| Home | “An ISKCON temple should not be a saffronized dog-lick-dog doghouse for the satisfaction of a few hungry pit bulls and slobbering mastiffs defending an imaginary domain stolen from the ācārya.” |
Editorial: Big Dog Syndrome
By Prof. B.S. Sharma, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Recently I came across a copy of
Back to Prabhupāda magazine during a visit to the USA from India, and I must say that I salute the editorial staff for their courage and conviction. The antics and tomfoolery of ISKCON’s so-called “ācāryas” and “gurus” have gone far enough and it is about time a voice has arisen from the wilderness in protest of their heinous offenses. Personally, I have been associated with ISKCON for some thirty years now and have watched with pain ISKCON’s slow descent into chaos and disorder since the maha-samadhi of His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda, whose darshan I was able to have on a number of fortunate occasions. Today I am a retired professor of veterinary science, but in my days of active research I was able to better understand my study in animal nature after reading Swami Prabhupāda’s wonderful
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
Quite simply stated, the reason for ISKCON’s precipitous decline is the lack of qualification of the rascals who have usurped the gaddi or āsana of Vyāsadeva, the self-appointed “pada squad.” It is a simple enough task for an ordinary man to appropriate the symbols of a paramahaṁsa like children dressed for Halloween. Yet living up to the lofty ideals of a pure devotee like Swami Prabhupāda is quite another story indeed. Just as Superman costumes carry warnings for children not to attempt to fly while wearing the cape of the Man of Steel, so the śāstras describe the penalties for making a parody out of a genuine yogī. He who actually follows a self-realized paramahaṁsa is noble and glorified, yet he who simply imitates the genuine saint—while nurturing envy and hatred within—is nothing short of a despicable fool. A man strolling along the beach in shorts and sandals is not quite ready for a trek up Mount Everest, yet this obvious truth has escaped ISKCON’s self-appointed pontiffs who think that the mere ability to climb upon the throne is qualification enough to sit there. The bitter fruits of suffering, agony and remorse have certainly followed many of the poser gurus all the way to infamy, and for those throne-setters who remain their fate will be non-different in the future, unless they heed the message of
Back to Prabhupāda. Over one hundred of ISKCON’s gurus and sannyāsīs have ended up in jails, in brothels, in morgues, in marriages to un-holy mothers or have simply run home to their mommies for want of devotional qualifications.
REBIRTH OF THE POOR FOOL
During my years of research into animal aptitude and motivation, I became an early pioneer into the field of animal psychology. Those were the days when scientists thought that animals acted solely on instinct alone. Having learned the truth about various levels and degrees of consciousness from
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, it was a snap to comprehend that animals, like human beings, have a limited ability to reason, to think and to communicate. Conversely, human beings who cherish the base qualities animals—viz., mating, eating, sleeping and defending—may find themselves, the eternal soul within, bound for the wombs of animals. That some animals have likely been human beings in the past life explains some crossover attributes of both species. There is a humorous anecdote about a penniless fool who spent his last five rupees on a horoscope reading. The astrologer told him, “Do not worry, Sir, in your next life you will enjoy unlimited riches. You will be reborn in California where you will wear diamond jewelry. Many servants will care for your every need. Daily, you will be held tight to the bosom of a gorgeous blonde who will kiss you constantly. You will ride in the most expensive car to grand parties and gala affairs.” Elated, the poor man offered his last five rupees to the pandit and left. After his death some years later, he was reborn as a poodle in the home of a Hollywood actress.
A PACK OF GURUS
Canine psychology can be easily observed and understood since dogs are a species tied to dependency upon human beings. In America, for every one pampered dog, twenty-five are either tortured in scientific experiments or euphonized and rendered into fertilizer. That in the USA it takes a lucky dog to survive, and a smart one at that, perhaps explains the typically American predilection for wearing Big Dog tee shirts. In India, the behavioral patterns of semi-wild dogs openly running in packs like criminal gangs are easily observed and understood. Although these pack dogs steal from one another, constantly fight bloody battles with pack members and challenge each other between naps, they still keep to their all-important pack. Inner rivalries are inevitably put aside when another pack of dogs challenges their territory. For the semi-wild dog, the pack is all in all; indeed in-fighting is conducted in quite another spirit than defending the pack against outsiders. Inner quarrels are mere training and posturing and are perceived as qualification to belong to the pack, the proof of dog pack eligibility. Dogs who do not understand this rule are quickly chased out persona non grata, or rather canine non grata.
That ISKCON’s present body of gurus represent such a dog pack mentality is an obvious conclusion. Constantly quarrelling amongst themselves (as if there were different Absolute Truths for them to wrangle over), they nonetheless instantly regroup for self-congratulation and two-way mutual admiration during their yearly “Governing Body” meetings. In singing the praises of one another and hiding each other’s faults from the general public, they have alienated the presumed “enemy” of their own Godbrothers who look on with bewilderment. It goes without saying that many of their fellow non-in-crowd Godbrothers are vastly more learned, qualified and smarter than any member of a pack of fools propped up by a desire to be worshipped as voted-in gurus. Since the elitists have measured their fellow initiates by some mysterious and materially conceived yardstick, it is to be understood that those who have made material judgments of their peers have limited themselves by their own false standards. For this reason (as well as a host of others) they are understood to be materialists. Materialists who have merely learned to preach by rote, are unqualified to impart wisdom. A dog tempted by the reward of food may learn to dance on two legs, but he will still be kept from the ballroom.
OPTIMISTIC DOGS
Swami Prabhupāda was often heard to say that, “Optimism is the quality of a dog. A man of intelligence is pessimistic.” Contrary to this common sense principle summarized by the true ācārya, ISKCON’s bogus “ācāryas” are ever optimistic that newer and bigger droves of wealthy fresh disciples will rush in to flock around their lotus feet. This, despite the fact that they have chased away their own Godbrothers, many of whom demonstrated real acts of sacrifice and devotion to the divine founder-acarya Swami Prabhupāda. Such blind optimism on the part of the unqualified gurus was perhaps most aptly demonstrated by recently resigned “spiritual master” Pṛthu dāsa who was shown in the recent
Back to Prabhupāda wearing a tee shirt adorned with the trite cliché “ISKCON—GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME.” If compromise, a tendency towards mayavadism, and overall confusion are indications of things “getting better” as apparently they are to the pada squad, then one might indeed be inclined to agree with the optimists.
ZONAL DOGS
Dogs, like karmīs, are territorial. When fruitively motivated white men invaded America, they simply massacred the original inhabitants, then put up parking meters and fences to collect rents by the hour. Greedy territorialists did the same thing in India where an entire sub-continent was renamed as their “colony.” The mentality of a dog urinating on a tree to claim that tree as his territory is no different. Similarly, ISKCON’s “ācāryas” carved up the world into convenient “zones” and declared themselves “zonal ācāryas” right after the sad departure of Swami Prabhupāda. Though each territory was as nebulous as a helium balloon, each zonal ācārya fancied that he would rule his zone with an iron hand, or rather, paw.
Although these jagat gurus would somehow lose their own guruship just by crossing over the line into another jagat guru’s prize territory, it would be all theirs again upon returning. This phenomenal sequence of events, traveling by which they gained, lost and regained territory like an aimless stray dog, was all paid for by inferiors whom they despised, their own Godbrothers. Whole pieces of the globe were designated as one man’s “Gurudom,” although a sannyāsī is supposed to be at home anywhere in the Universe. These Gurudoms were little more than a dog’s imagined ownership over a tree it has urinated upon. In a few short years when the world went on its own way unmindful of the zonal dogs, even the most territorial of the zonal ācāryas were forced to resign their folly. The net result of Zonal Dogism is that street sankirtan, the saving grace for mankind, has been effectively stopped while Christmas and New Year’s Day are openly celebrated in many ISKCON centers. Perhaps karaoke kirtan is next on the list.
A THRONE OF THEIR OWN
Swami Prabhupāda often gave the example of a dog on a throne. “If you throw a shoe, then the dog will leave his throne to chew the shoe,” he would chuckle. Similarly, ISKCON’s sannyāsīs and gurus have a notorious track record when it comes to actually practicing what they preach. Although their apologists term their indiscretions as “falling down,” public confessions by a number of bogus gurus reveal that their trek into the mire of sense gratification was planned and calculated. For a London “guru” it was a “need for a relationship.” For a “guru” in California, it was a need for a massage. Others like one Sweden-based guru had a need to become God. Although human life is meant for sense restraint, that principle is apparently not meant for dogs clad in the saffron robes of renunciates. With apologies to 1984 author George Orwell, “All dogs are equal, but some dogs are more equal than others.”
The public at large needs shelter from fruitively-inclined karmīs suffering from BDS, or Big Dog Syndrome. An ISKCON temple should not be a saffronized dog-lick-dog doghouse for the satisfaction of a few hungry pit bulls and slobbering mastiffs defending an imaginary domain stolen from the ācārya.
| Home | THIS WEB PAGE URL: http://pratyatosa.com/BigDogSyndrome.htm |