|
Clarification Regarding ISKCON Bangalore |
December
1, 1998
BY SEVATULA DASA
Clarification, by Sevatula Dasa, ISKCON Bangalore: (Reply to "Enough
is Enough" letter from a section of the Bangalore congregation
devotees)
"Enough is Enough" says:
| "HG Sevatula dasa obliquely attacked Harisauri Prabhu by referring to him as an American who was loitering in the street." |
Sevatula
Dasa's comment: The above is clearly a misquote of my offering to SP on
the Aug 16 Vyasa Puja. In my Vyasa puja offering I mentioned an excerpt
from the lecture given by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu in Bangalore in July 1998
(given below). Being part of the audience in that lecture, it appeared to
me that SP's position was being diminished, and that was very
disheartening to me. Anyone who reads the transcribed excerpt from the
lecture will concur with this viewpoint that I have held, cultivated &
developed during my last 10 years, as a brahmacari in the Bangalore temple
. Though I beg to differ from the view points of Hari Sauri Prabhu
in the matters related to understanding the unique & exalted position
of Srila Prabhupada, I also humbly seek forgiveness for any offenses
unintentionally committed while expressing myself.
Excerpt from the class given on Srimad Bhagavatam by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu,
during his visit to Bangalore, in July 1998:
| "Srila
Prabhupada, as all previous acharyas have done, has empowered his
disciples to continue acting as his representatives giving Siksha,
giving Diksha, giving the experience of devotional life and enabling
people to participate in the transcendental structure of this ISKCON
that was Srila Prabhupada's creation. But he created it with his
disciples. Srila Prabhupada used to say sometimes, I am ISKCON and
ISKCON is my body, but we have understand that, ISKCON was created
with Prabhupada's disciples, he did not do it just by himself. "Prabhupada told us that many times. When Prabhupada first arrived in NY sometimes just in the afternoon he would just go down to Central Station and he would get on a bus and he did not know where the bus was going but he would get on just to see the city because he wanted to see the area where he was coming to preaching and he wanted to observe the people he wanted to see the habits and figure out how to get the message through! And he said sometimes I was going on the bus here and there and sometimes he would go on walk down the riverside underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Actually somebody told him later on not to do that because there was some reports, there were some snipers who were shooting people who were walking down. Then SP said, I was innocent, I did not know and he said I was just going down walking and then I was warned so I did not go after that. Anyway the point was, SP said, he was walking around but he has no associates at that time, so his International Society was not formed, it was there in his heart. Undoubtedly the idea the seed, but the manifestation of it could not be formed because the society means more than one, it means other people involved that is society. SO then SP said, I was simply loitering he said, I was just walking around, I was simply loitering in the streets, as if he had nothing to do, of course, he had a purpose. And he said, "you also, you are simply loitering you did not know what to do. You are simply roaming the streets doing all crazy things. You are simply loitering. SO he said, individually he could not do anything. But now combining we are doing something very wonderful, he said, I could not have done this without you. You could not have done this without me. "So, we cannot separate these two, So we cannot put SP is the only person who is responsible for the development of ISKCON, because it is not true! Prabhupada did that, he is the primary move, but he did that with his disciples. HE trained them, he educated them and he then empowered but it was the voluntarily giving of the energy voluntarily surrendered to SP that enabled SP to spread this movement all over the world, that cannot be removed, that should not be diminished. " {End of Excerpt} |
Sevatula Dasa's comments:
In
my Vyasa Puja offering to SP on Aug.16th, I quoted the entire excerpt
given above. As you can see, I have not personally attacked Hari Sauri
Prabhu in any manner. Certainly I have not referred to Hari Sauri Prabhu
as "an American loitering in the street" any more that he
himself as referred to the same while quoting Srila Prabhupada. Rather, my
offering was an appeal to the vaishnavas present there to appreciate
Srila Prabhupada's unquestioned & exalted seat in our community. I
wanted to clearly highlight this: Srila Prabhupada probably said that he
was loitering in the street and that individually he could not have done
anything, but isn't this clearly an expression of a mahabhagavata's
glorious humility? How can we conclude that: "So we cannot put SP is
the only person who is responsible for the development of ISKCON, because
it is not true!". Such a
conclusion is a direct minimization of Srila Prabhupada's position.
Certainly a pure devotee is not dependent on any mundane characters nor is
he governed by mundane regulations. He does not need the "help"
or "assistance" of fallen souls like us who are "loitering
in the street", to achieve anything in this world, he is directly
& lovingly controlled by Krishna. Srila Prabhupada submitted himself (refer
to jaladuta diary) as a puppet in the hands of the Supreme Lord and
not as a "partner" to a few Americans in the streets to
help him build an organization. Rather the onus lies on us - fallen,
conditioned , bewildered and helpless souls of this burning world to grasp
the lotus feet of such a mahabhagavata to seek deliverance. I request the
authors of "Enough is Enough" to kindly see this viewpoint and
refrain from making misleading allegations. I am sorry to see that
devotees like the authors of the above mentioned letter are tracing the
wrong track in their spiritual lives by making blatant offenses at the
feet of dedicated Vaishnavas such as Madhu Pandit Prabhu and my other
godbrothers in this temple. I pray to our Deities Their Lordships Sri
Radha Krishna-Chandra that good sense prevail upon their selves and they
adopt proper Vaishnava means to express their opinions.
Hare Krishna. yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Sevatula Dasa Brahmacari
ISKCON Bangalore.