Indradyumna Swami – What Would Śrīla Prabhupāda Say?

After posting the paper on Indradyumna Swami I was expecting an intelligent response from either the Swami or his followers but this was not forthcoming. This is an issue that must be addressed within our Society in order for us and the society as a whole to be able to learn and grow in our Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

Judging from the huge readership/response to “Indradyumna Swami’s Girls” article, one would hazard a guess that thousands of devotees are very interested in what the spiritual leadership of our Society are doing and it is in the best interest of the GBC and in particular the Sannyāsa Ministry to seriously look into this matter and rectify the situation as soon as possible.

Just as our understanding of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s position as ISKCON’s sole dīkṣā guru must be accepted so the role and function of an ISKCON sannyāsī must be brought in line with the role and function of a sannyāsī according to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instruction and the Vedic injunction.

Judging by the responses from the followers of IDS towards this young girl Mohinī dd who was questioning IDS’s behaviour, it is evident that they refuse to see that there is absolutely no śāstric evidence or mandate for a swami to behave in the manner in which is currently evidenced by IDS. Instead of answering the young girl with śāstric evidence (which they obviously cannot) they respond with a scalding attack on her person, calling her slanderous, envious and demoniac demanding to know her demographic details and which Temple she is from etc (These comments have been removed) and subsequently blocking her from the profile before she could answer any of their questions.

They have even gone to the length of removing some of the harsh replies to Mohinī dd from a follower of IDS, a devotee named Prahlad Nṛsiṁha DAS, so they would not reveal just how heavy and ruthless their treatment is of her. I was not able to take screen shots of the ones that he had removed unfortunately but I managed to get some before they were removed.

It is rather incredulous when all she is asking is if the taking of photos of little girls in bikinis is an acceptable activity for an ISKCON sannyāsī to be engaged in? Where is the slander in that? Where is the envy and the aparādha? The fact that IDS has been actively manipulating his Facebook comments shows that he was more than willing to cover up the truth.

However, the question still stands – either there is śāstric evidence to support the Swami’s behaviour or there is not. HOWEVER THE SWAMI AND HIS FOLLOWERS CANNOT FIND ONE SINGLE THREAD OF ŚĀSTRIC EVIDENCE FOR HIS BEHAVIOUR. The swami knows it, the brahmacārīs know it / the ones that stand to make a profit from the swami know it! They all know it.

Yet they level the serious charge of Vaiṣṇava aparādha against an innocent questioning child as if it is perfectly normal for a Vaiṣṇava to take photos of little girls in bikinis or women in bikinis and that to question a sannyāsī who does this, is a serious aparādha and destructively critical.

Wake up! It is not appropriate behaviour for any stranger who walks along a beach, what to speak of a sannyāsī! The girl is right. Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Acharyas or the Lord Himself, would never condone IDS’s behaviour so what standard is he following or what standard is he trying to establish for the sannyāsa ashram when he behaves in such a manner?

And more importantly what do the followers of IDS hope to achieve by not answering the questioning mind of a child who has plucked up the courage to ask a very simple question? How do they expect the girl to feel and think now? Especially when their very own guru is so affectionate and ‘merciful’ to young girls???

Mohinī’s comment is not simply a concern on her part. It is a legitimate question to ask, for the Swami’s behaviour cannot be reconciled by śāstric injunction and by the common understanding of a member of the Sannyāsa Ashram.

The ambiguity that the swami’s behaviour creates in the intelligent inquiring mind cannot be reconciled and nothing is gained by attempting to smash the inquirer with force, unintelligent comments or inducing fear by the threat of blasphemy or Vaiṣṇava aparaha. The intelligent mind needs to be addressed with intelligent replies and humble responses not word jugglery.

Why not answer the question giving śāstric quotes of how it is perfectly normal that a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, renunciant, can take photos of near naked girls on the beach. No matter if it was asked in a challenging spirit or as in this case by an innocent child, why not answer the question and explain to her why you believe that your sannyāsī guru is right for behaving in such a manner.

What to speak of the SWAMI answering comments on his own personal website? He of all people should be able to provide śāstric evidence for his behaviour, surely? He should be able to give examples and instances from his knowledge of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He took vow of renunciation, shaved His head and took up the tri daṇḍa of the sannyāsa ashram of life?

The sad truth is that he cannot. There is no such śāstric evidence in the whole Vedic literature or the teachings of the past acharyas that sannyāsīs can associate with women or even can look at them whether it  be with their eyes or with a camera, what to speak of posting these photos for the whole world to see.

The reason why IDS behaviour is such a dangerous deviation of our siddhānta is that it teaches the followers to accept unsastrically supportable behaviour and teaches them how to misapply what little śāstra they know, by using it as a weapon against sincere devotees who may question their “guru”’s inappropriate behaviour or siddhānta.

They have been brainwashed to believe that their guru is purely following the rules and regulations of śāstra and that nothing their guru does is wrong and if you question their guru you are questioning a pure devotee, a śuddha bhakta and are therefore committing Vaiṣṇava aparādha.

When it is they that are being offensive and disobedient to Śrīla Prabhupāda and are committing Vaiṣṇava aparādha! We have every right to question such behaviour no matter what institutional position a devotee may hold.

This self-righteous mentality has in this case led to a hostile verbal attack on a child and in more serious cases leads to violent threats up to the point of physical assault and murder. These are the dangers that this type of fanatical behaviour and self-righteous attitude can have on the naïve and ignorant followers of such leaders.

The Swami knows what he is doing and he apparently hopes to be protected by his followers so that he can keep on going for as long as possible. He took the sannyāsa vow to lead the life of a renunciant which was to renounce material attachments and in particular the association of women and so he is knowingly ignoring his vow.

The Swami’s ‘Twitter style’ Travelling Monk series and his penchant for antiques, what to speak of his “Activities and Interests” being listed on his Facebook Home page as kitsch home decor are also signs of his level of consciousness which when lumped together do not display the symptoms of a śuddha bhakta or pure devotee of the Lord.

The fact that IDS and other such pseudo sannyṣsa dīkṣā gurus of ISKCON have been rocketed to fame and adoration is only due to the mercy of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda and for no other reason.

Would any of them be this famous and attract as many followers had they been run of the mill gṛhastha devotees? No.Gṛhasthas are and have never been treated with this much pomp and ceremony what to speak of worship and adoration. No ISKCON Gṛhastha devotee is this famous.

The fact that they hold an institutionally contrived position as a dīkṣā guru and what is more that they are wearing a uniform which gives them special privilege and status within not only our society but Indian society, that they are able to attract this level of respect and following.

IDS would never be this famous had he not been given special privilege within our society by the GBC by being awarded the sannyāsa ashram and been rubber stamped a dīkṣā guru.

They have taken on official positions within our Vaiṣṇava Society and are now Public Figures and so are not above both mundane law and Vedic injunction. They like us all are subject to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sweet will and instruction.

The very reason why we are in these flesh suits comprised of the Lords external energy, prakṛti, is testament to the fact that we are in the mood of challenging the authority of the Lord. To disobey His injunctions and make a mockery of the divine position of dīkṣā guru and the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa is the real offence here.

Unless this aparādha is challenged then what hope do they themselves have, what to speak of their naïve and ignorant followers? What is the destination of anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master and attempts to manufacture their own path in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness?

Śrīla Prabhupāda has come to help us all across the river of material consciousness. They stand on the very same river bank as we do, but due to their rebelliously self-righteous and independent attitude they are directing their followers to follow them down or upstream of the river of material consciousness, instead of allowing their followers to take the assistance of Śrīla Prabhupāda who has been sent by the Lord himself to take us across the river of material consciousness.

They stand in the way of the shaktiavesa avatāra as if they too have been sent, as if Śrīla Prabhupāda alone is insufficient to guide and direct us to Kṛṣṇa. Yet they are proving time and time again that their offensive attitude and behaviour of pitting them and their followers against His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda and his loyal followers, leads only to falldown. There is a long list of these vāntāśī aparādhīs that stand testimony to this offensively independent and arrogant stance in our ISKCON society.

Indradyumna Swami has a choice now and I pray that he makes the right one. He has been warned by many devotees over the decades but he defiantly refuses to listen to good counsel. This has now manifested in a blatant public show of his level of consciousness in the form of his unchaste Facebook photo collection and his pedestrian ‘twitter style’ public diary. It is a shame that this has gone public but he must correct himself. He owes this to himself and Śrīla Prabhupādaand equally importantly he owes it to his disciples and followers.

Just as the Swami has a choice so do his followers have a choice. They can choose to support him in his folly or they can choose to reject him. However the most important choice would have been for his most outspoken or more intimate followers to speak with him and encourage him to change.

Our devotional life is not a one way street, it is a two way street, meaning the followers need also take responsibility for the Swami’s spiritual life and protect him by helping him to change according to śāstra and the orders of his spiritual master. If they had done this, ten or twenty years ago, this situation would never have arisen. Yet they all chose to allow the Swami to bathe in the glory, the fame, the adoration, which they heaped upon his shoulders which has now eventuated in the Swami breaking his sannyāsa vow.

Where were his dear friends who joined him for all these years of his spiritual decline? Where were his close disciples for all these years? Do they think that he is infallible? Even Lord Caitanya was very very careful of his association. Where were his brahmacārī disciples all this time? Running besides him and singing their hearts out to whom and for what?  To attract girls? Was this all subtle sex for them? Why didn’t they protect him?

This is the real shame of fame, adoration and success, everyone is in such an illusion that they get carried away by māyā and they justify it as being Kṛṣṇa Conscious. But really it is selfishness.

Yet they scathingly take out their rage and frustration on a little questioning girl when it is they themselves that need the shake down.

It is now obvious that Indradyumna Swami must change his ashram and give up his position as a Rubber Stamped FISKCON guru. If he can finally admit that his actions and behaviour is unbecoming of a dīkṣā guru and sannyāsī in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ISKCON then there is a chance that he can rectify.

However this type of honesty, this type of integrity is rarely if ever seen in an ISKCON Rubberstamped Guru. Due to mundane pride and ambitious greed they hold onto their status as long as they can, they hold to their Guru Franchise Business as long as they can – and all they do is end up trampling on their own devotional creepers as well as their followers… This is the tragic effect of a baddha jīva who is still in the anartha nvritti stage of devotional service.

Kṛṣṇacandra Dāsa