HG Kalakantha Das - Is ISKCON Leadership at War with Srila Prabhupada's Instructions? 

i love the wisdom His Grace Kalakantha Prabhu shares in this important video teaching. I was blessed to spend almost two years traveling with His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad as His cook and personal servant, and as a result i got to hear Him say so many things that are in alignment with the Krishna conscious position Kalakantha Prabhu exemplifies so well. Here are a couple of stories that support the equality and often superiority of the Vaishnavis... One morning in Los Angeles when i had just started serving His Divine Grace at His home in the middle class section of Beverly Hills, about five miles from the old La Cienega temple, i came into His room just after sunrise to bring Him fresh water and a garland for the day, and He asked me to play the recording of Her Grace Yamuna Devi Dasi singing the Govindam Prayers. George Harrison had just produced the Radha Krishna temple album and it became a daily practice to play that recording for Him. Srila Prabhupad would listen with His lotus eyes closed most of the time and often showed symptoms of spiritual ecstasy like tears and trembling because of the spiritual depth and potency of her singing. One morning He said... "You know, I have been thinking of making Yamuna Prabhu a GBC member... she is fully qualified, but it is not time yet. The men would misunderstand and create too many unnecessary difficulties." Yamuna Prabhu and i were in the first group of Srila Prabhupad's disciples to go to India, and she became one of my best friends and spiritual confidantes. Another time, a group of men came into Srila Prabhupad's room and complained that the way the temple room was set up, with the men on one side and the ladies on the other, there was too much distraction from maya by the fact that the ladies were in their direct line of sight, and they tended to look at them rather than put their attention on the Deities. They asked Srila Prabhupad if they could move to the back of the temple instead, and when Srila Prabhupad heard this, He chastised them loudly and said... "THIS IS NONSENSE! If you can't focus on Radha and Krishna when They are standing right in front of you, how will you be able to remember Them when you are on the street doing sankirtan and book distribution? If anyone should move to the back of the temple it should be you!" All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad. All glories to all the assembled devotees. All glories to all the Vaishnavis who give the men strength.

Kalakantha Prabhu ki-jaya!

Hare Krishna Please continue this much needed format. Open discussions pave the road to understanding and change.

A very enlivening and essential discussion. I look forward to more of these from our senior, experienced, and articulate devotees. Thank you for arranging this Prabhus. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! - ys Dhira dasa

I am genuinely inspired by Kalakantha Prabhu's clear, knowledgeable, and pragmatic approach to presenting the topic of varnashrama. As Srila Prabhupada said, "we judge by the results," and Kalakantha has consistently shown impressive results over time. He is undoubtedly onto something significant, which could greatly benefit preaching efforts in the U.S. Kalakantha is experienced, knowledgeable, and practical, demonstrating proven results while maintaining his commitment as a serious practitioner of Bhakti yoga.

to say scripture is the ultimate "tie breaker" is simply mental concoction. No one can understand scripture WITHOUT a genuine Guru.

How about protecting women by empowering them as Śrīla Prabhupāda recommends? This is so simple for those whose focus is to please and service Śrīla Prabhupāda and spread the sankirtana movement. (But this topic is a different matter. It should be outside the discussion of varnashrama. Keep discussions to one topic at a time!)

An awesome way to discuss spiritual things. But one thing that must be there that hist must provide references on the basis of which he is speaking.

With all due respect, it is somewhat galling to hear this talk when you Kalakantha crushed the women's preaching center I was running as a 'woman' in Baltimore., next to Johns Hopkins University. We had so many students coming and distributing books, and you crushed it quoting that women should be treated as children. Just when we were really gaining traction you dismantled the whole thing. I have never forgotten that one. It was utterly crushing. Especially as I had been on a womens' party traveling all over North India selling Prabhupada's books. So yes.... it is pretty galling . , but then on the gracious side perhaps you have learnt to see women as Vaisnavas and not just women. Nandapatni dd

One problem in discussions on "varnashrama" is the expansion of the discussion to all aspects of Vedic culture. If we keep it to just the actual implementation of the varnas and ashramas then it becomes a simpler and more scientific endeavor. Even vaishnavas serve in a particular varna. For example, Sri Krishna told Arjuna to do his duty in Krishna consciousness. That is repeated numerous times in the Gita. His final instruction to "abandon all varieties of religion" is meant to emphasize atma-nivedanam, that is, to make the focus of one's life to please Krishna, over and above simply performing one's material duties. It is not meant as a repudiation of varnashrama-dharma.

There are three modes of discussion and debate: (1) vada, (2) jalpa, and (3) vitanda. These are arranged from best to worst. In vada all parties are prepared to be defeated by Truth, i.e., there is no agenda to "win" or to defeat the other. As HG Kalakantha Prabhu said, "...it maintains Vaishnava decorum." Jalpa is where a person just wants to be heard, but does not hear or consider the views of others. Finally, vitanda is the aggressive attempt to defeat the other, without consideration or respect for any point of view or argument.

Everybody wants varnasrama nobody want to be the sudhra

ISKCON leadership was constantly in war with Prabhupada and especially with all these thousands of rank&file Prabhupada disciples who built up global ISKCON in the seventies. The GBC gurus used these Prabhupada disciples to make new devotees and also train these new devotees. As a thank you, they were eventually thrown out with perfidious tricks. Then the ISKCON leaders had the problem that the temples were all independent non-profit organizations. Gradually the ISKCON lawyers accomplished so that all ISKCON temples are now centralized. Much to the detriment of the temple congregations, which no longer have any say in their own temple administration.

WE ARE NOT HINDUS, AND WE ARE NOT TRAINING THESE BOYS TO BECOME HINDUS. We are training them to love Krsna, God. (SP Conversation Japan 1972 - Bhurijana Dasa MGM)

ignore Lord Chaitanya's conclusion at your own risk, a brilliant presentation Kalakanta Prabhu!

It is worth noting that Srila Prabhupada's choice of a landing spot for starting varnashram in the west was Gita Nagari and not Los Angeles or New York. In fact the entire discussion around that episode centered on self sufficiency and living off the land. To make the roles of women in traditional vedic culture a pivotal point of emphasis is one thing, but to equate those roles with Srila Prabhupada's vision for varnashrama, or the unfinished 50% of his mission is fallacious

Firstly establish HDG as Diksha guru in iskcon then talk on other subjects Prabhuji … Please accept my humble obeisances all glories too Srila Prabhupada … Hare Krsna

The comment by the host that scripture is the final arbiter, among guru, shastra and sadhu, is not accurate. As Kalakantha pointed out, scripture can be interpreted different ways by different people. The guru's understanding of scripture is key for the disciple. "Yasya deve para bhaktir....." For one who has unflinching faith in Guru and Krishna, the essence of the scriptures is automatically revealed. Of course the guru must be bona fide, like we have in Srila Prabhupada. This leads into the unfortunate situation where some people have changed some of the translations of Prabhupada's books, based on their speculative understanding of scripture, by which they felt justified overriding some verses that Prabhupada himself had observed, read and preached from. This pseudo scholarly attitude is so dangerous and offensive. It is how the teachings eventually become lost, and Krishna has to come again, or send His representative. Regarding Varnashrama, Prabhupada also stated in the early days in America, Kali Yuga had progressed so far that Varnashrama was impossible to reestablish. No students in universities, or other young people in the west were practicing celibacy while in school and before marriage, among other things. In India also, Varnashrama had degraded into understanding caste was by birth, not qualification, and traditional brahmin families and almost everyone else, followed very few standards, if any, while still claiming privilege. When questioned by Lord Chaitanya of what was the most important thing to make human life successful, Ramananda Raya replied "following Varnashrama", Lord Chatanya said "no, go deeper'. As KK prabhu mentions, it was only later when Prabhupada saw sanyasis falling down, he thought going back to more basics of Varnashrama would be helpful, as keeping higher standard of Vaishnava sanyasi vows, was also extremely difficult for most. A question remains, who would decide who is in what varna, and when? Traditionally, a guru would see the qualities of a student, and recognize those qualities of goodness, passion, a mix passion and ignorance, or more of ignorance, and guide accordingly. Where is that opportunity now? In our Gurukulas? What about people who are already done with education and working? How to tell them what varna they should be in and why? We also know, everyone in Kaliyuga is basically born as a shudra, according to scripture. Kalau sundra sambhava.. Who has the vision and potency execute a Varnasrama system?... Not an easy task.

Iskcon BG as it is 2.31.....purport(last sentence).the word varnashram Dharma has been replaced by higher authority.they are just poisoning prabhupadas Books.

THEY ARE BRAINWASH

Not important right now. Serious distraction from what needs to get out to the world. Hari Nam in public, prasadam distribution in public and book distribution in public.

Gaslighting.