08/22/98 - 2055

Heaven's Gate or Hell's Gate

VNN Editorial (VNN) - by (author's name withheld)

To say that the announcement that a group of Harikesa dasa's followers are threatening suicide is appalling, is to completely understate the matter. It is also astonishing that there has not arisen a hue and cry from the devotees over this disaster in the making. Perhaps we have become numb and overwhelmed with the seriousness of this issue and don't quite know how to respond. Would this not be the ultimate scandal to heap on the head of Srila Prabhupada? After all, just about everything else has been perpetrated in his name since his departure in 1977.

We cringed when the Western media mentioned us along with other "cults" when news of the "Heaven's Gate" deliberate mass suicide broke. Was the media right in listing us alongside such misguided fellows? Have we become now that dangerous cult Western law enforcement officials has suspected us of being all along? I think we need to really examine ourselves very closely in this regard, so that we do not become something of a "Hell's Gate", instead of the way back home, back to Godhead.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Harikesa's dasa followers. However, there are some things that give me concern and which I would like to address briefly here. One comment made by one disciple attempted to compare Harikesa to Lord Brahma (who apparently became lusty after his daughter), in an attempt to show that Harikesa was beyond reproach and responsibility for having made a sexual advance to one of his "spiritual daughters". It concerns me that we may have become a society of undiscriminating followers, so much in denial of the obvious truth of our own self-deception that we will abuse the scriptures to justify anything.

Harikesa dasa, although according to the GBC, has claimed to be Skandha and Lord Caitanya, is not Lord Brahma. He was not born from the navel lotus of the Lord, nor did his earholes become filled with the flute music of Govinda which precipitated his deep trance that resulted in the famous "Brahma Samhita". We know that he was laughed at by his playmates and his father attempted to assault his sister--hardly a Brahmaloka environment. Lord Brahma is pitamaha, and is responsible for every living being on this planet. Let no one compare himself to him, except to be warned, as Srila Prabhupada points out, to be very vigilant in our devotional service. Harikesa cannot be absolved from his responsibility for breaking his sannyasa vow, and for an attempted rape on his spiritual daughter so easily as by citing Lord Brahma's apparent lapse. Why don't we select the conversion of the prostitute by Namacarya Haridas Thakura as the example to cite?

Chota Haridas went begging alms for Lord Caitanya and spoke to one elderly lady who gave him some grains. For this he was banished from the sight of the Lord who used him to teach how strict a sannyasi must be. Haridasa goswami committed suicide. All the great devotees pleaded his case, but there was no argument raised that because Lord Brahma went after his daughter that Haridasa should be excused. We need to be very careful not to compare our sinful conditioned nature with that of personalities so great that they are able to see the Lord face to face, whose bodies are made mostly of intelligence and who neither live nor die like we do. I am surprised that Harikesa dasa has not yet been compared to Lord Nityananda who gave up his avadhuta status to take not one, but two wives!

Responsibility for this problem must be laid squarely upon the heads of those who have set themselves up as the leaders of this society. This mess, with blind followers of Harikesa breaking away from ISKCON in support of their fallen messiah, taking with them the assets of the society, and threatening mass suicide, is a direct result of ISKCON'S false guru program. Even with the ISKCON Titanic sinking, you, our blind leaders, still refuse to humbly acknowledge your corruption, deviations and offenses to Srila Prabhupada and the community of devotees, and resign.

It is certainly embarrassing when your biggest and best now wants to eat his vomit and drink poison by renouncing the renounced order and marrying a non- devotee. Your initial explanation for all this was a bold lie: too much devotional service, too much austerity, too much seva to Srila Prabhupada. Does not the Gita explain that austerities that cause one harm are in the mode of ignorance? The Pandavas performed severe austerities in the forest. Did they go mad? No. They conquered the world! Haridas Thakura performed very severe austerities. Did he go mad? No. He became the Nama-Acarya! Srila Prabhupada performed major austerities. Did he go mad? No. He, too, conquered the world. Where did Harikesa dasa go wrong?

What are the austerities that Harikesa has performed? Do you consider being chauffeur-driven, living in the best places, jet-setting around the world, controlling millions in assets, being adored by countless men and women, attended by eager servants, fed the best of foods etc., etc, an austerity? Then let us all beware of this kind of "austere" life. It seems to cause incoherent babbling. Then you offered us another blatant lie: his supposed childhood trauma (something we have all suffered-it comes with childhood, with birth in the material world). This was tantamount to a "Twinkie defense." Now anyone can do anything and claim "childhood trauma". Will you excuse me for speaking out due to my "childhood trauma" and get me a good therapist? So much attention now being focused on your big man by other big men, but for years we heard nothing about the gurukulla molestation victims who became molesters in their own turn. All we got was a cover-up when they were being put through their "childhood trauma" years. Maybe your own "childhood trauma" prevented you from taking proper action. Who knows what their "childhood trauma" will produce in the future because of your "childhood trauma"? Ridiculous!

Then you told us it was a little pinch of purple powder called "Vibhuti." You told us everything but that Harikesa was willing to take responsibility for his activities. That is your standard practice. No one among you is willing to stand up and take responsibility for the problems of the past 21 years, even your own personal problems. No one wants to give suitable accounting. It is nobody's fault. It's Kali-yuga, Prabhu.

Where does a sannyasi get all that money to gamble on the stock exchange? Sannyasis controlling millions of dollars is poison. How is it that when one of your big men gets sick, it is always due to their sincere and devoted service, but when one of us protesters gets sick it is always due to our "offenses" to these big men? Are we to think that no offenses to Srila Prabhupada have been committed by you? In spite of everything that has been reported by you regarding Harikesa's condition, including his overweening obsession for his therapist, you continued to call him Visnupada, playing with the "heads" of his innocent "disciples". Why can't you call a falldown a falldown? Where is your honesty? Now the madness acted out by this fallen sannyasi is being taken by undiscriminating followers (who have been spoon fed this toxic "living guru" philosophy) as some kind of divine lila. Now that he is fallen, he is actually more realized than before, more close to Krsna, more transcendental than ever. Is this sahajiya, or what?

Have you unwittingly established Harikesa dasa to be such a mahabhagavata that the only way he would want to renounce being renounced, make a pass at his daughter, desire sex with his therapist, and want to hold on to the worship of his followers is due to sickness? Lest we forget, in this age of Kali, everyone is afflicted with sex desire. The proof is that we are born with these bodies. Had he remained a humble simple prabhu, when nature called, he could easily have accepted the grhasta asrama, without inviting his fanatical supporters to make that leap to oblivion through "Hell's Gate". But the seeds of this madness were sown way back in November of 1977. You may want to go back and cut that giant tree down. It will not be easy.

Can you show me in the writings of Srila Prabhupada where too much devotional service produces craziness? Is this the transcendental madness of the Six Goswamis, or something else, (possibly madness induced by a superabundance of offenses to Srila Prabhupada and the community of devotees?) How can Sri Visnupada be in such a lamentable condition? Is this the same as "daridra narayana"? "Daridra-visnupada"? Now we watch in amazement as the pristine, pure philosophy Srila Prabhupada gave us is being twisted to show how a fallen sannyasi-guru who should be immediately rejected, has been elevated to the transcendental plane because of his falldown. Sorry, prabhus. I, for one, am not buying it. Sad to say, you have institutionalized the artificial elevation of conditioned souls to such dizzying heights that when their heads finally dent the sky, they crash and burn-nowhere to go but down and out. Again, become a mouse- sometimes, as in this case, a more dangerous mouse than ever before!

Madness is taking sannyasa, then stealing another's wife and embracing sex life with her who is one's own spiritual daughter. Madness is being in the renounced order and engaging in "homosex". Madness is mistreating Srila Prabhupada in Vrndavana. Madness is hijacking his movement. Madness is poisoning his philosophy by changing his books. Madness is eleven elevated thrones for eleven "tigers" who would soon again become mice. Madness is the enforced worship of such "tiger-mice". Madness is the molestation of our children, the exploitation of our women, and the diverting of the attention of wives from their husbands to conditioned souls posing as gurus. Madness is the exploitation of the assets of His Divine Grace, the offenses to him and the expulsion of his beloved disciples from the society they labored to help him create, for disagreeing with this madness. Madness is not accepting your part in the shameful debacle of the last 21 years. Madness is not seeing your present pitiful condition.

How many falldowns of big swamis and "gurus" have there been in the last 12 months? How many more of your big men are on the edge, keeping up the charade of being as worthy of worship as good as God, continuing the deception of their so-called disciples? Jayadvaita has written about the near-misses, narrow escapes and the cover-ups. Do you accept that this is raping the faith of the members of the society? It is no wonder that you have always tried to keep these things a secret.

You have instituted practices and preached in such a way so as to produce 21 years of chaos; bannings; beatings; mis-appropriation of funds; fraud; mismanagement; homosexual perversion in the Holy Dhama; rampant physical abuse of our women and children; sexual abuse of our children requiring, in many cases, anal reconstructive surgery, and the sheltering and harboring of the criminals. In some instances, (Bhavananda, Kirtanananda and Jayatirtha, for example), you willfully promoted known deviants to be worshipped as good as God, by the innocent devotees. The Harikesa issue is just another chapter in the saga. The more you fail to do the needful, the worse the mess becomes.

In your August 12 letter to the devotees, you wrote:

"The GBC executive committee, after over a month of investigation and careful deliberation, has with much regret decided it has no choice but to place Harikesa Prabhu on probation as a spiritual master."

Will you please tell me who in the 3 worlds has the power to place the spiritual master on probation? Where does Srila Prabhupada teach that the spiritual master can be placed on probation? The concept is ludicrous, farcical. What kind of spiritual master is that? That would be like Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers placing him on probation for doing something of which they didn't approve (like taking the name "Srila Prabhupada", for example.) Who would care for them? Obviously, ISKCON still does not understand the concept of spiritual master, and Harikesa dasa is simply one of those ISKCON rubber-stamped, "drug-store" variety gurus, who can be given a dunce cap and made to sit in a corner, or write on the chalkboard a hundred times, "I must be a good living guru. I must be a good living guru". His blind followers cannot see or accept his real position. In the meantime, the system you have set up continues to rape the faith of the innocent when the inevitable happens and men like this finally fall.

"During the month of July, Harikesa dasa claimed that his true identity has been first, Skandha, then Lord Caitanya, and then Lord Krishna. Assigning various identities to other persons in his life, he engaged in what he regards as spiritual "lilas."

Personally, I consider that this is taking "saksad-dharitvena" a little too far, but don't listen to me. Listen to Srila Prabhupada: " A spiritual master is duly respected on par with God, but a spiritual master claiming to be God Himself should at once be rejected." (SB 2.5.7. Purport) You do not have the courage to call for the rejection of Harikesa. You made the initial mistake of announcing to the devotee community that he was sick. This is the same ploy you have always used; "pressure of the Centennial", "too much austerity", "too much preaching", "too much devotional service", too much this, too much that- cover up, cover up. Now his blind followers do not know that Srila Prabhupada has instructed them to reject this pretender guru immediately, and I doubt that they are able to hear the words of Srila Prabhupada.

"One of these "lilas" brought about a (thwarted) sexual approach to a female disciple (whom he identified as Rukmini)". 1

Prabhus, what does it mean "thwarted" sexual approach? Either it is a sexual approach, or it isn't. It is good that the young girl in question had the wit to save herself from being actually raped by her "spiritual" father, but the 'Gosvami's' sexual objective and intent were clear, thwarted or not. To have even approached her is a crime enough. A friend, who lived in Saudi Arabia for some time, told me that a drunken Japanese sailor was publicly executed for attempting to remove the veil of a Saudi woman. His being drunk did not save him. That act is considered rape. Is it repugnant to you that an ISKCON GBC, sannyasi and officialized initiating "guru" made sexual overtures to one of his "spiritual" daughters, another man's wife? You and your peers have attempted to downplay this scandal, and have not had the boldness to admit that this man is fallen, and remove him completely from the society for this one crime alone. Because you have set him up as "living guru", you cannot let him fall. He has become too powerful and has too many highly placed worshippers. However, this Harikesa must be seen as a "sexual harassment guru", who should be prosecuted.

"The executive committee and senior god-brothers of Harikesa dasa are certain that these are not genuine spiritual lilas. Harikesa's identification with transcendental personalities, and his evincing of sexual desires, are incompatible with the characteristics and conditions of bona fide transcendental experience". 1

Prabhus, it does not take an executive committee of 2/3 guru-voters, supporters of the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada's philosophy and movement, and senior god brothers to tell us that these things are "incompatible with the characteristics and conditions of bona fide transcendental experience". Anyone with a modicum of common sense, (what to speak of one who has read even a little of Srila Prabhupada's writings), can see that instantly. They would simply call it "bogus" and skip the long-winded description.

But here is the clincher:

"More recently, for several days Harikesa dasa spoke openly of Srila Prabhupada in a critical and disparaging manner, sometimes questioning his motives, sometimes his authority, sometimes his competence."

Harikesa dasa was openly, continuously and unrelentingly blaspheming the Lord's pure devotee in the presence of the executive committee members and senior godbrothers, yet no one did anything about it! They tolerated it "for several days"! This is the first offense to the Holy Name. Can you tell me what was done to this blasphemer of Srila Prabhupada? For 21 years, the devotees have tolerated offenses to His Divine Grace! You are so quick to beat up innocent bhaktas when they are erroneously perceived to be making offenses to your big "tigers-soon-to-again-become-mice gurus. Nevertheless, when Srila Prabhupada said he was being poisoned, none of you became upset. When his order for all his disciples to come to Vrndavana was blocked, none of you were outraged. Your participated in blocking the order and tolerated it after the truth became revealed. When his books are being chopped up, you do not cry out in shame and outrage. When the "babbling" Harikesa insults him, no one silences his offenses. He carries on "for several days" like this, making the 3 worlds cringe to hear him, no doubt. At the end, you reward him with "the lightest possible sanction available"--that of being sent back to spiritual master boot camp, suspended from a position he never should have occupied in the first place. Your message: It's ok to insult, criticize, disparage, and question Srila Prabhupada's motives, authority and competence, but it is not ok to chastise Srila Prabhupada's offenders. Very nice!

His blind followers are willing to kill themselves over what they perceive as offenses to him, but you have tolerated his offenses to Srila Prabhupada so easily. What does that say of you?

In a letter to his disciples, you state:

"it is clear to us that he is not able to give instruction representative of the principles and teachings of Srila Prabhupada at this time"

Yet, you continue to advise his so-called disciples to offer unauthorized arati, bhoga and pranama to this fallen person. This is the result of your dangerous philosophical deviations. If he cannot represent Srila Prabhupada, why has he not been rejected? If he does not represent Srila Prabhupada, whom does he represent? If he represents himself, he is no longer in the parampara, and thus both he and his misguided followers are headed for some unknow destination. So much for your parampara--killed by your "living guru/dead guru" madness.

"Rather we advise you all to continue to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada and his teachings".

Prabhus, this is the sum and substance of what so many devotees have tried to tell you all along and for which you have sought to ban, beat and eliminate them. Why have you not all along advised every ISKCON person to take complete and absolute shelter of Srila Prabhupada and his teachings? Why did you advance neophyte men to be worshipped on an equal level as Srila Prabhupada, relegating him to "dead guru" status? Why do you insist on waiting until these unqualified men crash and burn to tell the bewildered so-called disciples to take shelter of the only one that can genuinely give them shelter? Why do you continue to cheat the society? Why, when you were warned by so many people, did you seek to change, hide and distort the teachings of His Divine Grace (even to the point of corrupting his sacred writings) to justify your concoctions, and destroy the protestors? Are you ready to answer for this?

Harikesa dasa is one who has gone from mouse to tiger to again mouse, just like the previous 6 out of the original 11 self-exalted acaryas--except for one differnece--he is now a mouse who poses a threat to the integrity and honor of this society. If his followers carry out their threat to commit mass suicide, you'd better believe that ISKCON'S preaching programs worldwide will come to a grinding halt, to say the very least. You are like the infamous Dr. Frankenstein, this is your "monster" creation, and Lord knows there are probably more being cooked up in your "living guru lab".

May Krsna help us.