Sonic Yogi

We all saw many new devotees come and go in ISKCON. ISKCON might have been austere, but one thing for sure is that anyone had to option to just walk out the door any time the wanted and in fact many did. These whiners who complain about years of hardship have nobody to blame but themselves. I did what I was willing to do and I did not do what I was unwilling to do. I worked Los Angeles airport, Las Vegas airport, places all around L.A. and Chicago for several years because I understand that book distribution was the top priority of Srila Prabhupada and in fact it was book distrubution that gets credit for my coming to the movement and finding out about Krishna. I freely moved around from one temple to another at my will. I was still accepted in ISKCON and even received brahminical initiation under those conditions. If these whiners were being honest they would have to admit they had the option to walk away any time they wanted to. They stayed because they believed in what they were doing.

These whiners however refuse to admit that in fact they all had the option to walk away at any time they wanted. I did. In L.A. in 1975 they were sending me out on the streets of the greater Los Angeles area as Santa Claus collecting money and handing out candy canes. I decided I didn't want to do that anymore so I just packed my bags, walked out of the temple and went to a temple where I wasn't being asked to do something that I didn't want to do. I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the whiners. They were also fanatics and that is why they stayed under them conditions. Otherwise, they could have just walked off any time they wanted to. There was never any physical restraint imposed upon any of them. They were free to walk off any time the chose to.

For the Dreamervadi doctrine of Gauragopal to be correct this statement by Srila Prabhupada would have to false.

The dreamervadi doctrine of Gauragopal is based on the assumption that what Srila Prabhupada wrote in this purport is a lie and that in fact nitya-siddhas do in fact forget Krishna at some point in their eternal life. For the dreamervadi doctrine to be correct there would have to some important verses in shastra that are in fact false. Who is correct?

That is not an original Vedic verse. It is a verse composed by Gaudapada in his commentary on Mandukya Upanisad. You would do better to find an bonafide commentary on the Upanisads. Gaudapada was, by tradition, the philosophical grandfather of Shankara. His Karika on the Mandukya Upanishad is the oldest known systematic exposition of Advaita Vedanta. Gaudapada shows clear signs of familiarity with Buddhist philosophy, and both his language and his doctrine are close in many cases to Buddhist originals. This has led many scholars to speculate that Gaudapada himself was originally a Buddhist.

In the final days of Prabhupada nobody from the GBC inquired how the GBC would relate with gurus and a multitude acharyas in ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada never issued even a simple instruction on how the GBC should relate with successor acharyas in ISKCON. The absence of any talk or discussion on the part of the GBC or Srila Prabhupada regarding the matter seems to preclude the idea that any such situation was ever supposed to arise in ISKCON. Seems like a very important matter; how the GBC would relate with gurus in ISKCON. The lack of such instruction from Srila Prabbhupada is very telling.

ISKCON with a GBC is not structured properly for working with a multiplicity of gurus. A GBC is a governing body constructed by the acharya to work under his authority. Having a GBC administrating over a multitude of acharyas is nothing less that absurd. The GBC works under the acharya. They do not work OVER a hundred acharyas. So, ISKCON was destined for ruination. The whole GBC system trying to govern a hundred acharyas is perhaps the greatest absurdity since the creation of the prakrita sahajiya cults.

I think there are many. I just have my favorites and I am not going to make a long list. However, most all my favorite devotees are outside ISKCON. Within ISKCON there is too much politics and too many bad opinions about some really advanced Vaishnavas outside ISKCON. I would never recommend ISKCON to anyone. That is sad to say. But, ISKCON is almost wholesale sold out to special interest Swamis and gurus. It's a club now, not a society of devotees.

Like B.G. Narasimha Maharaja and Tripurari Maharaja amongst the disciples of Srila Prabhupada. Tripurari Maharaja, I still have a high regard for him. But, Narasimha Maharaja has a really nice ashram in south India. He is partnered with my old colleague B.B Vishnu Maharaja. These two guys have the best program going as far as I am concerned.

No, we just say that he didn't appoint any gurus. Those appointments were to ritvik positions. Other than that, Srila Prabhupada said many times that his disciples would also have to become spiritual master. In fact, in the act of becoming a true disciple one is duty bound to continue the legacy of the Sankirtan movement. To become a disciple brings with it the responsibility of becoming guru if the situation requires. But, there are many senior devotees that can act as guru. Junior Godbrothers should just refer candidates to the senior devotees like Narayana Maharaja, Govinda Maharaja etc. etc.

lies.....