They named them Puranas (ancient books) and began to read out select portions from them: They began to practice wonderful frauds and trickery. One of these popes would take an idol made of stone, conceal it in a mountain cave or a secret recess in a jungle or bury it in the ground. After this was done, he would proclaim to his disciples that Mahadeva, Parvati, Radha, Krishna, Sita, Ram, Lakshmi, Narayana, Bhairava, Hanuman, or some other God or goddess had visited him in his dreams and informed him that he or she was in such and such place, commanded him to get him or her (out of the place), install in a temple and become his/her priest. If these demands were complied with, he or she would grant him his heart's desires.
The ignorant people who had 'more money than brains' would hear such stories and believe them to be true, they would enquire of him as to the exact site where the God or goddess was to be found. At this the pope would answer "The idol can be found in this mountain or that jungle, should you desire it I could lead you to the place." Thereupon those fools would accompany that scoundrel to the place, find the idol and being struck with astonishment fall at the feet of the Pope and exclaim "The God is indeed very gracious into you. Take the idol home and we will build him a temple wherein the idol may be installed, you shall be his priest and we shall also gain our hearts' desires by paying our adoration to him." When the trick played by one of the popes was successful, the others followed his example, had recourse to jugglery and imposture and installed idols with a view to earn their livelihood.
2/
A man, who had worshipped Jaggan Naath for twelve long years, had then renounced the world and become a Sanyasi, came to Mathuraa and met us there. We inquired from him about all these miracles. He told us that they were all false. On reflection we are convinced that when the time for the god changing its body comes, a log of sandal wood is taken to the sea in a boat and then dropped into it. This is, then, washed to the shore by the sea-waves. Out of this log the carpenters shape idols.
As regards the miracles of the cooking pans, when cooking is done, none but the cooks are admitted into the kitchen and allowed to see anything there. Six round fireplaces are made in a circle and the seventh I made in the centre. Clarified butter, dust and ashes are applied to the bottom of six pans in which water and rice are placed. They are, then, placed on the six fireplaces, when the rice therein is done, they are taken of the fire and their bottom well cleansed. Now they put fresh rice and water in the seventh cooking pan.
The pans are put on the central fireplace, one on the top of the other and the seventh one in the centre of the lot. The mouths of the six fireplaces are then closed with iron sheets. The place is then thrown open to the visitors. Those among them who are rich are invited to see that the rice in the upper and lower pans is done, whilst that in the central pan is not at all done. Those who seem to have 'more money than brains' place gold and silver by way of an offering; some even promise to contribute something monthly Shoodras and other low class people bring eatables as an offering into the temple. After they have been offered to the Jaggan Naath idol, these people eat a little of these eatables and leave the rest in the pans which are sent to the house of those who pay for them. All people - from the poor householders, Saadhus and mendicants down to the Shoodras and outcasts - sit in a row and eat together. When one set of people have finished eating, another set take their places and eat out of the same leaf-plates as the first one - in other words, they eat their leavings.
It is a most pernicious practice. As regards the third miracle, good many who go there return home without having eaten the leavings of others. As long as they stay there, they take the food prepared with their own hands. They never get leprosy and the like diseases in consequence. Besides, even in that town of Jaggan Naath there are to be found good many lepers who, in spite of daily eating and the leavings of others, cannot get rid of their disease.
3/
When Mahmud of Ghazni attacked this temple, it was razed to the ground, its priests and other devotees were humbled and reduced to a most wretched condition, and an army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers was put to flight by a force of 10,000 men. A pretty miracle indeed!
The popish priests offered presents to the god, worshipped and praised him and addressed prayers to him, thus "O god of gods! Do thou destroy this barbarian and take us under thy protection." They would tell their dupes - ruling princes: - "Do not be at all anxious. Rest assured, Mahaadeva is sure to send Bhairava or Virabhadra for your assistance who will destroy or blind all these barbarians." Or they would tell them, "Our god is sure to manifest himself presently. Hanumaan (monkey-God). Bhairava (the Indian Bacchus) and Durga have appeared to us in a dream and promise to do everything for us."
Those poor simple Rajas were easily taken in by these popes. They believed in all that they said and, therefore, did not resist the invader. Many popes, who were astrologers, said that that was not an auspicious time for them to fight, because one said it was the 8th moon while the other said that the Yoginee star would face them (when they go to fight) and so on, they were altogether misled by the popes (and therefore they did nothing to defend themselves). When they were surrounded on all sides by the barbarians, they tried to escape from their miserable plight. Hundreds of popish priests and their dupes fell into the hands of the enemies. Their priests with folded hands implored the Mohammedans to spare their temple and the idol, and offered to pay Rs. 30,000,000 as ransom but the Mohammedans answered that they were not idol-worshippers but idol-breakers and off they went and began to demolish the temple.
When the roof fell, and he magnetic rocks were shifted, down fell the idol which, when broken, was found to contain Rs. 180,000,000 worth of diamonds. When the popish priests were flogged, they began to weep. They were told to point out where the treasury was. Through fear of punishment, they revealed everything. Thereupon the Mohammedans, having looted the treasury and thrashed the priests, made slaves of them as well as of their dupes.
They made them grind corn, cut grass and carry urine and faeces but gave them nothing but parched grain to eat. Oh! Why did these people ruin themselves by the worship of stones? Why did they not worship the Almighty God whereby they could have put the barbarians, to rout and gained victory over them? Had they worshipped heroes and brave men in place of all those idols, what a protection they would have afforded!
The priests worshipped those stones so devoutly and yet not one of them shifted from its place, fell upon the head of one of the invaders and broke it. Had they served a single brave man as they did the idols, he would have done his best to protect those who had served him and to destroy their enemies
4/
This practice of eating one another's leavings was started by Vaama Maargis as part of their Bhairavi circle. In proof of this may be mentioned that the idol of Subhadra who was sister to both Krishna and Baldeva, is seated in place of wife between the idols of the two brothers. Had it not been due to the Bhairave set, no such thing could ever have happened.
As regards the fourth miracle, it may be said that there must be some mechanism connected with the wheels of the car; when it is worked in the right way, the car moves, but when the midst of the gathering the mechanism is worked in the opposite way, the car stops. Thereupon the priests shout, "Give alms and do some meritorious acts whereby the god Jaggan Naath may be propitiated and allow the car to move and preserve our faith."
As long as the money keeps pouring in, they keep on shouting lie this but as soon as it ceases to pour in, a native of Braj nicely-dressed and wrapped in shawls, etc., standing before the car with folded palms prays, "Do Thou, O Lord Jaggan Naath, allow this car to move on and thereby preserve our faith." Then he kneels down, salutes the God and mounts the car, at that very moment the mechanism is turned the right way, the crowd shouts, 'Hail Lord! Hail!" Thousands of people pull the cord (attached to the car), forward and the car moves.
The same kind of trickery is carried on in the temple of Jaggan Naath. Hundreds and thousands of people go to pay their homage to the idol, but the place is so big and so dark that even in the daytime lamps have to be lighted up before anything can be seen. A curtain is hanging before the idol, the priest and popes stand inside. When the curtain is pulled from one side, it is in front of the idol
and hides it. Thereupon they shout, "Present your offerings. You sins will be forgiven and you will then be enabled to see the god. Make haste." Those poor simpletons are taken in by these scoundrels of priests. Then as soon as the curtain is drawn to the other side, the idol becomes visible. Thereupon all those foolish people shout. "Hail! Lord! Hail!!" After being hustled and jostled and put to various other indignities, they return home.
It is the same Indradaman whose descendants are still to be found in Calcutta. He was a great king. He was a devotee of Devi (goddess). He had this temple built at the cost of millions of rupees in order to remove vexatious restrictions in connection with eating and drinking from among the people of Aryavarta, but these foolish people never like to be freed from their shackles. As regards your belief that the gods built the temple of Jaggan Naath, there were no other gods but the builders who raised it.
A king, a priest and a carpenter do not at all die when the god changes body. They are all predominantly present there. It is very likely that in times gone by these three might have proved very troublesome to their inferiors who, in order to revenge themselves, might have poisoned them to death.
The interior of the Jaggan Naath idol is hollow wherein is placed another idol called Shaaligraam in a golden vessel. This is washed everyday with water and the wash is used for making what is called the sacred drink. Possibly they - the prisoners - smeared this idol with the essence of some poison at the time of evening prayers.
The next morning the sacred drink was made and given to those three persons - the king, the priest and the carpenter who died of it. Thereupon those slaves to Mammon might have given it out that the god, at the time of changing his body, carried away the three devotees along with him. Such wicked frauds are very often practiced (by selfish people) to rob others of their wealth.
....end.....
Some Comments below. We have removed names not because we were asked to but because we did. Thanks guys for having the b...s to speak up, and intelligence to introspect.
Dear Sakshi Gopal das
Thank you for posting recent articles concerning Srila Prabhupada and our books. Though the truth may be painful to hear, especially for a devotee, without the truth there can be no improvement.
Sincerely,
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Well said, Sakshi Prabhu, and thanks for helping me grow along the way.
>>TRUTH is uncomfortable only when we attempt to remove the growth of lies around it. However, after the operation what you get is YOU.<<
That seems to be what we have here.
I read The Gita As It Was (Phulgenda Sinha. Amazon Books) and the brahminical hold on Indian life through falsified sastra is clear. Sounds like ISKCON all over again, and if ISKCON could have their way, we would be back there again.
We try to separate Prabhupada from all this, the corruption in ISKCON, and so forth, and sometimes it is with blinders. I have always wondered how it was that Prabhupada could have surrounded himself with such corruption at the top, and assigned them such high leadership posts. As you said in one of your articles, he was a poor judge of character. My mind says that Prabhupada had a heavy, draconian side that was abusive. Of course women function as if they are less intelligent, if they are never given a chance. It is simply a self-fulfilling prophesy.
A lot of stuff in our books rings wrong to my gut, common sense, and intellectuality, yet I too defended it tooth and nail from vyasasanas here in the USA, for many years both in and out of the movement (no vyasasana however, post '81). Part of the problem was that Prabhupada would make so much sense (like during a heart transplant the soul just changes seats, or we have a symbiotic relationship with the cow through milk) that we tended to just accept everything he said, point blank (like eagles lay eggs between Earth and Uranus or you should cut out the tongue of anyone who pisses off a Vaisnava).
Everything inside signaled 'red flag' when Prabhupada said the 'off stuff', but we didn't want to throw away the 'on stuff' (and our immortal souls) by rejecting the 'off stuff'. So we learned the art of verbal hokus-pokus.
On the one hand Prabhupada said gulabjamins were ISKCON bullets and that we kill the demons with philosophy, and on the other hand he said 'BLAM'. As devotees we are supposed to see no contradiction. That is zombie.
In many ways, we brainwashed ourselves of the knowledge we learned in school, but in other ways, because ISKCON means total emersion, we were swept along with a tide of similarly brainwashed yea-sayers. Twisting the truth to make it fit and slipping in clever, comical assertions (the Earth is flat wherever I stand), got us through the hard parts of the philosophy, giving us room to drum into people the easily supportable parts - like life is suffering, the body is temporary, and the soul is different - and make converts.
Anyway, thanks for babying me along the way. In all honesty, it hurts, but removing a splinter always hurt.
best regards
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It is not that I see Prabhupada in a different light, it is simply that the lights are going out. What is quite amazing is that no one wants to believe it. There is this overriding conviction that the cult is connected, respected, famous, mainstream, and 'Prabhupada said' the mission of 'Lord Caitanya' and the books will go on for the next 10, 000 years.
There are powerful folk who recognize iskcon to be a criminal cult, and they will produce more evidence than necessary to prove it. They, unlike iskcon dependants, do not see the value in the existence of a cult that is criminal and has no practical benefit to society other than propagating its own importance with a view to survival.
Empathy with their perspective comes easy for me. You may remember I had two gurus and they were both wankers.
If there is anything I would like to say to you in this note it is that there is a God and He has heard the cries of victims left in the forty-plus-year wake of the iskcon cult. He is about to release His wrath. Don't wait for 10. 000 years, write me back in 10 months and we will go over this prediction. All questions should be answered by then.
YS
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What you have initiated is a cult with huge cash potential. Give it time. Since the concept is yours, supported by cocktailed reference to plagiarized doctrine, acceptance of authenticity will depend on propaganda. If the market is strategically chosen, your 'philosophy' will attract many hot-dog demigods and kitchri converts who will assist in spreading your message while collecting donations. No matter how twisted the climb to accomplishment, always remember there are thousands if not millions of potential recruits out there with enough brain to understand they are not part of the world's five percent elite. Armed philosophically with the right to be good-as-bhagavan by disciplic succession, as claimed by you, and needing no qualification other than no qualification and existing disqualifications, they will believe anything you say, e.g, you have spiritually descended from Lord Brahma who rides on a swan that steers clear of colossal eagles laying giant eggs as they fly from planet to planet gingerly avoiding a sun that scoots across our solar system @16,004 miles per nano sec. Don't forget to bling your blah with little gems like:- "Krsna told me last night he did not enjoy the chips...it was too salty," or "Lord Shiva was dancing with us," or "Narada Muni was sitting on that seat listening to my lecture." However such divine revelations must be preceded with gaudiya goolgoolas like:- "You cannot see unless your eyes are tinged with the salve of love." As head honcho you can say anything. They will drink your bath water, worship your socks and underwear, even collect and distribute your pubic hairs as relics. Their bellies, egos, and rapidly increasing belief in god-by-proxy depends on you being the real deal. Always, or whenever you can, enforce the subtle understanding that you are god because....god authorized it. Here's a sample:
In a past article "Grand Theft Atma," we have shown how these teachings: the attribution to sages and interpolations, are common knowledge to seekers outside the entrapment of gaudiya confines. Only gaudiya writings claim Krsna said and did what they say. When we understand the Bhagavad Gita to be the pre-battle pep-talk by a warrior prince to his friend/cousin; a situation specific dialogue consisting of a few stanzas versus 800 airy-fairy gaudiya invented verses peppered with purports demanding surrender to the cult and its representatives, we must ask why. The answer is not as complicated as one would imagine. If Krsna is the supreme being, there is only one way to reach him...through Iskcon which is the Internationally registered herald for gaudiyaganda. Through Iskcon means through Prabhupada. That is why he wanted the whole world to be Krsna conscious. To be Krsna conscious means being Prabhupada conscious (same difference). This consciousness facilitates the collection of homage adulation and world domination by proxy.
Prabhupada: "Materialistic civilization has made great strides in educating the masses; but the result is that people are more and more unfortunate, unhappy and frustrated. This is because modern so-called education is concerned only with material advancement, and neglects the most important aspect of life: spiritual wisdom. Real vidya, or actual education begins with the understanding that the Supreme Lord is the owner and controller of everything." (Sri Isopanishad Mantra 9. purport)