Yellow Stool and ISKCON's Imitation Acaryas
BY: RAVANARI DAS
May 04, 2012 — USA (SUN) — Pralambaha das's article on the fate of the Bhaktivedanta Institute was well summed up in his final observation, that the very leaders who sent the Institute to hell were all wearing gold Rolex watches. Does anyone recall back in the day when we were told, "Well, Prabhu, certainly the Maharaja (take your pick) is the epitome of renunciation. He is wearing his self-winding solid gold Rolex Oyster Date just out of ecstatic love for his disciples."
Attraction for profit, distinction and adoration are common to all those who have become corrupted by their own self-imagined power. Recently in Russia, a $30,000 gold Breguet watch was photographed on the wrist of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. When it comes to glitzy watches, apparently the Orthodox church is more knowledgeable than ISKCON's pedestrian leaders. It is said that the very rich wear Breguets, while the nuvo-riche wear Rolexes. The Church also demonstrated greater smarts than our leaders, because they didn't try to convince the congregation that their leader wears a gold watch out of ecstatic love and pure devotion. They had the decency to try to cover it up.
When some church official photoshopped the watch out of the picture, he forgot to remove the reflection of the gold timepiece in the well polished cherrywood table. The webservice of the Church was later forced to restore the photo to original, with an apology. Which is more than the GBC has ever done for turning your sankirtan collections into their ecstatic wrist baubles.
But the Orthodox Church saga did not end there. Kirill insisted that he had never worn the watch and that it had actually been placed on his wrist via Photoshop. ISKCON leaders who have a penchant for solid gold should learn some of these witty chronometer cover-ups from the Orthodox church. They've been around a lot longer. And apparently their rank and file are less gullible than we are.
Press Service of the Patriarch
According to an article in the New York Times, the presence of the ornate trinket stoked the ire of Russian church goers: "It also struck yet another blow to the moral authority of Russian officialdom, which has been dwindling rapidly in light of recent scandals involving police abuse, electoral fraud and corruption."
At first the Russian Church called the snafu a "technical mistake." But in the face of harsh criticism in the press—to their credit—they released this statement, "A gross violation of our internal ethics has occurred, and it will be thoroughly investigated. The guilty will be severely punished." The article notes that many have ridiculed the hypocrisy of the Church.
True, the number of gold watches that have dangled upon the holy wrists of the Hare Krishna Movement's finest—its GBCs and self-assumed paramhamsas—has slowly dissipated over the years, at least in public. Some of the saffron bearers of those ecstatic gold Rolexes have long ago blooped with the wives of other men, and it might be assumed that some of their valuable baubles ended up in big city hock shops. Today, ostentatious Rolexes and 24 caret Montblanc pens have been replaced as the 'currency of favour' in ISKCON by toys that are a little less obvious… cameras. This year's honorary GBC Chairman was recently seen showing off his new camera… a sleek little Hasselblad that runs about $80,000. Many of the maha-Gurus in the Movement today can be seen at Ratha Yatras and festival events with the latest and greatest photographic gear draped around their necks. Looking for all the world like a cadre of karmi tourists, their devotional sentiments at least get stimulated when followers hang garlands 'round their necks, adorning their transcendental gear.
Back in the day, the pseudo-acharyas in ISKCON, lacking whatever candour is found in the Russian Orthodox Church, openly pontificated that all that was best and most valuable should be offered to them because it was the same as giving it to God. Somehow that line has a very familiar ring to it, making many of ISKCON's leaders no different from the heads in other religious organizations they love to rail against. And so it is that the Hare Krishna Movement today has precious few original members. The very preaching force that put this movement on the map back in the 1970's has long since turned away—not because they lost faith in the message of Krishna conciousness—but because the temple atmosphere grew thick with con jobs, rationalizations and slick explanations rather than the transcendental excitement of sanatan dharma. Like members of other congregations and faiths, ISKCON's devotees grew weary of convenient fabrications. They couldn't bear another morning class wherein they were given the Blue Sky Treatment the way salesmen hoodwink customers at a Moroccan rug bazaar. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
Rather than growing into a society of love and trust as Srila Prabhupada directed, dishonest gold-worshipping gurus turned ISKCON into a war of attrition, with the foot soldiers running from the weapons of deceit thrown by their own generals. And while Pralambaha prabhu may not realize it, that's why today in ISKCON there is no Bhaktivedanta Institute and no original members except those who hold the perks and posture of position.
There is no voice of conscience any longer. Today there is no such thing as a strong GBC that acts on principles of righteousness. When those who are callous and unrepentent of exploiting the innocent in exchange for gold are not taken to task, then punishment will be carried out by Krishna Himself. And for those who have sailed the ISKCON yacht thanks to the their submissive slaves rowing in the hold, the bitter fruits of the rod of chastisement will not be pleasant.
An ordinary man is known by his attraction to gold, something which hiding behind saffron cloth cannot conceal. Did these 24 caret renunciates who claimed to be "person Bhagavats" ever actually read the Bhagavat? Gold is naturally attractive to demons and that is why the Hiranya Brothers, Hiranykashipu and Hiranyaksha, were named as they were.
In the Bhagavatam (SB 5.14.7) we find this verse:
kvacic casesa-dosa-nisadanam purisa-visesam tad-varna-guna-nirmita-matih suvarnam upaditsaty agni-kama-katara ivolmuka-pisacam
SYNONYMS: kvacit -- sometimes; ca -- also; asesa -- unlimited; dosa -- of faults; nisadanam -- the source of; purisa -- of stool; visesam -- a particular type; tat-varna-guna -- whose color is the same as that of the mode of passion (reddish); nirmita-matih -- whose mind is absorbed in that; suvarnam -- gold; upaditsati -- desiring to get; agni-kama -- by the desire for fire; katarah -- who is troubled; iva -- like; ulmuka-pisacam -- a phosphorescent light known as a will-o'-the-wisp, which is sometimes mistaken for a ghost.
TRANSLATION: Sometimes the living entity is interested in the yellow stool known as gold and runs after it. That gold is the source of material opulence and envy, and it can enable one to afford illicit sex, gambling, meat-eating and intoxication. Those whose minds are overcome by the mode of passion are attracted by the color of gold, just as a man suffering from cold in the forest runs after a phosphorescent light in a marshy land, considering it to be fire.
BHAKTIVEDANTA PURPORT: Pariksit Maharaja told Kali-yuga to leave his kingdom immediately and reside in four places: brothels, liquor shops, slaughterhouses and gambling casinos. However, Kali-yuga requested him to give him only one place where these four places are included, and Pariksit Maharaja gave him the place where gold is stored. Gold encompasses the four principles of sin, and therefore, according to spiritual life, gold should be avoided as far as possible. If there is gold, there is certainly illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. Because people in the Western world have a great deal of gold, they are victims of these four sins. The color of gold is very glittering, and a materialistic person becomes very much attracted by its yellow color. However, this gold is actually a type of stool. A person with a bad liver generally passes yellow stool. The color of this stool attracts a materialistic person, just as the will-o'-the-wisp attracts one who needs heat.
