The Real and the Reflection Bogus Preaching Has Splintered ISKCON
Gaur Gopal’s worst nightmare: when devotees preach the Supreme Absolute Truth—Or merely two splinter groups having it out?
With this article we share below a video called “Teaching or Cheating” that is making its rounds in devotee circles. Featured is a righteously disgusted brahmachary named Shriman Tatvavit dasa of Singapore. His well-spoken and intelligent presentation is about ISKCON’s motivational guru fad and he targets Radhanatha’s pet disciple Gaur Gopal das during his visit to Singapore’s 9th International Indian Expo (2019). On the other side of the coin, this outspoken brahmachari is a symptom of ISKCON’s splintered condition because he is a member of a splintery so-called ritvik group who unfortunately have lost all faith in the disciplic succession beyond Shrila Prabhupada.
As our readers know, Gaura Gopal is the million-hit pretty boy of Blabber-tube and ISKCON’s A-number-1 soapbox wiseguy. This Cherub of Chowpatty has emerged as the “who-asked-you” celebrity expert of all wit and wisdom. Sooner or later it is possible the GBC will bless him with his own Vyasa Asana and silver feetwash bowl, much to the chagrin of any old remaining die-hards still out there struggling for air. Since he wears the saffron trappings of renunciation and is worshipped by a clueless following, he is already considered a guru by thousands of mouse-clickers.
The trend of blathering mundane wisdom scented with “wisdom” that resembles the sweet fragrance of a spray can of bathroom deodorant has been dealt with in several parts of this series. This includes Part Twenty-eight “The Son of Radhanatha—Lineage of the Love Swami.” We have also discussed the divisive syndrome that non-parampara katha has created in ISKCON in Part Forty-two “Kali’s Sinful Fingerprints—When the God of Sin Divides and Conquers”
What Elvis did for the fifties and Michael Jackson did for the eighties, Gaur Gopal has brought to the internet of the 2010’s. But Tatvavit dasa nails Gaur Gopal at the very beginning of the video. He explains that such Krishna-less claptrap is aimed only at the speaker’s own desires for personal fame, following, wealth and the sidelong glances of adoring young ladies. Unlike Gaur Gopal dasa, however, Tatvavit dasa Brahmachary actually quotes shastra, beginning with the fourth verse of the Supreme Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Shri Shikshastakam:
na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isha kamaye
mama janmani janmanishvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki twayi
“O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth.”
From there Tatvavit Prabhu goes on to give Radhanatha’s pet Smiley Boy a fine raking over the coals. As he says:
-“He (Gaur Gopal) is making a brand of his own that has nothing to do with Krishna consciousness at all.
-“Shrila Prabhupada said ‘No compromise’ and that should be the principle of us devotees.”
-“We have to please Shrila Prabhupada. We cannot water down the standards just to please the public—but this is the trap (Gaur Gopal) has fallen into.
-“Gaur Gopal’s book is simply hodge podge. We are distributing Shrila Prabhupada’s books. A drop of purity is better than an ocean of poison.”
Tatvavit and his fellow brahmacharis also gave a presentation, but one that included kirtana and which began with the following verse
tasmāt saṅkīrtanaṁ viṣṇor jagan-maṅgalam aṁhasām
mahatām api kauravya viddhy aikāntika-niṣkṛtam
“My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the saṅkīrtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously.”
When one splinter takes out another splinter: “It’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.” –Tatvavit dasa
Gaur Gopal’s talk was an approximately USD $29.00 ticketed event with over 200 people (read: suckers) in attendance. He told the crowd that he had a mantra that would give them peace of mind: “Om Ignore-aya Namah.” It appears that you don’t always get what you pay for.
Now have a look at Tatvavit dasa Brahmachary’s video:
However as much as we laud Tatvavit’s fidelity to the teachings of Shrila Prabhupada, it should be pointed out that Tatvavit dasa is a part of a group called the International Sri Krishna Mandir Singapore with branches in many other countries. Their preaching is overall quite successful. However, this is a so-called “ritvik group.” According to the Vedic tradition, a genuine ritvik is a deputed agent of a guru who has been ordered to conduct initiations on behalf of his spiritual master. It is expected that such a ritvik should ascend to the post of diksha-guru once the spiritual master has departed. There is no such thing as “postumhous initiation” in any of the bona fide sampradayas. This misinterpretation of a ritvik’s position is a case of mental speculation that was founded upon only one word out of millions of instructions of ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya. And that word is “henceforward.”
Ritvikism or ritvik-vada—at least the way it is presented today—falls under the apasampradaya umbrella—a misunderstanding of disciplic succession and hence mental speculation. All these points are explained in Rocan Prabhu’s Defeat of Ritivk Vada right on the front page of every issue of the Sampradaya Sun. Having said that, observation reveals that different classes of ritviks have emerged.
(1) There is a class of “devotees” who have latched onto the “ritvik way” because they think it gives them a carte blanche to criticize everything and everybody in ISKCON wholesale. These “ritviks” have made a profession out of calling anything that has to do with the Hare Krishna Movement as ‘bogus—except themselves.”
(2) The next class, which is rapidly shrinking, consistes of either a failed guru or would-be gurus. In order to save face from falling down from the platform he had adopted as “acharya” the failed guru became a ritvik so that he could continue on as guru but without any obligation to “disciples.” A few ohers who failed to realize their wishes of being rubber stamped as “guru” became ritviks in order to throw out the baby (ISKCON’s parampara) with the bathwater.
(3) Tatavavit’s group appears to be another story. They appear to be among the ritviks who are mostly sincere devotees, but who became righteously so dissatisfied, disappointed, and disgusted with the GBC’s fumbling and bumbling of the parampara that they divorced themselves from it and claimed to go to Shrila Prabhupada directly. The fault for the disenfranchisement of this class lies with the GBC whose poor management has splintered ISKCON. To this class of “ritviks” we say that there is no problem with accepting His Divine Gace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as the de facto guru of everyone in the organization. That is because first and foremost, all his books and instructions are the heart and soul of any member for the Society. Furthermore ISKCON has witnessed the resultant tragedy of neophytes trying to equal the Krishna-empowered potency of Shrila Prabhupada. It is an obvious fact that Prabhupada is the Jagat Guru and all others in his mission are his servants. However …
Now You Become Gurus
Having said that, it is still Shrila Prabhupada’s clear instruction that there must be gurus who represent him and take on the responsibility for the next generation—the next, and the next. He repeatedly told his devotees, “I expect all of you to become spiritual masters.” To make the correct adjustment, the leader or leaders of Tatvavit’s International Sri Krishna Mandir Singapore should just admit to their initiates that they are really disciples of whoever taught them, accepted them, and then blessed and conducted their initiation ceremonies. What is the harm if the devotee who chanted on their beads take personal responsibility? One of the guru’s jobs is to purify a disciple by taking on his karma, and he cannot make that decision fort the previous departed guru—he must do it himself. Guru means taking on responsibility, but for the guru who accepts qualified disciples, then the position is blissful and not a headache.
Thus for Tatvavit’sSingapore-based group, what is the harm in becoming guru and moving to the next level? You are already doing the work—running temples, seeing that the schedule and regulations are followed, preaching the message, guiding the candidates. You are already doing the needful. So own up to what you are doing as de facto guru and admit that you have taken the job as a spiritual master who is directing your initiates as their transparent via media to the previous acharya Shrila Prabhuapda. Nothing need change at the International Sri Krishna Mandir except a slight adjustment in understanding and attitude. There is no need for the ostentation and demand for worship as with the gurus in ISKCON—something that has wracked this organization for decades. Continue as you are doing, but rise to the occasion.
In fact Shrila Prabhupada gave a similar instruction to a boat party of Mayapur devotees who were visiting villages along the Ganga. These devotees were handing out beads for chanting. Shrila Prabhupada cautioned them not to do that saying, “Then they become your disciples.” This means that by giving initiations, the initiates are your disciples and not the previous acharyas.
I do not know much about the International Sri Krishna Mandir Singapore or who is the leader there giving the initiations; or for that matter who it was who initiated him. However, since the preaching there has experienced some degree of success—especially when compared to ISKCON’s watery motivational preaching which is today aimed at mental-speculation, yoga postures and adoration-seeking motivational talks—what is the harm of preaching as linked-up members of the sampradaya? The GBC has not been open-minded enough—or is too miserly—to allow this form of progress to continue. But despite the great efforts of your International Sri Krishna Mandir, as long as no leader in your organization takes the role of Shri Guru, then the link to the parampara will not be complete. Electricity comes from far away, but if your lamp is unplugged it does not light and is a lamp in appearance only and not in fucntion.
Look at it this way. We know that both Shrila Prabhupada and Shri Krishna, are more pleased with devotees who have free kirtan performances, who quote the Bhagavata and the Shikshastakam, and who boldly speak out against nonsense motivational rascal “gurus.” We don’t expect anyone to seriously follow the current GBC, a dysfunctional body that promotes The Journey Home and Life’s Amazing Secrets, and which produces motivational videos with strictly karmi-appeal. We know that Shrila Prabhupada said many times that ISKCON is where his sincere followers obey his instructions and preach his message. It does not take linking up to a renegade GBC to become guru. It is a matter of the heart—Krishna’s direction from within and the Founder-Acharya’s instructions from without. The elder there in Singapore should take the step and move your programme into the highest gear by accepting the responsibility for the authorized procedures of the parampara. Now is the time for the sincere ritvik initiator(s) of your society to move up and become guru. And then by Shrila Prabhupada’s command go out and save the land.
For the readers, here is an introduction to the ritviks at the International Sri Krishna Mandir