“Maharishi is the Agent of Maya”
The GBC Ignores Shrila Prabhupada’s Instructions
“To meditate, then, is to experience a consciousness beyond the subtle existence of the mind and ego, for it is in that liberated state of pure being that we experience the eternal self … Although the Maharishi was abroad while I was there (at his ashram) I read his books, The Science of Being and The Art of Living and six chapters of the Bhagavad Gita.” -Radhanatha Swami, The Journey Home, page 118
Yesterday in Chapter Eleven of our series exposing Radhanatha’s The Journey Home we read of his visions of a glowing Maharishi Mahesha Yogi, the fraudster millionaire who charged $35 for a mono-syllabic bija mantra. Shrila Prabhupada was quite outspoken in his disgust for this particular form of cheating in the name of yoga. This leaves us wondering about how ISKCON’s GBC can ignore such plain directions of the Founder-Acharya and blatantly ignore what His Divine Grace specifically stated about Maharishi.
Despite the opinions of some, the GBC was not created to accommodate self-glorifiers who can sit back and praise Mayavadis to high heaven. When imposter yogis like Maharishi are eulogized in a book that is enthusiastically supported by the GBC it means that they are hammering in the final coffin nails of a Society they are supposed to be protecting. When blatant cheaters and Mayavadis are celebrated, the only reasonable conclusion is that the GBC has lost its collective mind and has tumbled over the edge of sanity.
ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya’s instructions regarding such Mayavadi swindlers are hard and fast. They are as clear as day and as illuminating as sunshine. Has the GBC descended into body of rank cowards who are afraid of the bona fide instructions of the spiritual master His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? By ignoring Shrila Prabhupada’s directions the GBC is leading the speeding train of ISKCON into a collision course. Either it is “game over” for ISKCON or “game over” for the GBC—unless these moochers renounce their affiliation with The Journey Home and send Radhanatha packing.
May we suggest that the GBC members might stop counting their glories and their money for five minutes and make a Google search. Then they might chance upon the following quotes about the supposed so-called “maharishi” who Radhanatha dreams about in The Journey Home.
“Maharishi Says Every One of Us is God.”
Shrila Prabhupada (from a letter to Mahapurusha dated 12 February 1968):
“Do not bother your head about that rascal Maharishi Mahesa. His activities are like the waves tossing foam on the ocean. It will stay for some time and then vanquish. For the time the ocean appears to be all devouring, but in proper time it is calm and quiet. Krishna Consciousness isn’t like that. It is a great science. It requires great spiritual asset to adopt the principles.
“Therefore do not agitate your mind in this way. We are following the footprints of Lord Chaitanya. We are not going to become God, as Maharishi says every one of us is God. You should be firmly convinced in your own philosophy, Bhagavad-gita, otherwise you may be misled. Why don't you try to convince the followers of Maharishi that they are following a rascal, a cheat. Because he does not follow a standard process. So try to understand the followers of Maharishi, how far they have advanced in spiritual consciousness, and get it corroborated from the teaching of Bhagavad-gita as you learned. Lord Chaitanya talked with Sarvabhauma on the basis of Vedanta Sutra.
“The Maharishi has no basic principle, he is manufacturing his own way. So it is useless to talk with him. He has gathered the not very intelligent class of men, and they will not stay. We are teaching Bhagavad-gita as it is, that is called Krishna Consciousness. Why don't you try to understand Maharishi from the point of view of Bhagavad-gita.
“To stick to the principles advised by the Spiritual Master and serve Krishna under the direction of the Spiritual Master is the only hope of our advancing in Krishna Consciousness. The Spiritual Master and Krishna are two parallel lines. You have to make your progress on these two parallel lines, you cannot avoid one in preference of the other. The train, on two tracks, moves forward. The Spiritual Master and Krishna are like these two tracks, they must be served simultaneously. Krishna helps one to find bona fide Spiritual Master, and bona fide Spiritual Master helps one to understand Krishna. If one does not get bona fide Spiritual Master, then how he can ever understand Krishna?
“You cannot serve Krishna without Spiritual Master, or serve just Spiritual Master without serving Krishna. They must be served simultaneously.
“Enjoy, and Simply You Pay Him $35.00”
Shrila Prabhupada (from a letter to Sivananda dated 12 February 1968):
“You want to counteract the activities of Maharishi, but you must know Maharishi is the agent of Maya. Our process of Krishna Consciousness and Sankirtana movement is already counteracting the spell of Maya, but the Maharishi says that you remain under the spell of Maya. His preaching is that you enjoy, and simply you pay him $35, and purchase his mantra.
“People in general are already under the spell of Maya. That is to say, they want sense gratification. If anyone encourages the method of sense gratification, at the same time become a yogi, why people will not prefer that method? We say there is no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no meat eating, no gambling, so if Maharishi says there is no restrictions, naturally large number of people will follow him. That means they want to be cheated, and Krishna sends them a cheater. We cannot cheat people like him.
“We must say the truth, as they are prescribed; in the Bhagavad-gita there are 18 kinds of austerities, 13th chapter. The restrictions which we are following are austerities. Without austerity, without celibacy, any amount of nonsense meditation will not help. So there is no comparison of our method with Maharishi's method. We are not out to counteract any kind of vandalism. We must present the genuine thing before the public, and if they are intelligent enough they will take it up and realize it.
“The followers of Maharishi are not the intelligent class of men. If you have any advancement in the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita, you can test any follower of Maharishi, you will find he is nil.
“Regarding Maharishi: Krishna Sends Cheaters to Bewilder Them”
Shrila Prabhupada (from a letter to Satswarupa, dated 30 January 1968):
“Regarding Maharishi Mahesa: I do not know much about his activities, but so far I have heard that he has got his particular type of mantra which he sells for $35. And there are hundreds of students for being cheated by him. Anyone who does not know the science of Krishna is a great fool, and if he poses himself as Spiritual Master, he must be cheating the public without any doubt. Your process of discouraging friends in the matter of their being cheated by such misnomer is very good. You know that out of many millions of people, somebody tries to be spiritually advanced. And out of many millions of spiritually advanced men, hardly there is one who understands Krishna Consciousness. So, in your country there are many who may be spiritually inclined, but because they want to be cheated, Krishna sends them many kinds of cheaters to bewilder them.
“It is understood that Maharishi Mahesa says that one can drink, and at the same time make advancement in meditation, is clearly a cheating process. But what can be done, your countrymen also wants to be cheated like that. They want to continue their illicit sex relationships, intoxication habit, meat eating, and all other nonsensical things, and at the same time they want to make spiritual advancement. This is clear indication of being cheated; nobody can make any advancement in spiritual life keeping himself conditioned by the above sinful activities.
“So you can judge yourself what is the position of the so-called Maharishi Mahesa, and try to help your friends in such a way. There is no need of talking with people who are interested in the Maharishi Mahesa, but if you have any sympathetic friends, you can let him know how the cheating process is going on. I do not think that his disciples claiming advancement in spiritual life is bona fide.
“People Want to Be Cheated”
Shrila Prabhupada (from a class on Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 18 February 1969)
“… Just like that Maharishi came in your country. He wanted to give some private mantra. If that mantrahas any power, why it should be private? If at all the mantrahas any, why not it should be publicly declared so that everyone can take advantage of that mantra? That is real. It is cheating, you see? So here is no cheating process. We say that this mahā-mantracan save you, we are distributing publicly … Free, without any charge. But people are so fools, they are not prepared to take this. They'll hanker after that mantra, after Maharishi. Pay thirty-five dollars and take some private mantra, you see? So people want to be cheated. And here, Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, these people are preaching without any charge, declaring in the street, park, everywhere, "Come on, take it." "Oh, this is not good." This is māyā, this is called illusion. This is spell of māyā. And if you charge something, if you bluff, if you cheat, oh, people will follow.
“Sacha bole tomare lata ... jagat harai dhana kali-yuga dukha lalge haspai (?). This is a Hindi verse by one devotee that this Kali-yuga is so abominable that if you speak truth, then people will come with some rod to beat you. But if you cheat them, bluff them. they'll be bewildered (?), they'll like it. If I say I'm God, people will say, ‘Oh, here is Swamiji, God.’ They won't inquire, that ‘How you have become God? What is the symptom of God? Have you got all the symptoms?’ Nobody inquires. So these things happen. Unless one is not fixed up in the self, unless one does not understand what is real self, unless one does not understand what is Superself. So, yoga means to understand this self-realizing process. That is yoga.”