10/07/1998 - 2328

Alachua Conference

USA (VNN) - by Damaghosa das

Dear Prabhus, Obeisances. All glories to Prabhupada and the ecstatic feelings of REAL Sadhu Sanga!

I just returned yesterday from Alachua and although my plane landed I am stillflying high on the most ecstatic association I have had in many a year. One ofmy flights was 5 hours long and practically all the way, I just looked out thewindow remembering all the wonderful things that happened. Some day , hopefully soon, I will edit the 6 hours of video tape I shot there, and send the footage outto those who want to see what happened-even though video doesn't reallycapture the mood of the event.

I think, to me, the best part was the feeling of ONENESS amongst all thePrabhupadanugas present. Any other temple (ISKCON) you go to, you will NEVERexperience that mood which was ever present for the whole weekend. Everydevotee I spoke with, had only love in his/her heart for Srila Prabhupada anda simultaneous feeling of "We gotta do something about this mess we're allin"!

So, as many of you already know, we passed some resolutions(almost exactlylike the ones in Bangalore, India) which in effect state that Prabhupada ISTHE CURRENT LINK TO THE SAMPRADAYA AND WILL BE THE CURRENT LINK FOR AT LEAST AS LONG AS ISKCON EXISTS.

Everyone present, I feel , was fed up with the sad history of our movement andwas desirous of doing the proper thing to rectify the situation -namely, toinstitute the ritvik process of initations within this movement. Once thisis done, everything else will gradually fall into place. The placement of theritvik order is only thebeginning as Krsna Kanta, Nara Narayana, and I were discussing. There will bemany other changes to follow with the intent being to recapture the exactoriginal orders first intended by Prabhupada for his movement. The sad ironyis that most devotees today don't even know of ALL the deviations nowprevalent within ISKCON.

This will also change. The Final Order is only the beginning of cleaning outthe ISKCON house.

If one wants more details on what directions we will take from here, he/shecan contact the national or regional ritvik office now being set up. Thecontact person at this point is Mahasrnga@compuserve.com. Different devotees are beingassigned areas of work from which the ritvik orders of Prabhupada will bedispersed as widely as possible. Another conference will be done in L.A.,Calif.

Sometime in the next few months. That's about it for now . This is obviously,the nutshell version. If you want to know more , contact either Maha Srnga,or myself.

Hari Bol,
your servant,

Damaghosa das
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai Mandir
Seattle, Wa