NEWSLETTER No.31

Message from Adridharana Dasa, Temple President ISKCON Calcutta

1. BBC Glorifies Srila Prabhupada to the World 
2. Blasphemous GBC Boasts that Srila Prabhupada "is Dead"
3. Classic Quotes 

1. BBC Glorifies Srila Prabhupada to the World

It really is amazing what faith in Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet can do. It can move mountains. Here we are in the midst of ISKCON's worst publicity nightmare - with the movement facing a 400 million dollar lawsuit for child abuse - and the world's largest and most famous media organisation approaches an IRM follower to broadcast the glories of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna to the world!

On August 22 at 12:45 pm GMT, and on August 23 (which was, of course, the festival of Sri Krishna Janmastami) at 5:45 pm GMT *and* 11:45 pm GMT, (GMT 
= Greenwich Mean Time) the BBC World Service broadcast three 15-minute shows on Lord Krishna's Advent. The astonishing fact is that according to official reports the World Service reaches a staggering 150 MILLION LISTENERS, a significant proportion of whom will have caught at least one of the 3 programmes. Indeed the show's producer estimates that *each* of the three programmes was listened to by over 100 million people around the world. 

The person who put the show together was UK IRM member Deepak Vohra who has been working with the BBC for sometime (see later). The main piece of the show was a dramatic presentation of the birth of Lord Krishna, which had been written by another UK IRM member Yaduraja Das, and which was based on Srila Prabhupada's Krishna Book.The play allowed everyone to hear about the transcendental birth of Lord Krishna, and as Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita:

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."
(Bhagavad Gita, 4:9)

However a special Janmastami present for the world was that Deepak also managed to add an introduction glorifying Srila Prabhupada, as well as the congregational chanting of Hare Krishna both at the beginning and at the end of the show. We cannot imagine a more auspicious start to the first Janmastami of the new millennium, as the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra was heard simultaneously all over the planet. Millions of people from Northern Europe to Southern Afghanistan will have heard the glories of Prabhupada and Krishna for the first time, on the actual day of Lord Sri Krishna's Advent over 5000 years ago.

The following is an extract from the introduction to the show that was broadcast, which allowed us to glorify Srila Prabhupada to the world:

"...In the West, too, the festival of Janmastami is also widely celebrated by devotees of ISKCON - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, more commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement. It's a worldwide missionary movement established nearly 40 years ago by India's greatest saint and spiritual emissary - His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

His mission was to lead people throughout the world back to a spiritual existence based on India's ancient Vedic scriptures. Prabhupada taught that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that the goal of life is to reawaken our forgotten loving relationship with Krishna, primarily through chanting His Names.

"Although Prabhupada only lived for a further 12 years after going to the West from India in 1965, he ensured that his spiritual legacy would continue through his books and instructions to guide and teach, and to take disciples."

"In this programme, we'll hear part of the story of Lord Krishna's Advent based on the books of Swami Prabhupada. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, who is the cause and shelter of the entire cosmic creation. We believe that God has incarnated in the sound of His Holy Names which can conquer all evil. That's why at Janmastami you'll hear the Hare Krishna mantra being chanted in temples all over the world."

Please note that though the GBC are keen to promote throughout ISKCON that Srila Prabhupada is 'dead', (please see the shocking next article) at least the BBC have now informed hundreds of million of people throughout the world that:

"Although Prabhupada only lived for a further 12 years after going to the West from India in 1965, he ensured that his spiritual legacy would *continue* through his books and instructions to guide and teach, and to ***take disciples***."

Its official - Srila Prabhupada lives, and he is continuing to teach and take disciples! After all how much more official can you get than having this fact announced by the BBC, the most famous and reputable broadcaster in the world. People still say today that - "it must be true, since I heard in on the BBC"!

The driving force behind the BBC broadcast Sriman Deepak Vohra, an UK IRM congregational grhastha devotee, describes how the project came about:

"I've been broadcasting Krishna conscious programmes with the BBC World Service Religion Department for nearly 10 years now. It's not my main job, though. I work as the Head of Marketing in the London office of an American newspaper publishing and media organisation. In 1991, I went along to a training day at the BBC where I presented a script on the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. They were suitably impressed that they called me in again a few weeks later to actually broadcast a series of programmes on Vaishnavism. The programmes weren't very long, so I suggested they might want to consider a more theatrical presentation of the philosophy. So, I adapted the First Canto of the Bhagavatam for a half-hour semi-dramatisation. Just imagine, for half-an-hour the airwaves were filled with the sublime conversations between Sukadeva Goswami and Maharaja Pariksit, and Suta Goswami and the Sages at Naimisaranya! Actually, it was more than half-an-hour because the programme was repeated a few more times.

Then a new producer came in and wanted to do more of the same. This time, I decided to give the bulk of the project to Yaduraja das, another UK IRM member, and a very nice devotee, brilliant actor and scriptwriter, and infinitely more talented than me! We decided to produce "The Advent of Lord Krishna" for radio. Yaduraja wrote the majority of the script and rounded up devotees from the Bhaktivedanta Players theatre troupe from the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple. The production was so well received, that the producer was dying for us to do more. However when this ISKCON child abuse scandal broke, I thought that was the end of our relationship with the BBC World Service, particularly because they - like every other media organisation - had carried news items on the child abuse lawsuit.

Indeed only a few weeks ago, the BBC came to the Manor to interview the devotees about their reaction to the child abuse affair. And very recently in the UK, we've had the photographs and addresses of convicted paedophiles splashed across the front pages of the newspapers, and mobs of a hundred people or more have taken to the streets and physically attacked these child abusers and their homes. So you don't expect the world's biggest broadcaster to be knocking on your door asking you to glorify Krishna when that same organisation has covered in its news items the horrific abuse perpetrated by so-called devotees of Krishna. But I firmly believe that when you put Srila Prabhupada in the centre of your devotional life, then all obstacles to glorify Krishna and His pure devotee are immediately smashed.
And I also felt that Srila Prabhupada had *personally* blessed this project because there is a very specific purport in the First Canto of the Bhagavatam about using modern technology, in particular the radio, to broadcast glories of the Lord:

""In modernized human society there are great advancements of material science, and they have invented the radio to distribute sound in the air. So instead of vibrating some nuisance sound for sense enjoyment, if the state arranges to distribute transcendental sound by resounding the holy name, fame and activities of the Lord, as they are authorized in the Bhagavad Gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, then a favourable condition will be created, the principles of religion will be re-established, and thus the executive heads, who are so anxious to drive away corruption from the world, will be successful. Nothing is bad if properly used for the service of the Lord.""
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.18.6, purport)

I think this purport is particularly apt because we are literally 
*broadcasting* the glories of the Lord! The Executive Producer of the Religious Broadcasting Unit said he definitely planned to do more, and even *lengthier* productions with myself and Yaduraja.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda!"

This amazing preaching project is the just the latest in a series of efforts by the ISKCON Revival Movement to glorify both our Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. As our previous newsletters have detailed, the IRM has gone from strength to strength in establishing all over the world the status of Srila Prabhupada as the eternal Guru for ISKCON. In the space of just *a few months* we have:

* Opened a brand new preaching centre in Manhattan, dedicated specifically to re-igniting book distribution on the streets of Manhattan, as per Srila Prabhupada's instructions.

* Preached the glories of Krishna to the massive Chinese community in Singapore for the first time in history, through cultural and educational programmes sponsored by the government authorities there 

* Held the biggest Rathayatra festival of all time - this year over 1.5 million people came together in Calcutta (Srila Prabhupada's birthplace) to worship Lord Jagannath and Srila Prabhupada 

* Witnessed the flowering of the biggest temple and preaching project in India, namely the ISKCON Bangalore temple headed by IRM Secretary, Madhu Pandit das 

* Conducted a hugely successful nationwide media campaign in India to defend the honour and reputation of Srila Prabhupada so disgracefully dragged through the mud due to the misdeeds of the ISKCON leadership involved in the current child abuse lawsuit 

* Established a permanent memorial plaque in honour of Srila Prabhupada in Tompkins Square Park, New York, where Prabhupada began the sankirtan movement in the West in 1966.

While all these achievements have been on national scales, the BBC programme is the start of our *global* mission to glorify and reinstate Srila Prabhupada as the Guru for not only ISKCON, but the whole planet!

So there you have it. This BBC project is yet another arrangement by Krishna to both glorify Prabhupada and once again ignite a spiritual revolution in the hearts and minds of people throughout the world. And this in the midst of the darkest period for ISKCON.

2. Blasphemous GBC Boasts that Srila Prabhupada "is Dead"

As we have seen from the above story, whenever the IRM presents something in the media, it is with the *positive* aim of informing the whole world that Srila Prabhupada *LIVES* and that he is still to be glorified and worshipped today. Please contrast this with the GBC Gurus use of the media. As we will see from the following shocking press release that was published throughout India on the FRONT PAGE of a national newspaper, Jayapataka Swami boasts how he has managed to get the Asian Age - a national Indian newspaper - to print an article he wrote, in which it is stated that Srila Prabhupada is "dead".

From: Jayapataka.Swami@pamho.net [mailto:Jayapataka.Swami@pamho.net] Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 10:12 PM To: ICI (ISKCON Communications India); Anuttama (das) ACBSP (IC N.America); Amrta Gaurangi (dd) JPS (Mayapur - IN); Parijata (dd) RNS (IC Mumbai - IN)
Subject: News article responding to Adri's Asian Age interview 

Home Base: Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir, Navadwip Dham, Nadia, WB, INDIA 

The following article was published on the Front Page of Today's Asian Age Newspaper. I copied this off of internet where it is also still there today.
It is in response to Adri's interview against ISKCON leadership and pro-IRM.
Shankarshan das and Nitai Prasad das delivered the press release and cultivated the press. I drafted the press release and it was edited by our lawyers. The newspaper edited it themselves as they always do. Still the main gist is there.

Front Page ---- Asian Age news. 24th July, 2000.
Iskcon: What are we to do with Ritvikism?
By Dhiman Chattopadhyay and Kounteya Sinha Calcutta, July 23 On the defensive for months after the sex abuse scandal rocked their world, authorities at the Iskcon Mayapur Ashram have now struck back with a vengeance at their Calcutta counterparts, the Iskcon Revival Movement. 

The Mayapur general manager has ridiculed the revival movement president's doctrine of "Ritvikism" calling it "a strange and concocted idea". In a signed statement issued to all Krishna bhaktas around the world, Mayapur general manager Dham Nitai Prasad Dasa has accused revival movement president Adridharana Dasa of "behaving in a deviant manner" and unleashing an onslaught of false, offensive, and derogatory publicity". Mr Adridharana Dasa is propagating a delusive doctrine known as Ritvikism, where he believes that all devotees wanting to receive diksha within Iskcon should still receive it from founder-acharya of Iskcon, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, and become his direct disciples, in spite of 
*** him being dead for the last 23 years ***," the letter says.

Please note that though Jayapataka Swami claims that the Asian Age 'edited' the press release he wrote, here they are quoting *directly* from the press release in question. And Jayapataka Swami does not object to what has been written, rather he boasts to everyone how the 'main gist' is there - with the main gist being that Srila Prabhupada has been 'dead for the last 23 years' - so that we must instead approach impostor Gurus such as himself.

It also seems ludicrous that persons could possibly accuse the IRM of being 'offensive' when it is pieces such as the above which are given the GBC/Guru rubber stamp. It seems that in the above article, Jayapataka Swami's envy for Srila Prabhupada has forced him to object to the idea that devotees may prefer to take Diksa from Srila Prabhupada rather than him by emphasising in such graphic terms Srila Prabhupada's supposed defect compared to him 
- "hey, don't you know that he has been dead for the last 23 years!"

Please compare the 2 media 'stories' above. They could not be more different in terms of their glorification and appreciation of Srila Prabhupada's contribution to the world. One states that he *continues* to live. The other states that he has been 'dead for the last 23 years'.

3. Classic Quotes

In this regular column we shall be highlighting the bizarre and contradictory world of our GBC and 'Gurus', who have occupied Srila Prabhupada's position on the pretext of being able to guide us out of darkness and back to Godhead. However as this column will show over the coming weeks, these personalities would be better advised coming into the light themselves, and to move out of the way from blocking the clear and transcendental light which is emanating directly from Srila Prabhupada.
Physician heal thyself!

*** Classic Quote - No. 4 ***

*GBC Chairman States ISKCON Has No Brain*

"I also have my own views on the application of varnasrama-dharma, for I too have thought about the subject, but I assure you, that whatever I speak or write will not go uncontested by someone else in ISKCON. Nevertheless, I will venture here to propose the major reasons why ISKCON is having such a difficult time coming to grips with this matter. *** The first and foremost is that ISKCON - I put it starkly - has no brain ***."
("ISKCON and Varnasrama Dharma: A Mission Unfulfilled", GBC Chairman, Ravindra Svarupa Dasa, 29/1/99)

I would venture to suggest that maybe our esteemed chairman deserves the award for the 'Understatement of the century', for this little gem! 
And we hate to point out the obvious - but if ISKCON has 'no brain' - then isn't it even remotely possible, that the GBC could have got it all wrong when they decided that Srila Prabhupada was 'dead', and that instead they should replace him as substitute Gurus? Stranger things have been known to happen!

And yet the ONE thing that the GBC are claiming that they could not possibly be wrong on, which they have concluded through the use of something OTHER than a brain - which we have now been informed they do not possess - is that one way or another Srila Prabhupada definitely wanted himself to be replaced by his disciples as successor diksa gurus in ISKCON.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please keep your letters, and e-mail addresses of other devotees who should be added to our list, flowing in. 

A hard copy of our main position paper 'The Final Order' is available on request. 
All other IRM papers can be accessed through the EDITORIAL SECTION of the IRM website at http://come.to/irm 

If you would like to receive any of the back issues of the Newsletter please let me know.

No 1. Invitation to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja
No 2. GBC Lose First Round of Court Case 
No 3. The Story VNN Refused to Publish 
No 4. Poison Theorists Accuse Adri of Complicity 
No 5. Iskcon Continues to Promote Child Abusers 
No 6. Invitation to Malaysia 
No 7. United World Body Formed 
No 8. Does Srila Prabhupada Support Poisoning Theory?
No 9. PADA Attacks IRM Position 
No 10. PADA Continues to Present False Evidence 
No 11. GBC Funded Video says Ritvik Spiritual 
No 12. Child Rapist Selected by Gurus to Defend their Legitimacy 
No 13. GBC Facing Perjury Charge in Calcutta High Court 
No 14. Sahajiyism Makes a Comeback in Iskcon.
No 15. Govt. Minister Inaugurates Bangalore Rathayatra 
No 16. Iskcon Calcutta Triumphs Following Arson Attack 
No 17. Fighting Lies with Truth Not More Lies
No 18. GBC Resolutions Continue to Provide Laughter
No 19. Indian Leaders Endorse IRM Position That GBC Confused 
No 20. Convicted Child Abuser Officially 'Returns' To Parampara
No 21. GBC Chairman Admits ISKCON 'Disintegrating' 
No 22. Krishna Confirms ISKCON Re-Birth
No 23. Hare Krishna Explosion Begins In New York as IRM Temple Opens 
No 24. IRM Launches Media Campaign to Defend Srila Prabhupada
No 25. GBC Teaches That 'Living Gurus' NOT Required 
No 26. BBT Admits Books Changed To Fit GBC Philosophy 
No 27. Big Breakthrough For Krishna In Singapore 
No 28. Bangalore Tops World Book Distribution
No 29. City of New York to Honour Srila Prabhupada
No 30. Gurukula Lawsuit Special - The Facts

Your comments, questions and feedback are appreciated. Please write to me at adri@cwcom.net

Your Servant, 
Adridharan das 
 
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