Is Radhanath Swami a Connection to
the Sampradaya?
BY: ROCANA DASA
Oct 11, 2012 — CANADA (SUN) — This is in response to the statement recently made by Radhanath Swami's follower, Radhe Shyama das, entitled "Clarifying Radhanath Swami's Preaching Strategies". The article is an apologia primarily of Radhanath's book, The Journey Home, and his Bhaktivedanta Hospital project.
The position taken by Radhe Shyama das is philosophically based on the premise that Radhanath Swami is one of the topmost Acaryas in our guru-parampara. I have written many articles in the past regarding the exalted position of these personalities -- our Sampradaya Acaryas -- of whom there are only 32 going back to the time of Lord Brahma. The followers of Radhanath are trying to defend his position by presenting examples of how such Acaryas made changes according to the time, place and circumstances present during their lilas. They suggest that the changes Radhanath Swami is making are comparative to these great Acaryas. Of course, the changes that these Acaryas introduced in order to preach according to time, place and circumstance are not completely verifiable, i.e., in most cases, the detailed circumstances have not been recorded. Therefore it is very difficult, if not impossible, to make such comparisons.
Aside from that, our topmost Sampradaya Acaryas are the only ones who are really qualified to make changes to the way in which the pure Vaisnava siddhanta is presented according to desa-kala-patra. And this is the issue that the followers of Radhanath Swami are attempting to reconcile. They believe him to be an absolutely pure devotee, and therefore capable of seeing what would please the previous Acaryas, thus ultimately pleasing Krsna. They believe that he is authorized to do what he is doing.
Radhanath's followers refer to him as "His Holiness", as a Swami and Guru in ISKCON, but at the same time they are presenting him like a successor Sampradaya Acarya -- the next in line. Yet when we study Radhanath's preaching, we see that he is not following in the footsteps of the previous Acarya. Srila Prabhupada made some slight changes, as noted in Radhe Shyama's article, in the sense that he engaged the services of Vaisnavas who are in women's bodies and he allowed them to participate in a capacity that was previously forbidden in Indian culture, or the culture that previous Acaryas found themselves preaching into. But this is practically the only substantive thing one can say that Srila Prabhupada changed.
In fact, Srila Prabhupada was extremely conservative in the sense that he did not change. He didn't change the dress even though, as he said, many people were suggesting that he wear 'coat, pant, hat'. He didn't call his society 'God Consciousness' but rather a society for 'Krishna Consciousness', and he didn't make a lot of other changes that other sadhus from India saw fit to do. Not only did he stick to the traditional programs, but he insisted that his followers do so as well.
Ultimately, the most important aspect of Srila Prabhupada's following in the footsteps of his Sampradaya Acarya Guru was that he had the same preaching mood -- the same preaching mood that is found in the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. Telling the truth as it is, and not flinching, compromising or deviating -- which is the essence of what Radhanath has done. And that's the main criticism about Radhanath -- that he has changed the mood set down by the Acaryas. He has compromised and deviated, and has therefore strayed from the actual siddhanta.
My question is, why isn't Radhanath Swami just leaving ISKCON, which is the preaching mission of HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada? Srila Prabhupada, just like Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and other great Acaryas, started his own movement. Why isn't Radhanath starting his own mission? If he wants to alter to the degree that he's doing the preaching, the mood, and ultimately the siddhanta presented by Srila Prabhupada, then he should have the courage and conviction to step outside on his own, and leave ISKCON.
If one considers Radhanath from historical memory, they will see that in the past, he followed his siksa guru, Kirtanananda, out of ISKCON. He followed him into the new version of Krsna consciousness that Kirtanananda introduced, which happens to be very similar to the direction that Radhanath is taking his own followers today.
Those who have the personal experience of being involved in Srila Prabhupada's lila and directly afterwards for the next ten years, and who followed what was taking place with Kirtanananda and his New Vrindaban, will be able to draw many parallels to what is happening with Radhanath today. When you read Radhanath's Journey Home book, you'll see that he didn't take initiation from Srila Prabhupada when he personally met Prabhupada in India. Instead, Radhanath returned to America, went to Kirtanananda's New Vrindaban, and was 'adopted' as a siksa disciple by Kirtanananda. He spent the early part of his devotional career in that relationship with Kirtanananda, although of course, that is not made clear in Journey Home. Nonetheless, this was the most significant influence on Radhanath. He adopted the mood, and even the philosophy of Kirtanananda, and continues to manifest it to this very day.
I've written a number of articles on the theme, 'Princes of the Zonal Acaryas'. These Zonal Acaryas heavily influenced their siksa disciples, and in some cases, like Radhanath, these siksa disciples are now Zonal Acaryas in their own right. If you study the character, the mood, the preaching style of these individuals -- not just Radhanath, but many others -- you'll see how closely similar they are to their siksa gurus, the Zonal Acarya kings. And essentially all these kings have fallen down; only Jayapataka Swami remains.
ISKCON and the GBC saw fit to ostracize, and in fact threw out New Vrindaban in the 1980's, and Kirtanananda and Radhanath remained outside the movement for many years. Eventually, after some backroom deal making and negotiations, they were permitted to come back into the ISKCON fold. I personally think this was a big mistake on the part of the GBC. They brought back not only Kirtanananda, but all the people surrounding him, like Radhanath, Kuladri and Umapati. Bhakti Tirtha was part of that group, as were Devamrta and Malati.
The impact of the inter-weaving of Kirtanananda's philosophy with Srila Prabhupada's pure mood and mission has diluted and contaminated ISKCON ever since. What amazes me is that Radhanath's core supporters -- the people who are coming up with the money to promote his program -- don't realize this. Their money makes Radhanath very powerful… he is reportedly worth many millions today. But instead of going to support Srila Prabhupada's preaching mission, this money is going to support Radhanath's mood and preaching, which follows Kirtanananda's far more than it follows Srila Prabhupada's. The fact is that Radhanath is simply not part of our Sampradaya. That's the way I'm seeing it, and there are many other devotees seeing it also. Whether or not HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami is seeing it in those terms, I don't know, although he has certainly identified many of the symptoms of this reality. And it is in response to his no-nonsense preaching on the matter that Radhe Shyama wrote his defense of Radhanath Swami.
It amazes me that Radhanath's followers, many who are of Indian origin, have so casually taken up his cause. Part of their own Indian culture is comprised of the practice, especially among the higher castes, to arrange the marriages between their sons and daughters. Not only in the distant past but to this day, they do so very carefully. The families conduct a great deal of research into the family backgrounds of the couples, going back generations. They study carefully the potential compatibility when matching the marriage candidates. If one applies the same rigorous methodology to studying who is a qualified guru in our Sampradaya, and if one follows the history of Radhanath and his close association with Kirtanananda and the whole influence of New Vrindaban, one will see that Radhanath does not qualify at all in the same way that a real Sampradaya Acarya is qualified from birth, born and raised in a very auspicious Vaisnava family.
Marriage lasts throughout the couple's lifetime, but one's relationship with the diksa guru is eternal. Yet the followers of Radhanath put precious little effort into finding out who this personality is, and what his past is.
As I've said, the early impressions that were implanted in Radhanath as a new devotee were done primarily by Kirtanananda. It's very interesting when you read his Journey Home book to see how much effort Radhanath goes to, introducing all sorts of prior gurus who are not even Vaisnavas. He makes them out to be such important influences in his life… but completely neglects to mention the fact that the primary influence for many decades was his very close companion and associate, his siksa guru Kirtanananda.
So if you take all these known facts and then witness what is taking place today, how is it that you can come to the conclusion that Radhanath Swami is so highly qualified, so spiritually advanced as to be compared to our Sampradaya Acaryas? And of course, that's exactly the explanation coming out of Radhanath's program -- that he's so advanced, he's essentially a Sampradaya Acarya. This is the essence of Radhe Shyama's defense.
In fact, 'regular gurus' are not authorized to do the things Radhanath is doing. They are supposed to very strictly follow in the footsteps of the Sampradaya Acaryas, the topmost Acaryas in the guru-parampara, and particularly the most recent Acarya. But Radhanath is being touted as someone far above the level of the 'regular gurus' -- he is represented by his followers as being essentially on the level of Srila Prabhupada and his predecessor Sampradaya Acaryas.
Radhanath is still in Srila Prabhupada's preaching mission. If he was doing all these things outside the preaching mission of Prabhupada, then there would be no room for criticism. But ISKCON and the GBC have thus far not had the gumption, the conviction to take proper action, and Radhanath continues to promote his own preaching program from within ISKCON. Radhanath's program is not Srila Prabhupada's, and it is spawning a whole generation of thousands of followers who will likewise not be following Srila Prabhupada. All this, under the ISKCON banner with the blessings of the GBC.
So this is the circumstance the movement finds itself in, and that ultimately individual devotees are facing. You have to make a choice, and the ultimate choice is, do you believe that Radhanath is a pure devotee on the same level as the Sampradaya Acaryas? Do you think he's qualified to be on the List of 32 topmost members of the guru-parampara? Do you think he is spiritually qualified to make these huge changes in the mood and the preaching style, and given his propensity for associating with Mayavadis, ultimately in the siddhanta?
Obviously, I don't agree that he is on this level. Ultimately, it's an individual's choice. Many devotees see the so-called successes that individuals such as Radhanath have made in terms of followers, accumulated money, temples and so on, but that alone is a meaningless measure. There are many Mayavadis who have been tremendously successful in accumulating money and followers. We also have Shankaracarya and Lord Buddha just within the Indian tradition, what to speak of other spiritual traditions.
In the past, when Kirtanananda and New Vrindaban were seemingly flourishing, you found the same mood in ISKCON that we have today: no one could criticize Kirtanananda. No matter how obvious the deviations, you could not speak against him. Today, the same mood prevails in ISKCON. Radhanath has taken up the mantle, and there is again a great polarization taking place in ISKCON among those who support him, and those who see the deviations. Some thought that Kirtanananda was a pure devotee, and they pointed to all his successes as proof. They pointed to his supposed strictness in sadhana, but look at where that led... So today, Radhanath's branch grows from the Kirtanananda tree, and the polarization grows.
I continue to be very surprised and disappointed at how many of my Godbrothers, Godsisters and their offspring are following this pied piper. He is leading them into a realm where they're not connected to the Sampradaya, therefore they're useless. They're rascals and they're fools.
