Gurukrpa speaks on ISKCON History

Gurukripa dasa speaks with Bhakta dasa:

Question to GK: What happened the final months of SP’s

appearance in connection with the process of initiating new devotees?

Answer: Nothing happened. In the beginning SP did the
disksa, the yajna and the name giving. As the numbers increased, he
authorized  GBC, and senior sanyassis to pick names and chant on the
beads, etc.  In 1977 during the months of May, June, July 1977 I was in
Vrindaban with Srila Prabhupada, giving him his massage in his bed
between 1 AM and mangala aratik. During the day, many letters would
arrive. Satsvarupa Swami was the secretary and we decided that only
letters that would give joy to Srila Prabhupada would be read. Like
numbers of books sold, etc. A maximum of five letters daily were read
to SP.

After some weeks like this, there were stacks and stacks of

letters, all relating to initiation. Hundreds of people were panicking
that SP would leave the planet before they were given initiation. At
this time, this situation was brought before SP in his room by
Satsvarupa, Tamal, myself, and maybe some others.

Up until this time it was a very simple matter that we were

doing the initiations, but we first had to ask permission. SP NEVER
refused any recommendation from his senior men. And personally, I would
sometimes argue with some GBC that they were giving it too easily.

At this meeting, SP basically said, “From here on, if you

feel they are ready, then you may give the initiation on my behalf.” I
understood this for what it was, simply extending the authority a
little further than it had been. Tamal Krsna Swami, began to say, “But
who will do it?. Which devotees will do this?” Srila Prabhupada said,
“The nearest one will do it. Whoever is closest.” Tamal said, “Can
Bhavananda do? Can Jayapataka do?” Thus these eleven names came out.

Question: Why were you not on the list of eleven?
Answer: Because it did not matter. Srila Prabhupada said

whoever was closest. I was already doing and Srila Prabhupada never
told me or anyone else not on the list to stop. For myself, it was not
very relevant because I was working in Japan and did not have any new
devotees to initiate.

Tamal Krsna Swami, made these list of names himself and SP

signed the letter. But they were only priests to act on behalf of SP.
Tamal asked about Bhavananda who was not a TP or a GBC at that time.
And everyone new well of his homosexual tendencies. But, Tamal pushed
his name, because he was already planning how to take over when Srila
Prabhupada was gone.

Question: How did Tamal Krsna Swami become so influential at
this time?

Gurukrpa: Tamal’s original service was as GBC in India. He

left that service without permission and arrived in America. Within one
year the temple presidents made a huge complaint to SP that he was
disrupting the temples by taking important men. I was in the room when
SP told Tamal to go to China. Hari Sauri’s memory of this incident is
not accurate. Either way that is another story.

Tamal went to New York to prepare to go to China. And in May

1976, he showed up in a suit in Honolulu, a broken man.  He could not
get a visa to China, he had no service to do in India, and he could not
go back to America, so he was quite depressed. Approximately a day or
two later, SP called for Tamal and me at about 12:30 AM. He said, “My
feet are swelling, my teeth are getting loose, I am passing urine too
frequently. These are the first signs that death is coming.” Then he
sent us back to bed. The next day TKG volunteered to be SP’s
secretary, as the service was vacant at that time. From this position
he could control and manipulate the environment around Srila
Prabhupada. I can write many more stories that will shock people about
TKG’s ambitious nature and his desire to take SP’s seat..

After SP left, in November 1977, I stayed in Vrindaban till

Gour Purnima 1978 and there was no discussion of guru during these
three or four months, because SP’s last instruction, or as the ritvics
call it, “The final order”, was that “Now we have build a framework.
There is no need to try and expand more. If we can just maintain our
men and increase the chanting and hearing that is sufficient. We should
sit down now and chant and hear.”

There was NO TALK about initiations that I heard either in

Vrindaban or in Mumbai during these months. If SP has appointed these
eleven as spiritual masters, why did they not start initiating at once?
Because they all knew very well they were never appointed! We knew the
philosophy what is tattva darshi and what is Saksad Hari…but behind
closed doors there was a plot simmering.  In the GBC meeting of 1978
the initiation issue was brought up and it appeared they had already
concluded that they were going to go ahead and say that they were
appointed.  I asked Harikesh sitting next to me, ‘how are you going
to let people call you a paramahansa?  You are not a realized soul, you
are a piece of shit.  He turned to me with a smrik on his face, and
said “What are you going to do about it?”  That is basically what
happened, none of us could do anything after that.

In 1978, Janmastami, TKG came to Vrindavan to give Sannyasa

diskha to Bhagavan.  I was the GBC at the time in Vrindavan.  TKG
called from Delhi and demanded flower garlands and a large reception
greeting at the temple with vyasasana’s for them to sit on.  I told
them this is Prabhupada’s temple and everybody can sit on the floor.
When they came I gave them no such reception, and the next morning in
Bhagavatwam, Bhagavan brought his politics into the class.  I went and
told him, if you ever do this again, bringing politics into Bhagavatwam
class you will never speak again in any temple I manage.  That day,
Bhavananda, TKG,and Bhagavan asked me to meet them in the guest house
for a meeting.  When I came, they said, why are you making waves? Just
stop making trouble about this appointment of gurus and we’ll make you
the 12th guru at the next Mayapur meeting.  I told them, Prabhupada did
not make anyone guru’s, you have to be a realized soul.  They said
there was some talk about you in Japan doing some things, therefore
Prabhupada did not name you. I told them you are now believing your own
lies. They were silent. Bhavananda tried to speak. I told him to shut
his mouth because he was a homosex and he had never done service and
had been living off the money I collected and sent to Mayapur for
construction.

Question: So how did everyone become guru’s, if Prabhupada

did not make them gurus?

Gurukrpa: Had SP seen one of us as being capable, he would
have named that person or persons, but he did not mention that anyone
was fit. His Divine Grace B.V. Puri Maharaja, who SP said “is the only
god Brother who is not envious of me”, ask SP “Please stay another 8 or
10 years with these boys.” SP’s answer was, “They are all hard headed,
I have done all that I can do.”

Prabhupada said, “I can stay 100 years” many times, but he

left after 81 plus a few months.

In the GBC meeting of 1978, they shouted me down and they

had already decided the fix was in.  This was how the future of ISKCON
was going to go.

Question: Is the GBC absolute since they are named as the

ultimate managing authority?

Gurukrpa: Prabhupada said the GBC would be the  ultimate

managing authority.  But that does not mean they are perfect, and they
have perfect vision.  The process of the  GBC meetings during the
years, we would have the meeting and report the days minutes of the
meeting nightly to Prabhupada.  Usually it would take 5 days.
Prabhuapda said if you people were competent, you people would be done
in 30 minutes.  In 1977, Prabhupdad told us, just have your meetings
and after 5 days give me all your resolutions.  After 5 days of
meetings, the GBC filed in his room, sat down and read the resolutions;
and one after another.  Srila Prabhupada said, ‘No I do not want that,
no that is not what I wanted’.  He vetoed almost all the resolutions.
So to say the GBC is the ultimate authority is correct, but that does
mean that it is absolute.  As you can see by how many guru’s have
fallen down, and how many GBC’s have had difficulties.

Guru means one who has no other interest but to realize the

absolute truth, Krishna.  The guru, must have first realized the Name
is non-different than Krishna.  When I first joined the movement, we
spent 9 to 10 hours a day chanting in the street.  These present GBC’s
do not spend that in a year.  Hari nama eva kevalam, in this age only
the Holy Name, only the Holy Name.  Your bureacuracy and your
mangagement is not the process.  The elitisim being shown by the GBCs
putting themselves up on a platform, above all their god brothers is
absolute arrogance and the greatest sin of pride, the opposite of the
humble blade of grass.  Krishna is the one giving all directions for
those who can hear him.

Must of us are now hitting 60 or more, we’ve made successful

businesses, won some, lost some, raised our families, and personally I
have gone to 25 straight Kartiks’ in Vrindavan.  We have been excluded
from SP’s movement, it started in the GBC meeting of 1978.  Still
today, the people who have appointed themselves for life have had very
little result.  Rabindra Svarupa, the GBC of Hawaii, has come once in 6
years, and he will not give up the position.  Kavicandra in Japan has
done nothing there in 25 years.  Even one of these GBC guru’s does not
wear neck beads, tilak, sikah, or have any faith in the name is still a
member in good standing.  In the west, most of the temples have more
deities than devotees. Most of the devotees are being paid, pujari’s
being paid, cooks being paid temple presidents are being paid, and they
have to bring Indian devotees just to keep the bare minimum going.

I have witnessed over all these years how the elitist

mentality of the GBC’s and guru’s have excluded all their god
brothers.  They have put themselves on a high pedestal.  They have no
taste for staying in the holy dhama’s of Mayapur and Vrindavna, and
they run back to their comfort zones soon as they finish the meetings.

In 1977, during the rainy season, all the GBC’s showed up in

Vrindavan..  SP said, we should go in a room and make out his will for
him.  I.e., who would manage what properties and so forth…Kirtananda
and everyone was there, and they were going on saying someone will do
this, and someone will do that…I noticed how they totally left me
out.  So I just went to the Yamuna and took my bath and came back to
find them still dividing everything up.  When they were finished, it
was brought into SP room and read to him as he laid on his bed.  After
they finished reading the will, the first question SP asked was, ‘Where
is Guru-krpa’s name’?  I had already opened a dozen temples and
collected the most money in ISKCON history, up to that point, and they
totally left me out.  But SP noticed it right away.  So now, although I
am the first executor in his will, and he told me to develop Hawaii and
other places, (you made read the will), they also have totally
neglected that order.  Giriraj even came and asked me if I would resign
from the will.  I told him, ‘How can I give up the order of the guru’?
It is not as easy for me as you people.

There is no new blood in this organization, things have

become stagnated and dry, not dynamic and the offense of neglecting all
their god-brothers by excluding them from their spiritual birthright,
they will have to answer to SP for this apparadha.

Question: What is your idea of how the guru – disciple

relationship should now be handled in ISKCON?

Love can not be insituationalized.  I feel in love with SP

the second I saw him.  That is why I could surrender to  the depth that
I did, to get the insurmountable service I did at that time.  Once in
Mayapur, Kirtananda came to me, and said “Why are you giving all that
money to Prabhupada.  You should give it to me, in America we are
protected.  The communist one day will come and take these buidlings
away..  Prabhupada is making a big mistake.”  I was shocked by what I
just heard.  At that time, Kirtananda was considered by Satsvarupa to
be the greatest of the great, and the most divine of the divine.  My
answer was, I do not care what he does with the money.  He can flush it
down the toilet, for all I care, I just love to give it to him.

Its a matter of the heart.   According to one’s state of the

heart, if one has many material desires, he may say he loves Bhagavan
Sai Baba, the Pope, Charles Manson.  Its according to one’s sukriti.
Krishna is sitting in one’s heart, He knows exactly what our intentions
are.  Before anyone has a right to ask a question, you must first enter
the class.  The price is surrender.  Those who have not fully
surrendered can not understand those who have surrenedered.  Those who
have surrendered can understand about everyone.

SP initiated thousands, he told me once in his room in

Vrindavan, he said “My guru ordered me to go to the west, and I did
that.  My main service was to translate these books and I did that.  I
have a personal desire to build these temples in India.  That is my
personal program.  But they (his disciples) will not give me money and
my head is getting hot.  I have to translate these books, write many
letters, and I am thinking how to raise the money to build these
temples because my disciples have their own programs and will not give
me money.”  So, seeing SP like this, I told him that from today forth,
you just translate the books peacefully, and I will take the headache
and go and get the money.  When I walked out of the room, I could not
believe what I just said.  So to think all the GBC are 100% surrendered
souls, and the gurus are 100% surrenderd souls with no self interest,
and their only interest is to serve SP mission, they did not even care
during his time(SP time).  SP said he would be happy, if he could get
one moon.  To get one disciple who would be perfect, out of many
thousands.  How rare is a personality of SP character.

The GBC’s duty is to see that SP standard is being

maintained.  That standard is based on chanting and hearing, also
becoming a lover of Krishna.  If SP said I bless you, I give you a
benediciton, it will manifest.  He has the right, the adhikari to do
that.  If someone else says  I am your guru, I am giving you diskha,
can he give you Krishna?  Can he give you the holy name? Can he take
you to Vaikanthua?  Have you been there, has the guru been there?  SP
told me in the car in New Zealand, he turned to me in the car, and
said, while you were building Krishna Balarama temple in Vrindavan.
Krishna was building you a house in Goloka.  I have seen it, it is very
nice.  That is why you can only surrender to the depths, to one who is
from that place, and who can you give you that place, who wants that
place, otherwise it is just a big show.  Whistels and bells with no
substance.

My view of seeing this organization, it is croniyism. Most

of the leaders, their hearts are still, steel framed, they are self
interested.  They are not self-less.  They have stopped somewhere on
this road back to Godhead; they are satisfied with their easy
lifestyle, food, respect, honor, travelling all at the expense of the
community and the younger devotees who go on the street.   Its a long
way from chant, dance and be happy.

Question: Then how did it come about that immediately after

SP was not present physically, these eleven became worship able as
paramahamsas of the highest order?

Gurukrpa: Because it is the cheaters and the cheated. People

are basically sudras who want a master tell them what to do. They do
not  have sufficient intelligence, or spiritual knowledge,therefore they

accepted;  and the more realized devotees left , after trying to
correct things. They were told to leave because they were disturbing
the faith of the new disciples.

Because they could not take it any more any more they left.

Now it has become like the Pol Pot regime, “accept our way, or die.”
Devotees never die, KRSNA is always in their hearts.  They are the
losers for losing the association of their brothers & sisters. The
senior men can do something, other wise the new men cannot do without
the association of the older devotees.

Most of the older devotees now also do not have the

missionary spirit. SP said, as a group we can’t be broken, but alone we
are all easily broken..

The leaders have never cared for the God Brothers/sisters.

They are happy when the see their brother get victimized by Maya, and
never come to try and rescue them. Do you think SP is happy to see the
present leader’s disciples at his temples and not his own disciples????
They talk of love of God, but they do not care one bit for their own
family members, unless the family agrees to accept everything they say.
They have no peers around them that may object to anything.

I AM A VERY FALLEN SOUL. I AM NOT BASICALLY A FAULT FINDER, WHICH IS WHY I DID NOT SPEAK UP FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS. SO MANY PEOPLE ASK ME TO WRITE A BOOK, BUT I HAVE NOT. I HAVE LIVED VERY NICELY BY SRILA PRABHUPADA’S GRACE. I WILL BE VERY HAPPY TO SEE THE GBC ACTUALLY BECOME REAL GBC AND GENUINE LOVING COMPASSIONATE VAISNAVAS.