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Srila Sridhar Maharaja - Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Mayapur

THE CASE OF SRIDHARA MAHARAJ

Sulocana Das, - Dec. 12, 1985
Dear Vaisnavas and aspiring Vaisnavas:

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to the pure devotee who gave all of us the seed of Krsna consciousness, Srila Prabhupada.

For those of you who have expressed difficulty reading my heavy-handed writing style, I would like to quote from a letter Prabhupada wrote to Karandhara if that may help:

Today I was presented with a book put out by Dheera Krsna entitled, The Guardian of Devotion. I took this as a response to our challenges even though he hardly touched upon any of the serious points we had brought up. Dheera didn't touch upon our point that Sridhar Maharaja preaches an impersonal origin of the soul, which we proved by extensively quoting from both Sridhar Maharaja's book Search for Krishna and Prabhupada's books. We have no choice but to assume that Dheera has nothing to say. Having no answer means he has lost the debate.

I beg to remind Dheera and his followers that I wrote only Part One of four parts, to the Sridhara Maharaja chapter of my book, The Guru Business. (Available $10.) 1 did not touch upon the bad advice he gave ISKCON's GBC when they approached him in 1978 for approval to play guru. Two famous quotes by Sridhar Maharaja at that time were: "It will be to deceive the disciple (telling them you're a pure devotee)" or, "There is no big mantra or little mantra for guru. Guru is one. (So go ahead and pose as uttamas.)" A few years later when that bogus advice exploded in a series of falldowns, violence and dissension, Sridhara Maharaja said to Dheera, "They will dig their own graves (and bury Prabhupada along with them.)" Then he summed it all up very clearly by saying to Yashomatinandan, "I am a form breaker," and, "I don't agree with Swami Maharaja (Prabhupada) in everything." The effect of Sridhar Maharaja's bad advice on ISKCON did not surprise us since Prabhupada had already warned: "They (specifically Sridhara Maharaja) cannot help us in our movement but they are very competent to harm our natural progress." (Letter to Rupanuga.) As such, the fact that Dheera could not answer the section on the impersonal tendency leaves little doubt in our minds that he will not be able to respond to these heavy charges, i.e., that Sridhara Maharaja unduly interfered with the divine mission of Srila Prabhupada.

Personally, because I have full faith in Srila Prabhupada, I never had to read further than the one quote written to Rupanuga wherein Prabhupada said, "Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja." Dheera simply refuses to address this and other serious statements made by Prabhupada. No one is denying that at one tune Sridhar Maharaja was sincere, advanced, friends with Prabhupada, etc., and that Prabhupada liked him and even confided in him, but when an offense is committed to a pure devotee, or his mission (the Gaudiya Math) which is non-different, one loses all importance in Krsna consciousness and immediately fails down to mundane mental speculation. (Narayana Maharaja said, "Don't you know this man (Sridhara Maharaja) is a breaker of institutions?") As far as "high realizations" go, I'm sure Jayatirtha also has some very high realizations which make him and his followers "faint" all the time. And Srila Prabhupada said about Jayatirtha just before leaving this world, "You are my only tirtha (shelter)."

We are not interested in those kinds of "high realizations." We are interested in solid, direct, and concise rebuttals to our philosophical points. Words spoken by Prabhupada in the mood of flattery, encouragement, Vaisnava etiquette, respect for seniors, humility, gratitude, friendship, etc., are not valid arguments to counter all of the negative statements Prabhupada made about Sridhar Maharaja just before leaving this world. Flattering and encouraging speech was always used by Prabhupada even when talking to the most disgusting human beings imaginable, so what to speak of what Prabhupada was capable of saying to a senior Godbrother, and in that Godbrother's presence. The words Prabhupada spoke about Sridhara Maharaja to his disciples when Sridhara was not there is the actual fact. And even then, Prabhupada was very cautious. If Prabhupada put in writing that Sridhar Maharaja is responsible for disobeying an order of his guru, that's it. Case closed. If Dheera wants to defend Sridhar Maharaja, then he has to confront these points, and not simply invoke the sentiments of those with no knowledge of Prabhupada's style of encouragement, his tactfulness, and humility and compassion. All these factors have to be taken into consideration when analyzing something Prabhupada says about an individual. To say that Prabhupada was whimsical when he wrote the letter to Rupanuga is very offensive. Prabhupada always was very careful about what went into writing.

So if Dheera still wants to defend Sridhar Maharaja on the basis of flattering statements, then first he has to explain why Sridhar Maharaja says the jiva soul originates in the Brahmajyoti, whereas Prabhupada says the jiva's original home is with Krsna. Why did Prabhupada write to Visvakarma in August of 1975, "I have now issued orders that All of my disciples should avoid all of my Godbrothers." And why did Prabhupada tell Gargamuni right after Sridhar Maharaja left the room once, "He is simply envious." These are solid facts that we require solid rebuttals to if Dheera wants to be a preacher and try and establish Sridhar Maharaja as being equal to Prabhupada. Actually, even though he denies it, Dheera and his clan are trying to establish Sridhar Maharaja as superior to Prabhupada. His statements clearly reveal this fact. For this reason it is extremely dangerous to read or even cite the words of Dheera or Akshayananda just as it is suicidal to read the Lilamrta, which was designed by ISKCON's bogus gurus to minimize Srila Prabhupada, "To make Prabhupada more acceptable to the general public" was their excuse.

At the present moment, the battle to remove the bogus gurus in ISKCON has reached a point where I have no time to finish the chapter on Sridhara Maharaja. I know many of you are anxious to start circulating the full expose since it is so painful to see our beloved spiritual master being minimized and shoved into the background like this but the priority at this time is exposing the ISKCON "gurus". I have every intention of finishing the chapter on Sridhara Maharaja at first opportunity. The source material for that chapter is so voluminous that it will take a solid week to sort through and compile. Until then, it is my humble request that if any of you still have doubts as to the real situation with Sridhara Maharaja, then please just put yourself on hold for a few more months. Very soon, maybe even within weeks, the ISKCON "gurus" will be fully exposed and removed from power. Once this offensive situation is gone, everyone will be able to breathe again and we can begin to rebuild ISKCON. At that time, if there is still a threat coming from the Sridhara Maharaja camp, we will compile the fun story.

The situation between myself and Keith Ham-asura (Kirtanananda) has reached the point where any day now it can ignite into a full-scale media battle which will bring the entire ISKCON situation into the public eye (enclosed is the latest front-page article). We consider the Sridhara Maharaja issue to be insignificant when compared to the preaching that must be done at this time to re-establish ISKCON as the pure society Srila Prabhupada wanted it to be. It is not our intention to allow ISKCON to dissolve into another tiny, obscure, dead body, like the Gaudiya Math, just because the "form breaker" prefers it that way. He successfully destroyed the institution of his Guru Maharaja but we will not allow him to destroy our mission as well. The only tool left to save ISKCON form the hands of these form breakers and imitationists is the media which is why I am giving full attention to them now. Enclosed is my introduction to reporters and a concise explanation as to what has happened in ISKCON since the departure of Srila Prabhupada. It is only a matter of time before the story breaks wide open. With the violent threats Ramesvara is throwing around these days, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't ignite the media fire that will purge ISKCON once and for all.

Another point specifically to those who use the bait and switch tactic of luring devotees into your camps under the pretense of being sincere to Prabhupada; both the ISKCON "gurus" and the Sridhara Maharaja "gurus" are doing this. It is illegal, demoniac and a crime that I have every intention to putting a swift halt to. I tell the same thing to Dheera's cult that I tell Keith Ham-asura's cult. That is: I don't care if you want to preach some bogus philosophy but if you continue to use the name of Prabhupada and Krishna as bait, then you're going to be stopped. It's not all right. It's not all one. I don't care if you continue to use Sridhara Maharaja as bait to prop yourself up as a "guru", any more than I care if you use Rajneesh, but if you continue to use Prabhupada's legacy and name as bait, then you will be stopped for that is illegal. If you don't present a response to all of the challenges we have made then you have to remove au of Prabhupada's pictures from your temples and stop making this asinine claim that Sridhara Maharaja is equal to Prabhupada. That is simply not a fact. We have proven that in only Part One of our expose on Sridhara Maharaja. Your silence is your defeat. Stop using Prabhupada as bait! This is not a request, but an order. You are defeated in debate and that means you have to surrender. Otherwise, you will pay dearly for each and every person you lure away from Prabhupada. And don't try to juggle your way out of this or try to impress us with a discourse on Brahma Gayatri either. We are only interested to hear a discourse from you on why Prabhupada said, "Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja," and that's all. Until you can answer this very simple and obvious question, don't pretend to be a scholar. So I'm saying, either present a full rebuttal to our challenge, surrender to the above demands, or expect a severe reaction. As you may have gathered by the way in which I'm dealing with ISKCON, I'm serious. When they're gone, you're next.

If anyone reading this would like to offer some tangible help in the service of Srila Prabhupada's mission then there are many different services available at this time. For instance, while Dheera is busy writing books by and about Sridhar Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada's thousands of lectures are just sitting here waiting for someone to come along to index. Until then, we have no access to all that pure knowledge, pure humor, and pure Prabhupada contained therein. Researching Vedic texts, such as Chanakya Pandit book Artha Sastra, or books on the vamasrama social structure in general, is also crucial if Krsna consciousness is to be established in the world. So rather than waste time with an "ease lover's" philosophy, we humbly request serious devotees to come forward to help establish the mission so kindly started by our real father, Srila Prabhupada. He gave us all we need to know about Radha-Krishna and the Gopis. The followers of Srila Prabhupada don't need Sridhar Maharaja's "high realizations" on that subject (as though they were higher than Prabhupada's). He said, "Work now, samadhi later." So there is much solid and practical work to be done right now. Prabhupada left the "down to earth" work for us. That's all we are competent for-and not imitating real saints like Prabhupada. We hope there are enough practical and solid devotees around to take some of the credit for all this real work that needs to be done. Thank you.

As a final point, we are not claiming to be saints. We have all kinds of problems dealing with the material energy that seem insurmountable. We are not pretending to be always absorbed in the love of the gopis like the Sridhara Maharaja club. Nor are we pretending to be scholars or brahmins like the smarta club of Subhananda, Ravindra Svarupa, and those who talk a lot but still get their bread and butter by handouts from demons. Nor are we members of "the end justifies the means" ISKCON "gurubhava" club that sits on thrones between semen breaks, drug deals, nervous breakdowns, wife stealings, child molestations, etc., etc. It is not necessary to join any of these clubs to understand Srila Prabhupada's books. He wrote his books for people just like us: simple but honest. In fact, it is only honest people who can understand Prabhupada's books. That's because honesty is the only leg left in this age and we are proud to be tightly hanging on that one leg. So for those of you who don't like this simple, direct, often crude, often angry, but at least honest way of speech, then why don't you come forward and do something better to remove these demons who have ravaged Prabhupada's movement? Dheera says guru is one, and Keith Ham-asura says we are trying to crucify Prabhupada. Both these statements are in essence the exact same thing: trying to place yourselves equal to Prabhupada, and that is an offense no real disciple of Prabhupada will tolerate, for long.

Your servant in the exclusive service of Srila Prabhupada:

Sulocana dasa

SRIDHARA MAHARAJA RESPONSIBLE FOR
DISOBEYING THIS ORDER OF GURU MAHARAJA

Letter: Rupanuga, April 28, 1974

"You are right about Sridhara Maharaja's genuineness. But in my opinion he is the best of the lot. He is my old friend, at least he executes the regulative principles of devotional service. I do not wish to discuss about activities of my God brothers but it is a fact they have no life for preaching work. All are satisfied with a place for residence in the name of a temple, they engage disciples to get foodstuff by transcendental devices and eat and sleep. They have no idea or brain how to broadcast the cult of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. My Guru Maharaja used to lament many times for this reason and he thought if one man at least had understood the principle of preaching, then his mission would achieve success. In the latter days of my Guru Maharaja he was very disgusted. Actually, he left this world earlier, otherwise he would have continued to live for more years. Still he requested his disciples to form a strong Governing body for preaching the cult of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He never recommended anyone to be acharya of the Gaudiya Math.

BUT SRIDHARA MAHARAJA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DISOBEYING THIS ORDER OF GURU MAHARAJA, AND HE AND OTHERS WHO ARE ALREADY DEAD UNNECESSARILY THOUGHT THAT THERE MUST BE ONE ACHARYA. If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acharya he would have mentioned. Because on the night before he passed away he talked of so many things, but never mentioned an acharya. His idea was acharya was not to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said openly you make a GBC and conduct the mission. So his idea was amongst the members of GBC who would come out successful and self effulgent acharya would be automatically selected. So Sridhara Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acharya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acharya even though THEY MAY BE kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acharya is being changed three times a year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp. ACTUALLY AMONGST MY GODBROTHERS NO ONE IS QUALIFIED TO BECOME ACHARYA. SO IT IS BETTER NOT TO MIX WITH MY GODBROTHERS VERY INTIMATELY BECAUSE INSTEAD OF INSPIRING OUR STUDENTS AND DISCIPLES THEY MAY SOMETIMES POLLUTE THEM. This attempt was made previously by them, especially Madhava Maharaja and Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja but somehow or other I saved the situation. This is going on. We shall be very careful about them and not mix with them. This is my instruction to you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are very competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful about them."

Note: The words “MAYBE kanistha adhikari” is also very appropriate as even kanistha stage requires one to be FULLY QUALIFIED BRAHMANA. Since even HONESTY (truthfulness) the QUALIFICATION OF BRAHMANA was lacking in Sridhara Maharaja then HOW was he even kanistha adhikari? Hence, Srila Prabhupada used the very appropriate word “maybe”. It was NOT even certain he was a brahmana. He PRETENDED to be Diksha Guru while being DISOBEDIENT to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, his Guru.