Preaching Requires Truthfulness - 1

Back To Prabhupada, Issue 40, Summer 2013

TP 36 explained how BTP actually presents the very fundamentals of spiritual life, without which we have not even begun the ABCs of Krsna consciousness ("The ABCs of Krsna Consciousness", BTP 36). Below, we examine one such preliminary fundamental promoted by one of ISKCON's gurus, and how it takes him no more than 4 minutes before he is unable to follow it himself! All quotations below in the shaded panels are from a podcast given by ISKCON guru HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") on 6/6/2013.

Truthfulness boast

**"The brahminical quality is that someone is truthful. Vaisnavas are meant to develop brahminical qualities. So that means Vaisnavas should learn how to be truthful. We should be truthful with everyone. In all of our dealings. Ultimately, we're representing, teaching the Absolute Truth, so how can we be representatives of the Absolute Truth when we're not even properly representatives of relative truths? And we don't know how to be honest and upright in our dealings. It will certainly make our preaching ineffective and we ourselves will be very selective as to what is true and what is not."**

SRS opens his podcast by stating the above obvious requirement for anyone claiming to preach the Absolute Truth -- they should at least be truthful! He also correctly states that without this quality, any "preaching" which is done will be "ineffective".

4 minute lies

Just 4 minutes later, SRS demonstrates his own lack of adherence to the "brahminical" and "Vaisnava" quality of truthfulness, which he pontificates that others must follow, by stating that:

"The answer to this first question is that Srila Prabhupada himself chose eleven devotees to act as spiritual masters, and then he told the devotees present that the GBC can then later decide who else to add to act in that capacity. So this is what the GBC has been doing since then, and that's the basis for that. \[...\] But in an institution where people are depending on leadership to guide them, that someone is at least of good standing and good character, it's incumbent and therefore we are following what Srila Prabhupada had told us."

As we show below, the above statement is full of blatant lies according to...SRS himself! For SRS was the GBC member who sponsored the proposal for the GBC to ditch "On My Order" Understood as the GBC's official paper on guru-tattva. This proposal stated as its justification:

"Jayadvaita Swami has been trying unsuccessfully to bring up the lies in this GBC paper to the GBC's attention for over 7 years."
("On My Order" Understood edited proposal submitted to GBC)

Below we quote Jayadvaita Swami ("JAS") explaining some of the "lies" in the "On My Order" Understood paper that SRS agrees JAS had been trying to bring up. And we will see that SRS stated these exact same lies in the podcast just quoted! All statements below, in bold, are from an email sent by JAS on 13/12/2003.

Lies - 1

> a) "(4) After Srila Prabhupada
> named some disciples to initi-
> ate... "
("On My Order" Understood, 1995)

**"This is a finesse. To initiate *whom*? In context (events in July 1977), the only straightforward answer is "To initiate people who would then become Srila Prabhupada's disciples."

b) "Now, I agree that what His Divine Grace intended by this was that these rtviks, after his departure, would initiate disciples on their own and that this is implicit in the conversation. But then, say so, for crying out loud. Don't try jive me by saying, "In 1977 Srila Prabhupada repeatedly said he would 'select,' 'choose,' 'appoint,' or 'designate' some disciples to take up the service of initiating new disciples."**

JAS states that Srila Prabhupada did not "choose" spiritual masters, and to claim otherwise is just an attempt to "jive" (meaning "deceive"). Rather, only "rtviks" were chosen, and one has to assume that it is "implicit" that it was "intended" that they become gurus. Therefore SRS's claim that:

"Srila Prabhupada himself chose eleven devotees to act as spiritual masters"

is a lie according to SRS himself!

Lies - 2

> "Thus, by delegating that du-
> ty to the GBC, Srila Prabhu-
> pada personally detailed the
> procedure for increasing the
> number of initiating guru."
("On My Order" Understood, 1995)

"Is this an outright fabrication or not? That Srila Prabhupada "personally detailed the procedure for increasing the number of initiating guru[s]" is something we can only wish. Or falsely tell the Society he did."

Therefore, SRS's claims that:

"he (Srila Prabhupada) told the devotees present that the GBC can then later decide who else to add to act in that capacity (of spiritual master) \[...\] and therefore we are following what Srila Prabhupada told us."

are again lies according to SRS himself!

In conclusion, not only does SRS follow up his self-righteousness over the need to be truthful with a pack of lies, but they are the very same lies that *he himself* was instrumental in exposing!

Seeking the truth

As explained in the previous article, the IRM's approach eschews feelings in favour of facts; an approach decried by ISKCON guru HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami as being overly "logical" and not "appealing to the heart." But sticking to facts and following the evidence wherever it may lead, rather then being swayed by our emotions and feelings, is followed by those interested in seeking the truth:

"Everything in Krsna consciousness is scientific. It is not bogus, whimsical, sentimental, fanatical or imaginary. It is truth, fact, reality."
(Easy Journey to Other Planets, Chapter 2)

Therefore, those interested in the Vaisnava quality of truthfulness extolled by SRS, will laud the IRM's fact and evidence based approach, rather than decry it.

Conclusion

ISKCON's guru hoaxers proclaim themselves to be highly spiritually advanced, demanding that they be worshipped as "good as God". Indeed, SRS considers himself so spiritually enlightened that he feels qualified to fabricate the most intimate pastimes of Krsna with the gopis (SRS admits his books Suddha-bhakti-cintamani and Na Paraye 'ham contain his imaginings of the activities of the gopis with Krsna). Yet, we can see that the guru hoaxers have yet to even master the very ABCs of Krsna consciousness, which they advise others to follow.

SRS:
Trumped by his own lies

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