It is often said that evil thrives when good men remain silent. Yet when the good man—or woman—speaks to correct an evil, the speaker must be sure that his words are constructive and are not mere faultfinding. Shrila Prabhupada once said, “It is the job of the guru to find fault.” But what of envious persons who criticize uselessly by hiding behind a curtain of pretended piety—base fault finders who manufacture flaws only for the sake of criticizing what is not there? And all the while who pretend to be devotees while criticizing the genuine sadhus … Chanakya Pandit says,

“Base men who gossip about the secret faults of others, destroy themselves like serpents who stray onto the hill of red ants.” (CN 9.2)

In the matter of sadhu-ninda, offenses at the lotus feet of the devotee, Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu goes a step farther than Chanakya. In Sri Caitanya Caritamrita (Madhya 19.156), the Supreme Lord Gauranga instructs Shri Rupa Goswami, “If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaishnava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up.” 

We are proud of the fact that amongst our Godbrothers we have many who have arisen to become genuine Vaishnava sadhus. Shrila Prabhupada defined sadhu as “one whose private and public lives are the same.” The life of a sadhu is an open book.

As everyone knows, ISKCON has experienced its growing pains. Over the past nearly half a century many who felt that they could rise to the occasion of following in the holy lotus foot prints of the pure devotee Founder-Acharya have stumbled on the path. But there are others amongst our Godbrothers who have arisen to the occasion and who have emerged as veritable saviors of the Society, a society which is in non-different from the body of Shrila Prabhupada. ISKCON is the blood, sweat and tears of the Founder-Acharya—and those who have understood that and have acted in the capacity as servants of the servants of the spiritual master—have themselves emerged as proper initiating gurus in the disciplic line.

We have become very concerned that one such qualified Godbrother, HH Indradyumna Maharaja, has been unnecessarily blasphemed online by a vile false propaganda film that is so full of speculative lies that it is sickening. We can only wonder at the sick and twisted mind of perverts whose entire lives are spent in blaspheming Krishna’s devotees, our Prabhus, whose activities are nothing less than what Shrila Prabhupada ordered them to do. 

I live happily and contentedly in Eastern Europe where I have witnessed first had over the past many years the positive influence in spreading Krishna consciousness in this part of the world, which includes Russia, by HH indradyumna Swami. From witnessing not only his activities, but by seeing the Prabhupada consciousness of his disciples, I am convinced that HH Indradyumna Maharaja has truly accepted the torchlight of Krishna that His Divine Grace handed down to him. I know him since 1971 as a stalwart bhakta who has carried this torch far and wide for decades, keeping the flame burning and protected, with the light of the message of Krishna consciousness.

It is said that a man at the beach can tolerate the heat on his head, but not on his feet. In the same way Krishna may tolerate insults lodged against Him by demonic atheists, but the Supreme Lord never unfair criticisms that are hurled against His beloved devotees. Insults to mahabhagavatas who are preaching Prabhupada’s message are nothing less than the direct assaults by Kali and his Kali chelas. Envious and demonic persons who would seek to dismantle the Hare Krishna Movement know that by taking down a leader, then all (or at least most) of the thousands of devotees who have faith in his service will likewise suffer injury to their devotional creepers. Therefore, it is natural that Kali in his enviousness of Krishna’s message should send his minions against the society’s leaders.

Shrila Prabhupada said that the way to chop down a tree is to make an axe handle from the branch of the tree. In this way, he said, this movement can be destroyed from the inside, which means by an agent of Kali parading as a devotee. The video on the net starring HH Indradyumna Swami is a simple darshan of devotees in Russia who have brought their children to receive the blessings of their Guru Maharaja. Some demon has added his twisted subtitles to it. Demonic entities who make—or alter—such films like are dyed-in-the-wool enemies of Mahaprabhu. They are crooked minds who show their ugly faces from the very muck of the sewage that they live in. It is very convenient for them to use the internet for their insidious and baseless accusations. 

Sometimes we wonder why the victims of such attacks, often ISKCON’s surrendered preachers, do not directly respond. Perhaps the answer is that they would rather be preaching Krishna consciousness than wasting valuable hours embroiled in arguments. At other times, victims of the blasphemers are simply demonstrating the laudable Vaishnava quality of tree-like tolerance. But it is the disciples’ job to first and foremost rise to the occasion and counter such malicious gossip by defending Shri Guru from the onslaughts of Kali. Anyone with a conscience cannot justify standing by and allowing the thick smokescreen of falsehood to choke out the chanting of Krishna’s Holy Names by attacking Shrila Prabhupada’s sankirtana generals.

 The film’s Kali-like tactic is known as “give a dog a bad name and hang him.” This means that the pervert fabricates some baseless accusations in the dark recesses of his sick mind. Then the self-righteous demon behaves like some chosen judge and jury and orders the execution.  The film was shot by a devotee, a disciple or friend of HH Indradyumna, in a crowded room with the mothers of all the children standing by. The perverted follower of Kali who added the false sub-titles to the film has revealed his own twisted mentality to create the worst forms of doubts in the minds of the viewer. It would be like filming someone innocently withdrawing money from his bank account, and then adding baseless sub-titles that actually the man is scheming to rob the bank. In the same way, the demon who added the sub-titles asks us to believe that though the man has not robbed the bank, he does should be punished since he will likely do it “someday.” This is the most insidious example of thought police. There has never been any sort of transgression by HH Indradyumna Swami in the matter of his vows of sannyasa, yet the perverts want us to try and fry him because they speculate in the dark recesses of their demonic heads that it could be possible someday.

My wife Smt Abhaya Mudra Dasi and I have two young girls who have received the affectionate blessings of HH Indradyumna Maharaja. Both of our precious little devotees consider HH indradyumna Maharaja to be their Guru. Over the decades he has initiated many young folk into the sampradaya who have grown up to marry, and who now have children of their own. Is it not natural to marvel and bless the growing generation with pure fatherly affection? In the film we saw nothing other than the offering of such blessings by an affectionate Swami in his late sixties, praying for the future of the Hare Krishna movement through budding devotee children of his disciples while the parents stand by in a crowded room. 

Only the filthiest of minds would be able to construe otherwise from such an innocent exchange. But, as we frequently on the internet, such twisted minds that are owned and operated by Kali and who self-righteously pose themselves as devotees, are indeed very much out there. Enemies of Lord Chaitanya’s are looking for every chance to plant seeds of doubt. By parading themselves as devotees it becomes easier to undermine the work of Shrila Prabhupada from the inside by destroying the faith of the newer servants of the servants of His Divine Grace.

During times of warfare, the jungle snipers spend long hours laying in wait and scoping out the enemy’s camp. They watch silently until they observe which soldier is receiving the most salutes. He, they conclude, is the highest ranking officer, and he becomes the target of the first bullet. Then once the commander is taken out with the first shot, the entire camp goes into disarray. This film represents an identical tactic: take out HH Indradyuma Swami with a single lying, deceitful propaganda campaign, and thus a huge preaching programme in Poland, in Russia, in Eastern Europe and in India will be destroyed. Score one for Kali and his dark forces.

No sincere devotee should silently sit by and allow the injustice of blasphemy against a pure Vaishnava to grow like a spreading cancer. It is for genuine devotees to arise and defeat such bald-faced liars whenever they rear their impious heads. Only by speaking up can we protect the elders of Prabhupada’s family who deserve our support. If the lying servants of sin personified Kali can take down one mahatma who is devoted to the cause of the Holy Names 24 hours a day, then they will continue to try to destroy huge chunks of ISKCON in every part of the world. Therefore only a concerted effort on the part of devotees working together, from those of us in the rank and file up to the GBC, will defeat this ignominious threat. Shrila Prabhupada many times gave the example of straws, though weak on their own, can make a rope that can restrain an elephant.

Protecting the leader is to protect his army from the fell diseases of Kali, sicknesses which take on the form of unwarranted gossip. Together the disciples must appreciate the Herculean task undertaken by his Shri Guru and remain steadfast in his faith and work to support their leader.

I have known His Holiness Indradyumna for over 45 years, during which he has had but one thought: service at the lotus feet of our Guru Maharaja. His long record of work in surrender to Prabhupada speaks volumes for itself. Whatever these aparadhis have fabricated in the sub-titles to an otherwise innocent video is nothing more or less than a mirror of their own vile natures. Made by filth-mongering lowlifes, every criticism that this film alleges is really is about them. As it is said, “Point one finger at another and point three at yourself.” Though they are directly empowered by Kali to try to stop the sankirtana movement, they cannot succeed because the sharp sword of the Holy Names of the Lord is more powerful than their perverse and distorted machinations. But to see them go down requires that devotees pull together.

 

The muddy footprints of Kali must never be allowed to traipse upon the clean white carpet of the faithful followers. In fact, we pity those rascals who blaspheme pure devotees of the Lord. The grand opportunity to meet a pure devotee of the Lord comes once in a billion years, if that. And through blasphemy, the stinging red ants of their own criticisms will eat them through and send them to the darkest regions of the universe in a very short while. Posting false implications against saintly personalities is an aparadha of such extent that the blasphemer has only doomed himself to the most terrible regions of perdition in the domain of Yamaraja. In a word, blasphemy of the holy servants of the Divine Names of the Lord results only in the foulest repercussions on the doer—and a very long stint in the nether regions. 

We are all part of the same one magnanimous family of Shrila Prabhupada. Let us continue to work together to see that such dark elements are never allowed inside the hallowed halls of Prabhupada’s temples—ever. The GBC especially must rise to the occasion and protect the Society’s preachers of Bhagavata Dharma from injustice. Victory is realized only when we as devotees and servants of Shrila Prabhupada stand as one together for the great cause of worldwide Krishna consciousness. But if we allow Kali’s minions to take out one more here, one more there, we will see the sniper of the god of sin loading his high-powered rifle and asking himself, “Who’s next?”