Becoming a Mouse Again
BY: ROCANA DASA
Oct 19, CANADA (SUN) — It comes as no surprise that we received the sort of response from Hridayananda das Goswami as we did today, although it is a surprise that he responded at all. Those like myself who have some historical perspective on Hridayananda, going right back to Srila Prabhupada's lila days in the 1970's, are familiar with the tone and mood, which is basically condescending and dismissive. Among all the others who formed and promoted the Zonal Acarya system, Hridayananda mastered the art of putting down the 'little people' – and he considers almost everyone, other than his close associates, to be small-time, insignificant personalities. Frankly, a lot of ISKCON leaders – Gurus, GBC's and sannyasis -- are fearful of his amazing ability to belittle people who verbally confront him. He's had this art down since long before Srila Prabhupada departed, and during the Zonal Acarya period he honed it to a fine razor's edge.
We have been reporting on Hridayananda for years at HareKrsna.com, trying to inform the public, and trying to motivate the leaders of ISKCON to do something about him. For years, he's been making a total mockery of the sannyasa order, what to speak of the whole concept of the Vaisnava guru in our sampradaya. Even today, we see that he's really just flaunting his ability to ignore public opinion or perception of him.
What was presented by Harinamananda das was offered in a frank, respectful way – far more respectfully than I would have presented it. He even substantiated his claims by providing photographs, and a picture certainly tells a thousand words. In his response, we note that Hridayananda is not denying that these pictures are legitimate and were taken at the time in question, during his recent visit to Mexico. He's not explaining who the woman is he's embracing, or who he's having intimate exchanges with. Of course, such behavior is totally against anything written in sastra or presented by Srila Prabhupada as to what a sannyasi should be doing. He doesn't deny Harinamananda's claim that he wasn't wearing his brahmana thread, and wasn't dressed in Vaisnava clothing befitting a swami. While he says he didn't attend the Ratha Yatra because he was sick in hospital that day, he certainly doesn't appear to be sick in the pictures.
All in all, we only have his personal word, which is totally unverifiable, about whether or not he's following the regulative principles and chanting his rounds. As I've mentioned several times in past articles, I consider this criteria to be totally arbitrary and unprovable. If someone says they're chanting their rounds and following the principles, you really only have their word for it. How can you know, unless you're with the person every moment and conduct an exhaustive survey on the matter, and even then you can't verify that someone is really chanting their rounds. In Hridayananda's case, he essentially lives in isolation from the rest of the devotee community, and spends his days teaching at a mundane educational institution.
Aside from that, we know that Hridayananda has had many close calls with the principle that a sannyasi should not be associating, fraternizing, or talking intimately with women. We know the regulative principles that apply to the average devotee, and one of those principles is not having illicit sex, but there are other principles that apply to sannyasis in our sampradaya, and he's definitely breaking them, right and left. And he doesn't deny that he isn't.
For years and years he has lived outside the temple, living by himself or in his mother's house, with his karmi brother, etc. He pursued an academic degree in a mundane university, without steady devotee association. Basically, he can't be believed. We can see how attached his false ego is to the conception of himself as a Goswami, just as we see it in the case of Satsvarupa. Both of them are proven to have fallen down, but they will not give up the title, the designation that has awarded them so much in the way of power, adoration and distinction, what to speak of money over all these years. So a simple article in the Sampradaya Sun is not likely to change his attachments. He wants us to believe him over Harinamananda das, and the pictures, but frankly, anyone who believes him is a fool.
The last line of Hridayananda's email is very revealing:
Of course, he doesn't believe that Harinamananda, other Vaisnavas, or the Sun might have anything to do with Krsna. It's not possible that Krsna is working through such individuals, revealing to the world his true nature and character. He apparently believes that only Krsna Himself, personally, will reveal such things, and no one else will be used by Krsna to serve the purpose of revealing him.
In fact, Hridayananda's true nature has been revealed over time, through the many circumstances in which he's been found lying, scheming, and covering up. He's also proven to be ruthless in past circumstances, making other devotees appear to be offensive, lying, and inferior – all a guise, to fulfill some strategy. One such circumstance that immediately comes to mind, although it happened many years ago, was when Pradyumna prabhu was kicked out of Vrindavan, out of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON, out of his service, and was belittled by Hridayananda. This occurred at a meeting which took place between Pradyumna, Yasodanandana das and the Zonal Acaryas. I saw a transcript of that meeting, and Hridayananda was the most viscous and belittling of all those present. He used his natural abilities to that end, driving Pradyumna out for no good reason except that he had questioned the philosophical basis for their Zonal Acarya scheme. Hridayananda's friends, who participated in this huge Zonal deception, all used him on certain occasions to be their spokesman -- to be the person who dealt the verbal death blows to their opponents.
Hridayananda's excesses, eccentricities and weirdness during the Zonal Acarya era are legendary. At that time he was the Zonal Acarya of South America and other Spanish-speaking countries, including Mexico. This was his prabhu-datta-desa, the service that Srila Prabhupada gave him. Of course, he abandoned that service. After retiring from his service to Srila Prabhupada, he embraced academic life as an alternative. Achieving his degrees, at Srila Prabhupada's expense, he faded from view for some time. He wasn't using his academic credentials and training to write or preach, but only to earn money and reputation. Finally, after an extended period of living at his mother's house in Beverly Hills, he got a job at an educational institution in Florida. Interestingly enough, we note that he doesn't use an email address from that university, but rather an address attached to the Institute for Vaishnava Studies in Gainesville. We can imagine that Dr. Howard Resnick would prefer to keep his professional and devotional lives compartmentalized, especially when it comes to matters such as this one.
So all the years where we were promised that he would do great things and accomplish great preaching for Srila Prabhupada by journeying down the road of mundane academia has resulted in nothing. We don't see any preaching coming from him on that academic level, beyond his recent unfortunate advocacy of homosexuality, over which one of his finest disciples was driven to renounce him as guru.
Over the years, we have been witness to so many of these Zonal Acaryas being punished by Krsna for their offenses, and I really believe that's what we're seeing today, as spiritual rigor mortis sets in with Hridayananda. From what I've been able to understand, the elite within ISKCON leadership know very well that this is the case. They recently removed him from his so-called GBC service in Arizona, replacing him with Hari Vilasa dasa, which is going from bad to worse. Hridayananda was seen at the Mayapur Festival earlier this year, where he scandalized the devotees by parading around the Holy Dhama wearing karmi clothes, with a woman on his arm.
So the word is out that he's on the verge of being finished, and he's being exposed for what he really is. He will not do the honorable thing, as Harinamananda das suggested, stepping down from his sannyasa and becoming a humble grihasta. If the GBC doesn't do anything -- and they usually don't do anything about situations like this – the problems will become increasingly hard to cover-up. The public will finally become aware, as they have with so many other Zonal Acaryas, well after the falldown was acknowledged by close friends and associates. They've know for years that Hridayananda's on a collision course, and will eventually be exposed. But the GBC, who are the only ones that can do anything about this, will remain quiet until something happens – we're not sure what.
You have to ask yourself why this is the case. Why do these leaders have so little respect for Srila Prabhupada's movement, and so little courage in confronting Hridayananda? The lion has again become a mouse, and the GBC should step up and do their duty, not cower before this toothless tiger, while Srila Prabhupada's good name is further damaged.
RELATED STORIES:
"Letter to the GBC" by Hridayananda das Goswami - Apr 15, 2009
"Indicator of Hridayananda das Goswami's Position" by Grahila dasa - Apr 11, 2009
"Hridayananda Goswami's Apology" by Hridayananda das Goswami - Feb 7, 2009
"Hridayananda's Shoes"
by Radha Krishna dasa - Jun 4, 2008
