Chumps!

By Janardana das

 
Recently there has been much discussion on what constitutes a spiritual
master.  Some say that the spiritual master must be a fully self realized
soul.  Others say that this is not necessary and that the spiritual master
can be a conditioned soul subject to the four defects, that is, he makes
mistakes, he is prone to be illusioned, he has imperfect senses, and he has
the propensity to cheat others.

During Srila Prabhupada's physically manifested presence every devotee in
ISKCON understood that in order to receive transcendental knowledge purely
one must have a spiritual master who is himself pure.  Everyone understood
this and accepted Srila Prabhupada as just such a person.

After Srila Prabhupada's departure his eleven "disciples" who assumed the
role of acarya without written authorization stated that they were such pure
souls.  This was how they justified sitting in big Vyasasanas and accepting
worship and guru dakshine.

When it became painfully obvious to most of us that these men were in fact
not pure then they began their system of watering down the position of
acarya.  "Gurus do sometimes fall down", they said. In other words they
sometimes cheat, make mistakes, are illusioned and have imperfect senses. 
This philosophy did not come into being overnight because NOBODY in 1978
would have accepted it but was gradually inserted into the teachings bit by
bit.

Persons would come to Krishna Consciousness, learn the philosophy, chant
Hare Krishna, be given some nice material facility and then slowly they were
pressured to accept such a fallen spiritual master or else lose the facility
that was given them.  Because most devotees are pretty much materially
exhausted when they become interested in spiritual life, for them to lose
their material facility, i.e. their rice bowl, it is extremely painful.  The
choice becomes obvious to them.  They must accept one of these "spiritual
masters" and it has to be the one of them that is the master for their
"zone."

Those of us who were not so incapable of living on our own, or in other
words had some material talents, gradually left.  This created a vacuum of
talented people who were qualified to be administrators but could find no
satisfaction in worshipping men like Kirtananda, Bhavananda, Tamal Krishna,
etc., which you were forced to do or be ostracized.  The deterioration of
the society therefore began.  (Notice I do not call these men Maharaj. 
Maharaj means "great king".  Calling them Sudras would be a complement.)

These "gurus", forced to make do with what they had, devotees with little or
no qualifications were put into positions of authority.  Their only
qualification is that they wholeheartedly bought into the system.  Those who
didn't were labeled fallen and envious.

Even if there were some persons who had some expertise they had to believe
that these self appointed "gurus" were as good as God.  Many of them stayed
on because their material qualifications brought them added prestige.

During this era, both during Srila Prabhupada's physical presence and
immediately afterward, the society he created, ISKCON, enjoyed a great
reputation.  Slowly but surely this good name decreased.  Many devotees
began to leave, joined other camps (the so-called) Gaudiya Math, or, for
myself, just went out and got a job.  For me personally this was very
difficult not because I had trouble finding work, that was no problem, but
because I had a small daughter to raise as my wife had then recently passed
away.  After a short stint in New Vrindaban which proved to be a disaster
because Kirtanananda didn't like my management style (I wouldn't call him
Bhaktipada but instead called him Maharaj which we all did when Srila
Prabhupada was present and I thought this was a great honor. He, however,
thought this was a severe offense.) Fortunately I left before anything bad
happened to me or my daughter and went back to work in Michigan my late
wife's home state.  While my sisters-in-law were very loving and helpful in
assisting me to raise my daughter I regretted the fact that my daughter
would not be able to live in the association of devotees.  I prayed to
Krishna what to do and an opportunity came to serve the devotees in Dallas,
Texas.  Naveen Krishna was president at the time.  He saw that I had some
ability and gave me service and some facility.  Room and Board and Gurukula
for my daughter.  I was so thankful to Krishna for answering my prayers.

Of course in time I could not get along with Tamal Krishna and his system of
management and received an offer from Badrinarayana to assist him in San
Diego as an accountant.  I had met Badri years before when he was temple
president in Ann Arbor and was given the same facility that I had in Dallas.
  Room and Board and gurukula for my daughter.  Badri even went so far as to
make an announcement that Janardana has come to keep us from going to jail.

The mood in San Diego was much better. The teachers there were learned and
sincere devotees and because Ramesvara had recently fallen down everybody
was pretty much taking shelter of Srila Prabhupada.  This soon, however
began to change.  New "gurus" were soon added and the same oppressive
atmosphere grew again.

Several years passed and my daughter was reaching the age of puberty.  I
thought the best thing for her now was to live in a girl's ashram, which San
Diego temple didn't have.  At this time Mother Laksmimoni had relocated to
Florida for reasons at the time I did not know.  Although her and Mother
Akuti's program was not perfect I think they did a terrific job in educating
my daughter.  Not only academically but in learning the basic principles of
Krishna Consciousness: rising early, chanting japa, distributing books, etc.

Thinking that it was safe to leave my daughter in their care I went back to
California doing service for the San Diego and Laguna Beach temples.  After
awhile I began to think that this is a terrible way to run a business let
alone a worldwide spiritual movement.  One of the devotees who was my next
door neighbor was found to have been molesting his own daughter.  The
temples were filled with thieves and no matter how many accounting systems
were put into place the mismanagement could not be checked.  I pulled my
daughter out of the ashram and left OZCON for my third and final time.

Shortly thereafter Yashodananda Prabhu gave me a copy of Hansdutta's book,
"Srila Prabhupada, His Movement and You".  I am not the type of person who
becomes emotional easily, but I shed tears incessantly, realizing then that
Srila Prabhupada's instructions had been disobeyed and that I personally, by
supporting the betrayers, had been part of it.

It was at this time that I went on my crusade.  Not so much because I
thought it would do any good but because Srila Prabhupada had done so much
for me, and at the very least I could tell Yamaraj that I tried to do
something to make up for my lifetime of offenses and selfishness.

Since 1978 none of what goes on in OZCON does anyone ANY good.  At least not
by the management.

Before Srila Prabhuapda's untimely departure he wanted to go to Gita Nagari
and establish Varnashram.  Part of varnashram is that you train up
administrators also known as ksatriyas.  OZCON has no interest in training
ksatriyas because the first thing a ksatriya will do is expose corrupt
brahmanas and OZCON wants no part of that.  Ksatriyas are competitive by
nature.  In my personal experience my father taught me a love for sports,
because he knew that if I developed a desire to compete and taste victory
this would keep me out of trouble.  This lesson I learned from him has
helped me extremely in life.  Not that I am not still a nonsense most of the
time but exercise and sports have definitely helped me in life and on some
occasions I have had a chance to teach some of the things I've learned from
my coaches and senseis.  This occurred in the gurukulas both in Alachua and
San Diego.  Nobody in the OZCON management complained to me at that time. 
In fact several of my former students and their parents have thanked me.

Now we come to Danavir who says that sports are a great deviation.  Maybe
for someone being trained as a brahmana sports are unneccessary.  BUT AGAIN,
NO ONE COMPLAINED TO ME FOR TEACHING SPORTS WHEN I WAS STILL A MEMBER OF
OZCON?!!!  It just proves the point that if you go along with their corrupt
philosophy that gurus fall down you can do ANYTHING.  And if you take
shelter of Srila Prabhupada then EVERYTHING you do is nonsense.  This is
their blatant hypocrasy.  If you have trouble with your spiritual life but
believe in their unworkable guru system you're alright.  If you take shelter
of Srila Prabhupada then you are a nonsense.  What Is This?????

Srila Prabhupada spent twelve years travelling and preaching about Lord
Caitanya and His divine mission.  The self appointed "gurus" of OZCON have
had 24 years and are at the point of destroying it.  It shows you how great
Srila Prabhupada is that after 24 years they still haven't quite destroyed
it although they are determined to do so.

I am happy to teach sports and martial arts to any gurukula students who
wish to learn.  Some of my former students are much better at it than I will
ever be and I am happy to see that.  I am presently living in Thailand
studying Muay Thai which is Thai kickboxing.  Martial arts teachers and
students are some of the nicest people that you would ever want to meet.  I
feel honoured to have their association.

And as far as the people who run the Chakra website (Chakra means: CHumps
Arising from KRishna's Arse.) (Please see the chapter on the universal form
(virata-rupa) for a full understanding.)  See you in Hell!!!!


Your servant,

Janardana das

P.S.  I'm glad the Ravens won the Super Bowl.  I made a killing.  I must be
as great as Maharaj Yudhistira who also engaged in gambling.  Krishna and
Balarama did too.  They must have been in maya. Eh? Chakra? (Chumps!)