Tirtha in Prison Hare Krsna Revival

Since the time of Srila Prabhupada's departure from our external vision there have been no lack of meetings and frank, serious discussions by all manner of sincere, well intentioned devotees in the hope of effecting necessary changes and reforms within the managerial and social structure of the ISKCON society.

As an outgrowth of such meetings and discussions, the GBC have issued numerous memorandums and official resolutions, with temple presidents striving to steer a positive course for their humble rank and file devotees, even while many such devotees have grown increasingly anxious and frustrated in their attempts to express and achieve a more active voice and role in the very society that would structure their lives down to the last minute detail.

And while many of these discussions have focused on the societies' own ills, in part, arising from past missteps and immature indiscretions occasioned during its formative and expansive years, we would be ill advised to remain fixated merely on such transient anomalies in hopes of finding real solutions for positive reformation of the ISKCON body.

Here, careful deliberation and sober thinking among sadhus is needed to enact necessary change and ensure the integrity of our united purpose. The seriousness of this problem duly underscored as numbers of well intentioned, though oft times disillusioned devotees, were swayed to seek shelter among other parallel spiritual movements and community based organizations. However, in the end analysis, the misfortune of such wayward devotees is only compounded, for such newly adopted groups fail to connect their constituents with Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana Movement or satisfy the actual needs of such conflicted devotees. Thus, with their promise fast fading, such devotees are left to grow increasingly and ever painfully distant in their separation from the body of ISKCON.

Just as the troubles that have confronted ISKCON's body are largely products of itself, the solutions to these same problems may be also found from within, through an awakening to the unlimited treasure house of ISKCON's own sadhus. Unfortunately, this great treasure will always remain just out of reach for those who have not developed sufficient faith in their esteemed godbrothers and sisters. Without recognizing the invaluable association of devotees who are each an integral aspect of the sacred ISKCON body, devotees will fall further into the depression of uncertainty, most oft characterized by cynicism and deviation.

For devotees whose desires are not colored with fruitive gain or personal prestige, it is much easier to recognize how there exists hundreds of exalted, fully qualified Vaisnava sadhus and empowered acaryas within the ISKCON society today. Indeed, this is certainty cause for great celebration. We are overjoyed to honor and offer our humble respects to such esteemed devotees as Gopiparanadhana dasa, His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami, Sivarama Swami, Devamrta Swami, Gunagrahi Swami, Radhanath Swami, Hndayananda dasa Goswami, and all other exalted Vaisnavas. Their presence and personal example has shown us the way to remain chaste to Srila Prabhupada's family and sacred body of the ISKCON society, just as their books have proven to be invaluable tools for aligning and realigning devotees on the actual path enunciated by the previous acaryas.

It is important to understand how there is no difference between the initiating and instructing spiritual masters. In Caitanya-caritamrta (1.1.47) we find, "One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the Personality of Krsna. Lord Krsna manifests Himself as the Supersoul and as the greatest devotee of the Lord."

Srila Prabhupada's Purport: Srilla Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami states that the instructing spiritual master is a bona fide representative of Sri Krsna, Sri Krsna Himself teaches us as the instructing spiritual master from within and without. From within He teaches as Paramatma, our constant companion, and from without He teaches from the Bhagavad-gita as the instructing spiritual master. There are two kinds of instructing spiritual masters. One is the liberated person fully absorbed in meditation in devotional service, and the other is he who invokes the disciple's spiritual consciousness by means of relevant instructions. Thus the instructions in the science of devotion are differentiated in terms of the objective and subjective ways of understanding. The acarya in the true sense of the term, who is authorized to deliver Krsna, enriches the disciple with full spiritual knowledge and awakens him to the activities of devotional service..."

It is not uncommon for many of us to have had one or more uncomfortable or outright bad experiences while in the association of neophyte devotees, even as we, ourselves, were equally or more neophyte than those in our midst. We may have been ill-informed, molested, manipulated, exploited, abused, ridiculed, neglected and terribly hurt by persons in positions of stewardship, persons to whom we had given our implicit faith and trust. We may have even felt ourselves close to death, or, in the name of religion, dealt death ourselves, only to later feel ourselves overwhelmed by anger, coming to revile those we once unhesitatingly gave our love and trust.

These are not inconsequential events, and each should be given the weight and gravity they deserve. Even so, in our deepest, darkest moments of despair, we should know that there always remains one devotee, somewhere, to whom we can talk, and know in our heart to be a true friend.

It is a fact that the past cannot be changed by any amount of tears, anger, finger pointing or punitive law suits. Nor can any suggestion to forgive and forget ever fully and completely set things aright. In truth, it is likely impossible to find full and complete rectification in our present day and age, a time filled with so many faults and uncertainties. Yet, the future lies before us. What will we do? Unless we can allow ourselves to find solace and comfort in the sadhus of our ISKCON society, we risk remaining caught up in the prison-like trap of the past, chained tightly within a perpetual state of frustration, cynicism, and depression.

Even if we could somehow figure out the reasons for all of the previous ills that have beset us in life and rectify them fully right up to the present, we have no guarantee that in the future, at the next moment, some other seeming untoward disaster may not befall us. After all, this is the material world. There is a virtual certainty that something is always going to go awry at the next moment. Krsna Himself guarantees this, certifying the material world as a place of misery: "From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, 0 son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg. 8.16)

Therefore, not only for devotees, but for everyone within the material world, the prospect for failure is guaranteed unless we come to accept our real roles in Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana Movement. The modern proposition proposed by psychologists that one's past traumas will automatically predominate and determine our future attitudes and activities is false. Otherwise there would be no point in our chanting the holy names. Ceto darpana marjanam. It is the process for both cleansing and reviving our dormant Krsna consciousness.

Depending on the extent and degree of our previous offenses it may initially be difficult to allow ourselves to let go of the past and fully come to terms with our present situation. It may feel worse when the person or persons we feel wronged us refuse to accept responsibility for their actions. Still, what joy can we hope to feel apart from our godbrothers and sisters within ISKCON? True enough, one would be naive to imagine that all wayward devotees, especially those who stubbornly cling to their own canted political and philosophical viewpoints, could ever be swayed toward reconciliation. However, personal feelings aside, it is time for open minded and liberal devotees to make amends, both with themselves and their godbrothers and sisters. The ISKCON society of devotees is mature enough and pure enough to bring all devotees back into its fold, it is now, just as when Srila Prabhupada was personally present, a great and flourishing branch of the tree of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana Movement.

Accordingly, now is the time for greater emphasis on group participation in the basic core function of hari-nama sankirtana, By this chanting in each temple, those devotees who have somehow drifted away from the association of the greater body of ISKCON will certainly feel a stirring deep within their hearts to rejoin their long separated godbfothers and sisters in glorifying the Lord's holy names. If in our hearts we hold a pure desire to be reunited with our beloved godbrothers and sisters, the holy name will draw them nearer. This, especially in America, can be viewed as the beginning of the much needed revival of the Hare Krsna movement.

If we can set aside whatever grievances or differences we may have long enough to come together to chant the holy names, our collective and individual problems will soon become inconsequential and fade into obscurity.

Indeed, will this not automatically take place in our next lifetime? We will not take our birth remembering our past individual grudges and feelings of trepidation. Therefore, why not resolve these issues in this time and make great spiritual progress? What do we have to lose?

We must look closely at ourselves and seriously consider our duty and responsibility. Will we be content to know that we remained stubbornly resistant to reconciling our own internal differences and abandoning the principle of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana Movement, even as the rest of America spirals downward toward a disastrous and hellish fate? Please think about this.

If not for the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, where would any of us be today? If we have wronged others, we should come forward and beg for forgiveness from those we have wronged and from all devotees. If we have been victimized, we should pray to Krsna for the strength to begin a new chapter in Krsna consciousness and forgive those persons who might have hurt us. If we have left the association of devotees for any reason, why not return without delay? Lord Nityananda has given us an amnesty if we will but take it. Please do not delay.

I know I am the worst offender. Please let me begin this wave by asking each of my beloved godbrothers and sisters for forgiveness for the many wrongs I have committed. Please forgive me and let others be similarly forgiven. Please open your hearts to allow the reunification and revival of the Hare Krsna movement to happen. The past cannot be changed, but it can be overcome by our sincere chanting of the holy names. In the end analysis, we are all victims of the material energy if we are forced to take another birth here in the material world. Beyond this, there are countless living entities who could be benefited by our cooperative preaching efforts, if only we will allow ourselves to come together in a sincere and humble mood. But we will never reach them if we remain tangled up in Maya's trap of self pity, sorrow and indignation.

Enough time has passed for each of us to measure the mark we have made on the world around us. If you are satisfied with your life progress, you may be commended. But if you think that you can do more to assist Srila Prabhupada in his mission, then please work to take a more active role in helping each devotee grow as part of the community you are in. Please help each devotee grow, day by day, to know he and she is a loving and loved member of the family of ISKCON devotees.

Your worthless servant,

Tirtha dasa