Srila Prabhupada, His Movement & You

When the Sun Rises, Darkness is Dispelled

From Hansadutta das
15 February 1995

Dear Urdhvaga Prabhu:

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!

I received your letter dated January 26, 1995 from Schmieheim. I was very happy to receive your letter, because I have not heard from you in a long time and wondered what was going on in your mind. Your letter was very friendly, and it made me very happy and peaceful. I always feel that we are friends in Prabhupada’s service, and I can also understand that you are very patient and sober. Personally, I do not have much hope for the so-called re-unification of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples in 1996. I think this is a sentiment which is very noble, but the necessary understanding required to effect such re-unification is totally lacking. You know it very well. I’ve known it very well since a long time that the only way the devotees, both old and new, can actually be united and act in one spirit is if they realise that Prabhupada is the Sampradaya Acharya, and all others are his servants in different capacities. Anything less than this is sentiment, having no substance. Although I have no real hope that a re-unification of Srila Prabhupada’s movement is possible, I nevertheless am very enthusiastic and determined to work and serve Srila Prabhupada in that conviction. I certainly do not wish to associate with devotees who cannot understand the transcendental position of Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acharya and the greatest representative of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and all the previous acharyas in the line of disciplic succession. So I remain alone, more or less. There is a nice devotee here whose name is Jagat Guru das and who has been helping me in different ways, especially operating the computer and doing some of the secretarial work, like writing letters and organizing an office. I do communicate with Yashodanandan Maharaja, Veda Guhya Prabhu and a few other devotees, but by and large I am alone, although I do not feel alone. I feel Srila Prabhupada is guiding me, is pleased with me in spite of all the blunders and offenses I have committed in the past years.

There is definitely no future in the present set-up of the official ISKCON institution. Just as the demigods were defeated by the demons when they neglected their spiritual master, Brihaspati, similarly the leaders of the ISKCON will be defeated one after the other, along with their foolish followers, because they have neglected the Sampradaya Acharya Srila Prabhupada. Therefore, in the future I do not like to waste my time and energy in quarreling with them about various issues, especially the issue of rittvik representatives and Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acharya. Because by recognizing ISKCON leaders, even in a negative way, we are giving them credibility which they do not have. In other words, we are unnecessarily keeping them alive by drawing attention to their existence.

We should be eager to preach Krishna consciousness positively to the innocent mass of people, for whom Srila Prabhupada will be the obvious Sampradaya Acharya, savior of the fallen souls. And anyone foolish enough to present himself as a guru-acharya on the equal level with Srila Prabhupada will be seen as nothing more than a buffoon and dismissed as obviously ridiculous. By preaching positively, the negative effort is automatically included. We need not make any separate endeavor to point out the defect in their line of preaching. In other words, when the sun rises, the darkness is automatically dispelled, without any separate endeavor. So preaching Krishna consciousness, ignoring all reference to ISKCON’s existence, is the solution all around.

If in the course of preaching, someone deliberately places an obstacle in our path, then we can breath fire and brimstone on such contenders. And even if innocent people question us, “What about ISKCON?” we should dismiss such inquiries by saying boldly, “They are the vestiges of the movement started by Srila Prabhupada in the ’60’s and ’70’s, and their only concern is to accumulate money and to imitate the Acharya by posing themselves as holy men. We have nothing to do with such ambitious, neophyte, sanctimonious pretenders.”

Today Chakravarty called me from Germany and also sent us a message by E-mail over the Internet. He seemed to be quite cheerful and enlivened. He mentioned that many devotees have come to visit him, including Prithu, and that he had also communicated with you. At that time, I did not mention to him that Vidyanatha had written me last year, requesting the photo archives from the period of Srila Prabhupada’s visit in Germany, but deliberately neglected to invite me to the Srila Prabhupada re-union of the German Yatra. So I am very doubtful about the consciousness of the German devotees, with whom we had so many years of intimate devotional service in the presence of Srila Prabhupada. I also do not know exactly what is Chakravarty’s understanding in regards to Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acharya and the rittvik representatives of the Acharya. I did not think that the telephone was the time to discuss this subject matter. Of course, it would be wonderful if we could once again co-ordinate our energy for serving Srila Prabhupada’s mission. But I know, and you know, that without having unconditional allegiance to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acharya, no genuine spiritual association is possible amongst the devotees. Therefore, perhaps you can communicate with Chakravarty and see what his understanding and his determination is. I have sent him all the literature which you have also seen, but he has to date not given a clear-cut indication of what his heart-felt conviction is.

Lately we have applied ourselves to learning the ins and outs of the computer technology and the feasibility of preaching on the world-wide Internet, and it looks very promising. Unfortunately, myself and Jagat Guru are very inexperienced in this field. Our idea is to first of all network serious Nama Hatta devotees, those adhering to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada without reservation. Through them and computer communication (by E-mail and Internet), establish centers world-wide, each center remaining independent with Srila Prabhupada as the center. Also, we are hoping to set up a page on the Internet where we can preach by giving a running commentary on world news events and other topics of social, political and economic interest from the Krishna conscious angle of vision. Srila Prabhupada, in his lifetime, said that we should publish a newspaper, but it wasn’t possible, due to the lack of talented manpower, money and the element of time. Now, with computer technology, it is possible to receive the news and instantly respond to it and post it by Internet and E-mail with our particular angle of vision as a commentary. It is also very inexpensive. Do you have a computer? If not, I think you should somehow or other come into possession of a computer and printer so that you can communicate through the Internet system. This is definitely the wave of the future, and we must ride it as far as possible for the service of Srila Prabhupada. If you do not personally own a computer, perhaps you have a friend who owns a computer. If so, please let us know your E-mail address, and we can communicate swiftly and economically by E-mail.

We have some friends in Chicago who are in possession of a Xerox Docutech production publisher, which is the latest in digital publishing, and they are enthusiastic to provide their services to the cause of establishing Srila Prabhupada as the Sampradaya Acharya and re-uniting Srila Prabhupada’s family world-wide.

I published your letter in a revised edition of the Nama Hatta newsletter, which I’m enclosing herewith. You will see in this newsletter also two letters written by Raghunath. He is the son of Hrimati and Atmavidya, and he has now gone to Italy since one month’s time. Perhaps you will meet him there one day. I’m eager to hear from you. I hope this letter finds you well.

Your humble servant,
Hansadutta das

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