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EDITORIAL  Stop Tearing Apart Srila Prabhupada's Body BY A CONCERNED BHAKTA EDITORIAL, May 4 (VNN) — I am very concerned about how certain people are acting in Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON. If those devotees will step back for a moment, slow down and really think about what they are doing, they should come to the conclusion that it is not pleasing to our dear Acaryadeva, Srila Prabhupada. Before I describe the negative, destructive behavior that I have witnessed, which may be colored by my own obvious flaws, let me quote His Divine Grace, who has no darkness in his heart: (from S.B. 4.28.31 purport) "...Vivasvan, the sun-god, imparted Bhagavad-Gita to one Manu, and this Manu imparted it to his son, who imparted it to yet another Manu. In this way the propagation of Krsna consciousness is never stopped. No one should think that this Krsna consciousness movement is a new movement. As confirmed by Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, it is a very, very old movement, for it has been passing down from one Manu to another. AMONG VAISNAVAS THERE MAY BE SOME DIFFERENCES OF OPINION DUE TO EVERYONE'S PERSONAL IDENTITY, BUT DESPITE ALL PERSONAL DIFFERENCES, THE CULT OF KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS MUST GO ON..." (capitals added) So in the Krsna consciousness movement at this time there are obvious differences of opinion regarding whom to take shelter of as our guru. When we study what Srila Prabhupada has stated, he is always simply encouraging all souls to somehow or other begin the surrendering process by becoming submissive to the instructions of a bona fide representative of the Supreme Lord. When we seriously study all of his books and lecture tapes we hear him say that one must seek out a bona fide guru and make progress under his expert guidance, and we also hear him say that if one reads his (Srila Prabhupada's) books submissively, that is also initiation. So there is room in ISKCON for people with different viewpoints. If we are arguing about the guru issue and showing little tolerance for devotees with a different angle of vision, no matter which side we might be on, then we are missing the main point: that Prabhupada wants us all to be happy by giving up our false ego and submitting to Krsna. If we are happy and satisfied by following Prabhupada's instructions and we don't strive to go through an actual initiation ceremony, FINE. If we do meet a nice, advanced devotee who we want to surrender to and take initiation from, FINE (although the worship of this guru should be done privately so as not to create enmity amongst Prabhupada's disciples as Prabhupada himself suggested. Because this advice was NOT followed, so much enmity has occurred. Instead of having one big happy family, we now have a broken home) If we meet a nice devotee who can initiate us on behalf of Srila Prabhupada, that should also be accepted. If the GBC authorized and regulated this process, then the devotees who believe strongly in the ritvik system wouldn't need to be banished from ISKCON and labeled offenders. This, after all, is the system Srila Prabhupada put into place before leaving the planet. Can anyone disagree that Srila Prabhupada is the most recent Saktyavesa Avatar? A Maha-Bhagavata Acarya who has the power to lead all sincere devotees back to Godhead no matter which generation we are, now and for all time? Each of us is different, DUE TO EVERYONE'S PERSONAL IDENTITY, as His Divine Grace states. Cannot the all-encompassing Supreme Personality of Godhead gather many sincere souls to His lotus feet in different ways? How can we place stringent rules on how an individual soul can become a devotee? Srila Prabhupada did not do this. He purposely did not initiate Sriman George Harrison, saying that he already has the name - son of Hari- and referred to him as his "uninitiated disciple". And who will stand up and say that George could not have gone back home to Krsna because he was not formally initiated? He passed away chanting the Holy maha-mantra, and hearing the Holy Names from two devotees who Krsna kindly sent to him! The dangerous behavior going on in our movement, is the brutal way people are cut off from the organization just because their ideas are different from the mainstream ideas, especially regarding the guru issue. The people doing the cutting feel they are protecting the purity of Prabhupada's movement, by getting rid of the "offenders". But shouldn't we very carefully consider whether or not someone is actually an offender before excommunicating him or her? I can understand that if a person is totally confusing new people with some offensive philosophy, then he may justifiably be banned from temples. But what about someone who is a sincere and intelligent devotee, but he just has a different view than those in charge? Please, let us all remember the crucial point of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada's movement: to help us surrender to Krsna and revive our lost relationship with the Lord. Quarreling over differences in exactly HOW we surrender seems petty and should be given up if we want to see the movement flourish. When we cut people off who really don't deserve such harsh treatment, we are cutting off important parts of Srila Prabhupada's body, which is what ISKCON is. The harsh way in which people are treating each other in the movement has got to be giving dear Srila Prabhupada much pain. Now we all must do our part to heal those wounds. Sincerely, A concerned Bhakta Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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