In recent articles on Sampradaya Sun, the esteemed Vaishnava community worldwide have just been informed of the business activities of a well known sannyasi in our beloved ISKCON. We are told that the aforementioned sannyasi has squandered millions of dollars of Krishna’s laxmi in a vein attempt to satisfy his materialistic ambitions.
But wait how can that be? I hear you ask. A sannyasi with
materialistic ambitions? Surely not, I mean a sannyasi should be
renounced and preaching Krishna consciousness without any personal
desires for name, fame, women or wealth. He should be leading a simple
life and only requiring the bare necessities supplied to him by God for
his sustenance. Well this is what the shastra tell us, is it not?
Is this a new phenomenon in ISKCON, that some sannyasis and gurus are acting like squirrels and hoarding away millions of dollars of donations given by other people and their disciples into their own private bank accounts? Is the money they are secretly hoarding going to be used for the purpose that it was intended for? Well from what we read here on Sampradaya Sun, apparently at least in some cases the answer is no.
Is this a new phenomenon in ISKCON, that some sannyasis and gurus are acting like squirrels and hoarding away millions of dollars of donations given by other people and their disciples into their own private bank accounts? Is the money they are secretly hoarding going to be used for the purpose that it was intended for? Well from what we read here on Sampradaya Sun, apparently at least in some cases the answer is no.
So what is wrong with this? Is giving money to some of these
ISKCON sannyasis and gurus like giving a child a box of matches to play
with in the middle of a tinder dry cornfield on a hot summers day? It
appears to be so. Clearly some of them are acting like children inasmuch
as that they are spiritually and materially immature and do not know
how to properly respect and utilize the spiritual master’s and Krishna’s
assets.
Let’s be clear about this point… It is not their money to play
with! As we learn from the shastra, Krishna is the Supreme Proprietor of
all that be. Devotees that are simple and honest respect this fact. So
should we the Vaishnava community bail out these fools and throw good
money after bad into a black hole of debt brought about by foolish
attempts to gamble with someone else’s money. Is this intelligent?
My advice would be to keep your hands firmly in your pockets,
prabhus, at least until some of these so called gurus and sannyasis grow
up and become conscious enough to realize that honest people’s
donations are not supposed to be used to satisfy their materialistic
ambitions.
Yes, they are breaking the regulative principles, yes they are
disobeying the orders of the spiritual master and yes, they are
committing offenses against the Holy Name. Finally, I would like to
leave some quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s purports in the Shrimad
Bhagavatam for the reader to ponder for future discussion and debate.
“The Lord is seated in everyone’s heart, and He knows the
devotee’s motive and arranges everything achievable. In other words, the
pseudo devotee, who is anxious to achieve material gains, cannot attain
the highest perfectional stage because the Lord is in knowledge of his
motive. One merely has to become sincere in his purpose, and then the
Lord is there to help in every way.”
(Srimad Bhagavatam 3.13.49)
(Srimad Bhagavatam 3.13.49)
“Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead sends great cheaters
who mislead them in the name of yoga and render their lives useless and
doomed. In Bhagavad-gita, therefore, it is clearly stated, in the
Sixteenth Chapter, verse 17, that rascals of self-made authority, being
puffed up by illegally collected money, perform yoga without following
the authoritative books. They are very proud of the money they have
plundered from innocent persons who wanted to be cheated.”
(Srimad Bhagavatam 3.21.7)
(Srimad Bhagavatam 3.21.7)
Begging to remain in the service of the Vaishnavas and the Spiritual Master,
Nitya Siddha dasa
