BY: ROCANA DASA
May 28, CANADA (SUN) — A weekly response to Dandavats editorials.
Today's Obeisances is in response to the recent article by Indradyumna Swami entitled "The Duty of a Mendicant".
As I read the articles on Dandavats each week, looking for something to offer commentary on, I inevitably come across articles that have been copied from Indradyumna Swami's Diary of a Traveling Preacher. While trying to read the opening paragraph of these travelogues, I often find myself unable to digest a more than a few lines before throwing my hands up in disbelief!
Today's 'Mendicant' article reminds me of another of Indradyumna Swami's pieces,
Mysterious Antiques, and the excellent commentary offered on that piece by Navadvipcandra dasa entitled "Indradyumna Swami's Example of Renunciation". I suggest the reader revisit these articles before continuing on with today's Obeisances, and I'll try not to be repetitive here.
Anyone with any kind of understanding of Srila Prabhupada's mission and message can see the obvious gulf of difference between this so-called "mendicant sannyasi", Indradyumna Swami, and the real thing - Srila Prabhupada, the Sampradaya Acarya. In the recent past I've been expelled from two West Coast temples because I've dared to make commentaries on ISKCON's sacred cow dignitaries. In the past it was Tamal Krishna Goswami and Radhanath Swami. I'm well aware of the fact that Indradyumna Swami is in the same herd. In fact, just a few weeks ago at the Vancouver Temple during the Lord Nrsimhadev's Appearance Day festival, the temple put on a play that featured Indradyumna Swami himself. It was a dramatic rendition of the Swami's travels to South India, where he visited Lord Nrsimha's sacred dhama. Rather than offer Lord Nrsimhadev, Srila Prabhupada and the congregation a play about Lord Caitanya's pastimes in South India, the temple choose to do a play about Indradyumna Swami's pastimes. In my mind this is so ridiculous that I don't mind putting myself back in the crosshairs by writing this article. Hopefully I can do as fine a job as Navadvipcandra prabhu did in his analysis. The material is certainly equal in terms of the foolishness and hypocrisy contained therein.
Right from the very beginning of the travelogue the reader gets a taste of the lifestyle of the rich and famous. I assume most readers are in the same position I am, wherein it takes time to save up enough money to even go to India, let alone to enjoy a circumstance like Indradyumna Swami's. He describes how just in order to take a few days rest, he flew from India to South Africa. Having previously served in South Africa, I know how expensive airfare is to fly in an out of that port. Indradyumna goes on to say that he then jetted off to New York and Los Angeles, so we can understand that his ticket alone cost thousands of dollars, what to speak of the rest of his expenses.
We often hear the excuse that "Srila Prabhupada flew around the world preaching". Of course, it was his movement, his temples, and everyone was his disciple. He was also a nitya-siddha Sampradaya Acarya. But even so, I dare say that Srila Prabhupada did not enjoy the same kind of opulence that devotees like Indradyumna Swami experience. In those days, let's not forget that a lot of the temples were small, yet Srila Prabhupada insisted on staying in the temples. He never complained, and in fact refused to take any other accommodation other than what the temple could offer. And compared to what we have now, there's quite a difference in amenities. So to say that Indradyumna is following in Srila Prabhupada's footsteps, or that he set this kind of precedence, is most offensive.
Meanwhile, we read in the GBC meeting reports how so many temples are having such a hard time. There's a big emergency in Germany, they're having to sell farms, there's trouble brewing in Boston, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and elsewhere, as the GBC shuck and jive, trying to figure out how to pay off the Turley case settlement. It's obvious that their solution assumes that temples are going to have to be mortgaged or sold. Yet at the same time we have swamis like Indradyumna sailing around the globe, with little or no results. And let's not forget Jayapataka Swami, who sports a $1 million per year travel budget.
In his travelogue, Indradyumna goes on to explain how he leaves Lord Krsna's temple early to get to the airport, so he could have some "time alone" away from the temple. His excuse is that he's never alone at the temple, which is a ridiculous statement. We know that whatever the swami wants, the swami gets. If he wants to be alone, he only has to give that instruction. But no, he has to go to the airport to be alone and do what he wants. And what is it he wants to do? , “Memorize a verse, telephone some friends, maybe read a little and chant”. So what kind of message does that give? He can't phone his friends from the temple? Surely he can read and chant there?
Even the person who's driving him to the airport wondered why he couldn't do that at the temple. The whole so-called spiritual message that he's apparently trying to convey in this article can be summed up with the slogan, "It's better to wear your devotional clothes when traveling than your karmi clothes." This whole story is intended to share that message with the reader. To give us this message, Indradyumna tells us all about himself, relaying certain circumstances that he experienced as he jetted around the globe.
The main story is about some young ruffians who threatened him at the Johannesburg airport. Even that story doesn't hold much spiritual content, unfortunately. When the swami felt threatened he didn't start chanting Hare Krsna, so the rascals would run away in fear upon hearing the Holy Names. Instead, Indradyumna actually started chanting "officer, officer, officer"! Of course, the reason these hoodlums snuck up on him was because he busy text messaging, not chanting his rounds or reading the books.
The security guard offered the swami his sagacious advice, advising him that he shouldn't wear his robes. In other words, he deserved to be harassed because he stood out in his saffron garb. The swami then states that traveling alone has its risks, but its part of the "sannyasa dharma". He shares a purport wherein Srila Prabhupada states that sannyasis travel alone in forests, hills, towns and villages, and he somehow equates this to his circumstance. Of course, we all know that the traditional sannyasa situation is not at all equivalent to Indradyumna Swami's circumstances. In fact, even Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu always traveled with a servant and instructed that sannyasis should never be alone, because it gives the wrong impression. If we look at ISKCON's history we find that many sannyasis have fallen down due to traveling alone and succumbing to the temptations of putting on their karmi clothes and doing all nonsense. This must be especially tempting when you're walking around with an AmEx gold card and a pocket full of cash, like many of our swamis do today.
It's interesting to note that even though he's giving us this message about the trials and tribulations of a jet-set sannyasi, Indradyumna admits that when he was flying into America he went into the toilet and changed into his karmi clothes. It was the karmis sitting beside him who challenged him about doing that. This is just so baffling, especially when he goes on to give some mundane story about the old man and his young grandson riding around on a horse, and how everyone had a different opinion. What relevance does any of this have except to take away from the real storyline, which is, should a sannyasi like him travel in his sannyasa garb or do a superman routine by changing back and forth?
In essence, there is absolutely no spiritual content in this article. Indradyumna Swami offers about as much realization as a new bhakta going out on the streets for the first time, chanting in his robes. One has to consider the precedent setting circumstances sannyasis such as Indradyumna Swami are setting, in comparison to a Sampradaya Acarya like Srila Prabhupada. Compare Indradyumna's example to what we find in Srila Prabhupada's books and throughout sastra, which describes the activities and behaviour of a true sannyasis in our Vaisnava tradition. How far that traditional behaviour is from what we see in ISKCON today.
Yet swamis like Indradyumna continue to write articles like this one, and the masses keep lapping it up. Perhaps one of the reasons the authorities like to project such an image is because this "swami persona" is so much easier and therefore more attractive to neophytes, who like to dream that one day, they too might join the institution's sign-up queue for taking sannyasa. After all, you only have to make sure you don't get caught with a women. Other than that, there's not much austerity for one to struggle under. In fact, there's far more opportunity to enjoy than just by being a householder and earning money. A true grihasta, according to our strict tradition, doesn't even enjoy sex life. So all one really has to do is not enjoy sex life, and he's treated like Tom Cruise. In fact, if one were to make a parallel, we could say Indradyumna Swami is the Tom Cruise of ISKCON. And likewise, Tom Cruise is the Indradyumna Swami of the "Church" of Scientology.
If one goes into the Dandavats search engine and reads some of the swami's other travelogues from his so-called mendicant travels, you'll find more of the same. This article and the one Navadvipcandra prabhu wrote just give you a repeat version of the same sad story. In one article, you'll read about how Indradyumna was one of the star attractions at someone's wedding - a wedding gig that was orchestrated by Giriraja Swami. So what does that say? Indradyumna is just one version of this whole array of new age sannyasis. We have another "sannyasi" living in Beverly Hills with his karmi brother, in their mother's home. We have swami's going out and getting their Ph.Ds, swamis retiring in opulence in sunny climes like California and Mexico, surrounded by servants, doing no preaching at all. We have swamis who look and act like businessmen, and swamis who have part-time jobs and put on their sannyasa robes almost like a hobby. But the most frightful thing of all is that ISKCON is encouraging this. Dandavats is the official GBC website that's promoting these pastimes. No one within the GBC dares to call the question in regards to these people's activities. All the foolish followers -- and I'm not just talking about disciples, but also godbrothers, GBC and congregational members -- obviously love consuming these nonsense stories. Sadly, they're all giving Indradyumna Swami the impression that what he's doing OK.
The only message in Indradyumna's most recent article that strikes me as being anywhere close to Krsna conscious is when the person who was taking him to the airport in Johannesburg questioned him as to why he was going there so early. As soon as a fool opens their mouth you can see them for what they are. Here we have Indradyumna Swami opening his mouth, and essentially admitting that he's almost flaunting, in obvious ignorance of the impression he's making, the position of ISKCON sannyasis. When are people going to wake up and say the king has no clothes? This is very offensive behaviour as far as I'm concerned.
And where is our Minister of Sannyasa, Prahladananda Swami? If anyone complained to him about this type of behavior, do you think he'd be compelled to act? He does practically the same things, but is smart enough not to write about it. In fact, while Indradyumna Swami may be a little more flamboyant than the others, I dare say he's no exception to the rule. He is the rule.
We can expect to see many devotees applying to be sannyasis in the future. It's almost like signing up for the American Idol competition, where everyone hopes they can become a big star.
Obeisances to Dandavats, and to HH Indradyumna Swami.
