You Know Better

Open Letter to Mother Malati

Shrila Prabhupada once said of Mother Malati (to his own Godbrothers), “She would cut her throat for me.”

My dear Mother Malati devi,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet All glories to Shrila Prabhupada! I address you as Mother with the greatest feelings of respect. Who is more worthy of reverence than the Mother—from whom all gifts in our lives have originated? 

Indeed, you are truly a Mother in the Hare Krishna Movement because there may not be even a handful of senior devotees around nowadays who are elder to you. Your position is unique. You are very forthcoming about your road in devotional service, so there is no need to go into your past details—other than to mention that your contributions have been legendary and Shrila Prabhupada has showered you with a very special waterfall of divine mercy.

Today you sit on the GBC panel of ISKCON which is a huge responsibility. But since you are the elder there, the responsibility on your shoulders is even greater than that of your dozens of juniors there. To you the other members—including each and every one of the swamis—must look like youngsters, which necessarily includes The Journey Home author Radhanatha Swami Your second fiddle fellows sitting on the GBC should all read your husband (or ex-husband) Shriman Shyamasundar Prabhu’s exciting Chasing Rhinos with the Swami to understand your role in the Hare Krishna Movement almost since its inception.

Mother Malati is on the far left, Shayamasundara Prabhu is on the far right. George is on the caratals.

Judging by the GBC’s activities in ISKCON today, and seeing their very poor and obvious one-sided “leadership,” these less experienced members could learn a lot from your husband’s book and example. Let them toss the Mayavadic myth The Journey Home aside, and read a genuine glorification of the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON. Shrila Prabhupada is the spiritual master of the Hare Krishna Movement and his post must not be minimized in favor of serial rapists and perverts dressed as Swamis, which is the basis of The Journey Home. Let your GBC juniors finally do their duty and banish impersonal nonsense in the form of deviant yogis and imitation yoga from Shrila Prabhupada’s movement once and for all. Is it too much for you to ask your younger men there to get on with the real task of teaching and preaching personal Vaishnava theology—Krishna consciousness—by keeping Shrila Prabhupada in the center?

And speaking of Chasing Rhinos with the Swami I would like to cite a few words that will undoubtedly jolt your memory since you were there in London 1969—you were one of Shrila Prabhupada’s “six married sannyasis” who was so instrumental in ISKCON’s London Miracle. As a genuine disciple.of a genuine guru, Shriman Shyamasundar has wisely included in his book an episode that underscores the need for devotees to keep Mayavada far, far from of the sacred halls of Prabhupada’s movement. Thanks to your fellow members on the GBC today’s preaching with its wobbly willingness to compromise with the Mayavadis is watered-down, anemic and flimsy by comparison.

The episode, which is discussed on pages 413-416 of Chasing Rhinos with the Swami. focuses on Shrila Prabhupada’s request that George Harrison might write an introduction to his Krishna Book, for which George Harrison had donated $19,000 to cover the first printing. After some debate with Shyamasundar, George offered the following words which became his Preface.

Shrila Prabhupada immediately sent his thanks to George via Shyamasundar. However a bit of drama ensued. Shyamasundar writes:

“But then George tells me that he wants to change something. He wants to add a quote from Swami Vivekananda: ‘What right has a man to say he has a soul if he does not feel it, or if there is a God if he cannot see Him?’ So I write Prabhupada again on April 11 about this proposed change:

It hurts me to see this change, quoting Vivekananda, but this is what George wants and, as we have had several arguments lately over spiritual questions, I’m afraid that if we do not include this change it will seriously affect our relationship. He still thinks there is “God” beyond Krishna; that “God” having a body denotes impurity, and still he is unwilling to accept Bhagavad-gita as the Supreme Authority. He has been hurt by so many bogies that he is very much confused so that when I say that I speak from authority (meaning yourself), he is still doubting. I’m not sure I can ever convince him of Krishna’s supremacy, but if you can help by presenting some capsule proof in your letter as to how there can be nothing beyond the embodied Krishna, perhaps this would convince him … Anyway, I am trying by Krishna’s grace. Your ignorant servant, Shyamasundaradasa

“On April 15 Prabhupada replies, ‘Regarding your further statement in the matter of George’s introduction, I think as he is not settled up in his conclusion, he wants to change it, either we may wait for his final decision or it may not be added. For the time being I am holding its publication.’

“Now it gets complex. Most of my waking moments are consumed by thinking how to get this intro completed by George without Vivekananda. We argue back and forth. Finally I use the example, “Well if it were your book, George, would you like to have Paul McCartney glorified in this way?” Yeah, he got it, and said OK leave it out, so I write again to Prabhupada on April 20 that I have talked with George and there will be no further changes, no statement by Swami Vivekananda…”

Prabhupada replies on April 24

… We cannot add any quotation from Swami Vivekananda … This man (Vivekananda) has no understanding either of the soul or of God and still he posed himself as a Swami to mislead so many innocent persons. 

You cannot learn music from a carpenter. If you want to learn music you have to approach an expert musician. So how he can learn about God from persons like Vivekananda who had no preliminary knowledge of the soul, even? George’s foreword as it was originally sent can be published with little editorial changes, but in no case can the quotation from Swami Vivekananda be placed in my book …

The foreword was published as originally sent without Vivekananda.”

End of quote from Chasing Rhinos with the Swami

Keep ‘em honest, Malati— pure and simple preaching,, the way it always was

Mother, considering Shrila Prabhupada’s objections to Vivekananda as seen in your husband’s (or ex-husband’s) book, what do you think His Divine Grace would feel about  the widespread sale of The Journey Home in his ISKCON centers? Radhanatha’s book speaks highly of bald-faced Mayavadis including Yogananda, Muktananda, Maharishi Mahesh, Ma Ananda Mayi, Baba Ram Dass, Sachidananda, Neem Karoli Baba, Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. Do you think your Guru Maharaja, ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, would approve of this book being sold in his centers, or that His Divine Grace would appreciate seeing Mayavadis teaching yoga exercises in his Radha-Krishna Temples?  Please answer that honestly, Malati. Listen to your heart and then speak out the truth to the ignorant neophytes who are making a mockery of what the GBC is supposed to be doing—the duty of the GBC is to see to the spreading the pure teachings of Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

If you will be so kind to answer this, Mother Malati, please keep to the point of our letter and do not change the subject in order to eulogize any GBC activities that you feel are laudable. As long as they are being disobedient, there is no question of of calling any one of them as advanced. An advanced member would have resigned. Their disastrous record over the years speaks for itself and reveals their lack of understanding of Krishna consciousness. Our position in writing this series of many articles, including this letter to you, is that Mayavadi literature in the form of The Journey Home must no longer be sold or distributed in ISKCON centers. The Journey Home must be banished wholesale by the GBC. Following the example of Shyamasundara Prabhu as seen above, we would like you to speak up in opposition of the Mayavadic poison now working from the inside to destroy ISKCON. 

ISKCON’s sincere and innocent devotees of Lord Krishna must no longer be fooled into translating or distributing this vile book which from start to finish exalts so many direct representatives of Kali himself posing as gurus. This is the subject of this letter which needs addressing, so please do not sidestep the real issue at hand with a list of presumed glories of your GBC juniors because we can state instance for instance to the contrary and there are countless recorded historical examples. 

When one has swallowed poison, what is the use of taking a healthy walk in the woods? One who has drunk poison needs to get to a physician pronto and that is the situation right now in ISKCON, a society of which you are supposed to be a leader, an elder, a guide—and a mother. And Shrila Prabhupada always said that the Vedas are compared to a mother because the mother always tells the truth. Please do the right thing and raise your voice against Mayavadi rubbish now hawked in Prabhupada’s temples.

Thanks to The Journey Home influencing ISKCON to invite shudras and Mayavadis to teach physical yoga exercises within Prabhupada’s temples, the movement under the current GBC leadership is beginning to look more like the sort of thing that Prabhupada spent so much energy preaching against.

There is little time left. By speaking up now and preaching pure Krishna consciousness to the GBC men, you can do the most valuable service to Shrila Prabhupada and SAVE HIS MOVEMENT FROM DESTRUCTION WITHIN. We close now with a few words of wisdom from the genuine master, the real yogi and the bona fide pure devotee, Shrila Prabhupada:

“The word yoginaḥ is significant in this connection. In the present day there are many so-called yogīs, and there are many so-called associations of yogīs, but they are actually blind in the matter of self-realization. 

“They are simply addicted to some sort of gymnastic exercise and are satisfied if the body is well-built and healthy. They have no other information. They are called yatanto 'py akṛtātmānaḥ. Even though they are endeavoring in a so-called yoga system, they are not self-realized. Such people cannot understand the process of the transmigration of the soul.” (Bhagavad Gita As it Is 15.11

Thank you very much for reading this.

Your humble and unworthy servant,

Kaliya Mardana dasa Brahmachary