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EDITORIAL October 15, 1999 VNN4941 Related VNN Stories Judge The Tree By The Fruit BY ROHINI-SUTA DASA EDITORIAL, Oct 15 (VNN) — Re: The Pending Lawsuit Against ISKCON Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 From Rohini-suta dasa, ACBSP, founder: Krishna Disaster Relief Dear Pratyatosa Dasa, Please accept my warmest regards. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I have been receiving your E-mails over these past months and would like to enclose this separate letter (edited and shortened). Although originally addressed to a specific ISKCON Guru, whom I have known for many years, it could have been addressed to any of them: Dear Swami...Here are some more thoughts regarding the issues we discussed in our last letter. At the heart of my turmoil rest these words spoken by Shrila Prabhupada: "A God-conscious person having a bad character; it is incompatible. It is not possible. You cannot find fault with him. That is God conscious." Besides these statements, I have also turned to the Holy Bible wherein you will find a statement that speaks about the Holy Tree. The idea is that if the roots are Holy, the branches will be holy. The idea is that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. This is a profound statement. Speaking of "not possible," Jesus says, "A variety that produces delicious fruit never produces an inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can't produce what is good." Of course, I am speaking about the Holy Tree of God. The Chaitanya-charitamrita refers to this tree and its branches in the section describing the passing of Haridas Thakura: "All glories to Lord Chaitanya. All glories to the devotees of Lord Chaitanya. I take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who Himself is the tree of transcendental love of Krishna. He is the desire tree of devotional service. (He) became the main trunk of the tree of devotional service. From the trunk grew many branches and above them innumerable others. Thus the branches of the Chaitanya tree formed a cluster or society, with great branches covering the entire universe. Since Lord Chaitanya was the original trunk, the taste of the fruits that grew on the branches and sub-branches surpassed the taste of nectar.' "I offer my obeisances to all the dear devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the eternal tree of love of Godhead. I offer my respects to all the branches of the tree, the devotees of the Lord who distribute the fruit of love of Krishna. The twentieth branch of the Chaitanya tree was Haridasa Thakura. His character was wonderful. He used to chant the Holy Name of Krishna 300,000 times a day without fail. There was no end to the transcendental qualities of Haridasa Thakura. He did not even slightly raise an eyebrow when persecuted by the Mohammedan ruler." I can only now ask-taking the above quotes into consideration-what did you think-after Shrila Prabhupada passed away-when the "eleven new branches" on the eternal tree of love of Godhead began producing rotten fruit? Just for a second, take a partial look at the fruit that this new branch produced-One of the eleven men was taking LSD and was later murdered in the most ghastly manner. Another is locked behind iron bars in a federal penitentiary. One man was caught with a car full of assault weapons. Another was thrown out for having an affair with a young woman. One of the gurus was discovered having sex with little boys-in one of the holiest places in all of India. Bad character, faults, and mistrust have stained them all. One of the gurus was punished-having been found at fault. He was stripped of his divine powers for a period of time. Others have left. Money has vanished and sanity lost. I can only ask myself: When the very first rotten apple appeared, why wasn't it understood that the entire branch was false? Prabhupada and the Holy Bible both state that bad fruit is impossible. The eternal tree of love of Godhead cannot produce bad fruit, what to speak of a child molester. Jesus says that such a branch is to be cut off of the Holy Tree and burned. You and I both know that I am not too swift when it comes to gray matter. But something doesn't add up. And I seriously wonder about your position. How did you become a guru? Who authorized that? As I understand it, your "divinity" was granted to you by the same branch that produced all of the rotten fruit that I just mentioned. How does that work? I'm sorry, would you please explain this to me. I thought that Shrila Prabhupada said that only the rarest of men, perfect in character and hand picked by the Lord from his top-most devotees, manifest as guru. You once told me that not so long ago your occupation was picking up golf balls. Then, a few years later, this "new branch" (that produced all the rotten fruit), grants you the status of guru. Now, some years later, you have so many disciples. Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Plus, when you apply this "guru formula" to all of ISKCON, the overall problem seems quiet clear. As I think about all of this, I just can't fathom the degree of arrogance it must take for an individual to announce to the world that he is a guru, now a genuine branch on the eternal tree of love of Godhead that is described in the Scriptures, especially considering all that I have just said. Servant of the servant of the servants of God. RS Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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