VNN Editorial - Challenge Of Srila Prabhupada's Passing And Response To Jagannath Das

EDITORIAL

September 18, 1999 VNN4749 Related VNN StoriesComment on this story

Challenge Of Srila Prabhupada's Passing And Response To Jagannath Das

BY DHANESVARA DAS

EDITORIAL, Sep 18 (VNN) — The Poisoning Issue

Part 1 of 3

Dear Devotees,

It is indeed a most sad and disturbing to consider that our beloved Srila Prabhupada's passing from this world was hastened by scandalous persons administering poison to him. Nonetheless there is a growing body of evidence which suggests that that is the case. Given the circumstances it is incumbent upon all of us to investigate this matter for ourselves, hear the evidence ourselves and arrive at our own conclusions.

The contentious issue which has arisen regarding Srila Prabhupada's passing away is to be, without a doubt, the most significant issue which Prabhupada's followers and his institution, ISKCON, will ever face. This issue by its very nature challenges our faith to its very foundations, in large degree because of who we understand Srila Prabhupada was and is, and Who we think Krishna is and what we expect of Him.

Upon becoming familiar with Srila Prabhupada's writings and the work that he did, we come to the firm conclusion that he is indeed Krishna's Senapati Bhakta, his great devotee commander sent here under the Lord's direct order to take the message of Krishna Consciousness around the world. As we progress in Krishna Consciousness we come to understand Srila Prabhupada as a pure devotee of the highest order, an uttama adhikari, a mahabhagavat, and the most magnanimous soul to walk the face of the earth. It was he who instructed us in the teachings of Krishna Consciousness and it was he who embodied those ideals and taught us by his own example what it means to be a devotee surrendered to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Lord's interaction and protection of His devotees is learned through His instructions in the Bhagavad-gita, and the narrations of the Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrita. We read the Lord's statements in the Gita that He protects and delivers His devotees, and then hear wonderful tales which demonstrate it÷how the Lord directly protected Ambarish, Prahlad, and others who took shelter of nothing other than Him. These examples of the Lord's love for His devotees are the building blocks of our faith, and hearing and remembering them we learn how to take shelter of the Lord, surrendering ourselves to His protection in all circumstances as well.

For most of us though, surrender is a kind of bargain÷I'll surrender to You Lord and because You are the controller of everything I will be protected. Not just protect me, but protect me in the manner that I want or expect. That, just as in the case of Ambarish, not a hair on my head will be hurt. And because of our bodily identification the Lord's protection is assumed to mean protection of our body. Of course we do not verbalize this understanding, rather it becomes more of an implicit part of our belief. And if it happens that it doesn't always go according to our plan, well, that's probably not going to shake our faith too much, because we know that we weren't really as surrendered as we would like to have been, or thought that we were, anyway.

However, in figuring on behalf of Srila Prabhupada we fully expect that Srila Prabhupada, no less surrendered than Prahlad Maharaj, or Mahraj Ambarish, would be afforded the same divine bodily protection that they had, and that in His love for Prabhupada the Lord would permit nothing untoward to happen to him. How could such a thing be? After all, Prabhupada is the Lord's ambassador, and directly under the Lord's protection! So to even suggest that Srila Prabhupada could have been brought to death's door by the actions of any person of this world is an immense challenge, not only to our concept of the Lord's omnipotence, but to our faith as well. After all, if the Lord would permit Srila Prabhupada to be poisoned, then what kind of protection can I, who am such a rascal, expect?

Again, these ideas are not generally something that we express or perhaps even understand. But they may in fact be at the root of our being unable to even consider that Prabhupada's death was something other than natural. Could it be a fact that only those who have strong faith in Srila Prabhupada and Krishna Consciousness can address this distasteful issue? Could it be that only those who have strong faith can accommodate even the idea that Prabhupada had been poisoned? Why? Because those with strong faith will continue to accept that Krishna is omnipotent, that He is in fact the God of all, and that despite what we think He does protect those surrendered to Him.

Every spiritual challenge tests the faith, and this challenge is so severe that only those who have genuine faith in Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna will be able to pass it. Those who are weak in faith will attach all manners of mistrust and doubt to the possibility that Srila Prabhupada could have been poisoned. Would that mean that one of the wonderful qualities that many have witnessed and therefore ascribe him, the knowing of the minds of those close to him, is not factual? Would that mean that Krishna is not competent to protect his pure devotee? Would that mean that maya defeated Krishna's pure devotee? Or would that mean that Prabhupada wasn't a pure devotee? These are the type of doubts that will enter into the mind of the follower who does not have strong faith.

Those with unflinching faith however will accept that Srila Prabhupada always understood the minds of his followers, and that he knew that he was being poisoned. Knew it? No doubt about it÷he stated the fact. Nonetheless he willingly accepted whatever condition the Lord placed him in, having absolute faith in, and surrender to, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His example therefore is not at all different than that of Ambarish Maharaj who with folded hands and complete dependence on the Lord tolerated without the slightest concern the onslaught that was threatening his body. This is the example of surrender and faith in the highest degree.

What is the degree of our faith? Will we lose our faith if we find that Srila Prabhupada had indeed been poisoned? Will we lose our faith in Krishna thinking Him to be incompetent to protect his pure devotee? When we recite the Siksastakam do we really understand and mean that the Lord is completely free to deal with us in any way whatsoever and that He will remain our worshipable Lord, UNCONDITIONALLY?

Let us admit it, this episode is test of our faith. Srila Prabhupada had total faith in the Lord. Can we follow in his footsteps? Do we have faith that everything Srila Prabhupada said was true? This issue places before us a test to see if we have enough love for Srila Prabhupada to hear his words that he was being poisoned, and continue to have faith that everything he said is true, despite the implications. And given the implications of that statement to then demand an open investigation into the matter for the benefit of all future generations.

Is your faith strong enough to allow you to consider the evidence that has been placed before us? Will your faith allow you to consider the possibility that the persons who poisoned Srila Prabhupada are still today among the most influential people in Prabhupada's institution, and all of the implications attendant on that premise? Do you have sufficient love for Prabhupada to muster the courage it takes to hear the evidence and consider it for yourself, and then to draw your own conclusions?

We have seen the attempts by some to do the thinking for others. "That's nonsense! I couldn't have happened!" and so on. Before you allow someone else to do your thinking for you however, consider that to develop the courage of your convictions you will have to do your own thinking. It takes no courage to allow someone else to tell you how to think. But will that course of action serve you at all in this world, and particularly in the midst of your difficult trials in life and death?

Some say that the source is biased and therefore not worth considering. Indeed the pot (so-called Jagannath das) is now trying to call the kettle black. This person has absolutely no credibility, or even less, to those who know him, but he does have a loud voice. If this matter were to be judged solely on hyperbole and bombastic claims, then the critics have now got the right man in their corner (even though they previously discredited him). As though those who shout the loudest will somehow sway the truth to their way like a sail obliges the wind. If the present day members of the society have all become mindless followers, as the cult critics claim, then this issue will be determined by lies, misdirected arguments, and character assassination. But for those who still have a mind and are able to use it, and who have any love for Srila Prabhupada and concern for the future of the mission which he started, they must think for themselves and look at the evidence offered.

Jagannath has recently posted volumes on Chakra and VNN supposedly regarding his role in the so-called Poison CD and is now revealing everything. But these "revelations" are nothing at all, if not subterfuge. In my experience, and I was there, everything Jagannath states in internet posts concerning myself and my activities at his house are misrepresented, including his ridiculous attempts to make me look bad. (There is no football in January when I was there, etc). He had very little input into the content of the CD other than to edit for delivery what I had written in collaboration with others. Because of his experience at speaking he does have a good recording voice and that is why he was chosen to be the narrator. That was his only role. But because he was too proud to accept any suggestion of altering his delivery, Nityananda, Rocan and myself found the recording to be too pompous and therefore unpalatable. And because the manner in which he delivered the message was considered unattractive, and thus detracting from the content, the CD was never released.

I had practically no discussion with him regarding the content or my discussions with others, what to speak of hours and hours every day. Given his proud and boastful remarks of being a great writer he undoubtedly felt slighted by my indifference to him, and now he speaks ill of me for revenge.

At the time we were preparing this work I had only done a small amount of Reverse Speech analysis, enough to convince me that this issue was genuine, and I certainly had no intention of adding any of that to the original CD. Nor was it something I asked him to include on the CD since he was not controlling the content. Subsequently I have finished a very thorough investigation using the tool of Reverse Speech, of which I will mention more later.

Jagannath's remarks about being asked to edit the tapes is more ridiculousness. He couldn't do such a thing because at that time he didn't even know how to control his dat machine. So why would anyone bother asking him? The controls of his recording equipment were all set by his sound engineer, and after I had inadvertently changed some of them he went into a 30 minute tirade of explosive anger filled with expletives because he didn't know how to properly set them back. Recordings were made at Jagannath's house, and all of the sound mastering was done nearby by Mr. St. Onge in his sound studio.

Why Jagannath has become another voice attempting to control the opinions and actions of others is unknown to me. But why should anyone let another, be it Jagannath or the GBC, decide this matter for them at all? The intelligent person is going to hear the evidence and make up their own mind.

Nityananda Prabhu took the outline of the material we had created for the CD and developed it into a very thorough document which he has published for everyone to study. That was the initial intention of the CD and it is the intention of the book. Despite what some may say this is not, nor has it ever been, an issue about ISKCON. It is an issue about Prabhupada and what happened to him in the last 12-18 months on this planet. And it is an issue which obviously involves those who were close to him at the time.

The book is well written and all of the information is documented. If there is a problem with the documentation then lets hear it. However, to my knowledge nobody is criticizing the documentation. What could be that mean other than someone is afraid of the message and is trying to discredit it by attacking the messenger. This is an old ploy, one well understood by anyone with even a little experience in this world, and it should raise a flag of concern for anyone paying attention to this issue. Indeed, it should make you want to see what they are trying to distract you from.

This is the first of three parts I am writing as an introduction to my study of this ghastly affair. In the next part I take the reader through an examination of the implications to all devotees and to the institution of ISKCON if we do not thoroughly investigate this matter. In the third part I present an introduction of my personal investigation of the events in Srila Prabhupada's last months, utilizing an amazing phenomena which reveals the mind of the speaker, an investigative tool known as Reverse Speech.

In Srila Prabhupada's service, I am,

Your servant,

Dhanesvara Das