Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Ritvik Instruction
Śrīla Prabhupādas’s written instruction
– to act as the ritvik representative of the Ācāryas –
Original letter dated July 9, 1977
Letter to: All G.B.C. members and all temple presidents
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Ritvik instruction refers to His letter (dated July 9, 1977) sent to all ISKCON temple presidents worldwide instructing how future initiations into ISKCON should take place.
ISKCON INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHA CONSCIOUSNESS
Founder Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Vrindavan, July 9, 1977
To all G.B.C. members and temple presidents
Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet.
Recently when all the GBC members were in Vrndavana with His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada had indicated that He would soon appoint some of His senior disciples to act as ritvik representatives of the acarya to perform initiations, both first and second initiations. His Divine Grace has so far named 11 disciples to act in this regard:
His Holiness Kirtanananda Swami
His Holiness Satsvarupa das Gosvami
His Holiness Jayapataka Swami
His Holiness Tamal Krsna Gosvami
His Holiness Hrdayananda Gosvami
His Holiness Bhavananda Gosvami
His Holiness Hamsadutta Swami
His Holiness Ramesvara Swami
His Holiness Harikesa Swami
His Grace Bhagavan das Adhikari
His Grace Jayatirtha the Adhikari
In the past, the temple presidents have written to Srila Prabhupad proposing the initiation of a particular devotee. Now that Srila Prabhupada has appointed the aforementioned representatives, the temple presidents can send their proposals for first and second initiations to whichever of the eleven representatives is closest to their temple. After these representatives have considered the proposals, they may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupad by giving him a spiritual name, or, in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the Gayatri string, just as Srila Prabhupada did.
The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, the above 11 senior disciples acting as His representative. After receiving a letter with the spiritual name/string from the representatives, the temple president can then perform a fire-yajna in the temple, as has been practiced in the past.
The name of the newly initiated disciple should be sent to Srila Prabhupad by the representative who has accepted it, so that it can be entered in the book of names of the initiated disciples of His Divine Grace.
Hope you are all well.
Your servant, Tamala Krsna Gosvami
Secretary to Srila Prabhupada
Acknowledged: (signed) A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
(Prabhupada’s signature appears on the original)
Note: The above document is the original letter dated July 9, 1977 written by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, his original signed and endorsed document appointing some of His senior disciples to act as ritvik representatives of the Ācāryas.
Analysis of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Ritvik appointment
– direct understanding and conclusion –
This is the final announcement to all temple presidents and GBC members on the subject of future initiations / gurus in ISKCON after Śrīla Prabhupāda leaves his body. These instructions were sent out after several GBC meetings specifically on this topic during the previous months.
We will now examine point by point Śrīla Prabhupada’s instructions for maintaining the process of ritvik initiation as recorded in his July 9, 1977 letter to all GBC members and temple presidents.
1. “Recently, when all GBC members were in Vṛndāvana with His Divine Grace, Śrīla Prabhupāda had indicated that He would soon designate some of His senior disciples to act as the Ācārya’s ritvik representative to perform initiations, both first and second initiations.”
(Note: In the presence of the entire GBC Commission, some senior disciples were appointed to “act as the ritvik representative of Ācārya Śrīla Prabhupāda” to perform first and second initiations).
2 His Divine Grace has so far named 11 disciples to act in this regard:
His Holiness Kīrtanānanda Swami
His Holiness Satsvarūpa dāsa Gosvāmī
His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami
His Holiness Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī
His Holiness Hṛdayānanda Gosvāmī
His Holiness Bhavānanda Gosvāmī
His Holiness Haṁsadūta Swami
His Holiness Rāmeśvara Swami
His Holiness Harikeśa Swami
His grace Bhagavān dāsa Adhikārī
His Grace Jayatīrtha dāsa Adhikārī
(Note: Previously, names of eleven senior disciples of Śrīla Prabhupada were mentioned to act as “ritvik representative of the Ācāryas” [Śrīla Prabhupāda]).
3. “From now on, the temple presidents can send their proposals for first and second initiations to whichever of the eleven representatives is closest to their temple.”
(Note: Instead of writing to Śrīla Prabhupāda as before, the temple presidents should write “from now on” to the “Ritvik Representative” of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupāda] closest to their temple with their recommendations for initiations).
The specific word “from now on [henceforward]” has only one meaning, namely “continue from now on” or “continue like this from this time onwards”. Both correspond to Śrīla Prabhupada’s own previous use of the word, and the meaning ascribed to it in the English language. Unlike other words, the word “henceforth” [henceforward] is unambiguous because there is only one dictionary definition for it.
Because the ritvik system initiates new Prabhupada disciples without him being physically present, the word “henceforward” does not mean “from now until I die”. It simply means “henceforth”. The letter does not mention that this system should cease upon Śrīla Prabhupada’s passing away, nor does it say that this system should only be valid during his presence.
(4) “After considering the proposals, these representatives may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Śrīla Prabhupada by giving him a spiritual name, or, in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the Gayatri threat, just as Śrīla Prabhupāda did. The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the above 11 senior disciples acting as His representative.”
(Note: The closest “ritvik representative” of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupadas] is authorized by Śrīla Prabhupāda to give a spiritual name after considering the proposal for initiation and to accept the person as a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda. At a second initiation, the “ritvik representative of the Ācāryas” [Śrīla Prabhupadas] can chant Gāyatrī on that person’s new brahmana threat.
Again it is mentioned that the newly initiated disciple is a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, and not one of the “ritvik representative of Ācārya [Śrīla Prabhupāda]”, who, as is repeatedly said here, acts only as a representative (deputy) of Śrīla Prabhupada.
5. “After the temple president has received a letter with the spiritual name or string from the representatives, he can then perform a fire-yajna in the temple, as has been practiced so far.”
(Note: As has always been practiced, the temple president can perform the fire-yajna when he has received the spiritual name or brahmana string from the “Ritvik representative of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupadas]”)
(6) “The name of the newly initiated disciple should be sent to Śrīla Prabhupad by the representative who has accepted it, so that it may be entered in the book of names of the initiated disciples of His Divine Grace.”
(Note: The name of the newly initiated disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda should be sent through the “ritvik deputy of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupadas]” to be included in Śrīla Prabhupada’s “Book of Names of His Initiated Disciples.”)
In this letter it is mentioned that Śrīla Prabhupāda introduced this system of the local “ritvik representative of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupadas]” “when all GBC members were staying with His Divine Grace in Vṛndāvana”, and then explicitly communicated this system to all GBC members and temple presidents in a letter which clearly states the following:
1. the persons listed were only authorized to act as “Ritvik representatives of the Acharya [Śrīla Prabhupada]”.
(2) The eleven names mentioned were “His [Śrīla Prabhupada’s] senior disciples”.
3. these were the names mentioned, according to the quote, “so far“, implying that more might be mentioned at a later date
4. the temple president should “henceforth [henceforward]” (Note: The American Heritage Dictionary defines henceforward as henceforth, or from this time forward, or henceforth) send the name of the person recommended to (quote) “whichever of the eleven representatives is closest to their temple.” (meaning “to the rtvik representative of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupadas]” who is physically closest to the temple of the respective temple president).
Furthermore, the argument that the entire ritvik system “hangs” on one word – henceforth [henceforward] – is untenable, since even if this word is removed from the letter, nothing changes. One still has a system devised by Śrīla Prabhupāda four months before his passing away, without any subsequent instruction to end it. Even without such a contrary instruction, this letter would still be intact and complete as Śrīla Prabhupada’s final instruction regarding initiations.
7. that the name of the newly initiated disciple should be sent by the local “ritvik representative of the Ācāryas [Śrīla Prabhupadas]” to be entered in “the book of names of the initiated disciples of His Divine Grace”.
It is clear from the above statements that this was “henceforth [henceforward]” the system for “first and second initiations”. Śrīla Prabhupāda approved this system after speaking with the entire GBC Commission in Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Prabhupāda never discussed this with the whole GBC Commission again later, and he never wrote any other officially approved document or instruction to change this system. Śrīla Prabhupāda never appointed more than just “Ritvik deputy of Ācāryas Śrīla Prabhupāda”. Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly stated that all disciples thus initiated by the local “ritvik representatives of Ācārya Śrīla Prabhupāda” must be recorded in the “Book of Names of the Initiated Disciples of His Divine Grace [Śrīla Prabhupāda]” as bona fide disciples.
This legally valid ISKCON document states the requirement for future ISKCON initiations from that date (July 9, 1977). The inclusion of names cannot refer to the chronological validity of this document because there is no such crucial time limit mentioned here, nor is there any time limit found in any of Prabhupada’s other written or recorded statements on ritvik initiations. Consequently, the word “from now on [henceforward]” can only mean “from this time onwards”, or until this document is explicitly revoked by him. This, of course, never took place. Therefore, the current system of appointed successor diksha gurus in ISKCON today is not authorized by the founder-acarya.
Even the GBC meeting of May 28, 1977 confirms that the ritvik system was to be continued after Śrīla Prabhupada’s samādhi.
In reality, something similar was practiced in ISKCON before that time. Many sannyāsīs and GBC people had chanted on bead necklaces, and Śrīla Prabhupāda had sometimes instructed other people to choose names for his disciples. So all Śrīla Prabhupāda did with this was to formalize this system. So we should note that there was never any discussion by a prospective disciple to select a guru, because the only guru was Śrīla Prabhupāda, and as far as selecting which “ritvik representative of Acharya Śrīla Prabhupāda” to write to, Śrīla Prabhupāda makes it clear that the temple president should write to the closest one, with all the initiation recommendations of his temple. The fact that Śrīla Prabhupāda took all the trouble to write this letter to all GBC members and temple presidents means that he wanted this system to be implemented. Since he never implemented any other system, and since he did not want the management system to change after his passing away, as we have seen from his legacy, we can conclude that this system should still be applied today.
Summary
Since all “Executive Directors” or “GBC Administrative Members” for the fortunes “must be my [Śrīla Prabhupada’s] initiated disciples who strictly follow all the rules and regulations of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as described in my books”, and “the management system remains as it is and there is no reason for any change”, the conclusion is that there will always be disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda in ISKCON. In other words, Śrīla Prabhupāda is in a position to initiate disciples even though he is no longer physically present, just as when he was in India and could initiate disciples all over the world by letter, and later with the letter of July 9, 1977 to some of “His senior disciples”. July 1977 allowing some of “His senior disciples” in various parts of the world to be his local “ritvik representative of the Acharya [Śrīla Prabhupāda]” and chanting on beaded necklaces and giving strings and names, and also allowing his temple presidents to perform the fire-yajnas.
Further conclusion is that the system of initiation of Śrīla Prabhupada’s disciples “continues [henceforward] from now on,” just as Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in this letter signed by him and sent to all GBC members and temple presidents with Dātum dated July 9, 1977.
And a further conclusion is that since no other system has been sanctioned by Śrīla Prabhupāda, the GBC body shall continue “henceforth [henceforward]” as the highest governing authority of ISKCON. “The management system will continue as it is now, and there is no need for any change,” and the GBC and local deputies of Śrīla Prabhupāda will ensure that all devotees initiated into ISKCON since Śrīla Prabhupada’s passing away, even in the future, will be registered by name in “Śrīla Prabhupada’s book of the names of his initiated disciples” according to his authorized instructions. As proof that the GBC follows this.
What is the difference whether Śrīla Prabhupāda is in Gokula Vṛndāvana [India] or in Goloka Vṛndāvana [the spiritual sky], he gave us a simple system to proceed with the first and second initiations for him. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda remains the founder and Acharya of ISKCON. Thus ISKCON and the devotees of ISKCON, and all the devotees and sincerely initiated disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, are united for the same purpose, under one Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
There are also testimonies to these instructions from Gauridas Pandit dāsa and Yaśodānandana Swami.
Moreover, Tamal Krishna, the then secretary of Śrīla Prabhupāda, admitted the deviation from the pre-samādhi ritvik system in 1980. (See Topanga Canyon meeting)
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s supporting instructions:
There were other statements made by Śrīla Prabhupāda and his secretary in the days following the July 9 letter that clearly show the ritvik system was meant to continue without interruption:
“…I have chosen you as one among eleven men as ‘rittvik’ or representative of Acharya.” (July 10)
“…the procedure for initiations that must be followed in the future.” (July 11)
“…continue to be ritvik and act on my responsibility.” (July 19)
“…continue to be Ritvik and act on my behalf.” (July 31)
In these documents we find words like “continue” and “henceforth”, which together with the word “henceforth continue [henceforward]” all indicate the permanence of the ritvik system. There is no statement by Śrīla Prabhupāda that even remotely indicates that this system was to end after his passing away.
THE FOLLOWING ARE JUST A FEW PLACES WHERE RITVIKS PERFORMED CEREMONIES IN VEDIC SOCIETY. SO CALLED GURUS STILL PERFORM INITIATION CEREMONIES TODAY — THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT THEY ARE NOT CALLED RITVIKS. ALTHOUGH THEY CANNOT SPEAK WITH KṚṢṆA, THEY PREFER TO BE CALLED DIKSA-GURUS.
SB 9.1.15 adhvaryuna–of the rtvik priest;
SB 4.5.7 rtvijah–the priests;
SB 4.5.18 rtvijah–the priests
SB 4.6.52 rtvijam–of the priests;
SB 4.7.16 rtvik–the priests;
SB 4.7.27 rtvijah–the priests;
SB 4.7.45 rtvijah–the priests;
SB 4.7.56 rtvigbhih–with the priests;
SB 4.13.26 rtvijah–the priests;
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA GIBT EINEN PERFEKTEN PLAN (DER DEN ĀCĀRYA IM ZENTRUM HÄLT): UND ISKCONS BETRÜGER-GURUS WOLLEN LIEBER SOFORT IHRE GÖTTLICHEN GNADEN SEIN—–OHNE MIT KṚṢṆA ZU KOMMUNIZIEREN!
The following are the facts of the matter, which are honest and indisputable:
1) Śrīla Prabhupada’s last signed, legally binding instructions summarily put into effect that he remains the sole initiating guru for ISKCON.
2) Immediately after his passing away, his most eminent disciples disregarded these instructions from him, preferring instead to replace him with themselves without authorization as initiating gurus for ISKCON.
3) As early as 1970, Śrīla Prabhupāda established a Governing Body Commission, or GBC, as the means by which the ISKCON community would be administered. In 1975, he confirmed the following definition for the GBC, which set out the precise framework within which the GBC could act:
“The GBC was established by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to represent Him in the responsible execution of the day-to-day administration of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, of which He is the founder-acharya and supreme authority. The GBC accepts His divine instructions as its life and soul, and recognizes that it is completely dependent on His grace in all matters. The GBC has no other function or purpose than to carry out the instructions kindly given by His Divine Grace and to preserve and propagate His teachings in their unadulterated form in the world.” (Definition of the GBC, GBC Resolutions 1975)
Although far from being a law among themselves, this administrative body was set strict parameters within which it could act.
4) The above resolution clarifies the following:
a) The GBC can ONLY carry out instructions from Śrīla Prabhupāda
b) The GBC must maintain these instructions without modification
“The GBC has no other function or purpose than to carry out the instructions kindly given by His Divine Grace and to preserve and propagate His teachings in their unadulterated form in the world.”
This letter will show that the GBC not only failed to carry out the instructions given by Śrīla Prabhupāda regarding his position as guru, but also carried out a whole series of instructions that were never given by Śrīla Prabhupāda.
5) In 1977, Śrīla Prabhupāda confirmed in his Last Will and Testament that this method of managing the society by utilizing the GBC as described above would remain the standard for ISKCON:
“The Governing Body Commission (GBC) will be the final authority of the entire International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” (Śrīla Prabhupada’s Last Will and Testament, Registered 7/6/77, para. 1)
Thus it is clear that the GBC is legally bound to continue to act as we have outlined in paragraph 3 above, and may only introduce such teachings and systems as have been given by Śrīla Prabhupāda, even in Śrīla Prabhupada’s absence.
6) Shortly before his physical departure from this world, on July 9, 1977, Śrīla Prabhupāda signed the above directive and instructed his secretary to send it to the GBC and all temple presidents (branch presidents), giving details of how he would continue to give diksa initiations from that time forward. This directive, known as the July 9, 1977 letter, clearly states:
a) He would appoint some of His senior disciples to act as ritvik representatives of the acharya,
b) Above eleven senior disciples would act as His (Prabhupada’s) representatives,
c) The newly initiated disciples are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad,
d) The name of a newly initiated disciple should be recorded in the “Book of Initiated Disciples of His Divine Grace”.
In the past, the temple presidents have written to Śrīla Prabhupad proposing the initiation of a particular devotee. Now that Śrīla Prabhupāda has appointed the aforementioned representatives, the temple presidents can send their proposals for first and second initiations to whichever of the eleven representatives is closest to their temple. After these representatives have considered the proposals, they may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Śrīla Prabhupad by giving him a spiritual name or, in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the gayatri string, just as Śrīla Prabhupāda did. The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, the above 11 senior disciples are acting as His representative. After receiving a letter with the spiritual name/string from the representatives, the temple president can then perform a fire-yajna in the temple, as has been practiced in the past. The name of the newly initiated disciple should be sent to Śrīla Prabhupad by the representative who has accepted it, so that it can be entered in the “Book of Names of Initiated Disciples of His Divine Grace”.
7) The above directive clarifies that Śrīla Prabhupāda would remain the guru for ISKCON. This fact is mentioned 3 times in a directive that is itself very brief. By this instruction it is clear that his disciples should simply act as ‘representatives’ who should perform this process by choosing names for the prospective disciples in the name of Śrīla Prabhupāda. This directive was specifically sent to the GBC for implementation in ISKCON.
8) However, on November 15, 1977, the day immediately following Śrīla Prabhupada’s departure from this world, and without any revoking instruction from Śrīla Prabhupāda, the GBC took it upon themselves to stop the execution of this directive. Therefore, its members were immediately guilty of acting outside their authority, the scope of which we have outlined above in paragraphs 3 and 4; this makes it clear that they must continue to carry out only the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda, even after his passing away. By suspending the system of handling initiations as laid down in the directive, whereby all initiates became disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the GBC also became guilty of acting in direct violation of Clause 2 of his Last Will and Testament, which states:
‘The management system will continue as it is now, and there is no need for any change’ (Śrīla Prabhupada’s Last Will and Testament, Registered 7/6/77, para. 2)
That Śrīla Prabhupāda expected to continue to act as the sole initiator in ISKCON is further evidenced in the will under paragraph 3. This deals with how new directors of the permanent properties of the society, such as Māyāpur and Vrindavan (which were expected to remain so for thousands of years), were to be selected:
‘…a subsequent director or directors may be appointed by the remaining directors, provided the new director is my initiated disciple…’ (Śrīla Prabhupada’s Last Will and Testament, Registered 7/6/77, para. 3)
This makes it clear that future directors of ISKCON property for thousands of years to come could only be selected from amongst Śrīla Prabhupada’s initiated disciples. Such a provision can clearly only be made if Śrīla Prabhupāda has also made a provision for continuing to initiate new disciples into ISKCON. Otherwise the supply of potential directors would quickly deplete.
9) The 11 disciples who had been appointed as representatives in the directive to give names in Śrīla Prabhupada’s name suddenly began to declare about themselves that they had been appointed as new successor gurus instead:
(GBC Resolution, 9.30 am, March 19, 1978) “The GBC will consider appointing new Spiritual Masters every year at Gaura Pūrṇimā who have been approved by a 3/4 majority vote. However, no other Spiritual Masters will be appointed for 1978 other than those 11 who have been selected by Śrīla Prabhupāda”.
By disobeying Śrīla Prabhupada’s final instructions as to who is guru of ISKCON, his replacement as guru of ISKCON was thus ordered for his many disciples, followed by the subsequent seizure of Śrīla Prabhupada’s company and assets by these men. This deviation was further extended in 1985 when it was declared that anyone who was a disciple and had the required number of voting supporters could be accepted as a Dīkṣā guru:
(GBC Resolution, February 27, 1985) “A GBC election on the addition of an initiating guru requires a vote (ballot) at which 3/4 of all GBC members must be present. To be confirmed, a candidate must receive 2/3 of the votes of all members present at that meeting.”
10) Thus more gurus were added, and today we have at least 70 of them, with a continuous influx of new “elected” gurus to replace those who left due to falling into moral impropriety. This guru expansion in the mid-eighties was spearheaded by Ravindra Svarūpa Das, who happens to be the ISKCON chairman right now, and who made himself a guru as a direct result of the changes he instigated. In this way, the problems only changed from bad to worse, and the deviations and downgrading of our society’s reputation only worsened.
11) The GBC members were never in a position to justify ending the initiation system that Śrīla Prabhupāda had personally enacted with his last institutional directive on the matter. They simply said that the directive was automatically invalidated with the passing away of Śrīla Prabhupāda from this world, because if Śrīla Prabhupāda died, the directive would have died with him. However, this argument is based on false assumptions – that the directive is tied to the physical presence of Śrīla Prabhupāda. However, the circumstances of the directive of July 9, 1977 are such that it was issued within an institution, and for implementation within an institution. Thus, the applicability of the directive is tied to the institution, and therefore only the demise of the INSTITUTION can end its applicability. The physical presence of the founder who authorized the instruction has no relevance to the termination of the directive. Therefore, the directive must remain in force as long as the institution remains. Arguments based on considerations of ‘tradition’, practice in other institutions, etc., have no applicability to the assessment of how Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted his institution to be run. We can only judge from his instructions concerning the institution. Just like Śrīla Prabhupāda issued so many other directives to the movement that we must read his books, follow his teachings, etc. None of these directives became invalid just because Śrīla Prabhupāda is different – neither is this one. Śrīla Prabhupada’s position as guru is not dependent on his physical presence, just as he taught:
“He lives forever by his divine teachings,
and whoever follows him lives with him.” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Preface)
Conclusion
All of the original 11 disciples who were selected as ritvik representatives of the Ācāryas in the above-mentioned directive, yet unauthorizedly assumed the role of diksha-gurus, subsequently left the movement under scandalous circumstances and fell down into gross moral debauchery [Satsvarūpa also fell down]. This in itself is proof of the fact that the original replacement of Śrīla Prabhupāda by these new gurus could not be correct. And many of the dozens of gurus who came later have fared no better, with the resulting great loss of manpower, property and reputation for ISKCON. All this trauma, upheaval and embarrassment is clear evidence that it is not possible for the society to carry out the instructions of the infallible Ācāryas Śrīla Prabhupāda. Although not all gurus acted so outrageously, not even the best of them follow Śrīla Prabhupada’s instructions on this most fundamental matter. Therefore, much of the bad news we find in the press comes only from this original disobedience to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Our success in spiritual life, and ISKCON’s success in particular, can only come from strictly following the instructions of the Spiritual Master.
We have worked very hard to build and maintain such temples as in Bangalore, Vrindavan, Calcutta and Singapore, and we are very anxious that ISKCON be revived as the glorious institution it once was, united under the sole and only original Guru Śrīla Prabhupāda. Otherwise the disruption and mismanagement will continue, and the most painful thing for us is when people blame Śrīla Prabhupāda for all the mess, when in fact he designed a system that was almost as perfect as it can be in the material world. For years we have been quietly trying to put things right, but it has not worked, so it is with regret that we must take up our fight against the supporters and well-wishers of the movement. The situation is serious, but can be quickly rectified once we restore Śrīla Prabhupāda as the guru of ISKCON and place him at the center – just as he instructed.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s original books can be
seen in free of charge from this homepage:
