Hare Krishna Society Declines Invitation to Debate

October 14, 2003

Hare Krsna

Jaya Prabhupada

Dear Rocana Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obiesances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

This is to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail correspondence to Yasodanandana Dasa dated October 6, 2003. Thank you for your communication. As secretary of the Hare Krishna Society I am replying to your invitation to debate. We are still in the process of reading your papers, Sampradaya Acarya" and "The Church of Rtvik." We are still mystified by your second paper, "Church of Rtvik."

While we acknowledge that you are entitled to your observations and realizations, after reading your paper several times, we cannot ascertain your conclusion.

With regards to your invitation to debate Yasoda, he says he has never agreed to debate with you, but only to discuss with you. You have mentioned that you have not received any comments or rebuttals to your papers from anyone in the rtvik camp. From our perspective it is extremely difficult to even commence a rebuttal or reply to your papers for the reasons stated above, i.e. no factual conclusion.

As such, on behalf of the Hare Krishna Society, I request you to clearly answer the following question as your conclusion What do you think was the system or specific arrangement which Srila Prabhupada made for Vaisnava initiations for his followers, for his society and movement, for the aftermath of his physical departure?"

You also mentioned that the only comments you ever received were from Puranjana Dasa. You cite, "for obvious reasons I am not interested in attempting a debate with Puranjana." You may kindly note that Puranjana Dasa of PADA is not a spokesperson for the Hare Krishna Society. His writings and statements are his own and do not represent the official position of the Hare Krishna Society. While it is to be admitted that Puranjana Dasa often articulates views, opinions, philosophical positions and many other spiritual observations which are commonly shared by devotees worldwide, despite sprinkles of sensationalism and tabloid journalism, he does not officially speak for the Hare Krishna Society. For the record, what are those obvious reasons that prevent you from debating Puranjana dasa?

While it is none of our business to suggest to you who to communicate, discuss or debate with, it seems he has already publicly challenged some of your points. Whatever may be your obvious reasons for not wanting to debate with him, since you have made public criticism of the Hare Krishna Society, IRM and Prabhupadanuga Vaisnavas, we fail to see how a good scholar and Brahmin like yourself would have any problem or hesitation to debate with Puranjana Dasa.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, The Hare Krishna Society will address the points in your paper in due course of time at our own pace.

Yasodanandana Dasa has asked me to invite you personally to discuss these points in Los Angeles with him and Vadiraja Dasa at the Hare Krsna Society center.

I hope this finds you well,

Yours in Srila Prabhupada's service,

Sri Mukunda Dasa
Secretary
Hare Krishna Society