Krishna consciousness and the worldwide sankirtana movement—which was founded by the current sampradaya acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada—was created with a strong and unbreakable foundation. That foundation is the Supreme Absolute Truth Personified. Shrila Prabhupada stated that the movement was unnbreakable due to the protection of none other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead Shri Krishna Himself.
The only weakness, he advised his disciples, would be if demonic elements do their dirty work from within. He gave the example of a woodsman with an ax with a broken handle. The woodsman simply breaks off a branch of a tree, fashions it into an ax handle, and then chops down the very tree that provided the handle. And that is how Kali operates—from the inside. The Founder-Acharya of the Hare Krishna Movement pulled no punches whenever he explained who or what the enemy in the camp was. That enemy is Mayavada. While Mayavadi is the worst enemy, it is also the best representative of Kali. Mayavada represents Kali because the lord of sin destroys from the ground up. He undermines a new devotee's ability to realize a loving, personal and reciprocal exchange with the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna. Kali substitutes fads, bogus books like The Journey Home and pseudo-wisdom for genuine Krishna consciousness. It is impossible to hear the weeds grow, but when they have silently choked the flower-bearing creeper to death, that vine can never come back to life again.
Therefore Mayavada must be energetically and forcefully rooted out of the life of the devotee and the institution he loves. Mayavada is a poison that spreads deeply and destroys whatever it touches. As history verifies, Mayavadic attempts to hijack ISKCON from the inside worked through the divide and conquer tactic of the evil Mr Kali. The Mayavadi Zonal Acharyas heartlessly and relentlessly broke ISKCON into pieces and laughed as it became divided it into many factions. Some members regrouped as Ritviks or joined the Gaudiya Math. Others returned to their former religions or became part of some new cult. Many disciples of Shrila Prabhupada just went off and died lonely deaths—some by committing suicide. Dividing and conquering was the planned design for breaking up the family by the agents of Kali.
Whenever there is an issue that breaks and divides the Hare Krishna Movement, issues that turn brothers and sisters against each other, the Krishna conscious approach of a genuinely compassionate leader would be to simply drop the issue. For example, the Zonals wanted their own big thrones and the worship of their peers and even elders, but if they had simply listened to Pradyumna Pandit and dropped the idea of becoming pseudo-acharyas, the movement would not have been so devastated.
It is the same situation with, say, editing the books, which has become another gigantic issue of divisiveness. Still another issue is the publication of watered down "shastra" by Shrila Prabhupada's BBT, such as Vanity Karma by Jayadvaita Swami. The GBC's rabid promotion of The Journey Home is yet another huge divide-and-conquer issue. If any member of the Governing Body Commission had the good intentions of the members of the Society at heart—even if he found something to like about The Journey Home—still he would vote to banish it simply because it is an instrument of division. Protecting ISKCON from division and keeping the Society strongly united is far more important than worrying about the hurt little ego of some self-promoting swami who wants everyone to read what a swell life he has had dreaming about Maharishi, drinking tea with the Dalai Lama, touching the feet of Anandamayi Ma, or gazing into the eyes of Baba Ram Dass.
As an example of how ISKCON has alienated its original members, the following quote was spotted online today. It was written by an early direct disciple of Shrila Prabhupada and it speaks for how thousands of original disciples (and many later members, too) feel about the GBC.
"I just do not want to look upon (the members of the GBC), or hear them, or be around them. They do nothing to assist their peers in advancing in Krishna consciousness … One thing that drove me from the religion I was born into was seeing the hypocrisy of the members. We'd hear the teaching of the Lord, and then see total hypocrisy. ISKCON's leaders are becoming even worse. For example sannyasis are supposedly the perfection of renunciation, but within ISKCON they are the supreme enjoyers.
"When we joined our leaders like Vishnujana Swami and Jayananda would ALWAYS be the leaders in working, serving, and EATING LAST, serving every single insignificant or new devotee before they took care of themselves. They slept less, and in the most simple fashion and worked harder than anyone. And that is why we tried to emulate them!"
Here are a few hints that are about as subtle as a sledgehammer from the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON himself:
Prabhupäda: Very good. This kind of meeting should be arranged. Hare Krishna. [break] It is also our business, to kill all undesirable men so-called swamis, yogis, avatäras. What is that? Krishna...
Giriräja: (reading) "Krishna, who advented Himself just to kill all undesirable elements in the world..."
Prabhupäda: Yes. Similarly, this movement is advented to kill all the so-called yogis, swamis, avatäras, rascals, philosophers, commentators. We have to kill. Kill means... Where is your tilaka? You did not have tilaka in the morning?
Devotee: (indistinct)
Prabhupäda: Ah. So this is our one of the items, to vanquish all these rascals, so-called swamis. They say that "Why you criticize others also?" Because we have to vanquish them. Now these people cannot rise. When there is sunrise, there is no use of these glowworms. So this Krishna consciousness movement is Krishna Himself. Therefore they must be finished, all over the world. So-called religionists, so-called philosophers, so-called avatäras, swamis, yogis—finished. Our program should be like that. [break] ...all these rascals, anymore to flourish. That is one of our program.
(Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk on Juhu Beach, 2 May1974 Bombay)
So what sounds better to you, Prabhus—Shrila Prabhupada's bold statements or watered down feel-good platitudes from today's GBC about being a better human being?
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust