Srila Prabhupada – The Evangelic Angel
BY: JAY GURUDEV DAS
Nov 12, 2011 — PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (SUN) — Just recently, out of curiosity, I had a glimpse of the "ISKCON IRM" webpage and was surprised to find out that the IRM was founded by Srila Prabhupada. As far as I know, Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON and also the founder of Back to Godhead magazine. He never founded the IRM nor Back to Prabhupada.
The main claim of the IRM and Back to Prabhupada movement – that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the only initiating diksha-guru in ISKCON, he has been so for more than thirty years after his disappearance from our mundane vision, without anybody ever knowing about it, and everyone has to accept this fact in the future – is, to say it mildly, a gross misunderstanding of Vaishnava culture, etiquette and philosophy. In fact it is a dangerous claim, which created a lot of dissention within ISKCON. It is a fanatical claim, an insult to those disciples of Srila Prabhupada in good standing who have honestly and duly awarded diksha to honest and sincere devotees of Krishna.
The almost messianic worship of Srila Prabhupada, as preached by IRM, is an anomaly, rasa-bhasa. From the authorised view of Vaishnava shastra and smriti, Srila Prabhupada is a ghostyanandi - mahabhagavata, evangelic preacher of the gospel of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, not a messiah. In fact, it was Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, who, in his famous poem offered for the Vyasa Puja of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada, described his teacher and Spiritual Master as "the evangelic angel".
'Messiah' is a Hebrew word, describing a 'Saviour', 'Redeemer from sin', who in Judaism is still to come (although Jewish messianic sects have already created thousands of messiahs in the past). For Christians, the only Messiah is Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary and Joseph, and for Moslems the only Messiah is the Prophet Mohamed.
False messianic claims, such as those made by the followers of Rev. Moon, Mother Ann, John Smith, Ron Hubbard, and many others, are emblematic for cults. Far from being just another false messiah, Srila Prabhupada was an honest and humble devotee of Krishna. In fact, he was a pure, cultivated, educated and experienced devotee of Krishna – a self-realised soul and a dedicated preacher. Never could he accept to be seen as a "messiah". He even had a "twist" on bogus messiahs, gurus, yogis etc. He systematically denounced their puffed-up messianic claims. Not because he was "jealous of other messiahs", but because he accepted that the Christians' and Mohammedans' Messiahs were authorised. He preached that true Messiahs must be predicted in Sastras. In this sense he also spoke about Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu as a Messiah – Saviour.
He respected the doctrines of established religions yet pointed to the flaws in their practice. If he accepted worship from his disciples, it was certainly not in the spirit of a messiah. He accepted worship and adoration as an offering of loving respect, which in the Vedic tradition is a practice prescribed for a bona fide shishya (disciple) in relation to superiors (father, teacher, guru, elders, etc.). Srila Prabhupada reciprocated with his students and disciples lovingly by instructing them diligently, patiently, in the science of Krishna consciousness, bhakti yoga. For them he wrote his books, for them he held lectures. They were the prime recipients of his teachings, his wisdom, his love and affection. At least they should have been…
Unfortunately, from the very start of ISKCON, some of his American and European disciples, mostly born and educated in Jewish and Christian traditions, with disturbed minds and past intoxicating habits, brought messianic claims into ISKCON. Messianic claims concerning Srila Prabhupada manifested in ISKCON as early as 1970. A group of disciples claimed that Prabhupada was a reincarnation of Krishna. Many devotees, even some of his experienced disciples, fell in for this messianic propaganda. Prabhupada declared the whole issue a hoax and temporally banned its perpetrators from ISKCON temples. In Germany, in 1974, a leader of ISKCON printed posters of Srila Prabhupada and made banners with his pictures stating "Der Führer kommt!" (for Germans, the last führer they could remember was Adolf Hitler).
After His Divine Grace departed to Goloka, the kingdom of God, on 14 November 1977, his godbrother in Navadvip, the later B.R. Sridhara Swami, declared Prabhupada to be a shaktiavesha-avatar, a messiah of Vaishnavism. This only further stirred false messianic claims within ISKCON. ISKCON leaders, the future new teachers and acharyas, started to be considered by their godbrothers, disciples and students as would-be or could-be messiahs too. Messianic claims, as a specific ISKCON rasa-bhasa, caused pain and a lot of misunderstanding both within and without ISKCON, right in the aftermath of Srila Prabhupadas´ departure from our mundane vision.
Whereas messianic preaching is exclusive and fanatical, evangelic preaching is inclusive and tolerant. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was an evangelist in the true sense of the term. He was accepted as such by his students, his sincere listeners and readers as well as scholars and religionists. Even his opponents had great respect for him. He was a revered teacher (prabhu). He still is a teacher – in his written and recorded words. He is, in fact, a Prabhu at whose feet countless Prabhus sit and will continue to sit, for many a generation. Prabhus, teachers, missionaries, gurus, acharyas existed in the past and will continue to exist in the future. The present acharyas of ISKCON are authorised only by dint of their sincere dedication to the evangelic mission of the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON. Inasmuch as acharyas, teachers following Srila Prabhupada, remain true to this evangelic mission, remain pure in their habits, strictly following the regulative principles of bhakti yoga, the parampara is maintained. To try to dismantle parampara, as proposed by the IRM movement, is foolishness. From the spiritual point of view it is guru aparadha, guru avajna.
Of course, if an upstart teacher disobeys the orders of his guru (as has happened in the history of ISKCON on several occasions) and instead of being a true evangelists he becomes a shrewd manipulator, sense enjoyer, vishayi, than falldown and apostasy is the only logical outcome. The bare fact that some ISKCON leaders replaced the evangelic efforts of Srila Prabhupada and His disciples with shrewd salesmanship of commercial consumer items all over the US and around the world, by alleged "Gauranga's samkirtan collection armies", was a serious offence to Srila Prabhupada. It was fraud all the way. It was a breach of the "Gauranga samkirtan trademark". Some fallen leaders literally preached water and drank wine. Falldown of those "messianic" leaders of ISKCON, who perpetrated and propagated the breach of the "Gauranga-samkirtan trademark", is just pure logic. If I work for a company, I must stick to its policies and aims. If my boss would find out that I'm working for myself or for some other company during my job, he would fire me on the spot for breach of contract.
To serve as "peon" of God, as an evangelist, means talking for God, acting for God and teaching others about God. Being an evangelist implies a humble and sincere service attitude. If instead of pushing on the evangelic mission of Srila Prabhupada we incite honest Vaishnavas to lie day in day out, what do we expect? That Prabhupada gives us his blessings?....We'll get fired on the spot!!
The IRM has been resentful to accept the present parampara system. The IRM followers claim that we cannot possibly risk more apostasy of ISKCON leaders and further tarnish ISKCON's reputation. From this point of view, the IRM may have some moral grounds for refusing the present parampara. Unfortunately the IRM has taken the wrong turn by raising messianic claims and taking a fanatical stand towards all present leaders of ISKCON, regular ISKCON devotees and ISKCON wellwishers. Instead of assessing deviations in ISKCON on the level of practice, lack of honesty, lack of evangelic spirit etc., the IRM focuses on Srila Prabhupada as a messianic figure, thus deviating from Vaishnava siddhanta in a most blatant manner.
The IRM ascribes to its detractors only ill intentions – ill-intentioned devotees who can't accept that Srila Prabhupada is the only diksha guru in ISKCON. By this attitude, the IRM has become a source of dissention in ISKCON – not a source of reform, as it proudly declares. The IRM, a self-proclaimed ISKCON reformist group of devotees, proposes self-defeating reforms. ISKCON can do without such bizarre reforms. What ISKCON needs and always needed is more focus on the practice of Krishna consciousness, as originally taught by its Founder – nothing more and nothing less.
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About the author: Jay Gurudev das ( Jaromir Nemec) - Born 1953 in Prague of an American mother and Czech father. Initiated by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada at the ISKCON French farm in New Mayapur, August 1976; One of four Czech disciples initiated by Srila Prabhupada; Gained long term experience and practice in book distribution in Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany. Personally instructed by Srila Prabhupada to translate his books into Czech, a task he performed for several years. Since 1990 he is living with his wife Vrindavani devi dasi and son Jay Nitai in Prague, Czech Republic. He regularly delivers lectures at ISKCON centres in the Czech Republic and occasionally takes part in book distribution. He produces Krishna conscious music & drama for children; He taught English at primary and secondary schools in Czech Republic for nine years; Currently he is working at the International Relations Office of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. Mail address: Jaromir Nemec, Grussova 828, 152 00 Prague Czech Republic. E-mail: nemec.jaromir@yahoo.com.
