09/16/1998 - 2232

Statement by JPS on Russian Situation

India (VNN) - by Jayapataka Swami

Camp: Sri Mayapur Dhama Date: Originally Drafted September 3, 1998.

My Dear ISKCON devotees in Russia,

Please accept my humble obeisances and best wishes. All glories to SrilaPrabhupada!

This letter is to explain my position and to offer some advice forISKCON devotees in CIS and everywhere to the followers of HarikesaMaharaja.

1. MY ACTUAL POSITION IN RELATION TO HARIKESA MAHARAJA'S RECENTPRONOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER EVENTS.

It has been brought to my attention that some followers of HarikesaMaharaja in Russia are claiming that I am supporting their revolutionagainst ISKCON. This claim is not true, and it is creating confusionamongst Harikesa Maharaja's disciples and amongst other devotees whohave some faith in me. I am a well wisher, friend and God-brother ofHarikesa Maharaja and want to see that he has a peaceful Krishnaconscious life. I would like to see a peaceful positive resolution tothe present difficulties and misunderstandings. That led me to seeHarikesa Maharaja and report the highlights of my visits.

This respect and love that I feel for Harikesa Maharaja shouldn't bemisrepresented as a support for rebellion or aggression against SrilaPrabhupada, ISKCON or ISKCON's devotees. I would not have written thisletter, but I am compelled to do so due to this misrepresentation of myposition.

How is it possible for me to support a revolution for leaving theshelter of Srila Prabhupada? Srila Prabhupada has always said to remainin ISKCON and work towards improving his movement. Srila Prabhupada saidISKCON was "his body". So there is no way that I can support such astand.

According to reports I am receiving, there is an extreme polarisationbeing promoted in Russia by Kamalamala das, Sannyas das, and BrahmanandaPuri das. This action is completely contrary to what they assured methey wanted when we met in Germany. They told me they wanted to be inISKCON, and that we would work together to bring Harikesa Maharaja backto ISKCON. I did support their staying humbly in ISKCON and workingco-operatively to spread Krishna consciousness. That was something Iappreciated.

However, now things have changed. I certainly don't agree to anaggressive promotion of Harikesa Maharaja's new ideas nor to an appealfor Harikesa Maharaja's disciples to leave Srila Prabhupada's house andour spiritual family of ISKCON.

Furthermore, I do not support Harikesa Maharaja's present attitude anddealings toward Srila Prabhupada. I feel it is outside the bounds ofetiquette to criticise or mention demeaning things about any properlysituated spiritual master, what to speak of a faultless spiritual masterlike Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada is due all of our respect andlove.

Adjustments of preaching strategies can be easily proposed within ISKCONwithout denigrating the position of our Founder Acharya. I am shockedand very hurt by the public criticisms and minimisation being directlyor indirectly aimed at Srila Prabhupada. I never expected this to happenfrom Harikesa Maharaja or any of his followers. These things should becarefully avoided.

Harikesa Maharaja's present portrayal of ISKCON as a dangerous sect andhis declaration of leaving ISKCON cause me great pain. ISKCON is SrilaPrabhupada's body and is sheltering millions of devotees both in thetemples and in the broader congregation. Harikesa Maharaja hassacrificed so much personal energy and service for the betterment ofISKCON. Now it is almost inconceivable that he is denouncing thesociety, which has also provided so much spiritual development for himand his disciples.

I emphatically do not support this negative portrayal of ISKCON. I am anISKCON member and am giving all of my energy to seeing to thedevelopment and improvement of ISKCON. It is painful if someone near anddear doesn't want to remain any longer in ISKCON, but what can we do?ISKCON is a free society, and people can stay or leave as they like.However, openly and un-constructively criticising ISKCON or its membersshould be totally avoided. I certainly, and I am sure all ISKCON membersincluding Harikesa Maharaja's disciples, would like to see our dearHarikesa Maharaja's outlook of ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada return to thestandard of his 1998 Vyasa Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada.

As far as the treatment of Harikesa Maharaja has received during andafter his recent collapse by the Executive Committee (EC) of the ISKCONGoverning Body Commission (GBC) is concerned I think that they tookextreme care to do the right thing. I consider that all the EC membersare and were well intentioned in all they did.

At first I felt, along with other GBC's of Russia, that some of thetechnical aspects of the notification could have been improved and moresensitive. I appreciated the EC's apology letter which explained thedifficult situation they were under. This graciousness of the EC wasappreciated by everyone at the temples I discussed it.

I tried to explain to Harikesa Maharaja in our first meeting that itreally was a very minor restriction that the EC placed, and if he coulddemonstrate he was healthy enough to do his duties then he could soon bereinstated. However, by then he had already decided he didn't want to bepart of ISKCON. It definitely seemed like he was over-reacting to the ECdecisions. Even then, I was trying to smooth things out. The apologyletter from the EC demonstrates that they didn't want to upset HarikesaMaharaja or his disciples and assured of future enhanced sensitivity.

 2. HOW I WAS CHEATED AND MY GOOD INTENTIONS EXPLOITED

During our meeting, Harikesa Maharaja stated clearly to me that hedidn't want to be the leader of a spiritual organisation. Specifically,he said he didn't want to be a "sect leader". Later, when the Russianleaders were present (Kamalamala das, Sannyasa das and Brahmananda Puridas), Harikesa Maharaja asked them to discuss with me and work outsomething peaceful.

My point to them was that if they wanted to be inside, then I would workfor that. If they wanted to be outside, then it could be a clean break,avoiding confrontation. The three met me twice for almost two hours eachtime. They were very clear that they wanted to be part of ISKCON, andthey wanted Harikesa Maharaja to also be a part of ISKCON in the future.

We understood that presently, by his own desire, Harikesa Maharaja hasdeclared himself out of ISKCON. We agreed that if things got normalisedand some steps were taken to consider Harikesa Maharaja's proposals thenthe climate might be made right for him to return to ISKCON. I confessthat I felt more optimistic after Harikesa Maharaja told me three timesduring my final visit that he might come back if things improved inISKCON.

The three Russians gave details on how they would allow ISKCONsannyasis, GBCs and Gurus to again enter and preach in St. Petersburg.They would submit to the ISKCON discipline. They said they didn't wantto destroy the relationship between the congregation in St. Petersburgand the temple so they requested not to have any announcement that theyleft ISKCON since for sure they wanted to be back.

They only wanted some assurance that blasphemy against Harikesa Maharajawould be avoided. They assured me they wouldn't politicise the Radiosince public confrontation would attract Government attention and in CISthat could be disastrous. Already laws were in place allowing Governmentto come down heavy on most religious groups without much protection oflaw. I have been enthusiastically telling my GBC colleagues to hold offand GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.

Unfortunately, the report I got is that when Sannyas das, Kamalamala dasand Brahmananda Puri das returned to Russia they brought a new HarikesaMaharaja video as well as an audio interview for the radio. By now youhave all probably read the transcripts of both of these productions.Just the fact that they broadcast such things on the radio and areplanning to distribute Harikesa Maharaja's video endorsing his new ideasand leaving ISKCON is very confrontational.

More serious is that the radio broadcast contains statements that aredirectly derogatory and offensive towards Srila Prabhupada.

Now receiving these reports I feel cheated that my good intentions havebeen politically exploited and misused in order to bewilder devotees andencourage people to leave ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada has always preachedto remain within the ISKCON family. How can I endorse that people shouldleave? This is very political and I couldn't imagine that these devoteeswould stoop so low as to misuse my desire to help them in such a way.Many leaders had been quite emphatic that we shouldn't trust them, but Iwas preaching for restraint and to give them a chance.

Look what they have done! I would like it to go down in everyone'smemory and for the permanent record that full opportunity was extendedto these Russian devotees to be accepted back in ISKCON. If they now aredoing politics to encourage devotees to leave ISKCON it is their ownfree will. I worked to give them the opportunity to remain in ISKCON,but they have misused my attempts. I was trying to create an environmentwhere all Harikesa Maharaja disciples could serve nicely in ISKCON andin which Harikesa Maharaja could more easily return.

Now I am told there is simply chaos and confrontation caused by them. Ihope they will come to their senses and avoid confrontation and creatingchaos. After all they are all Srila Prabhupada's grandchildren who havesacrificed much for the Krishna conscious cause. It is senseless anddestructive to fight amongst ourselves. Our energy should be used touplift fallen souls and not to promote enmity or division amongst theVaishnavas thus playing into the hands of materialistic enemies who wishour mutual termination.

3. HARIKESA MAHARAJA'S CURRENT RELATIONSHIP WITH SRILA PRABHUPADA

In the first meeting with Harikesa Maharaja I explained that he told mehe didn't agree with some things Srila Prabhupada did. He wanted tochange these. He mentioned how when he was in his emotional volcano hewas even angry at Srila Prabhupada, but then he cooled down. In thesecond meeting Harikesa Maharaja said his relationship was now allright. I was feeling optimistic.

However, when I read the transcript of the recent Radio broadcast of aninterview between Harikesa Maharaja and Brahmika das (a Russiandisciple), I saw that Harikesa Maharaja stated disrespectful thingsabout Srila Prabhupada. It is offensive to Srila Prabhupada to say suchthings.

(Hari Sauri Prabhu has responded that while he was Srila Prabhupadapersonal secretary he always saw Srila Prabhupada acting exemplary andsuch statements are completely unfounded in fact.)

Now when I compare what Harikesa Maharaja told me during the firstvisit, with this last statement in the radio interview, it is clear thatHarikesa Maharaja really doesn't accept Srila Prabhupada like he usedto. Because I had been very anxious for a solution during the secondvisit with Harikesa Maharaja, when he said his relationship with SrilaPrabhupada was okay, I can now see I got overly optimistic and took himat his word. It is not okay from the Krishna conscious standpoint.

Instead of following Srila Prabhupada as his absolute authority,Harikesa Maharaja is now apparently following new intuitions and otherguides. Hopefully in the future he will again realise that SrilaPrabhupada is the dependable and proper person to take shelter of.

4. THE PRESENT VOLATILE SITUATION IN CIS

Harikesa Maharaja told me a week ago that he wanted his disciples to goon with their devotional service, but now he is doing something else bysupporting the revolutionaries in Russia. It seems we cannot dependtoday on what Harikesa Maharaja says. It is changing quite rapidly.Therefore what is the use of reporting it?

Although Harikesa Maharaja claims to be reasonable, what is beingproposed or endorsed doesn't seem reasonable for Krishna consciousdevotees. Of course, we don't know to what extent those advocatingrebellion in Russia are misrepresenting him. Certainly it contradictshis standing instructions for so many years and his present instructionto not do any violence to anyone.

Allowing or encouraging his fanatic disciples in Russia to issue hismass video release, knowing it could cause mass chaos in Russia, iscompletely against what he told me he wanted. So now I don't know howmuch value to place on what he tells me or anyone. It is changingwithout warning.

My appeal is that all Harikesa Maharaja disciples should stay within theshelter of ISKCON. Continue on with sadhana bhakti and devotionalservice. There is absolutely nothing to be gained to leave theassociation and shelter of the wonderful devotees of ISKCON. How canISKCON devotees be called cult or sect members? They are the mostwonderful people I have ever met. I cannot imagine a better associationto be in. Let us all work co-operatively to bring up ISKCON to a higherlevel---to show that are happy in Krishna consciousness and from thatposition invite Harikesa Maharaja to come back and be with us.

We don't need psychotherapy centres to teach us how to love. We canlearn that practically in Krishna consciousness by careful Vaishnavadealings. We are grateful for all that Harikesa Maharaja has done and wewant him to return to ISKCON to continue serving Srila Prabhupada as ishis duty as a disciple. My heart is heavy that my beloved Godbrother hasdecided to separate himself from his family members. I am still hopingupon hope and praying that eventually Harikesa Maharaja will see thelight and come back to ISKCON knowing that he is always welcome toreturn to his home. I implore Harikesa Maharaja and anyone who considershimself as his follower, not to do anything that will disturb thepeaceful environment of the devotees in ISKCON or anyone for thatmatter.

Provocative videos and political radio broadcasts in Moscow aredisturbing the minds of devotees unnecessarily. All these politicalmanoeuvres and provocative actions should be immediately stopped.Brahmananda Puri das had previously given me a written request to avoiddoing something provocative. I am amazed that now so many provocativethings are going on.

If there are devotees who are determined not to serve in ISKCON let thempeacefully go their way, but they should not try to compel otherdevotees to also leave their devotional service. That is not proper. Soplease everyone should act as gentlemen and ladies and avoid all kindsof Vaishnava aparadha (offences to Vaishnavas). I am sorry I have to sayall these things, but since my name is being broadcast that I amendorsing everything being done in the name of Harikesa Maharaja I haveno choice but to make my position clear.

Please, in the future, before taking seriously any claim about what mystand is or what I am supposed to be saying please contact me directly.When I reported on the two meetings with Harikesa Maharaja, I clearlymentioned that I was just stating what Harikesa Maharaja told me I couldsay. I specifically stated that they were not my own endorsements withthese words:

"As far as what my realisations about this visit were, apart for oneparagraph, I haven't gone into that here. So please don't take myrepetition of his [Harikesa Maharaja's] statements as any kind ofpersonal endorsement from me."

Still somehow this reporting has been misunderstood as an endorsementfrom me. So please don't think like that. My reporting wasn't any kindof personal endorsement. Actually now I may have to report less aboutany meetings since they are being used as propaganda against ISKCONwhich is deplorable and political. I hope I will be able to maintain apositive link with Harikesa Maharaja and that relations with ISKCON willremain cordial leading to an eventual reunion. Thank you for yourpatience.

Your well wisher,

Jayapataka swami