Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

Personally, I dont like the mentality that some ISKCON members have that people should try to stay in ISKCON and not join any other Sampradaya.

As long as people accept Lord Chaitanya divinity, it really doesnt matter what (bona fide) sampradaya they join.

Recently i had the sad experience to have seen and heard narayanna maharaja of the gaudiya math blaspheme and criticise our divine grace srila prabhupada on a british website...matchless gifts.Having been a devotee who has always tried to embrace other gaudiya vaisnavas,this was indeed a shocking realisation.Also having been witness to some past- godbrothers who have taken reinitiation even though their guru has not fallen,and narayanna maharajas offensive attitude to infact reinitiate srila prabhupadas disciples,one must accept the fact that ISKCON is sadly the only spiritual body which is indeed truly reflective of ac Bhactivedanta swami Prabhupadas spiritual legacy and his blessings.My personal veiw is yes you are able to accept other sampradayas however why would you want to .....considering Iskcon is so big if you have problems with local people just pack up and go to another temple with a more favourable leader and spiritual authority.Actually my recent experience is that over the last twenty to thirty years as an initiated disciple in Iskcon if one waits ....krishna adjusts everything if some problem is really there and infact rectifies everything personally.Personally also no line is as special or as bonifide for westerners as Iskcon is.....maybe for indians with their cultural elasticity other group are valid to some degree.....but not for westerners in my humble opinion.

Yuga Avatar Das, theres too much bias in your post. I really urge you to refrain from making comments like these.

There are many "Vaishnavas" outside ISKCON who blaspheme Srila Prabhuada, even from our own Gaudiya line, but there are also many Vaishnavas who praise Srila Prabhupada and recognize his divine influence.

ISKCON has many problems just as the Gaudiya Math does, possibly even more so. Many members in ISKCON only follow rules generally laid out by Srila Prabhupada, not wanting to follow the other rules that he mentioned, what to speak of the ones mentioned in the scriptures? This is because "Prabhupada didnt say so" mentality. ISKCON is in a pathetic state right now, and its really no surprise the reason why.

I am very sorry bhakta kyros that you are so frail in your your own krishna conciousness realisations. Myself i have recently had to approach several old godbrothers,reinitiated by narayanna maharaja to confront them because they are preaching the wrong spiritual siddhanta to our devotees.We aredemons and devotees preachers..following in the footsteps of our mahajana ac Bhaktivedanta swami prabhupada.His unique rasa,unique style of preaching means that even for narayanna maharaja and many other guru of the gaudiya math,it is a mystery how to spread krishna conciousness in the western world.Hence they are unable to understand the sublime preaching truths of our param guru and his empowered gurus......Sorry that i cant agree with your sad envious vision of our ISKCON society....Actually even with a substantial group of my godbrothers leaving,in our wonderful temple our sunday feast programs are booming..... In our Auckland temple we expected only 50 to 100 guest which because of the bad winter weather would have been quite good.Instead we were blessded with 300 to 350 guests.which is our normal every week amount since i personally do count them.

However obviously that is not the case everywhere....but if like me you subscibe to back to godhead magazine and travel frequently to the wholly dharmas of vrindavana and mayapura you cannot fail to see the thousands of new devotees fulfilling the prayers of bhaktivinoda thakura.Just look into the pages of temples which are listed inback to godhead,hundreds more are there since i jioned.....so we are infact still booming though some centres are drifting through lack of those supremely important individuals krishnas sankirtan bhaktas.Good luck bhakta kyros.

"Prabhupada was afraid that his God-brothers would take advantage of his success. Therefore from the very beginning he told us, "Dont be disrespectful to my God-brothers. Dont make offenses by being disrespectful. But keep your distance." We have a saying in English, "Good fences make good neighbors." We should not be disrespectful, especially to senior members of the Gaudiya Math, but we should not associate with them intimately, which means to live with them, to hear from them, to take their instructions. Were not supposed to associate intimately.Someone may doubt that Prabhupada actually said that. But Ill tell you a little story wherein I know Prabhupada said that. One time, during Maypura festival, the sannyasis took us out on a parikrama We went through different places of Lord Caitanyas pastimes, and on the way back the leading sannyasi, Acyut'e4nanda, and other leading sanny'e4s'e9,

they took us to the Gau'f2'e9ya Ma'f6h temple of 'c7r'e9dh'e4ra Swami. 'c7r'e9dh'e4ra Swami was there, and he and different devotees at the Gaudiya Math received us nicely. And then he spoke to all of us. And in his talk he very subtly criticized Srila Prabhup'e4da. That, "He went to the Western countries, but any of us," he speaking about Gaudiya Math, "they could have also gone to the Western countries and have done so. You should respect all members of Gaudiya Math, not just Srila Prabhup'e4da."

Sridhar Maharaja is one of the most important sanny'e4s'e9s in Gau'f2'e9ya Ma'f6h. He now passed away, but hes a very important member of Gau'f2'e9ya Ma'f6h. And I have no doubt he went back to Godhead. But there was a little jealousy there. So, when we came back to our temple, M'e4y'e4pura temple, M'e4y'e4pura Candrod'e4ya Mandira Prabhup'e4da heard that we went there, and he was furious. He was so angry that we visited the Gau'f2'e9ya Ma'f6h temple. And he called the devotees who were on the parikram'e4 into his room. And he chastised the sannyasis in front of them. "I have told you many times, you must respect my Godbrothers but youre not to associate intimately with them." So anyone who says to me, "Wheres this statement coming that Prabhup'e4da said we should not associate with Gau'f2'e9ya Ma'f6h?", I reply that it was part of the dar'e7ana that Prabhup'e4da gave."

From Attack on ISKCON- A class delivered by H.H.Indradyumna Swami, Moscow, Russia, November 27th 1998

I googled this topic on internet and found this lecture. Full lecture can be read at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16898679/Attack-on-ISKCON-by-Indradyumna-Swami

Hari Bol.

[quote][cite] yuga_avatar_das:[/cite]I am very sorry bhakta kyros that you are so frail in your your own krishna conciousness realisations.......Sorry that i cant agree with your sad envious vision of our ISKCON society....[/quote]
[br]
Pot. Kettle. Black?