Racist Theories v. Spiritual Philosophy

Back To Prabhupada, Issue 48, Summer 2015

n previous BTP issues we have highlighted how those unable to defeat the IRM philosophically have instead resorted to launching racist attacks on myself:

1) Jayadvaita Swami insisting that I must be wrong in relation to the GBC due to being a "Gujarati guy" (of Western Indian origin) -- please see BTP 34;

2) ISKCON Nairobi's spokesperson claiming that BTP opposes ISKCON's gurus due to myself being of British birth and culture -- please see BTP 37;

3) Madhudvisa Dasa stating that I am promoting Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON's only diksa guru due to being of South Indian descent -- please see BTP 39.

Leaving aside the idiocy of such attackers not even being able to fabricate a consistent racial theory, if one could defeat the arguments presented by the IRM philosophically, then there would be no need to resort to such racial theories in the first place! However, the racial detractors have now gone further. GBC-elected ISKCON guru His Grace Kripamoya Dasa ("KMD") agrees that the use of a racial theory should now be expanded from attacking just myself to all devotees of Indian and Hindu bodily backgrounds who may support the IRM. This theory was put forward by a disciple of Srila Prabhupada named Akruranatha Dasa ("AD") in a post made on 3/5/15. Excerpts from this post are given in the shaded boxes below, and KMD endorsed this theory by responding to the post with the following statement:

"You are perceptive and correct."

Indians are racist

"Another thing is that there seems to be a xenophobic element to their movement. A number of TPs in India all at once decided that they accepted "The Final Order", but it seems to me that an underlying motive must have been a sense that devotees born in mleccha families cannot really be advanced Vaisnavas (otherwise, why would any sensible person be persuaded by the arguments in The Final Order, which are childish and display a lack of spiritual education?)"

It is claimed that Indian-bodied devotees who accept The Final Order ("TFO") do so because they have a sense of racial superiority over non-Indians. It is claimed that this must be the case because the arguments in TFO are "childish", lacking "spiritual education" and that no "sensible person" would accept them. But it is AD who is responding here with a non-spiritual, speculative, racial theory, rather than spiritual philosophy.

Hindus are casteist and nationalist

"Caste prejudice in Hindu society is strong, and the idea that non-Hindus can be made into genuine brahmanas and Vaisnava acaryas by the process of initiation is something that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada had to fight for in his day, and that controversy still continues in this Bangalore dispute. Most of Srila Prabhupada's own leading disciples were born in mleccha families and do not even speak modern Indian languages. So there is some Hindu nationalism at work as well, I detect."

The above statement continues on immediately after the previous statement, and we are further told about TFO supporters that "caste prejudice in Hindu society is very strong", and that "Hindu nationalism" is at work.

So in summary: devotees of Indian and Hindu birth who accept that Srila Prabhupada is ISKCON's diksa guru due to following TFO do so because they are motivated by: racism (xenophobia), caste prejudice and Hindu nationalism.

These racial theory attacks made against devotees of Indian and Hindu birth have been endorsed by an ISKCON leader, a GBC-authorised ISKCON diksa guru. This gives us some idea of how much those who are supposed to be the most "advanced" in ISKCON remain on the mundane bodily platform rather than having risen to the spiritual and philosophical level.

Height of hypocrisy

"I think the thing that disturbs me most about ritviks is not their ideology of doing away with physically-present spiritual masters (though that ideology is clearly against all sastras and previous acaryas), but the fact that they have made it practically a tenet of their religion to criticize all senior devotees in ISKCON."

This one sentence is jam-packed with hypocrisy:

1) Having criticised devotees of Indian and Hindu birth who accept Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON's diksa guru as being racist, casteist and nationalist, AD claims he is very disturbed by persons who criticise devotees!

2) And AD claiming that those accepting TFO do so for racial reasons due to their race -- is itself a racist theory!

3) Thus, it is actually AD who has made it a ‘tenet of his anti-TFO religion', that those who accept TFO must be criticised on the basis of their bodily identity.

More nonsense

"But the ritvik ideology deliberately breaks the chain of disciplic succession, so it has to be rejected by any serious student of Srila Prabhupada's books."

We demonstrated in the last issue (please see "The Unbreakable Disciplic Succession") that keeping Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON's diksa guru does not break the disciplic succession. Rather, it is by replacing Srila Prabhupada with the GBC-manufactured gurus that the disciplic succession is actually broken.

"We cannot create an ideology that devotees should take initiation from a previous acarya and need not learn to serve a devotee who is physically present."

1) Srila Prabhupada is not the previous acarya, but the current Founder and Acarya of ISKCON. This is stated by the GBC themselves as documented by the book Srila Prabhupada: The Founder-Acarya of ISKCON -- Presenting the Conclusions of the GBC Foundational Document.

2) Keeping Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON's diksa guru does not preclude anyone from serving a devotee who is physically present, just as it did not preclude the many disciples of Srila Prabhupada who never met him when he was on the planet, from also serving devotees who were physically present.

Conclusion

According to the "Kirtan Standards Seminar" delivered by HH Jayadvaita Swami for ISKCON devotees, KMD is supposed to be worshipped every morning as an "assistant to the gopis" (mangala-arati prayers). But, in reality, he cannot even situate himself on the platform of only accepting spiritual philosophy rather than speculative racial theories.

Return to IRM Homepage

Please chant: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare. And be Happy!