Srila Prabhupada on Gandhi
BY: ROCANA DASA
Sep 15, CANADA (SUN) — I’ve received some interesting feedback from a few Godbrothers on my recent article, “Harivilasa dasa on Muslims”.
While several devotees wrote to thank me for the articles, I was somewhat taken aback by a few of the comments. These writers asked me not to published their letters, which were written in the spirit of friendly advice. In essence, they expressed surprise that I was so straightforward in my condemnation of our local leader, Harivilasa dasa, and felt that I should ‘lighten up’, for my own happiness and well being. I appreciate the sentiment and encouragement.
In my studies, I've discovered that Srila Prabhupada has commented on many occasions about politics and how to deal with political situations. Our circumstances in ISKCON today are quite politicized. The general impression in the institution seems to be that you can change things by just remaining a brahman and never criticizing, except in very lofty philosophical terms.
This opinion is not shared by Srila Prabhupada, who spoke frequently on the topic during his morning walks and in room conversations. For example, Srila Prabhupada is very straightforward and blunt about the fact that Mahatma Gandhi was a total failure, for many reasons, but primarily because he was pursuing a program of non-violence and trying to apply that to politics. On a walk in Los Angeles in December 30, 1973, Srila Prabhupada states, "Well, in politics, unless there is violence, you cannot take. Simply by sweet words, not possible. That was the difference between our political leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose.”
Srila Prabhupada goes on at length to describe how, in reality, Subhash Chandra Bose was the actual personality who brought about independence for Indian, and not Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, Gandhi prolonged the Colonialism by promoting his non-violence, and the British were very smart in letting him do so.
Srila Prabhupada explains that not only is Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence bogus, the myth that he brought about independence is also bogus. Which brings up another important philosophical point: when persons in political power and position take on a saintly persona and then promote bogus philosophy that is not supported by sastra, then one has to speak up with the truth, regardless of how unpopular it may seem to a majority of listeners. Many around the world have swallowed the Gandhi myth as though it were true, and telling the truth about the situation is the only way to beat the myth.
We find a similar circumstance in ISKCON today, where several of the big political leaders have created a myth surrounding themselves and their pastimes in previous years. These myths are not substantiated by history, yet a majority of those in ISKCON simply believe the stories to be true. If you speak out against them, they become very unhappy, even though you can prove that what you're saying is absolutely true, and no one can refute it. You still get inundated with accusations of being an aparadhi, or you’re told that you're being un-brahminical.
The word “political” is often used to describe anything along these lines, where you're really just pointing out the truth, as Srila Prabhupada did with Gandhi. Even in criticizing his own Godbrothers -- what to speak of scientists, politicians, bogus gurus and Westerners -- Srila Prabhupada was like a thunderbolt. He was constantly using the word 'rascal' and 'kicking the 'face', and being very aggressive in preaching against such persons and encouraging his disciples to do the same.
When listening to conversations with Srila Prabhupada, he brings up the subject of leadership time and time again, stressing how important it is that those in leadership fulfill their responsibilities. So when the opposite is true and you don't say anything about it for fear of being ostracized, labeled or chastised, then are you really fulfilling the position that Srila Prabhupada expected us to fulfill? It’s almost certain that the leaders who are participating in these conversations never thought that Srila Prabhupada was actually referring to them and instructing them. It was always assumed that he was referring to some outside karmi leaders of government, not to them as the leaders of ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada's movement. But clearly, the same principles apply to them.
Of course, in India Srila Prabhupada gives the example of Gandhi and Vivekananda, both of whom were politicians presenting themselves as great saintly persons and speaking along lofty moral principles. In reality, they were just politicians trying to exploit the saintly persona so as to gain the support of a relatively pious constituency. This is also very similar to the circumstances in ISKCON.
So we face this whole dilemma within ISKCON, of persons who have accepted every saintly designation available, namely sannyassi, GBC, guru, Maharaja, His Divine Grace, and all sorts of ‘pada’ designations. From what I can see, most of these individuals are engaged in political activities. At least, they've assumed political positions which they’re very reluctant to give up, even though the political pressures are often detrimental to their spiritual lives. One can only wonder where their actual pleasure is coming from. This situation has caused a great deal of strife in ISKCON, and leads us to conclude that if a saintly person doesn’t want to give up politics, then he’s not a saintly person.
The way that the GBC body defines itself today, and the way that it utilizes its power, is almost entirely political. Judging from the meeting minutes, the GBC seems to hardly discuss philosophical matters when they meet. They give philosophical matters over to the SAC (Sastric Advisory Committee), so they don't have to get into it too much. They mainly discuss political and management arrangements and they hold a significant amount of power over how things are managed in ISKCON today. For instance, locally, Harivilasa dasa has all the power. He's even taken over the Temple President position. At the same time, he doesn't live here and hardly ever visits. As for whether or not Srila Prabhupada wanted the GBC to operate in this way, the answer seems clear - he did not.
The GBC have defined themselves as a political body and they’re always trying to gain more power, just like any political body. They would prefer to have us all be Gandhi-like in regards to them, but we don't even hold placards up or engage in non-participation protests. Everyone is resigned to their plight.
I don’t advocate violence, but I do adhere to the principle that the pen/PC is sharper than the sword. You can achieve more by speaking out truthfully and honestly against such nonsense, and informing people so they are empowered to non-violently dethrone some of these undeserved leaders. We can at least participate in retrieving the power that was given to unqualified leaders by their constituency. Using the power that has been assigned to them by the membership, new leaders can achieve something for the benefit of the whole society.
In terms of Harivilas dasa, what I’ve mentioned about him in recent articles is simply a drop in the ocean. Like salt water, you can see it and taste it and determine that the whole ocean is that way because in reality, that's the truth. You can judge by the results, and the results are not good. We have no recourse other than to speak up and tell the truth, and perhaps somebody will hear.
Unfortunately, the Co-GBCs here are not GBC's at all. HH Bhakti Marga Swami is primarily interested in walking and producing plays, which he far prefers over being a GBC. In fact, he’s presently advocating that all sannyasis should be relieved of their GBC duties. For some reason, he's not resigning himself. He’s holding the power but is not in favor of having it. HH Gopala Krishna Maharaja only comes a few times a year, and is mainly meeting and greeting his disciples. He only too happy to have Harivilasa dasa take care (or not) of the management. So basically we're stuck with this lame duck GBC, and this has been going on for many, many years.
Of course just like in a democracy, if the membership won't speak out, then nothing will change. I’ve met dozens of devotees here in Vvancouver, each one of them having horror stories to tell about their experiences with Harivilasa dasa. While I encourage them, they don’t speak out for fear of being banned from the temple. They prefer to just keep their mouths shut and not be harassed or treated coldly when the come to the temple. So, in a sense I guess they deserve what they've got. It's a shame, considering the potential here in Vancouver.
As Srila Prabhupada said, "’Might is right.’ So Gandhi did this foolishness and he died of violence…He praised the philosophy of nonviolence, but he was himself killed by violence. That was his foolishness.”
