Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

most of them just "fell away"....

Heres a 1999 GBC resolution and apology, which seems to me a pretty good broad historical recount:

403 [ACTION ORDER] CONCERNING GURUS IN ISKCON

Whereas Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON in 1966, and prior to his disappearance in November 1977, he stated in his will that the GBC Body is "the ultimate managerial authority" for the Society. Unfortunately, shortly after Srila Prabhupadas disappearance, the GBC Body allowed for an unauthorized "zonal acharya" system to evolve in ISKCON, elevating eleven exclusive successor diksa gurus;

Whereas ISKCON leaders at the time then introduced the concept that ISKCON diksa gurus were mahabhagavatas and the only current links to Srila Prabhupada and the disciplic succession;

Whereas some ISKCON diksa gurus who had formerly practiced vairagya vidya, but in the process of expanding the movement began living opulently, accumulated property, wealth, disciples and prestige far beyond the necessities for effective preaching;

Whereas in their overemphasis on diksa gurus, Srila Prabhupadas disciples and followers failed in various ways to properly establish and sustain Srila Prabhupadas unique role and personal relationship with all ISKCON devotees as the Founder-Acarya and preeminent siksa guru in ISKCON; ISKCON leaders failed to also properly establish the importance and role of siksa gurus in ISKCON;

Whereas the authority and resources of the GBC Body were minimized by the exaggerated prominence of ISKCON diksa gurus, resulting in a fragmented ISKCON composed of many guru-zones instead of a united ISKCON movement under the auspices of the GBC Body;

Whereas despite warnings by Pradyumna prabhu and others, for many years the Governing Body Commission, being weakened due to the Zonal Acarya deviation, failed to correct these errors to the detriment of many ISKCON members;

And whereas, despite GBC Body efforts to correct the Zonal Acarya deviation as flaws in the system surfaced and many of the Zonal Acaryas left ISKCON, our society continues to be affected by the misunderstandings of that system:

It is hereby resolved THAT:

A. APOLOGY TO SOCIETY FROM THE GBC BODY

The GBC Body offers the following apology to the members and friends of ISKCON:

As humble followers of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, it is the GBC Bodys duty to execute his will to the best of our ability as we collectively understand it. During Srila Prabhupadas physical presence, he simultaneously empowered the GBC Body and guided us when we erred. We continue to pray for his guidance and feel it is his will that we now correct the misunderstandings of the past. Thus, the GBC Body, both individually and collectively, wishes to express its deepest apologies to, and beg the forgiveness of, the followers of Srila Prabhupada who were offended or hurt by our past decisions resulting in the excesses and abuses of the zonal acharya system and its ongoing ramifications.

B. APOLOGY TO PRADYUMNA PRABHU FROM GBC BODY

The GBC Body offers the following apology to Pradhyumna dasa:

The GBC Body extends its heartfelt apologies to Sriman Pradyumna dasa Adhikari for any offences caused in its dealings with him in 1978-9. During this period Pradyumna Prabhu wrote to the GBC via Satsvarupa dasa Goswami warning them of serious repercussions with the Zonal Acharya system in his letter dated 7th August 1978. Unfortunately Pradyumna prabhus good advice was not taken seriously. In retrospect the GBC Body and ISKCON could have benefited greatly by heeding his well-meant and pertinent observations.

Although it is now many years hence, we nevertheless wish to state publicly that we sincerely regret the actions and words of the GBC Body that contributed to his leaving his active service in ISKCON. We unreservedly and humbly beg the forgiveness of Pradyumna Prabhu for any offences caused to him by our dealings.

We would also like to extend our most heartfelt invitation to Pradyumna Prabhu to participate actively in ISKCON activities and we pray that Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha-Madhava continue to bestow Their causeless blessings upon him.

(end)

My god it took them 20 years to offer an apology to Pradyumna Prabhu!!!
20!!!
Thanks Deena!
:)

What happened to the 11 Zonal Acaryas?

1.) Jayatirtha Swami - decapitated in a London antique shop with a serrated knife

2.) Ramesvara Swami - issues with women

3.) Hansadutta Swami - issues with women

4.) Bhagavan Swami - issues with women

5.) Kirtanandana Swami - issues with young boys

6.) Bhavananda Swami - issues with young men

7.) Harikesh Swami - issues with women

8.) Tamal Krishna das Goswami - died in car accident in Ranaghat, West Bengal

9.) Satsvarupa das Goswami - issues with women, now retired?

10.) Hrdayananda das Goswami - still active

11.) Jayapataka Swami - still active

Whats the lesson from this?

[quote][cite] ekendra:[/cite]
Whats the lesson from this?[/quote]
It seems to me that the issue is the zonal acarya system and how it entered into ISKCON...this deviation was entertained for many years and was the ultimate downfall of almost all those involved...so it seems the lesson is to stick to the divine instructions of the Founder Acarya and not to concoct and introduce new ideas that depart from those instructions.

yes i was not referring to the actual fall downs etc but more on this line.

Okay, I will give you an answer without a bias (which is hard to get I guess these days).
...
11 young man under an advise of BR. Sridhara Swami decided to accept high level of worship and separate the world in zones, most of them were nice devotees and still are, two had to take sannyas to keep up with the rest. In 1982 first problem was Jayatirtha, he at first wanted to move to Sridharas camp, and successfully did so with all his English disciples. In other countries his disciples were taken over by other gurus, in England temples were empty. He married (he was married when Prabhupada left the planet too). There was a lot of politics after this and shockwaves gave way to a major split with Gaudiya Math. Sometime later Ramesvara had a difficulty and resigned. There is no hard evidence on what was his problem, but he was seen with a woman, bad thing at the time in ISKCON, but the real reason is that his BBT sales were dropping, he basically could not keep up with the lot and a big courtcase was looming. He is showing up in the temple sometimes. Hansadutta Swami - was a controversial figure, mainly due to illegal trade and arms dealings. He was actually excommunicated due to that (while some iskcon gurus still see him), he remarried again and now heads one of the (many) ritvik groups.The crunch of the zonal system did not happen until another good devotee Bhagavan run into a terrible mess with taxes in France. Government closed the joint and put up a bill. He at that stage just escaped responsibility and took his leave with a follower or two, his family are all devotees and he regularly associates with some devotees.

He was the last pillar of the zonal system, who would normally support the highest system of worship for a guru as a tool for preaching. Once he was gone, SP disciples, mainly from Satsvarupas zone got together and formed a reform group. That managed to also convince Tamal that all the --pada titles should be abolished and Prabhupadas position would be more prominent.

Kirtanandana Swami had an issue with that and after a telephone conversation with Tamal said he IS still the founder-acharya of NV and said he would have nothing to do with the rest of ISKCON. Thus large part of ISKCON was separated for some 10 years (and zonal acharya system was alive in NV and related areas)

Bhavananda Swami was another issue as he never wanted to quit - he wanted to continue his service, and he had support from some, but some of the disciples of JPS has come forward and gave a bigger picture and as a result he started his own thing for a while - his Govindas restaurant, - now he is an artistic director in Mayapur iskcon.

Harikesh Swami run into big money problem with - one of Russian mafia guys, and lost control, then he had an issue with his therapist and subsequently married his disciple, he is practicing a yoga in Alachua Florida and has some followers and a temple in Russia.

Tamal Krishna Goswami almost got away from ISKCON, he was not coming to Mayapur for couple of years, and tried to fix some of his early mistakes by academic study and writing some papers, some of them published after he had died in a car accident in Ranaghat. Satsvarupa das Goswami - had a problem with a women, and had to write letters of apology. He is practicing along with Hrdayananda das Goswami Jayapataka Swami as an active iskcon member.

Zonal system was gradually reviewed, but some disciples would still say this is my gurus zone and call him by a ---pada/deva name. The latest development of this is that Kirtanananda (Bhakti-pada) has arrived to India.

I guess the major point of change was the time when many more gurus were introduced, and now its as easy to become a guru as to become a disciple, which is how it should be, the question is have you become a good disciple, not have you become a guru...

thank you so much ccd.

The zonal acharyas were removed by the reality check factor of Time. Fake shows of spirituality usually do not last very long. Like they say: You can fool some people all the time, you can fool all the people for some time, but you cant fool all the people all the time.

They apologized for HOW they did it -- not WHAT they did. There was no RIGHT way to implement the establishment of eleven appointed gurus because THERE NEVER WAS SUCH AN APPOINTMENT (and no, Im not a ritvik). Srila Prabhupada never authorized anybody to begin initiating after his departure. These guys were given power of attorney to represent Prabhupada at initiation ceremonies as officiating ritviks while he was present and thats it and thats all. In their confusion Prabhupada was asked (specifically by Satsvarupa) whose disciple would a person be if one of his disciples happened to give diksha. Thats about as brilliant as one of my sons asking, "dad -- if and when I have children, whose children would they be?" Yes -- another case of Stupid Questions, Perfect Answers. So that broken up conversation was extrapolated, cut and pasted onto another conversation which was stapled to some letter which went through some misinterpretations and the next thing ya know -- some shnook is putting his tush on a vyasa asana and becoming a Pada. It was as scary as that movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" when pods were taking over people -- but in this case Padas were taking over, usurping, hijacking, ruining the greatest spiritual movement in the history of the world.

So now they ELECT gurus. Another ingenious invention. They went from telling the world that two plus two equals three to two plus two equals five. What a mess! From the zonal acharya insanity to an ecclesiastic ecumenical body that gathers together once a year to vote in new gurus.

ISKCON could have and should have gone on with Prabhupadas books and vani presence as siksha guru for one and all and so what if some time went by with no initiations taking place. Whats the big deal? Prabhupada didnt take initiation until years after meeting his guru maharaja. Its not mechanical. By the mercy of Krishna one gets guru and by the mercy of guru one gets Krishna. Its a thing of the heart -- a transcendental magnificent phenomenon that spontaneously takes place according to the sincerity of the seeker. The idea isnt to set up an assembly line for giving out names and neck beads. If some self effulgent person would come out at some later date then it would have been obvious to one and all. That was Bhaktisiddhantas idea as well.

Hey -- dont get me started! Its too depressing.

it should be seen in a context of relationship with Gaudiya math gurus who were ready to jump in and a mounting number of first initiated (or not initiated devotees) who had to get initiation. other items are incidental abhiram.