Goodbye Bhaktipada
BY: JAYA NARAYANA DAS
The 33rd Acarya?
Aug 27, 2011 — DELHI, INDIA (SUN) — Sriman Vaishnava das Prabhu in his short supplication on Dandavats has, in good Vaishnava consciousness, requested the prayers and forgiveness of other Vaishnavas for Kirtanananda. The self-styled "Bhaktipada" is now surrounded by a twenty-four hour kirtan at his Ulhasnagar headquarters, and doctors have given up all hope.
The son of a Bible-thumping preacher, Kirtanananda was quite good at quoting Christian aphorisms. One of his favorites was, "The devil and the devotee live in the same body." It is ironic that this proverb was most applicable to Kirtanananda, as anyone who knew him will attest.
In his article Vaishnava das requests, "I am begging for all the Brijabasis of New Vrindaban, and the Vaishnavas all over the world to put aside any material considerations, criticisms, or judgments, one may have toward Kirtanananda Swami." He adds, "Although some may hold to the beliefs that he hasn't felt deep remorse for his failings and offenses, I know for a fact that he has. He has never stopped serving the lotus feet of Shrila Prabhupada, and though some may disagree, he felt that he was reconciled in his heart."
Sure, it is very proper Vaishnava culture to forgive. Personally, I have the good fortune of having only good memories of Kirtanananda. Therefore, I have nothing to forgive. Obviously, I wasn't one of the devotees who ended up as targets for his hit squad. And a merciful fate spared me from his gurukula. But Vaishnava das should bear in mind that it is not our place to forgive someone for his offenses against some other person. Forgiveness must be personally sought by the offender at the feet of that very person who has been offended. This fact is amply demonstrated in the episode of Durvasa Muni, wherein Lord Narayana instructs the powerful sage suffering from the heat of the Sudarshan Chakra:
"O brahmana, let Me now advise you for your own protection. Please hear from Me. By offending Maharaja Ambarisha, you have acted with self-envy. Therefore you should go to him immediately, without a moment's delay. One's so-called prowess, when employed against the devotee, certainly harms he who employs it. Thus it is the subject, not the object, who is harmed."
(Srimad Bhagavatam 9.4.69)
It is heartening to hear that Kirtanananda regrets his many, many sinful activities, including murder (allegedly), federal crimes, child molestation, ruining families, stealing Prabhupada's manuscripts, preaching mayavada and crooked Interfaith, minimization of the pure devotee and his instructions, etc. His profuse offenses and blatant disregard for genuine sampradayic authority brought world-wide shame upon the Hare Krishna Movement. Because of his crooked callousness, good and honest devotees faced lawsuits and were branded as cult-following hypocrites.
Kirtanananda directly destroyed the lives of countless members, including the most innocent amongst us: the children, whose psychological make-up will be inextricably altered lifelong. But no public written recognition of his grievous offenses has ever been forthcoming from Kirtanananda.
So-called leaders like him preach a philosophy based upon personalism and eternal spiritual personality within a personal relationship to the Supreme Personality. But where is the personality of such leaders, even at their last breath, when a little humility and remorse is called for? They are personalists for the sake of convenience only; and impersonalists when it comes to their peers, who they treat as rank subordinates. As far as their own ego-centric needs are concerned, they are eager to show their own personal needs for self-adulation and sense gratification. But when it comes to the rank and file, we remain as mere faceless sycophants in their eyes.
Kirtanananda has a website which interestingly has no mention of his involvement with at least two murders and his prosecution and confinement on federal charges for racketeering. Rather, the website vaingloriously lists "Shrila Bhaktipada" as the 33rd acharya after Srila Prabhupada. Perhaps Vaishnava das would agree that rather than presenting himself on his own website as the current acharya (like so many glowworms did in the Gaudiya Math), Kirtanananda should have composed a letter of apology to his peers in the Krishna consciousness Movement. Because of this self-proclaimed "Bhaktipada" several people are dead, another is in jail for life, and thousands were chased away from the Hare Krishna Movement, never to return.
It seems that such power-hungry men do not accept that their Godbrothers are also in every sense their equals, their genuine peers. The minds of mad men rationalize that everyone else who walks upon the earth is their inferior and "submission" in ISKCON means allowing such "authorities" to trample all over you.
It is no secret that Kirtanananda has been just as unbending and inflexible as the very GBC members whom he was prone to criticize. As much as they appeared to hate one another, one thing Kirtanananda and his other pada squad boys have in common is an utter lack of humility, because the finer qualities of the heart are not part of a tyrant's psychological make-up. And as far as his example is concerned, that of waiting till the last moment to ask for forgiveness (and that, too, through some other person) that appears to be about what we can soon expect from his erstwhile cronies. As they say, "don't hold your breath." We are taught early on in ISKCON that our shikhas are little more than door mats for the self-important.
[The video and related commentary about Henri Jolicoeur (aka Hanuman ex-swami) has been deleted from this article. An editor's comment explaining the reasons for its deletion can be found here.]
