Sep 13, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) — Pradyumna das's son, Aniruddha Sherbow, was recently arrested for threatening bodily violence against a Congresswoman. The media gave one side of the story, and I'm sure some of the facts were accurate. The situation came as a great shock. It's so disappointing to hear that a person who was once a child in Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON is now a grown man who finds himself in this situation.
Aniruddha is the son of a personality who, at the time I was participating in Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON lila, was renowned in the society. Pradyumna das was a personal secretary and editor who traveled with Srila Prabhupada, and we hear him speaking many times on the audio recordings of Srila Prabhupada's lectures. Now his son has become crazy. He has obviously lost his mind, because a sane person of normal intelligence would never have done or said the things he did.
This whole situation brings back to my mind so many painful circumstances that took place in the past, particularly after Srila Prabhupada departed. The Zonal Acaryas, who were also crazy, and power hungry, introduced themselves as the so-called 'leaders' of ISKCON. Their ridiculous program included glorifying themselves on an equal level with Srila Prabhupada, if not above him, and they concocted a philosophy to justify it.
It was about a year later when Pradyumna, who was serving with Yasodanandana das at the Vrindavan gurukula, raised his concerns about the Zonal Acarya System. It was Yasodanandana and Gurukrpa's party that had collected the money to build the gurukula, which at the time was functioning in the spirit and mood Srila Prabhupada intended for the gurukulas.
I've written a number of times about the story that unfolded. Basically, Yasodanandana and Pradyumna wrote a paper challenging the Zonal Acaryas -- not challenging their concocted philosophy, but simply the degree of opulence and the glorification they were taking, with the big vyasasans and so forth. They presented their paper to the GBC, and as history tells it, they were both promptly thrown out of the movement. This came as a great shock to all the devotees, especially senior leaders like the temple presidents, who knew these individuals very well. It was just an amazing shock to see that the Zonal Acaryas would go this far.
And although a great deal of time has now passed, still the repercussions of this event are not being properly articulated. Personally, I think Pradyumna's son is just another of the many examples of the ramifications of this action on part of the GBC leaders.
You can only imagine what it would be like for a young child whose father was a great pandit, one of the closest associates of Srila Prabhupada during his lila, who everybody in the movement knew and respected. One minute you're in that position, and in the next moment your father is being unceremoniously thrown out of the movement. And the family was given nothing, absolutely nothing. They threw Pradyumna out with nothing. He had no real education, no resume, no way to easily re-establish himself. He and his family were abruptly forced out of the association of devotees… out of the society that he not only deserved to be in, but deserved to be in as much if not more than the people who threw him out.
I don't know Aniruddha, and didn't know him as a boy, but I had a somewhat similar circumstance in my own life with my daughter. It seriously impacted my relationship with my wife, who took our daughter out of the movement. And in her own way, my daughter has seriously impacted ISKCON -- another story I've told on several occasions. There are many such stories, and there are many ramifications to ISKCON as a result.
When he was ejected, Yasodanandana was so devastated that within a few years he came up with the Rtvik philosophy. Now how much of a serious impact has that had on ISKCON, continuing on to this very day? And he didn't get thrown out for preaching anything even close to Rtvik-ism at the time, with Pradyumna.
I don't know the details of Pradyumna's family story. I can only sympathize with he and his wife and with his son, who has gone crazy. But I personally think that the situation just described must have significantly contributed to whatever mental instability Aniruddha is experiencing today. Of course there's a degree of speculation, but there's also obviously a connection between these events in Aniruddha's life. But no one seems to be able to piece together history here, and put the blame where it should be put. The leaders of ISKCON helped to create this mess. They contributed to it significantly, by causing the traumatic upheaval in young Aniruddha's life. And they created similar turmoil in the lives of thousands of prabhus: Pradyumna's, Yasodanandana's, mine, just to mention the few names right here in this article.
At the time Pradyumna was thrown out, it was generally understood that it happened because he had written his letter to the godbrothers, suggesting that they tone down their self-glorification -- that it wasn't Vedic, it wasn't traditional, and it was causing all sorts of problems. Which was all true. But it eventually came to light, that this was not the whole story.
One of the most vociferously outspoken opponents of Pradyumna at the time was Hridayananda. Hridayananda went after Pradyumna tooth and nail, and he was the leader who contributed most directly to getting him thrown out. It was well known in those circles that Pradyumna had been empowered and instructed by Srila Prabhupada to finish the Srimad Bhagavatam if Srila Prabhupada departed. But Hridayananda wanted that position. He was envious of Pradyumna, who was a householder. And at that time, one cannot even imagine the sannyasi elitism that was taking place in ISKCON. This was going on before Srila Prabhupada left, and it was amplified after his departure. In fact, any householder who was a Zonal Acarya had to become a sannyasi if he wanted to be part of the inside group.
Hridayananda knew right away that whoever wrote the last cantos was going to be glorified even more, and he needed that boost because he was not satisfied with being in South America. He thought it was an inferior zone compared to North America, India and Europe, so he needed a reason to essentially abandon the zone. He would maintain himself as a Zonal Acarya down there, and accept the glorification and the disciples that were generated, but after he had dispatched with Pradyumna, he used the excuse that he needed to go to Florida, and to live in an opulent circumstance in Miami, ostensibly so he could finish the Srimad Bhagavatam.
As I see it, these facts are still very relevant, even forty years later. The impact of all this taking place could rightly be brought up in ISKCON as often as the Holocaust is brought up again and again by the European Jews. And this Zonal Acarya system, to a certain degree, is still in operation. Krsna had to take care of most of the Zonal Acaryas, because the GBC never would. Jayapataka Swami, who is now greatly incapacitated, is one of the last survivors, but their successors are still carrying on. I've written several articles about the Princes of the Zonal Acarya Kings who are now in power, and who are propagating the same contaminated mentality and philosophy the original Zonal Acaryas did.
And some of them are now coming back. Just recently Ramesvara, one of the biggest culprits from the Zonal Acarya era, began to make his comeback. Everyone is trying to make a comeback these days… writing books and being invited to festivals. In a sense, their role during the Zonal Acarya era was that they were like the Gestapo. But instead of being hunted down and brought to justice, these rascals are coming back for a glorious encore, and are being warmly received by all the sentimental devotees who have chosen to remain blind to the real history.
But we need to understand history as it actually took place. So many devotees instead believe the myths that have been created about our ISKCON past, and on that basis so many problems have never been resolved in the society, and so many devotees have been damaged as a result.
People will not come to grips with the reality that incidents such as the one unfolding with Pradyumna's son are current day manifestations of the earlier problems. Obviously Aniruddha is someone who is mentally disturbed, but still, the symptoms are there, and their connection to the earlier traumas can be seen. The fact is that because people refuse to see history as it really took place, they cannot see circumstances today for what they are. Everyone who does this is suffering, and the Sankirtan Movement is being derailed as a result.
