His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes in the Chaitanya Caritamrta about the relationship he had with his godbrothers in the Gaudiya Matha. There are many similarities in today’s 2022 version of Iskcon that are similar to his relationship he had with his godbrothers and our relationship we have had with our godbrothers. Understanding this is an important aspect of us preserving and maintaining our own Krishna Conscious focus on his mission.
TEXT 8
prathame ta’ eka-mata ācāryera gaṇa
pāche dui-mata haila daivera kāraṇa
SYNONYMS
prathame—in the beginning; ta’—however; eka-mata—one opinion; ācāryera—of Advaita Ācārya; gaṇa—followers; pāche—later; dui-mata—two opinions; haila—became; daivera—of providence; kāraṇa—the cause.
TRANSLATION
At first all the followers of Advaita Ācārya shared a single opinion. But later they followed two different opinions, as ordained by providence.
This is the situation we also see amongst godrothers. There are three main areas of opinion between both parties that we want to discuss in this article.
- The changing of the content of Srila Prabhupada’s books.
- The creation of an elected guru system by the GBC.
- The association of Prabhupada disciples with the Gaudiya Math for philosophical Vaisnava guidance.
One group of Disciples are willingly to change Prabhupada’s books in the PPB era, to modernize them for the current times. PPS means Post Prabhupada’s Book. This is one of the most controversial topics among godbrothers.
The elected guru system is a GBC mandate to make living gurus. Most godbrother’s that object are banished from Iskcon if they disagree. The other group preach that Srila Prabhupada is the Diksa and Siksa guru for the new members and still lives on in his vani incarnation, in his books, letters, lectures and conversations which have been carefully archived by his disciples.
In Srila Prabhupada’s PURPORT on this verse we gain much insight into his point of view of the opinions of his godbrothers in the Gaudiya math.
Prabupada explains “the words daivera kāraṇa indicate that by dint of providence, or by God’s will, the followers of Advaita Ācārya divided into two parties. Such disagreement among the disciples of one ācārya is also found among the members of the Gauḍīya Maṭha” This is exactly the situation in the Iskcon movement of 2022.
Srila Prabhupada further explains, “In the beginning, during the presence of Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya Aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, all the disciples worked in agreement; but just after his disappearance, they disagreed. One party strictly followed the instructions of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, but another group created their own concoction about executing his desires. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively.”
Again this is identical to the situation in Iskcon.
“He did not instruct a particular man to become the next ācārya. But just after his passing away, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of ācārya, and they split into two factions over who the next ācārya would be.”
Consequently, both factions were asāra, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. Despite the spiritual master’s order to form a governing body and execute the missionary activities of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, the two unauthorized factions began litigation that is still going on after forty years with no decision.
The GBC in Iskcon is not working cooperatively and if anyone disagrees with their absolute authority they simply banish those that debate or disagree with their position.
Prabhupada had come to America and was successfully preaching in America and despite his appeals for help from his godbrothere none was forthcoming.
He concludes, “Therefore, we do not belong to any faction. But because the two parties, busy dividing the material assets of the Gauḍīya Maṭha institution, stopped the preaching work, we took up the mission of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world, under the protection of all the predecessor ācāryas, and we find that our humble attempt has been successful.” The Iskcon movement has carried on with the preaching based on a zonal guru system with each group claiming their guru to be the purest devotee of all. This sectarian spirit pervades the Iskcon organization.
Prabhupada states, “We followed the principles especially explained by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā verse beginning vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (BG 2.41). According to this instruction of Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, it is the duty of a disciple to follow strictly the orders of his spiritual master. The secret of success in advancement in spiritual life is the firm faith of the disciple in the orders of his spiritual master. The Vedas confirm this:
yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau
-tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
[ŚU 6.23]
“To one who has staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master and the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the secret of success in Vedic knowledge is revealed.” The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is being propagated according to this principle, and therefore our preaching work is going on successfully, in spite of the many impediments offered by antagonistic demons, because we are getting positive help from our previous ācāryas. One must judge every action by its result.” The current mission especially in North America is failing because Srila Prabhupada is no longer in the focus. In Many temples they sell only changed edited books if there is a stock at all. So Prabhupada further explain, “the members of the self-appointed ācārya’s party who occupied the property of the Gauḍīya Maṭha are satisfied, but they could make no progress in preaching. Therefore by the result of their actions one should know that they are asāra, or useless, whereas the success of the ISKCON party, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness,
which strictly follows guru and Gaurāṅga, is increasing daily all over the world.
During the time Prabhupada was personally present this was the case the Iskcon movement was thriving. The GBC centralized the management system of Iskcon and in most places removed the local temple president, secretary and treasurer format to a self appointed local management board. Most temples are operated with paid managers and the GBC and Gurus maintain large private bank accounts. This is against the instructions of Srila Prabhupada found in his archives and as a result the seeds of destruction in the long run are bearing fruits. In many cases the elected gurus are falling down much to the chagrin of their disciples and their followers and leaving the society with large sums of money.
Prabhupada further concludes in his purport, “Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura wanted to print as many books as possible and distribute them all over the world. We have tried our best in this connection, and we are getting results beyond our expectations.”
The organization has sold over a billion books of Srila Prabhuapada as per his direction but the current BBT trustees are salaried workers with no accountability to the members to the society and the instructions of Srila Prabhupada and how the proceeds from the money should be nandled and dispersed. Yes there are two factions which have created a true schism in Iskcon at the expense of the truth concerning our disciplic succession. In due course the truth will emerge and the movement that Prabhupada created will be restored to its original glory.
All Glories to His DIvine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.