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EDITORIAL August 23, 2000 VNN6178 Comment on this story Search For The Sacred Thread BY KSAMABUDDHI DAS EDITORIAL, Aug 23 (VNN) — To all the readers of this article, I offer my humble respects. It was just a few weeks before Srila Prabhupada passed away from our presence that I received second initiation at the Chicago temple of ISKCON. At that time a fire sacrifice was performed, the ritvik of the Acharya (Srila Prabhupada) chanted gayatri on my sacred thread and then took me into the temple presidents office to hear Srila Prabhupada giving me the gayatri mantras via the media of a tape player and headphones. I was given a photocopy of the mantras in print and told to dispose of it by burning after I had put them all to memory. This was the system that Srila Prabhupada established for ISKCON before his departure. His intructions to us during his period of passing away was " I have given you everything, don't change anything after I am gone". I challenge any guru or GBC member to show me evidence that Srila Prabhupada wanted the system he had set up in ISKCON during his presence to be changed after his departure. Some buffoons in the guise of devotees are saying that "ritvikism is a dangerous and devious departure from tradition". What could have been more dangerous or destructive than upstart disciples dethroning Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON and accepting his position as their own? What harm could have come from keeping Srila Prabhupada as the sole master and guru of ISKCON. We have seen the choas and destruction that the alternative system has reeked in ISKCON. This is not however a criticism to great souls like Srila Tripurari Swami whom have taken the path of following in Srila Prabhupada's footsteps and struck out to start their own institutions and keep order and authority intact. There is a gulf of difference between imitating Srila Prabhupada and following in his footsteps. Swami Tripurari has boldy and humbly taken to the path of following Srila Prabhupada's example as opposed to those who would prefer to stay in ISKCON and usurp and undermine the solidarity Srila Prabhupada tried to build into his institution. "Don't change anything after I am gone" These are Srila Prabhupada's very words and instructions to the GBC before he passed away. There is no doubt that Srila Prabhupada gave this instruction on many occasions. The GBC and ISKCON gurus have somehow or other found reason and grounds for changing the ISKCON system. The path Srila Prabhupada chartered for ISKCON was a very simple formula for total success:"Don't change anything after I am gone". What could be more simple than that? Srila Prabhupada did not leave anything undone or incomplete. All we had to do was continue with the system Srila Prabhupada had set up. But, we knew better than him and so we made improvements to what Srila Prabhupada had done! Right? The result is painfully apparent; the movement is broken, disciples are fighting and ISKCON is on the verge of total collapse do to the lawsuit being filed by the abused children of ISKCON. These young people are for the most part nice devotees and their lawsuit probably has more to do with the dismantling of the current corrupt system in ISKCON than the abuses they suffered under the GBC administration. Had ISKCON been kept on track and in line with Srila Prabhupada these young folks probably would have been willing to forgive the abuses they suffered in ISKCON. However, since the GBC has remained doggedly stubborn and unrepentent to re-establish the system that Srila Prabhupada established in ISKCON these young people have chosen to use extreme leverage in order to alter the balance of power within the worldwide devotee community. The GBC has had 23 years to get these outlaw gurus under control but has failed to do anything more than extend and perpetuate this fallacy of multiple acharyas in ISKCON. The GBC has long been on a mission to centralize power and authority in ISKCON yet at the same time promote a multiplicity of acharyas in ISKCON. This sort of undertaking contradicts itself and only breeds choas and conflict within the society. This leaves us with the question: Where is the gayatri tape that Srila Prabhupada gave to the ritviks to use in the system of initiation? The sad news is that most of them were destroyed or disposed of. There is information that shortly after the passing away of Srila Prabhupada one devotee found a copy of that tape in the garbage can in the temple presidents office in the Denver temple. Is this what the GBC (or gurus) ordered to be done with that tape after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada? The evidence speaks for itself. This tape is the Sacred Thread that was meant to keep ISKCON a unified organization capable of prospering and progressing even after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada. Now, the hunt is on to try and locate at least one copy of that tape in order that ISKCON can be revived to it's former glory. If there are any devotees out there that have a copy of that tape it is absolutely imperitive that they protect and preserve that tape for the purpose of reconstructing ISKCON. It is crucial that the gaytri tape be made available to senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada that are attempting to rebuild ISKCON according to Srila Prabhupada's formula. Copies of that tape should be made available to the sannyasis and brahmanas that seek to propogate Krsna conciousness according the design and plan of our beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada. Thank-you; your servant, Ksamabuddhi das Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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