Dear Godbrothers, Pamho. AGTSP! I am writing in brief, having come across the following;
PADA: Gour Govinda Maharaj (Gaura Govinda Maharaj)
Legal name: Unknown
Served: 1986-1999
[From Orissa, India. Now deceased. Some think he was poisoned in Mayapura.
He told me the GBC's homosexual pedophile guru lineage is "demoniac," and his followers told me he had said that Kali Yuga (sin personified) has entered the highest places of management in ISKCON.]
This is taken directly from PADA, as you see. The source is a little less clear? Anyone who can clarify, please comment. However, it represents the actual truth, as opposed to the unkind lies told about Gour Govinda Swami by possibly well-intended, but mislead, Vaisnavas, who are following a policy of "killing them all, and let God sort them out afterwards."
To me, it is clear that Srila Prabhupada's instructions on ritvk initiation do not preclude other pure devotees from accepting disciples then, now, or in future.
It is a grave disservice to the ritvik community to involve others in invectives against Srila Gour Govinda Maharajaha. It is just like poisoning the milk! Sorry for that particluar simile.
The truth is outing here, as PADA has kindly emphasized. I also suspect underhanded dealings against Gour Govinda Swami in Mayapura, and reject false accusations entirely that he supported the rascals within our society during any period. No doubt, his mission of service was to serve Prabhupada's mission. He could see of the necessity of there being SOMEBODY who was actually of pure intent to be of influence with the GBC rascals, hence he was caught in their association by dint of necessity.
At one point, he lay down on the floor of the GBC meeting and told them to come and beat him if he had told any lies. They dared not move a hand against him, but intended to finish him one way or another in Mayapura. They were going to revoke his "authorization" as Guru. Visting Gopala jiu Family deity in Jaggnath Pura before leaving for that fateful meeting in Mayapura, he told one disciple that he would not be coming back! Healthy, and relatively young, he died suddenly the evening before, in his rooms in Candrodya Mandira, before thwey could committ huge offense at their GBC meeting
Those saying He supported pedophiles etc etc are really stretching to find fault. For example, during my time with him in Bhubaneswara, 1977-1979, we went twice to Mayapura for the annual Gaura Purnima festival. Maharajah wan't even scheduled to give any lecture by the authorities there during the whole period! I can only imagine their thinking in this regards. He was practically the only one actually qualified to speak! So he was ostracized by the phony gurus since day 1.
This offense of lumping him in with the phony usurpers, by some of our otherwise very dear ritvk Godbrothers is divisive, so please, before you parrot nonsense accusations you may have heard, look into the reality, lest you become involved in offenses needlessly. This seed of destruction can cause great damage to our preaching efforts and Vaisnava relations and solidarity, including for example among millions Orissans.
Further in this regards, Srila Gour Govinda Maharajah came from a rural Orissan Vaisnava kirtaniya community, and was clearly a nitya-siddha, if you examine all the symptoms, karmas, ecstatic states, etc. He espoused traditional concepts, that the diksa mantra cannot be transmitted properly except word-to-ear by Sri Guru, not by tape recorder. That was likely fully correct at the time, in that the iskcon gurus were not parmahamsas. Srila Prabhupada, however, is of a degree of superlative that is incalculable.
Like Lord Nityananada's ministers, Srila Prabhupada is empowered. He is the Senapati Bhakta, the Great General, sent to do a monumental task. That task required mercy without limits, thus the Lord empowered him without limits, hence the use of tapes, airplanes, ritvk process, printing presses, female pujaris, etc etc. It is not Gour Govinda's fault, that he speaks traditionally in some matters, because by comparison, Srila Prabhupada had expanded the mercy.
There will be these differences, in application of our philosophy, that is individual, and is the Sri Guru's perogative. Even the Goswamis had varieties! Rather, it is the unfathomable greatness of mercy of Srila Prabhupada, Jagad-Gurudeva, that is emphasized by comparison ! Srila Prabhupada broke the vessel containing love of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, broke all the conventionalities in a new interpretation that better served Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. And that is just a part of his glories.
From Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON ; SPIrit-net, https://puredevoteeseva.ning.com/ ;
Caitanya Mangala, Circa 1500 A.D. by Srila Locana dasa Thakura Goswami, contemporary and Gaudiya Vaisnava historian/biographer of Sri Krsna Caitanya; courtesy B. Radha Govinda Swami (ACBSP);
Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu bol :
"yadi papi cadi dharma dure dese yaya mora senapati bhakta yaibe tathaya"
"If some sinful people escape ( His sankirtana movement ) and giving up religious principles go to far off countries, then My Senapati Bhakta ( Great General amongst the devotees ), will come at that time to give them Krsna consciousness."
"The temple is a place not for eating and sleeping, but as a base from which we send out our soldiers to fight with maya.”(Srila Prabhupada Letter, 3/8/1973)
Replies
May we be safely situated under the shelter of Srila Prabhupada's Lotus Feet, Those of our Guru Varga, the Vaisnavas, and Sri Sri Radha and Krsna.
With love,
Dasi, B. Radha-Govinda
Hare Krsna