Concerned Australian Devotee: There is a new letter from Prabhavisnu here… Regarding the latest letter from Prabhavisnu dasa: The main thing I noted is the lack of recognition or understanding that he was in any way to blame for his situation. He paints himself as a primarily a complete victim of circumstance (regarding his appointments), and instead blames the GBC body as a whole.

He thereby has yet to see the root cause of his problems, which is ‘HIS OWN’ desires for name, fame, recognition and followers. That is our philosophy: we are here because we were envious of Krsna and wanted to pretend to be Him. Of course, the guru system is men wanting to pretend to be an uttama adhikari, or Srila Prabhupada, or something similar.

It is not that complicated as Prabhavisnu dasa would like us believe.

For him to actually make advancement from this point he needs to accept his true demoniac desires (I am not calling him a demon) and actual fallen state. He needs to honestly admit that he was trying to imitate Krsna and Srila Prabhupada, falsely posing as a qualified spiritual master and has thus attempted to cheat everyone. It is that mentality that will help him. An honest appraisal. This will help the entire community, including the GBC.

Of course, even if one puts the blame at other’s feet for his initial promotion, the following 25 years surely was enough time to use his own initiative to renounce and denounce. But why did he maintain the charade? It was not for his followers, surely, as they would never benefit from serving someone who was a (at least part-time) prostitute or women-hunter – it was clearly for his own sense gratification, subtle or gross.

I think Prabhavisnu overestimates others in apportioning blame. If we take responsibility for our actions, we can take responsibility for cleaning up our own messes. There is a distinct lack of acknowledgement, of intrapersonal intelligence, of self-understanding of his debased desires in this new letter. This is in itself a condemnation of his level of ‘purification’ after all these years.

In his letter you will see he encourages his ‘disciples’ to submit themselves again to the soul-destroying system from which he came, and which he claims destroyed his life. He has the gall, after blaming the GBC guru rubber-stamping machine for the entire situation, to ask all his followers to wait for their instruction and seek their guidance! Huh? He HIMSELF slams the GBC, then asks others to submit to them!

Why will that help them? The same system of rubber-stamping remains. More falldowns will of course follow. Why would someone have any faith at all in the GBC? He has just blamed them for his disciples predicament!

He states, “All the GBC members are working hard to lead and improve the movement.” This statement is false and arrogant. How does he know? NO ONE could make this claim. Does he know all their motivations personally? That they are all working hard to improve this movement is patently false. Many GBC KNEW about his situation and did nothing except cover it up. They are not ending the rubber-stamping machine are they? They love the rubber-stamping machine. No one should be fooled.

As an aside, as far as I am aware an ISKCON guru is chosen by 2/3 majority, even if only 2/3 of GBC are present. That means only by around 50% vote gets one to be stamped as uttamam adhikari. That is a coin toss!

It is up to the rank and file to become spiritually strong, by regular hearing and chanting, otherwise we cannot help the Prabhavisnu’s of this world, nor stop ourselves being cheated.

We should also stop this false glorification of these conditioned souls. It is stated in sastra that falsely glorifying someone is the same as falsely criticizing. Both are offensive. We put these men on a pedestal on which they do not deserve to stand, and simply fuel their false ego.

Don’t forget that it took a disciple to discover the truth, by providence. It didn’t come from him. How much longer would the charade have lasted? That in itself is a sign to all current disciples of these false gurus to pull the brake on this ridiculously childish business of simply going through external rituals, at the expense of doing their own serious heart-cleaning via hearing and chanting.

I know in Australia that many, many devotees are very weak, and they simply accept a ‘guru’ in the hope he will ‘save’ them, without themselves having to do any work. I personally know the devotee that found Prabhavisnu as well as lots of other disciples in Oz and they are incredibly sentimental. They were already shattered by falsely believing Bhanavanada was a pure devotee, took reinitiation by Prabhavisnu, and again cheated. Why? Because they never did the hard work themselves. Effectively, they ‘outsourced’ their spiritual life, and wanted someone else to ‘deliver’ them. It is very similar to how many Christians simply expect Jesus to save them, without following his teachings. It is an easy, casual, laid-back, ‘no worries’ Aussie-style life. However, the consequences are that you simply take birth again or at least disappointed in this life.

It really is the cheaters and the cheated, sorry to say. I have no doubt Prabhavisnu prabhu will be looked after, both by his followers and his new community in Thailand. They love older, rich Western men after all. His followers remain sentimental. I know for a fact that he is being shored up right now by many of his Australian ‘disciples,’ who are meeting with him in private to ‘help’ him.

However, if his followers take any lesson from this they should learn they have been cheated (at least twice) and repose their faith in Srila Prabhupada. After all Prabhupada states that: “In the absence of the father, the grandfather takes care.” They should also take association of those that expose the truth in ISKCON, promote Srila Prabhupada and disavow the bogus guru system, which clearly doesn’t help anyone as it is based on a rotten foundation.