Aug 19, 2013 — MOSCOW, RUSSIA (SUN) — The Fall of ISKCON in the West: How Srila Prabhupada's original movement downgraded to Hinduism/New Age compromise.
While reading about Srila Prabhupada's stance on Indian gurus on the Sun recently, as he constantly warned us and society about cheating Indian gurus, I suddenly realized something AMAZING… that's right in front of me… I see now but had not noticed, an almost complete lack of this truthful, forceful preaching in ISKCON. It is now absent in the New Age, Hinduized ISKCON. That original strong preaching has all but vanished.
Now many of my guru godbrothers praise the mayavadis and meat eaters, associate with them, and promote mundane social work (like Vivekananda's Ramakrishna mission from Calcutta. Now why is that? WHY would a strict Vaisnava ISKCON founded by is Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada lapse into something Srila Prabhupada was exposing as fraudulent yoga/spirituality?
The answer is MONEY… Money from the Indians in America and UK, who have been lured into a compromised ISKCON, tailor made for them at the demise of Srila Prabhupada's original pure Movement. A new ISKCON that is openly, totally disobeying Srila Prabhupada's instructions, NOT to cater to Indians for money. But the movement did the opposite, as we see today in most temples. Holi, the Festival of Colors, Demigod celebrations, Diwali, non-devotee marriages, car pujas and home blessings… none of them authorized or encouraged by Srila Prabhupada, but now institutionalized in ISKCON, illegally and for financial support. And it killed the Bhakta programs all over the place.
Here I will present proof positive, offering more videos and photos of how off the mark ISKCON has gone… Mission Drift, downgraded by not following properly HDG Srila Prabhupada's preaching mood and instructions on dealing with the Indian issue in the West -- in America, Canada, England, South Africa, etc.
I will also present the history of how and why Hinduized ISKCON came about, who was one of the culprits responsible for this disaster, and why it continues to this day and spreads like a cancer all over ISKCON.
Hinduism and Indian Temple Management in ISKCON North America
The "Hinduization" of ISKCON in North America is responsible for scores of other maladies that have developed as a direct result. In this section we will cover some history of cause and effect, and also reveal the fact that more than 80% of all the temples started by Srila Prabhupada in North America for preaching to Westerners and to be managed by Westerners are now managed and staffed by Indians, albeit, Indian devotees.
The history and causes of the Hinduization of ISKCON North America and how this led to the fact that over 80% of the North American temples are now managed and staffed by Indian devotees is a long and detailed one, and could probably fill a book. Practically speaking, it is THE history of ISKCON in North America, from the 1980's to the present (as you will read), because it also has many, many other serious ramifications on the entire preaching mood in North America and eventually the entire ISKCON world. In summary, here's the story:
In the early 1980's, when Tamal Krishna Maharaja was the GBC and "Zonal guru" of Texas, he developed a number of new strategies for preaching in North America. All these strategies were seemingly different, but based on the one principle that we needed to adjust the preaching mission of Srila Prabhupada to become more effective. One of these was his idea that in order for ISKCON, the Hare Krishna Movement, to be genuinely accepted by the American public we would have to "merge" with the culture and lifestyle in certain respects and get rid of the current misrepresentation the movement had in the media of being a cult. In other words, devotees should be seen as socially responsible and acceptable. Thus he devised a strategy whereby this could be accomplished, consisting of devotees taking respectable, normal positions in the U. S. work force. He substantiated the logic of this strategy by also equating it to the development of Varnasrama.
Thus, he sent all his grihastha disciples, as well as Godbrothers and Sisters, (and most brahmacaries as well) off to work. The result of this was that book distribution in his zone decreased significantly, fewer Westerners were coming to the temples, Harinama became a thing of the past, the brahmachari and brahmacharini ashrams all but shut down, and the overall dissemination of Krishna consciousness slowed significantly. The focus, if any, was to preach to wealthy and/or respectable people in order to cultivate those who were more intelligent, as well as to the Indian/Hindu community. The strategy worked to some degree, but there were obvious compromises, and it was seriously one-sided. Eventually this strategy and its concomitant philosophy spread and was taken up by many North American leaders and their temples, as we see practically in modern North American ISKCON.
The second prong of Tamal Krishna's Zonal strategy was to develop the cultivation of the local Indian/Hindu communities for spiritual as well as financial reasons. With the decrease in full-time devotee cultivation and book distribution (Tamal Krishna having shot himself in the foot, so to speak), the temples had less income to maintain the big buildings inherited from Srila Prabhupada's time and no manpower to manage such burdens now that devotees had all been sent off to work and no one was joining the temples anymore. So the Indian community was an obvious target for support. This idea also worked very well, and being that Tamal Krishna was a very strong preacher, many of these Indians also got initiated. Then, at some point he decided to make an as yet uninitiated Indian disciple of his the temple president of the Houston temple. Later on he did the same with the Dallas temple, except the new Indian temple president was an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada who later resigned and was replaced by one of Tamal Krishna's own initiated Indian disciples. To this day, both temples are still under Indian management.
Does this sound at all familiar to you? Does it ring a few bells and blow some whistles? Do you see the patterns and how they have caused serious deviations from Srila Prabhupada's original plan? Now the leaders in North America wonder why no one is joining anymore and how to attract the Westerners again. I find this very amusing, and here's why…
I heard from a Godbrother who attended a number of North American GBC/TP meetings in the past that on one occasion, all the North American temple presidents (50% Indian at that time, more so now) were having a discussion on how to attract Westerners to the temples again. Various speculative and innovative ideas were bantered about the round table without any definitive conclusions. This Godbrother decided to stand up and said something like this: "When I joined ISKCON we were all going out on Harinama for 6-8 hours a day and distributing Back to Godhead magazines and invitations to the Sunday Love Feast. That's how we got people to come to the temple and join, and it worked very well. The same formula will also work now and in the future. It will always work because it is the foundation of the Sankirtan movement and Srila Prabhupada's formula for success." No comments.
It's also very amusing, in a twist-of-fate sort of a way, that prior to the North American temple management switch to Indians, temples were very active in developing their Indian congregations and signing up Life Members. There was many a discussion on how to get the Indians involved in the temples for their financial assistance as well as for good public relations. Guess what? This cultivation of the Indian community worked so well that the Indians did get involved, so much so that they got involved not just in assisting temples financially, but in temple management as well -- and to the extent that, when there were no more Westerners left or willing to manage the temples, they took over, 80%+ over. Now the Indian temple managers get together and discuss how to get Westerners coming to the temples again! Sounds ridiculous, but it's true. The full circle has come around.
Please don't misunderstand that I don't like Indians or Indian devotees. There are many exceptional and dedicated Indian devotees all over the world and in North America also. And in general the Indian community has literally saved the movement financially in North America, for which we should all be grateful. I also personally heard Srila Prabhupada say in a lecture in Bombay that he needed Indians to join his movement to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. There are all kinds of student associations and clubs at many North American universities started and run by young Indian devotees, and many small Nama Hatta programs and groups all over the country that are run by sincere Indian devotees. They are doing a lot to spread Krishna consciousness.
The main problem lies in this: that they cannot attract the Westerners by their preaching. And if and when Westerners do go to the temples, they are confronted by a predominantly Indian attendance at the Sunday Feast program and often feel alienated and unnoticed. They see it as a Hindu temple with little or nothing to do with our deeper spiritual Hare Krishna foundation and philosophy. They are simply not attracted. This may be a bodily consideration, but it's true.
Conversely, the temples now only attract primarily an Indian congregation and those who frequent any Sunday Feast program at temples in North America will find up to 90% if not more of the attendees are Indian. And what were once ecstatic kirtan and philosophy filled festivals like Janmastami, Rama Navami, etc. have turned into fundraising events and Bollywood style entertainment extravaganzas. Whatever happened to Srila Prabhupada's formula for chanting, dancing, feasting and philosophy?
Another side of the issue is that the majority of the Indian temple managers have never lived in a temple ashram for any amount of time or received the training Srila Prabhupada's disciples were empowered with during the era of ISKCON when everyone joined the temples. There was a mood and a one-pointedness that we all maintained centered on preaching, book distribution, making devotees, and the sense of urgency to spread Krishna consciousness, backed by the purity of daily sadhana in the temple (Books are the Basis, Preaching is the Essence, Utility is the Principle and Purity is the Force). That's all but gone now, as most Indian temple managers have never been trained as such. Most are grihasthas with outside jobs and families and have little time to be a full-on temple manager, as was the standard formerly. The temples are now practically empty except for a few imported and paid Indian pujaris and cooks, and the morning program attendance in many temples is now practically non-existent.
While there are probably other reasons for such changes in North American ISKCON management, I am of the opinion that this is the most important and influential. And to make matters more disconcerting, it goes on unabated with no effort by the North American leadership to shift things back to a Western staffed management structure. It has slowly crept in over the years unobserved and unnoticed, and has now taken an unmistakable hold on the general temple moods and preaching spirit.
Now see how compromised things have become in this Hinduized ISKCON -- and no one protests.
