An Answer for Satya dasa (When the Guru Falls)

A few days ago a devotee called Satya dasa published a heart rendering letter in the Sampradaya Sun (see here). His question was, "What happens to a disciple when the guru falls?". Having been a guru myself and having fallen from the strict standard I thought I owed him and the devotee community a sincere and truthful answer. So, here it is.

The answer is that your guru Harikesa dasa lied to you. He presented himself for what he wasn’t. He wasn’t a liberated soul. He did not have the power to take you to Krsna because he himself had not yet reached Krsna. What he should have told you is that although he had no power to take you directly to Krsna, he could take you to someone who could: Srila Prabhupada. He should have told you that Prabhupada, as your siksa guru, was the preeminent spiritual force in your life and that he, Harikesa, was simply acting as Prabhupada’s humble, insignificant and unqualified servant. If he had told you that, he would have told you the truth. Certainly he was and still is your diksha guru but not on the platform of a liberated soul and he had no right to accept the worship and position as if he was. Specifically he had no right to allow you to believe that lie. If Harikesa had been a truthful vaisnava, then you, knowing him as a soul still on the path to perfection, could have seen his falldown in the proper perspective and avoided much trauma, possibly including the loss of your family. Although Harikesa tried his best with what he had and this painful, negative experience will teach him and purify him more, the fact that he lied will be a big stumbling block for his future redemption. Why do I say that? Because his lies and the lies of others in his position have practically destroyed the pure force of Prabhupada’s movement. Those lies have alienated 95 percent of Prabhupada’s disciples and stolen their rightful inheritance. Thus, although there are no negatives in Krsna consciousness and although it is all a purifying, learning experience, still, “The bigger you lie the harder you fall.”

I too am a fallen guru and sannyasi. My fall disappointed and hurt many people and I suffered greatly because of it. In many ways I am still suffering the shame of it all. However, in my defense, I can attest to one fact that greatly attenuated that negative reaction: the fact that to each and every one of the 22 devotees I initiated I clearly stated in advance that I was not a liberated soul, that although I could not take them to Krsna, I could take them to Prabhupada. The proof of it is that I never ever accepted a pranam mantra, a guru puja or a Vyasa puja. I simply tried to be what Prabhupada ordered all his disciples to be after his departure: regular gurus. Unfortunately, the ISKCON hierarchy and the GBC body did not and still do not share that view.

In the writing above is an implicit challenge to my godbrothers in ISKCON, to the gurus and sannyasis and to the GBC: be real vaisnavas and put the truth before everything. Stop the spin, stop the denial. Be real. If you do that you will have the goodwill and service of the lost 95 percent and with it the goodwill of Srila Prabhupada. Now, what will it be? Your foolish, puerile and wholly insignificant pratistha or a united movement with the spiritual strength to change the world? My dear brothers, it is not too late: Yes We Can!

jadera pratistha sukarera bistha

Your precious prestige is no better than the excrement of a pig

(Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura)