The NYC Bhakti Center
BY: KRISHNA DASA
Sep 13, 2012 — NEW YORK, USA (SUN) — This submission is about the Bhakti Center in Manhattan, New York City. The Bhakti Center is run by Radhanath Swami and his disciples. The center's newsletters refer to Radhanath Swami as their spiritual leader. The majority of the congregation and residents are his disciples or followers.
The Bhakti Center is not part of ISKCON. The center acknowledges that it does not at the moment want to be part of ISKCON. Yet, most of the congregation is borrowed from the various temples nearby in the New York metropolitan area. These devotees who attend Bhakti Center are not told that it is not part of ISKCON, so they assume that it is. But because Bhakti Center is not part of ISKCON, it does not have to follow ISKCON rules. That is tricky conduct. That Radhanath Swami is the guru of so many devotees in the area helps to bring people to the Center who were previously attending other temples. That raises the issue of guru vs. temple president authority conflicts. Radhanath Swami has explicitly told devotees attending other temples that it would please him to have them serve and attend the Bhakti Center.
The board of directors that makes all the decisions are almost all Radhanath Swami disciples. Most of them have never distributed books on the street. Directors have said that doing Harinam on the street gives the Bhakti Center 'a bad image'.
The center in the past has not endorsed some leading ISKCON personalities. Newsletters promote certain liberal gurus, but do not endorse others. If a "liberal" and favored guru comes to town and speaks at a temple other than the Bhakti Center, the congregation will be informed of that event. But, if any of the other respected ISKCON gurus are in town speaking at programs outside of the Bhakti Center, their newsletters will not mention it.
The Bhakti Center devotes its second floor to hatha yoga, which it promotes in its newsletters and on its website. The Bhakti Center holds kirtan programs, among other programs, targeted at people in New York City who do yoga. Not only devotees, but also popular 'kirtan singers' who follow mayavadis, lead kirtans at these programs for both the public and the devotees -- and this is all done in front of the Deities at the Bhakti Center. At one such kirtan, a mayavadi singer's CDs were being sold in the foyer outside the temple room. Her CD cover on display showed her almost naked.
Their preaching includes Dhanurdhara Swami, who is officially not allowed to speak in ISKCON temples. He speaks regularly (sometimes several times per month) at programs for the Bhakti Center congregation.
About one year ago, the center removed Srila Prabhupada's murti from the temple room because, and they said this -- they heard that some visitors were uncomfortable to see Srila Prabhupada there. After a few months and after some protests were made by some senior devotees, Srila Prabhupada's murti returned.
Around the time of the former episode, Gaur Nitai and Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Deities were removed from the temple room. That removal is permanent. Bhakti Center residents said this was done because visitors might not understand so many deities being on the alter at the same time with Radha Murlidhara. ISKCON rules prohibit removal of Deities without authorization by the GBC, yet Bhakti Center does not submit to the GBC. After the Deities were removed, some devotees said they thought Radha Murlidhara looked very sad.
Shortly after this episode, the de facto leader of the Bhakti Center, Yajna Purusa das brahmacari, admitted he had been associating intimately for many months with a karmi woman who practices yoga, while he acted as a brahmacari resident of the asrama. He immediately left to live with his new girlfriend. A few years earlier, Yajna Purusa had been on ISKCON's sannyasa waiting list.
After Yajna Purusa left, many uninitiated bhaktas who had been sent by other temples to get trained at the Bhakti Center moved out of the temple and/or gave up brahmacari life. The remaining 6-8 brahmacaris were divided in their allegiance between two brahmacaris who were each devotees for just over 10 years, Rasanatha and Gadadhara Pandit. The latter two have such differences that the remaining brahamcaris split up. In order to comfortably split, Rasanatha and 3 brahmacaris rented out an apartment nearby, in which they live. None of those who moved out attend the morning program at the Bhakti Center, although some come during the morning program for deity worship. It has been this way for a little less than one year.
After reading the article that compiles Radhanath Swami's disciples' quite logical and well-written refutation of Bhakti Vikasa Swami, two things are clear:
1) They assume that Radhanath Swami is acarya, who can change rules and ways of preaching as previous acaryas did. Yet, Srila Prabhupada asked all ISKCON members to submit to the body of the GBC. Clearly Radhanath thinks he can act as acarya and change things without consulting with GBC. That is in defiance of Srila Prabhupada.
2) They say the proof that Radhanath's acting as acarya is inspired by Krishna (and thus that he is a qualified acarya) is that he is making people Krsna conscious at his main center, Chowpatty, more than any other cener in ISKCON. "Proof is in the pudding."
a) *Perhaps* (I have never been there) the preaching done there is more conservative than his preaching in the west, in which case that proves nothing. Has it not been established for a long time, before Radhanath's preaching went off the deep end?
b) My expose of the Bhakti Center would prove the opposite--that the fruit of his preaching is a disaster of hypocrisy, falldowns, conflict with other temple authorities, rebellion against ISKCON and the GBC, and a discouragement amongst followers and congregation to engage in pure hearing and chanting amongst the public as the staple of their Krsna conscious way of life.
Your servant,
Krishna dasa
