11/21/97 - 1255

Law Books For The Next 10,000 Years

USA (VNN) - Today many Vaishnavas are faced with some very fundamental questions. ISKCON has taught for the last 20 years that Srila Prabhupada's words and books are to be accepted as the law books for the next 10,000 years, that His words are absolute and not to be doubted.

Here are some thoughts on this subject:

One devotee writes:

"It seems to me that we are spending a lot of time trying to ascertain the truth of Srila Prabhupada's statement that he was being poisoned. Srila Prabhupada is Founder-Acarya, satya-vak, satya-sankalpa. He cannot lie. His word is truth. If he said he was being poisoned, he was. Our job now is to find the culprits. Whispers on a tape may not mean anything in the final analysis. What we do know is that Srila Prabhupada's death is cloaked in mystery. He was not happy during that time, and he admitted to his doctor that he was being poisoned. He was not lying because his word is truth. We may try to make so many material calculations about this and that, all of which may end in futility. Why not accept Srila Prabhupada's word as fact?"

"There may not be sufficient evidence even after exhuming his body to convict anyone of a crime here, but so what? Prabhupada said he was being poisoned. If no human agent was deliberately involved in this poisoning, and it was only just a case of negligence, that could have been easily discerned. Then Prabhupada would only have said something like "the medicine is poisonous--bad decision to give it or take it". Instead he said, "I am being poisoned". Prabhu in any context, such a statement implies the speaker believes there is deliberate intent." (full letter)

Another devotee writes:

"I'm glad that someone listened to the audio clip closely. Thanks, Bir Krisna. Now we can all go home and call it a day. What's wrong with the GBC? They should get good stereo equipment like Bir Krsna so that they can avoid embarrassing investigations like this! Here we thought that Prabhupada was poisoned when the real fault was poor stereo equipment. Not!"

And another:

"If this topic is pushed to it's logical conclusion it could lead to the exhuming of Srila Prabhupada's transcendental body for pathological tests. Do we want this to happen? Would this make us more Krishna Conscious? Would it advance the cause of Krishna Consciousness? It may be the case that the appointment tapes were false. But that system (zonal acharya) is basically ended. There remain zonal acharya empires in certain parts of the world but the ISKCON that I have seen , Vancouver, Mexico, the system is gone. Let us not be stuck in the past. Let us get off the eternal conspiracy bandwagon. Let us focus on the positive practices of Krishna Consciousness. Let us become Krishna Conscious again; chanting, dancing, hearing, associating, taking prasadam, festivals, etc. I am getting old. I have been bitter long enough. It is not a good way to live. Let us look to the future and not dwell on the past. Clean up the past where we can and go forward."