Back To Prabhupada, Issue 84, 2025
In the last issue, we explained how even mis-understanding just one statement from ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda can lead to fatal consequences (please see "Fatally Misunderstanding ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda" and "Self-Contradiction Leads to Fatal Consequences"). We gave examples both from those who are claiming ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda is the dÄ«kį¹£Ä guru for ISKCON, and those who are claiming he is not the dÄ«kį¹£Ä guru for ISKCON (ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON India respectively). And, in both cases, it is interesting to note that the misunderstood statements are still being promoted, rather than having been withdrawn, despite our having exposed them. Thus, highlighting the permanent nature of these fatal consequences!
Nowhere is this tendency for fatal consequences more pronounced than when we do not adhere strictly to the PrabhupÄda-Only Paradigm or "POP", which refers to only accepting the recorded words of ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda as authoritative. An example of this is given below.
The article titled "IRM ExposĆ© Takes Centre Stage in MÄyÄpur" in the last issue, examined a "story" about ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda. This story claimed that it was his supposedly seeing children scavenging for food among the garbage which "moved" him to "tears" and to introduce a permanent food relief program. However, this story is not substantiated by any statements from ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda. Rather, the story is traced back to GBC guru HH JayapÄtÄka Swami ("JPS"), who claims to have personally witnessed the said incident.
Thus, on the basis of JPS's personal testimony, this story has been accepted as true. After all, those who accept his story will argue that JPS is a "Vaiį¹£į¹ava", and thus why should his personal testimony not be accepted as being truthful? One example of those who accept this story as true is ISKCON Bangalore, who use it to justify their "Akshaya Patra" food distribution program. And, as we saw in the article on page 5 of this issue, they also similarly insist that JPS is a "Vaiį¹£į¹ava".
Thus, by accepting as true this personal testimony from JPS regarding ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda's statements, one is accepting in principle that JPS's personal testimonies about ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda's statements are reliable and true. Another example of such supposedly "reliable and true" personal testimony from JPS about ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda's statements is the following:
"Your Divine Grace gave me so many instructions that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. [...] once you said, "Well, I have to make 10,000 disciples - and you should make 50,000 disciples.""
(JPS, VyÄsa-PÅ«jÄ Offering, 2011)
This statement means that JPS was personally authorised by ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda to be a successor dÄ«kį¹£Ä guru. Which, as we saw above, ISKCON Bangalore would have to accept as being a true and reliable statement. Which in turn renders ISKCON Bangalore's whole campaign against the "guru hoax" as being wrong, since they would have to accept that ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda authorised guru succession.
As confirmation of all the points made above, we refer to an interview given by ISKCON Bangalore leader Madhu Pandit DÄsa ("MPD"), in which he fully explains how he came to accept the "food scavenging" story told by JPS. The relevant clips from this interview can be viewed at this link:
iskconirm.com/MPDvideos
Excerpts from the interview are given below in shaded boxes.
MPD then goes on to relate exactly the same story, with all the same details about how "kids and the stray dogs were fighting" for food, etc., which we showed in the last issue is traced back to JPS. And which ISKCON Bangalore had quoted as their justification for their Akshaya PÄtra program. MPD accepts that the story in question is presented as an "anecdote" about ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda rather than a quote from ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda.
MPD admits that it was this anecdote that convinced him that his Akshaya Patra program is "sanctioned by PrabhupÄda, authorised". But since, as we have shown, this anecdote originates from JPS, MPD is thus equating the authority of JPS's words with the authority of ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda. Hence, MPD is actually arguing here that the Akshaya Patra program was not "self-sanctioned" because it was JPS-sanctioned, which is hardly better.
In the previous section, MPD confirms that he had accepted the Akshaya PÄtra program as already being "authorised" by JPS's story, rather than any quotes from ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda. Hence, it was only after the program was already running that he even bothered to go and find any quotes from ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda. But none of these quotes substantiate JPS's story. Because, MPD states that the quotes talk about taking money from the government to feed the country. Thus, we had simply pointed out that ISKCON Bangalore had accepted JPS's authority by using a story that originated from him, rather than from ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda's quotes. And this is a fact that still stands, since every single thing MPD has stated simply confirms this fact, rather than challenges it.
This fatal consequence for ISKCON Bangalore's campaign against the guru hoax arises due to accepting the authority of JPS's personal testimony. Thus, it could easily have been avoided by simply always and only accepting ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda's authority. Which means sticking strictly to only accepting ÅrÄ«la PrabhupÄda's recorded words as being authoritative, i.e. POP, rather than "stories" emanating from ISKCON's guru hoaxers.
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Please chant: Hare Kį¹į¹£į¹a, Hare Kį¹į¹£į¹a, Kį¹į¹£į¹a, Kį¹į¹£į¹a, Hare, Hare,
Hare RÄma, Hare RÄma, RÄma, RÄma, Hare, Hare ā and be happy!