u/Solomon_Kane_1928

(A poster seen in ISKCON ashrams around the world)

Prabhupada claimed his authority derived from an unbroken line of succession reaching back to Krishna himself. Like a fruit passed carefully down through the branches of a tree, the true and clear teachings of Krishna are perfectly preserved in this ancient lineage. For 5000 years nothing has been changed.

In the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Prabhupada lists 32 gurus including himself. He repeatedly claims his knowledge and power is based on this. The sincere will take advantage of it. The insincere will go elsewhere and be cheated.

This parampara is said to be a siksha line of instruction rather than a diksha line of initiation. Why does ISKCON completely ignore its diksha line?

Because there isn't one. ISKCON's initiation line and sanyassa line almost certainly began with Prabhupada's guru Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati.

Bhaktisiddhanta's Self Initiation

Bhaktisiddhanta claimed to have been given diksha by Gaura Kishora das Babaji.

This is denied by Lalita Prasad, Bhaktisiddhanta's own brother. Gaura Kishora had sworn to never accept disciples. Bhaktisiddhanta claims he privately broke this vow only for himself. Lalita Prasad, who was present, maintains their relationship was strictly one of shiksa.

Bhaktisiddhanta's claim is also rejected by Gaura Kishora's peers, the Vrndavana and Navadwip Babaji community. Bhaktisiddhanta put on saffron in 1918 and gave himself sanyassa. No one properly initiated into their lineage would do so. In their view, anyone properly initiated by Gaura Kishora, when reaching the stage of renunciation, would enter the Babaji order. Saffron cloth is strictly forbidden. When Bhaktisiddhanta gave himself sanyassa it was considered outrageous, and a rejection of their lineage.

Bhaktisiddhanta went beyond this, establishing his own tridandi sanyassa order, previously non-existent, even compiling 108 sanyassi names under questionable circumstances. He modeled this on the Sri Vaishnavas of South India, as Gaudiyas only wore the white cloth of the babaji.

It is interesting to note that as a brahmacari Bhaktisiddhanta wore white. In ISKCON today brahmacaris wear saffron, obsessively so, like mini sanyassis of the Gaudiya Math. It could be argued ISKCON's extremely destructive culture of renunciation and sexual repression begins here, as a deviation from tradition.

ISKCON's True Diksha Lineage

Assuming Gaura Kishora gave Bhaktisiddhanta diksha, it would have connected him to the Advaita Parivara, a caste goswami lineage. Gaura Kishora's diksha guru was Nimaichand Goswami. The list of gurus then goes like this: Radharaman, Sukadeva, Keshava, Radhagovinda, Gopinath, Dolgovinda Mishra, then finally Krishna Mishra. Krishna Mishra was the son of Advaita Acharya.

In ISKCON we never even heard of these names. Why?

Either because Bhaktisiddhanta never received diksha in this line, or because he so radically departed from this lineage it became irrelevant.

ISKCON's Babaji Lineage

Gaura Kishora was initiated into the Advaita Parivara as a householder. When he took the order of Babaji, he was given babaji initiation into the line of Baladeva Vidyabhusana. His guru was Bhagavat das Babaji. The line of succession then goes like this: Jagannath das Babaji, Madhusudan das Babaji, Uddhava das Babaji, then Baladeva Vidyabhusana.

It is strange ISKCON does not claim this Gaudiya luminary as a direct guru, nor do they deeply study his books. Devotees are only aware of the Govinda Bhasya. Why is this so?

Because like the diksha line, Bhaktisiddhanta was never initiated into it. Nor did he care to be. He rejected this babaji line to begin his own sanyassa lineage.

ISKCON's Siksha Lineage

ISKCON claims instead to be a siksha lineage coming from Bhaktivinode Thakur.

Bhaktivinode was initiated into the Bhaghnapar Goswami lineage. This caste goswami line traces its origins to Ramachandra Goswami, the son of Chaitanya's intimate associate Vamsivadanananda Thakura. He was adopted by Jahnavi Mata, the wife of Nityananda.

Unlike ISKCON, they are Gaura Gadadhara worshipers, who practice siddha pranali.

Bhaktivinode's guru was Bipin Bihari Goswami, whose guru was Yajneshvara Goswami. They have a family line going all the way back to Vamsivadanananda Thakur.

Lalita Prasad, another of Bhaktivinode's sons, received both siksha and diksha from his father. He went on to become a guru himself, with many disciples, loyal to his father's lineage. He established a temple in his father's birthplace.

Bhaktisiddhanta did not. Bhaktisiddhanta instead claimed to secretly receive diksha from Gaura Kishora, a siksha disciple of Bhaktivinode. Why not go directly to his father? Bhaktisiddhanta rejected the diksha line of Bhaktivinode, in the same way he rejected the diksha and babaji lines of Gaura Kishora.

Living in ISKCON, we never even heard these names. This is because Bhaktisiddhanta criticized and attacked this pedigree.

Rejecting Bhaktivinode's Guru

Bhaktisiddhanta rejected the Bhagnapara Goswamis and their ideas of birth as a prequalification. This issue was famously debated in Balighai where Bhaktisiddhanta was supposedly crowned victorious. A mob demanded his foot water threatening to riot. The police forcibly seized the champion, bathed his feet, and sprinkled it on the eager crowd, or so ISKCON tells us.

This debate wasn't against some obscure caste goswami sect. It was a public challenge to Bipin Bihari Goswami by the son of his disciple. Bhaktivinode likely pretended to be sick so he could not attend. This was to avoid disrespect to his guru.

Another issue is the establishment of Mayapura. The Bhagnapar Goswami lineage considered Navadwipa to be the place of Chaitanya's birth and activities. Gaura Kishora's bhajan kutir is in the area traditionally believed to be the place of Chaitanya's pastimes, as are the kutirs of many babajis.

Bhaktivinode and Jagannath das Babaji claimed that a new place, the village of Mayapura, in a Muslim area across the Ganges, was the true birth place of Chaitanya and the home of Srivas Thakur.

Bipin Bihari tolerated this from his disciple Bhaktivinode Thakur. Despite their disagreements there was always a relationship of mutual respect. However, after Bhaktivinode's death, Bhaktisiddhanta's movement began to spread. Bhaktisiddhanta took dramatic steps to build a temple in Mayapura, in opposition to the traditional temple in Navadwipa. Bipin Bihari openly criticized this.

During the life of Bhaktivinode, there were incidents of Bhaktisiddhanta aggressively arguing with Bipin Bihari Goswami. Once he even threw a bucket of water at him. Bhaktivinode kicked him out of his house for this. Now tensions began to seriously escalate. Bhaktivinode was no longer around to restrain his son.

This conflict became public with Bhaktisiddhanta openly denouncing the guru of his father and brother. Bipin Bihari returned the favor. Outraged by public personal attacks, the building of an unauthorized holy place, and Siddhanta Saraswati giving himself sanyassa, Bipin Bihari formally excommunicated him from the Gaudiya Vaishnava community of Navadwipa.

ISKCON doesn't talk about that!

Bhaktisiddhanta then committed the ultimate offense to the guru parampara of his father: he erased it from history. He declared Bipin Bihari's spiritual family morally bankrupt and denied them a place in the lineage tree. In Gaudiya Vaishnava culture, removing a guru from your recorded lineage is the highest form of disrespect.

Conclusion

As we see, ISKCON's guru parampara truly begins with Bhaktisiddhanta. He began his preaching activities after taking sanyassa in 1918. ISKCON's parampara is not 5000 years old. It is 108 years old.

Bhaktisiddhanta rejected his father's lineage and went to war with it. He was not initiated into it.

He claims to have been initiated by Gaura Kishora das Babaji instead. There is no record of this. Those present said it never happened. Gaura Kishora officially refused to take any disciples. Nor did Bhaktisiddhanta carry on this parampara.

He gave himself sanyassa initiation, then began an unauthorized sanyassa tradition within Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He rejected Navadwipa as the home of Chaitanya and established a separate competing holy place. All of these things were considered extremely offensive by both his father's lineage and the godfamily peer group of his own guru.

Bhaktisiddhanta rejected the authority of the entire Gaudiya community and began his own religion. Yet his disciple, A.C Bhaktivendanta Prabhupada, repeatedly claimed his authority was derived from an unbroken tradition handed down from Krishna, Brahma, Madhva and Chaitanya, using this claim to attract his own cult followers.

(The term "Sanatanis" means "Eternals")

In the last 15 years Indians have come to reject the name Hindu. They believe the word to be a foreign term forced upon them by outsiders. Motivated by nationalist zeal they have begun calling their religion Sanatana Dharma, and themselves Sanatanis.

ISKCON devotees are doing this too. The name "Hindu" has come to feel pejorative. They have started avoiding it and replacing it publicly with Sanatana Dharma.

This is inaccurate. The term Hindu has long been used by Indians to describe their religion. Chaitanya himself used the word 500 years ago, according to Krishna das Kaviraja.

“amara matula haya tomara nagare
nagaremariya hindu-dharma nasta kare”

CC, Adi-Lila 17.214

He accuses Chand Kazi of destroying Hindu Dharma. The term Sanatana Dharma was reserved for the unchanging inner nature of the atma. The temporary ever shifting beliefs and practices of mankind as they exist in India was called Hindu Dharma. This was distinct from Islam which was called Mleccha Dharma.

It is absurd to refer to something temporary as sanatana. The word refers to that which exists outside of time. In modern Indian languages, the word has come to mean something very old, but this is colloquial and philosophically inaccurate.

To call oneself a Sanatani is also absurd. "Hello, I am an Eternal". Just like the Marvel Superheroes.

This is more than simply reactionary polemics, it is a bold declaration of superiority. It is to say Indian religion is eternal and all others are not. "Sanatana Dharma is the only true religion. It is eternal and true. Your mleccha dharmas are temporary and illusory."

Prabhupada would certainly agree with this sentiment. Though in the exact same way, he considered Vaishnava Dharma to be distinct from, and superior to, Hindu Dharma. This is why devotees resist using the word Hindu to describe themselves. They believe they are the "Sanatanis".

Prabhupada would reserve Sanatana Dharma to refer to the nature of the soul, which he believed to be submission to Krishna. Ironically this is due to the heavy influence of Mleccha Dharma (via Sufism) onto Vaishnava Dharma.

Sanatana Dharma, when used accurately, refers to the atma as described in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita with adjectives such as eternal, unchanging, ever existing, primeval. It is that which is beyond description and one with Brahman.

.

Anger is a necessary and healthy emotion. It is our power to defend our boundaries. It is necessary in this world to fight back against those who would harm us. If we do not, we will be taken advantage of. We will be bullied by individuals and institutions.

Anger in ISKCON

ISKCON teaches the opposite. Anger, or krodha, is a sin. It is one of the sad ripus, or six enemies. Anger is born of lust, or frustrated attachment and desire. You cannot reach perfection until you renounce all anger.

Anger should only be allowed to attack the enemies of the cult. This includes ex devotees and others who criticize ISKCON, and Advaita Vedantists, Buddhists, atheists, and others who do not believe submission to the person of Krishna is the final absolute truth.

This is gaslighting. We are not allowed to defend ourselves, we are only allowed to defend the cult.

Living in Submission

The absolute worse thing one can do with anger is direct it to a devotee. Especially if that devotee is senior or a Prabhupada Disciple. That is spiritual suicide. Though seniors can, and often do, use anger to "chastise" those beneath them. We should not see this as abuse, rather it is mercy. We should be grateful.

The devotee must never fight back. To stand up for oneself is egotism. We should feel embarrassed about the urge to stand up for ouserlves. Anger must be forced down, bottled up and repressed.

This is humility. Trnad api sunicena, taror iva sahisnuna. You cannot chant the Holy Names effectively until you let others walk over you like grass and you tolerate all abuse like a tree.

Even juniors and equals must constantly be forgiven no matter what. Even if they rape us or steal our money or have sex with our wives. If we even think angry thoughts about them we must bow down to them and chant "vancha kalpa tarubhyas ca", declaring them to be wish fulfilling trees (Hindu genie lamps). It may be painful but Krishna is pleased.

A good devotee becomes a dasa, or slave, of ISKCON. They do whatever they are told in an attitude of meek surrender. They sacrifice their future well being, their health, their time, their money. They should give everything to the movement and gratefully accept whatever little is given to them in return.

The devotee has no boundaries. There is nothing that belongs to them, no personal space, no private time. They are slaves awaiting command. They live with no independence and no security, dependent upon their masters, fearing the cosmic sin of their own disobedience.

A Destroyed Nervous System

When we are stripped of the ability to defend ourselves we naturally live in fear. The nervous system gets stuck in a fight, flight, freeze response. The anger is trapped inside with nowhere to go. We live in constant hyper arousal. Things that remind us of our lack of boundaries, and thus our past bullying, trigger us into extreme anxiety.

This is only healed when we again reclaim anger. We have to release it.

Somatic Release

One technique for releasing trapped anger within the nervous system is Somatic Release. When we are triggered into fear, we can shake our bodies. It signals to the nervous system that the danger has passed and stress can be shed. This is common in mammals. When a lion survives a brush with death, it often shakes uncontrollably, as do humans.

Another effective technique to freely express anger when triggered. This can involve expressing rage, shaking our fists, screaming and punching into a pillow. We can shout (even under our breath) in defiance of the trigger "F you! Get out of my space" F off and leave me alone". These are good mantras. We don't have to express this to others. It is not about fighting. It is about privately becoming okay with anger, and releasing what is trapped inside of our nervous system.

By doing so we are telling ourselves "I am defending myself now, the world better watch out".

We should not be afraid to vocally draw boundaries, or to warn others when they cross them. We should stand up for ourselves, and others, when the need arises.

Nor should we let others get away with abusing us. They should pay a price. Though we should also not be consumed by the need for revenge. Forgiveness is a fine virtue, but those who have been bullied and abused, so is confidence.

Embracing Anger

Sometimes those who have been abused, who have been made to live in fear, are afraid of their own anger. They do not want to be like their abuser, they do not want others to fear them. This is natural. However, it is okay to make people fear you when they are harming you.

Sometimes we are afraid that if we release the anger within we will hurt people or become a bully ourselves. We will become just like those rude Prabhupada Disciples. This is not true. We have to trust ourselves that we can use anger properly in self defense, and not to dominate or harm others.

.

Jump in the nearest holy river! Chant the Magic Mantra! Save yourselves! It is incredibly inauspicious! Don't go outside! Lock yourself in your house! Don't look up! A giant space demon is devouring the Sun god!

Wait... what is this? The low born inferior ignorant mlecchas flew into the antariksha (space) and took video proof? It is actually just the shadow of the moon covering a small portion of the earth? The Sun was not devoured? People only a few hundred miles away remained in the sunlight and did not see a thing?

These wicked science videos are just a demonic conspiracy. Science is demon crazy western nonsense created to bewilder the superior devotees.

If such "videos" are real, then Prabhupada was forcing modern people to live in a weird medieval delusion, circa 400 CE, when the masses were uneducated outside of religious brainwashing, when knowledge of the world outside one's village was scarce, when people were extremely backward, uneducated, and superstitious. That cannot be true. He was an omnipotent Mahabhagavat Pure Devotee.

We kick and spite on the face of NASA! It is a demon head. The PHD devotees will someday prove it. Donate to the Temple of the Vedic Planetariam to make it happen!

(Bapuba caught them not serving Kish Kish)

Within ISKCON we had no privacy and no rest. For temple devotees, in those brief moments we had to ourselves, we were always on edge, waiting for that knock on the door, that text, that phone call from the temple president.

When the temple presidents number appeared on our phone, there was a flash of fear. We would answer like a military drill "Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada, how can I serve you Prabhu!".

Always On Call

While I was managing in a deity department I dreaded the daily knocks on the door from people who could not do their service. I had to drop what I was doing and immediately go to work. This happened day and night. It was extremely stressful.

Similarly I managed an ashram with guest rooms. Guests would arrive unannounced constantly. They would inevitably find their way to my door and start banging on it, even well after midnight. Devotees, especially senior devotees, had no respect for other peoples space or privacy. I found them generally to be very selfish. The whole world was supposed to wait upon them. They rarely paid the courtesy of calling beforehand.

Cult members live lives of constant stress. They are relentlessly being judged by themselves and the world around them. They live in fear of their authorities. They move from one service to the next. Any moment of "laziness" brings shame. They can be asked to do service at any moment. Technically they can say no but it would be unthinkable and offensive. Saying no to an authority is the beginning of the end for a devotees career.

Devotees are constantly at work. There are no weekends. There is no 9-5. There are many jobs where people are on call, but none where you live under that stress 24/7 years on end. It would be illegal.

Damaged Nervous Systems

We were never given a chance to relax, to decompress, to let go of stress. Even when devotees did take time to go for a hike, or go to the beach, they were supposed to turn it into a japa walk, or read Bhagavatam, or listen to lectures, or take other devotees and turn it into a preaching excursion. Ideally the devotee should distribute books to anyone they see, or at the gas station on the way home.

If you must leave the temple you had to find some justification. Devotees would often visit other Hindu temples to see the deities. Even then, they could be seen explaining themselves to others. "If it were up to me I would never leave the temple, or deviate from the book distribution mission, I don't need rest, but my foolish wife and children have dragged me away".

We had to constantly monitor what we are doing and thinking, afraid of putting down our role as a super sincere devotee for even a moment. Any excursion not related to Krishna Consciousness was Maya.

The effect of this is it damages the nervous system. Our nervous systems were warning us of danger for decades on end. Our amygdalas have been damaged. Our fight or flight mechanism is stuck in the on position. For some of us, every footstep, every sound, is interpreted as an incoming threat, and a violation of personal space.

(Better Call Swamiji)

In the Vedic philosophical paradigm, Satya, or truth, is no different than Rta, or cosmic order. The purpose of Vishnu is to descend and reinvigorate that cosmic order. A soul that is aligned with Rta cannot lie or deceive others. Nor can cosmic order be established through deceit.

Thus, in the Vedic cultural paradigm, a Brahmana speaks the truth under all circumstance. To speak truth is to reinforce Rta. To be honest is to bring Vishnu into the world. This is especially true when presenting religion.

A Brahmana has faith that if he presents truth clearly, even if no one is attracted and no one joins him, he has done the right thing. He has done his duty. The result is left to divine providence. Honesty is the best policy.

Prabhupada was not a Brahmana. He wanted ISKCON spread "by hood or crook". "In like a needle and out like a plow" was his motto. His version of Rta, or divine order, was to use any means necessary to convert and subdue as many people as possible, even dishonesty.

Prabhupada the Corrupt Vaishya

Prabhupada was a businessman by trade. ISKCON likes to say he was a chemist. For the most part, he wasn't a scientist working in a laboratory, he was a shopkeeper who sold medicines.

An honest businessman informs the customer of exactly what they are buying. He sells his product for a fair price. Even if he takes a loss, he preserves his dignity. He understands that being honest builds a long term clientele. It also feels good and is the right thing to do.

Prabhupada had the mentality of a corrupt Vaishya: someone who sells milk mixed with paste, or a sleazy car salesman who hides engine problems. If anyone has watched Better Call Saul you know the archetype. Saul Goodman's father was a honest shopkeeper who was constantly being cheated. A young Jimmy McGill (Saul) observed this and decided to become a con artist.

Prabhupada spoke of how in business one must tell lies,"for you sir, I make no profit". Prabhupada was likely a haggler who did whatever he had to, to buy low and sell high. In Prabhupada's world, an honest businessman could not survive. You had to assume you were being cheated at all times and get the other guy first. This is how business is still is done in much of India, certainly in the mean streets of Calcutta.

Cheat or Be Cheated

In the West there is also corruption. There are endless financial schemes, fraud, undercutting labor, exploiting sweat shops, corporate boardrooms abound with white collar crime. What to speak of government lobbying.

However; in day to day life, at least locally, there has been a culture of honesty. If a business becomes known for shoddy work or cheating their customers they will not last long. There is an expectation of decency. Local authorities are vigilant. Price tags are displayed openly. No one barters or negotiates. It is understood there is a markup for services rendered. Customer are free to go to the nearest competitor and look at their prices. Westerners are generally not exposed to this ruthless competitive swindling culture.

Today contractors in the US and Canada are refusing to do business with Indian immigrants because of this culture. There is a practice of low balling estimates, wanting work done for beneath market value, breaking contractual agreements, renegotiating after completion, demanding something for free. There is an assumption that if a job is done faster than expected, because of the expertise of the contractor, the price should be lowered. Highly skilled laborers are treated with disrespect, as low caste servants. There is the neglect of licensing, government regulations and quality control.

It is widely understood by sales representatives this clientele never feels satisfied until they feel they have gotten something for free, or gotten one over on the contractor or business, or somehow cut corners. This is seen as "getting a deal". If you do not do this, you are a fool. This is the culture where Prabhupada was coming from. He built ISKCON with this in mind.

How This Effects ISKCON

Prabhupada said "money is the honey. Everything in ISKCON is for sale. Just like a cruel corporation always looking to cut costs through layoffs, the lives of devotees are constantly judged against the bottom line.

Devotees sell books on the street. This street hustle is "family business". These books are sold by any means necessary. Prabhupada advised devotees to use flattery, "you sir are a great mahatma, please take this book".

ISKCON devotees pleased Prabhupada by bringing him large amounts of money attained through scamming and high pressure sales tactics. ISKCON was built by the "change up". Devotees went out on the "pic" to fleece the public as they bought Christmas gifts for their children. They wore wigs and suits and Santa Claus outfits, hiding their identity.

They pretending to collect donations for starving kids in India. Whatever they could do to defraud a dollar, cynically feeding off the trust of society while feeling morally superior. When people wizened up, they hawked stickers, incense, and schlock art. The greatest scammers were considered spiritually advanced.

Now they monetize the deities, selling photos, calendars, prasadam, clothing, flags on ratha carts, whatever is not nailed down in the temple. This is to target the Indian congregation. In Prabhupada's time they sold Life Memberships, where Indians could use temples as hotels when they travel.

Outreach Programs

This extends to how ISKCON preaches. Devotees are rarely if ever honest. They hold programs for college students where they dress in "karmi clothes" and teach yoga, cooking, ayurveda, or vague pop psychology. Many do not even know they are among Hare Krishnas.

This is the "in like a needle out like a plow" philosophy. You present yourself as benign under false pretenses, gain trust, love bomb, slowly gain control, then exploit someone to the maximum, turning them into a cult slave. A Brahmana could never do this.

In fact, a Brahmana could never remain in ISKCON because they would first be honest with themselves as to what it is, no matter the cost. They would recognize it is not in alignment with Rta.

Subversion

Prabhupada was antagonistic to Western Civilization. He hated democracy, science and technology, and yet he used them hypocritically to achieve his aims. He criticized motor cars yet he drove in them "in Krishna's service" to ultimately end "motor car civilization". He similarly wanted devotees to win elections, to become high court judges, etc. all for the purpose of bringing down the system.

Similarly, he commanded his disciples to use science to dismantle science, to find ways to "kick on Darwin's face". Thus devotees present endless pseudoscientific arguments to shoot holes in science while pretending to be scientists.

Similarly modern ISKCON devotees pretend to support women's rights and women's empowerment, all for the purpose of ultimately enslaving women according to Prabhupada's dictates.

A Brahmana, again, would never do this. It is corrupt and dishonest.

The irony is, while doing these things, he accused all other gurus of being cheaters.

(Pictured: Gabbard in a BJP scarf)

Tulsi Gabbard's connections to the RSS, BJP and the Modi government exposed.

She used her position in Congress, and as Director of National Intelligence, to serve the interests of the Modi government. Wealthy Indian donors in the US paid for her rise to power in the US Government and expected her to deliver by pursuing the Indian Nationalist agenda.

When the US passed a House resolution condemning Hindutva violence against Muslim and Christian minorities in India, she dissented. During her time in the Trump Administration she was vocal in her attacks on Islam. She characterized criticism of Hindu extremism as racism.

This is not unusual, as Prabhupada was a racist Indian supremacist. If he were alive today he would undoubtedly support Modi and the BJP. ISKCON today is very close to the Modi government.

Gabbard recently resigned her position after her connections to Chris Butler's Science of Identity Foundation were publicized. It had been demonstrated that her guru was influencing her public appearances and providing her talking points (this is also discussed in the linked video).

.

The White Man's Burden is a famous poem by Rudyard Kipling. The phrase has come to refer to the belief that Europeans possess a superior culture and religion. With great power comes great responsibility and therefore the White man is obliged to civilize the world.

Ethnocentric Bigotry

Prabhupada similarly believed Indians had a responsibility to civilize the world. Indian culture and religion was vastly superior to that which he encountered stepping off the Jaladuta. He mercifully deigned to condescend to our level and teach us how to be human beings.

Before Prabhupada we ate with forks and spoons, had salt and pepper on the table, wiped with toilet paper, and (gasp) even ate with our left hand. We were filthy mleccha savages born of sin.

The equivalent to Prabhupada in the history of European colonialism would be a Spanish Conquistador converting the Incans or Aztecs, giving them Christian names, making them dress as European peasants, eat European food, enslaving them using shame based religion, while teaching them their native culture is disgusting savagery.

The Indian Man's Burden

As discussed previously, in decades to come ISKCON in the West will be almost entirely Indian. In some places it already is. It may eventually come to be directed by authorities solely in India.

Prabhupada created ISKCON to convert Westerners, from what I have witnessed, very few are joining. Will ISKCON become a group of Indians in the West operating to convert the natives, much like Protestant missionaries based in England operated during the British Raj?

I noticed Indian ISKCON devotees were not comfortable with this task. They preferred to cultivate and convert Indians such as themselves, diaspora IT workers on Visas working at Microsoft and Google. It is one thing to preach to someone from a civilized Vaishnava Brahmana family in Pune. They are often lonely and isolated in the West. It is entirely different to go to Burning Man or a Rainbow Gathering and talk to a bunch of wild young half naked hippies.

Indians in general may be more introverted than Westerners. It is not easy to engage with those you have no introduction to and no connection with.

Prabhupada's American disciples, for example, had no problem traveling the world, immersing in other cultures, and loudly telling people to join their cult. I think for many Indians, such behavior is crossing a boundary and very uncomfortable.

Nevertheless; such devotees will find themselves inheriting the Indian Man's Burden. They have the dual challenge of maintaining a strict orthodox culture while living in the West, and trying to convert (and civilize) the people they live among.

Will They Succeed?

I don't think this will be successful. Prabhupada was wrong. Westerners are not savages. ISKCON operates on a flawed racist premise.

Despite its libertine experimental attitudes towards traditional morality, Western culture is highly sophisticated, educated, intelligent and modern. Western culture is anything but backwards. It is forward looking, expanding the cutting edge in technological and scientific advancement, exploration, individual rights and personal freedom.

Its power is its flexibility. It adapts and integrates the ideas and cultures it contacts. I think it is far more likely the Indian preachers will be converted over time than the other way around. If not themselves, their children and children's children.

Video: Non-ISKCON ratha yatras are popping up all over major cities in the West.

The Western world is not what it was in the 1960's when Prabhupada arrived. For most Canadians and Americans, the financial situation has radically degraded. The culture that existed then is almost entirely gone. Foreign peoples and religions are no longer something distant and mysterious. People feel overwhelmed.

Economics

After WW2 the United States was the last man standing. It was the only industrial nation that hadn't been destroyed. As a result it enjoyed a massive economic boom. Veterans had large families with five or six children. These Baby Boomers grew up in a world of opportunity. They enjoyed a very high standard of living compared to the rest of the world.

One could go to college for a few thousand dollars. A new home cost two years wages. A new car cost six months wages. A man or woman could support their family with a blue collar job. Such jobs were for life and provided pensions and benefits. No one knew how good they had it.

I see ISKCON, and the entire hippie counter culture of the 1960's, as a form of excess. Baby Boomers were rich pampered children set free to explore life. They broke the boundaries of the safe suburban world that raised them. Boomers were free to take risks such as dropping out of college, or leaving the workforce to take drugs. The mantra of the era was "tune in a drop out". They were free to go live on an LSD commune, or immerse themselves in radical political ideologies and religious cults.

Since then, the economic system as has all but collapsed. Young people can no longer afford a gap year in college to find themselves, what to speak of join a cult. People have to grind from their teenage years just to survive. A home is a pipe dream. Many live with crippling student loan debt. Retirement is no longer an option. Employers no longer provide dental and medical insurance. Many survive month to month on credit cards. Jobs are sent overseas or given to an imported foreign workforce. The culture that once demanded a healthy work life balance, workers rights and job security is disappearing. On top of it all, there is a massive push to replace as many human workers as possible with AI.

No one can afford to become a Brahmacari or Brahmacarini. The only people who do are those who fell out the bottom of society.

Demographic Change

White Baby Boomers lived in what was essentially a homogeneous ethnic enclave. White suburbia was highly prosperous, safe and orderly. It was a very innocent time with its own distinct culture. There were ethnic minorities but their numbers were small and they lived for the most part in their own enclaves. For Whites, there might be a few Black kids in one's school, or a black family that lived on the block, but ethnic groups remained isolated. My White mother's best friend was Black growing up and it was seen as highly controversial in the neighborhood, on both sides.

That world has been erased by non-European immigration beginning in the mid 1960's and ramping up in the 2000's. Indians are no longer distant exotic foreigners, rather they are everywhere, even in small towns and remote rural areas.

Boomers were obsessed with exotic eastern religion. Today Hinduism is no longer something magical practiced by turbaned Maharajas and snake charmers, lampooned or romanticized on Howdy Doody. Nor is India a far off place. Everyone can see online what India looks like, the good and the bad. They can read about Hinduism and watch a near infinite number of videos online.

When ISKCON devotees hold ratha yatras and kirtanas, they are no longer exotic and strange. Indian street religion is happening everywhere now, with various Indian religious groups staking their claim of the West. This is not always welcome for a variety of reasons. Indians are seen by many in highly negative terms and this trend is only increasing.

In this bustle ISKCON is just another Indian group making noise in the streets. Westerners are no longer scrambling to experience "spiritual India". Nor is Indian culture considered superior to so-called Western materialism.

The naive fetishizing of India was a product of a prosperous and sheltered society. The cultism of the 1960's arose from economic and cultural largess. ISKCON was only possible in a brief window of history that has already closed.

.

Wait a minute... I thought Prabhupada was the Jagat Guru, Now this guy is claiming to be the Jagat Guru. What are we going to do ISKCON bros? How can there be more than one "guru of the entire universe"?

Beyond Jagat Guru he is also a "Saint"!

What makes him a saint? If enough groveling uneducated simps call you a saint, apparently you become a saint. No need for the Vatican council to carefully bestow the title. If a cult leader gets enough people to touch his feet, he is a saint. Why didn't we give Prabhupada the title saint? Saint Prabhupada.

Does he sell feet pics like on Onlyfans? Should we start a website "Onlygurus" where pay pigs give dakshina? The highest tier gurus are Jagat Gurus. The second tier are Saints.

For $9 a month you can be a Kanishta Adhikari. For $20 a month you can be an Uttama Adhikari. For a $100 donation Swamiji will have a private darshana in his moving chair. 😘😘😘

Prabhupada is a super duper maha mega messiah. The more titles worshipers give to you, the bigger you are. Sri Sri Sri AC Bhaktivedanta Bhakta Bungholio Maha Meglomania Patita Pavana Paraplegica Parivraj Jackal-acharya Jagat Guru Fallopian Tubia Swami Maharaja 108!

Beat that "Saint Ron Paul"!

To think, a world of 7 billion people all owe allegiance to my guru. Prabhupada means, "the master at whose feet all other masters sit". All other gurus sit around his feet like dumb little children, eager to obey and learn. He is the self appointed world guru even if no one else has ever heard of him. Nothing bloviated and narcissistic about any of this.

If only he had the above technology in the 1960's. Prabhupada could have sat in a mechanized popemobile that lifts him up and down like a revolving sushi bar, so we, his willing slaves, can suckle his feet like baby pigs fighting over a nipple.

.

ISKCON has been rebranding itself as a liberal organization. It emphasizes the empowerment of women and the protection of children. It tells itself this was always Prabhupada's intention.

Devotees reimagine Prabhupada as an open minded liberal, an innovative religious reformer, who wanted women's liberation through Krishna Consciousness. They repeat the few statements that support this and ignore the overwhelming number that do not.

"Prabhupada allowed women to become Brahmacarinis, to live in the temple, and to serve on the altar. They can even give class. Can you imagine how open minded he was! Prabhupada didn't want children going to authoritarian boarding schools, he wanted to give them cookies!"

Though for some reason these things do not apply in India, the place Prabhupada considered the spiritual heartland of the world. Nor do they apply in his world headquarters in Mayapura.

ISKCON also works to quietly distance itself from some of Prabhupada's more insane statements, and to somehow explain them away with weak dishonest arguments.

What is a Liberal?

Societies tend to have a right wing, a center and a left wing.

The right wing wants to resist change. This is motivated by a love for one's people, one' culture, one's history. The right often idealizes a time in history when everything was right, a mythical golden age.

The far right tends to label all change as demonic, an attack on the divine social order. Any loosening of orthodoxy is met with fear and even violence. Those responsible are in Maya or agents of Kali, opposed to the will of God. Chaos must be destroyed and order returned. We must return to the past.

The center recognizes the value of the past. There is wisdom in tradition that should be understood, respected and preserved, however; the jar used to preserve it must change with time.

There should be a constant process of reformation to update tradition while preserving its essence. As we progress we recognize things we believed in the past to be harmful. These should be stripped away even if painful. This is a process akin to scraping barnacles from a boat so that it can keep moving forward.

The center could generally be considered "Liberal". It looks to the future while trying to pull the past with it.

The left wing wants radical change. It wants to eliminate the orthodoxy entirely through revolutionary insurrection. The old order is fundamentally beyond redemption. There is nothing good. We must sever completely with the past and start over.

The far left declares war on the establishment and wants to burn it all down by any means necessary. This can even take the form of siding with traditional enemies, those who wish to destroy the society, regardless of their motivation. Chaos should triumph over order so something new can grow.

What Was Prabhupada?

Prabhupada was on the extreme far right.

He was so far right he wanted to force India, and the entire world, to return to the culture of the Western Ganges Plain circa 300 BCE. He was a religious fundamentalist and a bigot.

He wanted to recreate Brahminical agrarian religious slavery. His ideal form of governance was religious monarchy. He even advocated for dictatorship if the ruler was a devotee. If only Stalin was Krishna Conscious!

His attacks on science, democracy, mayavada, karmis, shudras, mlecchas, homosexuality and the liberation of women, were an attack on religious unorthodoxy. His cult must destroy these things and reestablish the order Krishna wants for humanity. Anyone who opposed him, or his cult, was an enemy of Krishna, and therefore a demon.

When Prabhupada allowed new innovations into Gaudiya Vaishnavism, such as allowing women on the altar, he did so only because it would have been impossible to spread his cult otherwise. He did this only where it was absolutely necessary. His purpose was always to destroy the current social order and its liberalism. This was done in the name of God.

Prabhupada's "liberalism" was merely utilitarianism. He explained this in reference to using technology while also condemning it: a policeman uses a speeding car to catch a speeding car. In the end there will be no cars.

Ancient Tug of War

The Brahminical patriarchy never controlled India entirely.

There were always a strong unorthodox traditions. There was pre-Aryan tribal worship. There were mystics who challenged the system and emphasized caste equality (like the Buddha). There was the relative empowerment of women within Shaktism. The worship of the divine feminine was probably the predominate religion of India before the arrival of the Aryans.

There was also the vama marg within some tantric traditions. This is the "left hand path" where the core moral foundations of the orthodoxy are deliberately transgressed, including eating meat and fish, having sex outside of marriage, drinking alcohol and eating intoxicating grains.

Within Gaudiya Vaishnavism, this takes the form of the various Sahajiya movements labelled apasampradayas by the Gaudiya Math and ISKCON. Prabhupada would classify Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism as similarly blasphemous.

The orthodoxy was set against these groups and driven to destroy them. They would advocate for the "right hand path" via sattvik Brahmanical culture.

Prabhupada brought this tug of war into 1960's America and refashioned it in reference to American society. He considered himself saving the low born hippies, products of liberalism, akin to outcastes, hopeless moral degenerates birthed into sin.

He would fight back against the liberal social errors of the Civil Rights Era. This would include feminism, racial equality, and the acceptance of homosexuality.

He would even oppose the Enlightenment, the root of all liberalism, with its insistence on rationality and scientific evidence, its attacks on scriptural literalism, its support of equality and egalitarianism, and its vision of progress.

.

ISKCON teaches its members that anyone who criticizes Prabhupada and his cult are simply envious. This is a logical fallacy, an ad hominem attack. Rather than deal with the criticism, the critic is accused of a moral failing. Their character and motives are impugned.

This is also a way the cult gaslights its members. It tells them there are no serious structural problems. It also makes them afraid to admit there are.

You Are Evil!

For ISKCON members, the cult more than represents Krishna. t is Krishna incarnate. It is the body of Prabhupada! If you criticize the cult, you secretly hate Krishna.

You are not motivated by a desire to understand truth or combat destructive religion, to heal and free yourself of its effects; you are motivated by an inner spiritual failing. Simply put, you are evil.

Former members who criticize the cult are snakes. They were demons all along. Driven by a malignant cancer of the soul, they only infiltrated the cult to later betray it and wreak havoc.

ISKCON is Always Pure

A sincere person looks past its blemishes of the movement to see its true transcendental nature. It is like the Ganges which only appears to be filled with bubbles foam and mud.

All criticism is a form of insincerity. You only see the surface impurity because your heart is impure. Your envy traps you in a materialistic vision of something pure.

You Are Just Envious!

Envy is defined as "a painful or resentful feeling of wanting an advantage, success, or possession that belongs to someone else". ISKCON twists the word to mean hatred or negativity, ultimately arising from jealousy towards Krishna. This misuse of the word envy has always bugged me. It is a form of cult jingoism.

The soul wants to imitate Krishna as the Enjoyer. We have been placed in the prison of samsara due to this envy of Krishna. It is the opposite of love for Krishna and the misuse of free will. You are choosing evil at the soul level and it manifests as hatred for ISKCON.

For ISKCON, this is a doctrine of original sin. It establishes a baseline of permanent cosmic guilt. We are all bad people. ISKCON saves us from ourselves. Any resistance to ISKCON is due to our guilty evil nature arising again.

Ex Members are Fallen

Ex members are rage filled and bitter. They want to destroy God's work because of their own internal corruption. Like Satan they have fallen from heaven. They followed the misuse of free will and have become utterly demonic.

Those who remain loyal to the cult are using their free will properly. They are good and superior to all others. They are God's chosen in this world. Ex members could not pass muster. Their souls were too weak. No matter what they have done, or how long they have served, they were never sincere.

Gaslighting

This is of course gaslighting, the favorite tool of the narcissist.

They teach you that all of your own ideas, your own perspectives, your criticisms and attempt at self preservation, are a form of insanity or personal failing. You cannot trust yourself as to what is real. You thus give them authority over your life.

Narcissists use this to play the victim and minimize the harm they have done. They are attempting to erase the abuse by denying it. It is an imagined delusion arising from the failure of your soul.

Ex members appear to be the target of the gaslighting. This is only on the surface. It is the cult members themselves who are being gaslit when dissidents are labelled envious.

They are living in a bubble where the cult is always right and critics are always wrong. They are subtly being told the abuse they are undergoing, of which they refuse to be conscious, is not happening.

If they allow themselves to become conscious of it they are committing the ultimate sin and destroying their soul.

.

Imagine Prabhupada sitting with Joe Rogan for 3 hours. He could NOT handle a long form interview where someone treats him as an equal. A modern podcast host would challenge him and expose his bullshit. The interview would probably end ISKCON.

With the journalists of the 1960's. he would disrespect them and talk over them. If they did not agree with him completely, and did not use their position to simply promote his cult, they immediately became his enemy. With some guests he would just sit in silence trying to intimidate them. As soon as they opened their mouth he would practically shout at them, condemning them as demons.

The entire world was evil, filled with karmis, lusty prostitutes, animals and sinful meat eaters. Western Civilization has no value. Democracy and human rights are bogus. Science is evil.

He would constantly claim women are less intelligent due to having small brains, even insulting female journalists. "Why do you shave your legs" is still touted in Bhagavatam classes worldwide as the greatest "gotcha" in history and a demonstration of how Prabhupada was a genius who could not be defeated.

What to speak of his ideas about race. If he went on a podcast and said, "Negroes are rapists who should be enslaved. Whites are savage Mlecchas. Homosex came from Brahma's ass. Hitler was not such a bad man." ISKCON would be laughed out of existence.

When journalists asked for evidence that the Moon is further than the Sun, he would say ridiculous things like "Sunday comes before Monday". Imagine Prabhupada locked helplessly into a podcast, under the hot lights, where an interview forces him to explain himself.

I am guessing he would play the sadhu for the first fifteen minutes, being polite. Then it would degenerate into arguing. He would try to shout over Joe Rogan, or whoever is the host. The host would not back down.

Prabhupada would do nothing but appeal to authority, declare himself Krishna's only bona-fide representative on earth. You either accept him and submit or reject him and go to hell.

Finally he would just sit in silence fuming with rage, pouting after throwing a temper tantrum. His disciples would come in an end the interview. Then he would rant all the way home about how the interviewer and the millions of listeners are all hopeless demons. Everyone is going to hell and he would kick and spite on the interviewers face.

Narcissists like Prabhupada can only survive in an environment where everyone agrees with them. They surround themselves with people who obey them and hang on their every word. They cannot tolerate being challenged or treated as an equal. Everyone is beneath them.

Such people are attracted to becoming religious leaders. Cults like ISKCON are weird synergistic environments where people agree to worship and enslave themselves to a narcissist. The narcissist living in the echo chamber of his worshipers actually believes his own bullshit over time.

If the state authorities, or investigative journalists, threaten to shatter that illusion, to break apart their little kingdom and free their followers, they often choose to burn it all down instead. The cult devolves into isolation, madness, violence and suicide.

Prabhupada was on this path. He would make paranoid comments like "If they knew who I was they would have killed me before I arrived". As if the world is controlled by shadowy demons and he alone was combating them.

If Prabhupada was younger like Jim Jones or David Koresh I think ISKCON would have devolved into total insanity. Like Jim Jones he might have set up an isolated community in South America to escape nuclear war. When the US authorities would land at the nearest airport, the "Kshatriyas" would open fire. Swamiji would hand out poisoned sweet rice like "Prabhupada cookies" from the vyasasana.

.

Within ISKCON there was no privacy. There was no personal space, nowhere we could be ourselves without judgement. We were not allowed to take rest or enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Nor were we allowed to think for ourselves.

Devotees live fractured secretive lives. Externally we played the role of the humble surrendered servant of the servant, navigating the soul crushing framework of the ISKCON surveillance state. Internally we had our own hidden world of "Maya", the last piece of ourselves we had left.

This is perhaps the most traumatizing aspect of ISKCON. Using the previous analogy of the Gulag, our hidden inner world of Maya is where we resisted total subjugation, the breaking of our spirit, psychological surrender to the prison camp we lived in. Every moment of every day ISKCON battered in on that small piece of self, demanding surrender.

Surrender Unto Me!

This inner world of personal sovereignty, where we could do what we want, and think what we want, was labelled "Maya". This spark of self was labelled "attachment" and it had to be annihilated no matter how painful. Our spiritual lives were an attack on this self.

To destroy our last inner resistance to the cult is anartha nirvrtti; the next step in becoming a pure devotee. We must let the cult win entirely, so that our thoughts, words, and actions, belong to the Prabhupada and his representatives 24/7.

There can be no private life. The last stand of the pre-cult personality, our personal autonomy, our tiny inner niche of freedom, must be sacrificed.

My Personal Maya

My personal Maya was I liked to read fantasy books. I secretly read all of Tolkien's works. I also enjoyed Robert E. Howard (the author of the Conan the Barbarian series), hence the name Solomon Kane, another of his characters. I also watched old television shows on Youtube, the occasional movie, and the anime of Studio Ghibli.

At the time I felt I was in Maya. I was ashamed. I hid it from devotees. I was terrified someone might find out.

Now I see it as me preserving my sanity. I was holding on to a piece of myself. I was choosing to do what I wanted to do in defiance of external pressure.

The Psychological Fallout

Living in a coercive environment that demands total control, that uses shame and fear, while also resisting that environment internally, creates a dynamic of an inner and outer world wherein the outer world is abusive and constantly invading one's space. The cult seems to always be beating down one's door and trying to enter.

Devotees live their lives with no personal space, mental or physical. In the ashram, brahmacaris and brahmacarinis share rooms, always urging each other to surrender. Living in an ashram is like living in a subway station of noise and foot traffic.

Grhastas are policed by overbearing devotee spouses who watch and criticize their every move. Children are constantly policed by devotee parents.

No devotee is allowed to be in Maya; to act accordance with their natural tendencies. No can just be themselves. They must think of Krishna constantly, and obey Prabhupada by serving his movement at all times.

I remember being in the ashram, when someone reached a breaking point and needed time for themselves they would play sick. It was the only way the cult allowed people to take a few days off, while still maintaining their social respectability.

Breaking Down the Door

The outer world begins to feel like an enemy always pounding on one's door.

It reminds me of the scene from The Shining, where Jack Nicholson's character famously chases his vulnerable wife and child to murder them with an axe. Eventually he corners them in a bathroom and takes his axe to the door.

Within a cult like ISKCON personal boundaries are always being attacked and violently dismantled. The devotee internalizes this divide and goes to war, chasing their own inner autonomy and terrorizing it with the hope of annihilating it.

Trauma and Triggering

After leaving the cult I have a severe sound sensitivity. It is akin to shell shock. Every loud unexpected sound that people make, such as footsteps above me, or a sudden knock at the door, or a sudden loud voice right behind me, causes waves of fear to wash over me.

This is due to living for two decades in a situation of coercion, where the outside world was constantly trying to destroy my inner world. Where I learned to "guard my Maya" and hide it from everyone in fear. Where I felt the small piece of me that was left was under constant pressure of annihilation.

This is the traumatic effect of a twisted form of spiritual life. All of my focus was on annihilating that last hold out, that last resistance to the cult. I did not understand that the hold out was me, it was my own inner life, my own soul.

(Pictured: a victim of modern day slavery engaged in forced labor)

In ISKCON we were told our innate love of God would be reignited by engaging in repetitive daily worship. For four hours every morning we had to be in the temple room while most the world slept. Within the context of the autocratic temple surveillance state, this was not done out of love. It was done out of fear.

We lived in fear of social exile, rejection by others, and spiritual damnation. "If I do not do these tasks, I will be destroyed".

The Forced Labor Camp

Nor did these responsibilities end at breakfast. After the morning program we were expected to jump right into a full day's service. This could be washing pots in the kitchen or street selling books at the airport. In the midst of this, we had to cram an hour of reading Prabhupada's nauseatingly repetitive books, often struggling to stay awake.

After this, we were expected to attend the evening program. Grhastas were to do this at home, worshiping personal deities, offering them food, while engaging in kirtana and giving class to our spouse and children.

Every moment of our day was regimented. Prabhupada wanted us to never have a minute to ourselves. The idle mind is the devil's workshop. We were forbidden to rest. To do so would invite Maya. We might do something that did not serve his cult.

Everything we did was done with a deep sense of shame and fear, as if we were being watched and judged. We spent every waking moment moving through a checklist.

We lived in a high control environment. It resembled a forced labor camp, where every action we performed, we were made to do it against our will. Our actions continue to feel forced long after we have left. This is the imprint of Prabhupadas fanatical cult onto our nervous system.

The Post Cult Freeze

When we leave the cult, we find that life is similarly filled with duties, things we do not want to do but have to. The natural burdens of life are mistakenly identified with the burdens of the cult. Life itself is seen through the filter of the Prabhupada's movement, which controlled and forced every action we performed.

These could be looming inescapable responsibilities like our car is having problems and we have to fix it. Perhaps we have to attend to a medical issue: a tooth that won't stop hurting.

There could be financial burdens, like we have to pay bills, we have to go to work, we are worried about health insurance, or building a retirement plan. Even looking at our bank account can be terrifying.

These could be simple daily tasks, like we have to clean our home, or wash our clothes, or even bathe our body. For ex devotees, simple things like this can feel like an extreme burden. When we move to do them, or simply feel pressure to do so, we encounter a wall of fear.

If we have to pick up our room, the very thought causes dread, even panic. We become frozen. For me, I would spend some days completely in bed, unable to do anything. Forcing myself to do the smallest task was a great victory. "It was a good day, I bathed and brushed my teeth, I cleaned my room".

Reclaiming Sovereignty

I find the greatest lesson ex cult members need to learn is self love. We have to take back power over our lives, a power we gave to the cult. We have to reject shame and love ourselves as we are, especially the parts of ourselves we were told to reject and overcome.

When we freeze up, we do so as a healthy form of rebellion. It is like a sit-in strike at the labor camp. The prisoners refuse to do their work. "No! I refuse to work! I will not be forced to do anything anymore!"

It is a healthy response. It is us, it is our nervous system, taking back control.

We should accept and respect this. Our actions should be absolutely voluntary. If we do not want to clean the floor, or wash our clothes, we do not have to. No one can force us. If there is a looming task to perform, let it loom. I will do it when I feel like doing it.

If we choose to rest, then the universe must respect that. Consciously resting can be a powerful act of defiance and reclamation of sovereignty. "I choose what I will do, and when I will do it".

.

Was the traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava system designed to prevent cults like ISKCON from arising? Would the Gaudiya acharyas recognized the structural problems of the cult and work to prevent the immense psychological harm it has done to sincere spiritual seekers?

Personally I find Gaudiya Vaishnavism repulsive. I cannot advocate nor defend it in any form. I am not sure about the answer but I would love to hear your opinions.

Bhaktisiddhanta: The Cult Founder

In the comments there has been a recent discussion about Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, his claim to have been initiated by Gaura Kishora in a dream, his giving himself sanyassa, his rejection of siddha pranali. His own brother, Lalita Prasad, was a fierce critic.

Bhaktisiddhanta openly criticized Bipin Bihari, Bhaktivinode's guru, and was "offensive" towards many Vaishnavas. He broke not only from the goswami lineages, but from the restrictions of babaji renunciation. This is a radical break from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.

He is the origin of ISKCON's lineage which, despite its deceitful claims to antiquity, is only about 100 years old. Bhaktisiddhanta began preaching around 1918.

Gaudiya Cultism

To my mind it looks like cultism is baked into the Gaudiya Vaishnava system. This is most pronounced in the doctrine of the authoritarian (tantric) guru who is a representative of God.

If we could see the preaching movements started by Nityananda in the jungles of Bengal, I am sure we would recognize it as a fierce, fanatical, sentimental cult.

I also see medieval India as a highly competitive religious environment, where movements militarized and organized into rigid hierarchies. These were tied to institutional power and wealth, and operated as mini fiefdoms. A great deal of toxicity was also imbibed from the collapse of empire, instability, disease, famine, foreign invasion and subjugation.

Denied Hierarchical Power

However, it may be that many of the traditional restrictions of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition served to prevent cults from developing, knowingly or unknowingly.

It raises the question, were the practices that arose in the centuries following Chaitanya Mahaprabhu meant to stave off the dangers inherent in an overall toxic religious environment?

For example, traditionally there were no Gaudiya Vaishnava sanyassis. There were only babajis. They put on white cloth and renounced all institutional power and authority. They did not act as "Maharajas".

In fact they often hid in bhajan kutirs in holy places and refused to take disciples. Rupa Goswami even warns against taking too many disciples.

No International Preaching

Practitioners were forbidden from crossing the ocean. I have always seen this as a kind of racism, that Vaishnava Brahmanas and Sadhus would become contaminated by the Mlecchas, but there may be another purpose to this.

When Prabhupada's cult reached America, it was like a tiger being released on an island with no natural predators. India has certain guard rails, expectations, checks and balances, that do not exist outside its culture. Westerners have no cultural criteria to distinguish a legitimate sadhu from an authoritarian despot.

It may be the transfer of Indian religious systems into foreign environments can be harmful to the natives. The restriction on international travel is perhaps meant to protect both Indians and foreigners.

No Technological Power

Babajis at least, were forbidden from walking on roads, using automobiles, wearing modern footwear. They could never start a cult by printing books or preaching online.

Practitioners were given initiation with siddha pranali and encouraged to sit in bhajan kutirs, not preach to the masses and gather followers.

Quality Control

Diksha initiation was strictly guarded and doled out carefully. Giving oneself initiation and sanyassa, like Bhaktisiddhanta, was not done. A person had to demonstrate their qualification.

ISKCON likes to claim Bhaktisiddhanta did these things because he found no one qualified. It is more likely he was seen as unqualified, too radical, potentially harmful. By criticizing them, Bhaktisiddhanta bypassed both Bhaktivonode and Guara Kishora's lineages, and gathered all legislative and interpretive power into his own hands. He became a cult leader who answers to no one.

Even the idea of caste restriction, which I do not agree with, served this purpose to a degree. It kept the interpretation of shastra, the worship of the deity, and the power to initiate disciples, in the hands of lineage custodians, not charismatic cult leaders.

Bhaktisiddhanta and Bhaktivedanta never could have been cult leaders in that tradition.

It is almost like the tradition on some level recognized the danger of the authoritarian guru doctrine and kept it confined to a specialized group that wasn't looking to start abusive systems of power to spread a dogmatic faith.

What Do You Think?

This of course may be a distorted view, looking back through the lens of the cult and the damage it has done. I certainly do not want to idealize the Gaudiya Vaishnava religion.

I imagine if Lalita Prasad, or the Vrndavana Babajis, were as successful as Prabhupada, many of the same dynamics that haunt ISKCON would have been introduced. But the thing is, they never could have done what Prabhupada did. It was forbidden.

ISKCON sees this as Prabhupada being empowered. They look at the external results of temples, followers, money, and power. They do not see the immense harm Prabhupada has done, which theologically speaking, is the opposite of empowerment, it represents deviation.

It always bugged me as a devotee how almost every kirtana singer pronounces "Rama" as "Ramo" (Raw Mow). "Hare Ramo, Hare Ramo, Ramo Ramoooooo".

We used to joke as devotees that at the time of death some weird creature would show up instead of Krishna. The devotee asks who is he is, and he answers Ramo.

.

Batarti "Bhakti" Gabbard arrested for trying to lure children to his hotel room with candy and money. He is been on a drug binge and is under psychiatric watch.

(Pictured: The Soviet Gulag)

The most harmful aspect of being in ISKCON is that I knew the environment was abusive and yet I forced myself to submit to it. I put my heart into it. I refused to back down and pushed myself to the brink of collapse.

Towards the end, I was aware of ISKCON's abusive nature and I refused to preach. I was determined to go down with the ship and sacrifice myself out of loyalty, but I could not in good conscience force anyone else to make the same decision.

Loving the Abusive Parent

ISKCON targets vulnerable people. Growing up in an abusive home I learned to submit to my abuser.

For a child, the parents are "Krishna". They are the absolute truth, the source of their security, the basis of their survival. The child seeks to unite with their parent in love, to dissolve into them in absolute warmth and surrender. The parent builds the child's worldview, to protect the child.

If the parent harms the child, or exploits the child, or forces it to accept a harmful worldview, the child will submit anyway. As children we have no one else. Nor can we conceive of any other way.

The injured child learns to filter out and ignore toxicity. Despite the pain, they embrace those who harm them. This rips apart their deepest sense of security. It leaves them feeling terrified at the core of their being. Where they should feel safety, they feel terror.

Loving the Cult Leader

Cults function like abusive parents.

On the outside, the cult may look like a cheerful place where everyone is worshiping, dancing, chanting, feasting, bowing to each other in humility and smiling. On the inside, the cult is authoritarian and despotic. It functions like a surveillance state or prison. The cult cares nothing for its members. Indeed, it despises them, a prerequisite for using them.

As discusses previously, this is internalized. The devotee learns to constantly watch and regulate themselves with shame and fear. The cult leader lives within. We were like children who always feared the parent was watching.

And yet the devotee eagerly submits to this fate. They seek to unite with the cult leader in surrender, more and more. The cult leader and his institution are imagined to be loving and kind, a divine mission from the spiritual world, despite all evidence to the contrary.

The cult environment encourages this. It uses primal human social psychology to encourage submission and forbid criticism.

Everyone knows subconsciously the institution is toxic. No one can say it outloud. It is The Emperor's New Clothes. Everyone bows and worships despotic authority, pretending it is pure and good, that is represents God.

Cult members throw themselves at the feet of the abuser as an act of absolute trust, emphatically declaring "use and abuse me if you desire!", hoping for a drop of mercy, hoping to taste an instant security and love.

This is a deadly cycle. The cult puts you in fear the more you submit to it. Yet you are driven to submit by the promise you will be relieved from fear. That relief never comes, instead you become increasingly stressed and broken until you "burn out".

The Soviet Gulag

18 million people were sent to the Gulags between 1929 and 1953.

In one sense, the entire society of the Soviet Union function as a cult. Joseph Stalin was the cult leader and ruled with an iron thumb. Everyone lived terrified of his Secret Police. Most learned to externally play the role of devoted party members. All dissent was kept in one's own mind. Even children were tasked with monitoring and reporting the suspicious behavior of their parents.

Everyone knew they were being watched. The psychological propaganda was so powerful the machine of the state was internalized, and comrades learned to police their own thoughts, to feel fear and shame for rebellion.

Those who refused to submit, or were even rumored to refuse submission, were send to ideological prison camps where they would be broken. Many refused and fought to maintain their autonomy. Many could not and were broken.

The broken adopted the ideology of their masters. Even worse, they learned to love their prison guards. They learned to love the men who were beating them, starving them and working them to death. They saw them as wise and heroic figures who were saving them from themselves. They lamented previous rebelliousness as "fallen rascals".

When they were finally set free, many did not want to go. "Please do not set me free, I have adopted your ideology, I believe in the party, please let me live at your lotus feet, as a gardener or servant in the Gulag".

Many could not leave. They could not survive on their own. Some even chose to live their lives outside the walls of the Gulag, in the remote Russian tundra. They lived in villages around the camps, working and participating in the camp's economy.

This kind of experience was heavily critiqued in George Orwell's 1984. Big Brother (the Supersoul, the guru, the temple president) is always watching.

The ISKCON Gulag

ISKCON members live in a religious Gulag. We were psychologically broken as part of our conversion experience.

We learned to love our abuser, to bow and cry at the thought of him. We begged him to use and abuse us.

We accepted his ideology completely. It was used to make us submit to the cult more and more until we could not conceive of living without it. After some time, we were unable to live in the outside world. Our lives and minds were shattered by the trauma of the cult. The level of fear is overwhelming and we simply cannot function outside the camp.

For those of us who were abused as children there was another layer. We were conditioned to this from infancy.

(Pictured: The Soviet Gulag)

The most harmful aspect of being in ISKCON is that I knew the environment was abusive and yet I forced myself to submit to it. I put my heart into it. I refused to back down and pushed myself to the brink of collapse.

Towards the end, I was aware of ISKCON's abusive nature and I refused to preach. I was determined to go down with the ship and sacrifice myself out of loyalty, but I could not in good conscience force anyone else to make the same decision.

Loving the Abusive Parent

ISKCON targets vulnerable people. Growing up in an abusive home I learned to submit to my abuser.

For a child, the parents are "Krishna". They are the absolute truth, the source of their security, the basis of their survival. The child seeks to unite with their parent in love, to dissolve into them in absolute warmth and surrender. The parent builds the child's worldview, to protect the child.

If the parent harms the child, or exploits the child, or forces it to accept a harmful worldview, the child will submit anyway. As children we have no one else. Nor can we conceive of any other way.

The injured child learns to filter out and ignore toxicity. Despite the pain, they embrace those who harm them. This rips apart their deepest sense of security. It leaves them feeling terrified at the core of their being. Where they should feel safety, they feel terror.

Loving the Cult Leader

Cults function like abusive parents.

On the outside, the cult may look like a cheerful place where everyone is worshiping, dancing, chanting, feasting, bowing to each other in humility and smiling. On the inside, the cult is authoritarian and despotic. It functions like a surveillance state or prison. The cult cares nothing for its members. Indeed, it despises them, a prerequisite for using them.

As discusses previously, this is internalized. The devotee learns to constantly watch and regulate themselves with shame and fear. The cult leader lives within. We were like children who always feared the parent was watching.

And yet the devotee eagerly submits to this fate. They seek to unite with the cult leader in surrender, more and more. The cult leader and his institution are imagined to be loving and kind, a divine mission from the spiritual world, despite all evidence to the contrary.

The cult environment encourages this. It uses primal human social psychology to encourage submission and forbid criticism.

Everyone knows subconsciously the institution is toxic. No one can say it outloud. It is The Emperor's New Clothes. Everyone bows and worships despotic authority, pretending it is pure and good, that is represents God.

Cult members throw themselves at the feet of the abuser as an act of absolute trust, emphatically declaring "use and abuse me if you desire!", hoping for a drop of mercy, hoping to taste an instant security and love.

This is a deadly cycle. The cult puts you in fear the more you submit to it. Yet you are driven to submit by the promise you will be relieved from fear. That relief never comes, instead you become increasingly stressed and broken until you "burn out".

The Soviet Gulag

18 million people were sent to the Gulags between 1929 and 1953.

In one sense, the entire society of the Soviet Union function as a cult. Joseph Stalin was the cult leader and ruled with an iron thumb. Everyone lived terrified of his Secret Police. Most learned to externally play the role of devoted party members. All dissent was kept in one's own mind. Even children were tasked with monitoring and reporting the suspicious behavior of their parents.

Everyone knew they were being watched. The psychological propaganda was so powerful the machine of the state was internalized, and comrades learned to police their own thoughts, to feel fear and shame for rebellion.

Those who refused to submit, or were even rumored to refuse submission, were send to ideological prison camps where they would be broken. Many refused and fought to maintain their autonomy. Many could not and were broken.

The broken adopted the ideology of their masters. Even worse, they learned to love their prison guards. They learned to love the men who were beating them, starving them and working them to death. They saw them as wise and heroic figures who were saving them from themselves. They lamented previous rebelliousness as "fallen rascals".

When they were finally set free, many did not want to go. "Please do not set me free, I have adopted your ideology, I believe in the party, please let me live at your lotus feet, as a gardener or servant in the Gulag".

Many could not leave. They could not survive on their own. Some even chose to live their lives outside the walls of the Gulag, in the remote Russian tundra. They lived in villages around the camps, working and participating in the camp's economy.

This kind of experience was heavily critiqued in George Orwell's 1984. Big Brother (the Supersoul, the guru, the temple president) is always watching.

The ISKCON Gulag

ISKCON members live in a religious Gulag. We were psychologically broken as part of our conversion experience.

We learned to love our abuser, to bow and cry at the thought of him. We begged him to use and abuse us.

We accepted his ideology completely. It was used to make us submit to the cult more and more until we could not conceive of living without it. After some time, we were unable to live in the outside world. Our lives and minds were shattered by the trauma of the cult. The level of fear is overwhelming and we simply cannot function outside the camp.

For those of us who were abused as children there was another layer. We were conditioned to this from infancy.