After reading Rocana prabhu's very lengthy reply to my very abridged comments in defense of H.H. Radhanatha Swami, his substantial mission statement evoked a deep reflection in me, regarding the many challenges and weighty issues throughout ISKCON's "work in progress". My thoughts finally congealed when I remembered Srila Prabhupada's famous quote, in the preface from his luminous translation of Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.11:" …descriptions of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a transcendental creation meant to bring about a revolution in the impious lives of a misdirected civilization..."

Yes, Mahaprabhu descended as a great spiritual revolutionary and His spirit has continued through His empowered revolutionaries such as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and our Srila Prabhupada. Their perfect lives were the most powerful demonstrations of Sri Chaitanya's theistic revolution to turn back Kali's tide of ignorance and atheism; and their lives remain as the highest examples, the templates for all present and future spiritual revolutionaries.

ISKCON was born from such revolutionary vision, to light the fire of this great revolution for all of misled mankind. This is a gargantuan task, a sea-change in the entire course of humankind; and we followers of Mahaprabhu's great preaching generals have inherited this spiritual revolution "destined to save mankind in its darkest hour".

Rocana prabhu is also full of such a revolutionary spirit, whom I would further describe as a crusader-revolutionary. He has always rooted himself in Srila Prabhupada's uncompromising stance against all falsehood and hypocrisy, specially among pseudo-spiritualists. And Rocana was at his best when, at the height of the zonal acharyas' hegemony, during the strange days in England when Jayatirtha was wailing in LSD ecstasy from the Vyasasana, he uncompromisingly stated, as a lone courageous voice, that no the emperor really had no clothes. Although Srila Prabhupada's sacred legacy has sometimes been thus abused and misused, it has also been successfully expanded by some, even many of his sincere followers. Unfortunately, our imperfect human nature always creates abuses of power, often hindering the highest spiritual ideals.

Rocana has chosen to fight his own personal crusade against any such perceived distortions of Srila Prabhupada's pure legacy. Although I could emulate Rocana's uncompromising revolutionary spirit, I'm somewhat leery of the crusader in him. The problem with crusades is that they always create conflict and rarely achieve their noble goals, their projected New Jerusalem, the ideal community of equal souls united in the Lord's service. (And Christianity's horrific medieval crusades are still being re-played in today's geo-politics of hate.) Crusades always seek to impatiently impose their zealous agenda of coercive conversion to their sacred spin on reality. Compromise is thus seen as defeat. Such an impetuous drive necessarily dictates that crusaders always take a hard-line against any opponents, i.e., all others resisting or not joining the crusade. It is the divisive "us and them", as opposing camps become entrenched in their mutually-assured dichotomy. Such broken channels of communication are what Sri Chaitanyadev called "partisan spirit, the greatest hindrance to human progress". Such standard political dynamic, as old as the hills, is the antithesis to the real progressive spirit of the true revolutionary, who learns to soberly and patiently wield, with steady determination, the weapon of knowledge (and not the dynamite of dissent) to clear the path to Transcendence.

I understand that Rocana prabhu sincerely believes that his thankless task of shaking the tree and exposing the falsehood will ultimately help Srila Prabhupada's mission to further progress, by clearing up the debris in its path. (And God knows how much more transparency we all need to foster, rather than regressive autocracy). And many of his viewpoints have offered judicious insights towards hopeful progress on many issues. His website has also provided a much-needed forum for progressive exchanges among the rank and file who are too often neglected or ignored by a somewhat isolated leadership. Yet, as in any "free-speech movement", the internet floodgates have often poured over with so much indiscriminate ranting of barely remote value to our common purpose, i.e., living our lives in a decent, respectful environment to optimally cultivate Krishna consciousness. So, as the saying goes: you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. And Rocana is a unique mixture of both.

The crusader in him regularly overtakes the sincere revolutionary, to take a stand as the self-appointed nemesis of any and all suspected power-mongers. Thus he regularly strays far off the path of sobriety and righteousness to crusade for his chosen gripes, often with zealous forays into strange territory (such as his sometimes puzzling potshots at Dandavats.com). But for me his most flagrant misadventure is his recent totally illogical and malicious depiction of Radhantha Swami as the subtler clone of the infamous Kirtanananda, because Maharaja “traces his lineage directly back to Kirtanananda, and today he does an even better job at projecting this profile… following in (his) footsteps … while …adopting many of the tricks of the trade.”

I’m trying to understand what kind of logic this is, so let me see where this goes: because Maharaj was a past prominent associate of the massively-deluded Kirtanananda, Rocana is ready to transfer that warped cult leader’s mind-set unto Maharaja, or guilty by association. And the fact that Maharaja has also accumulated large numbers of disciples is the further symptom of his similar thirst for prominence and power. So is the guilt in the connection to K.S.?; or too many disciples? or just the sin of becoming a guru? This is all much too bewildering to decipher Rocana's true intent. Never mind the obscured fact that Maharaja was personally instructed by Srila Prabhupada, during the pioneer years of New Vrindavan, to dedicate himself to its development by assisting Srila Prabhupada’s chosen leader there, K.S. And this is what Maharaja did as his service and commitment to Srila Prabhupada. Even when K.S. started to go way off the path (and eventually self-destruct), Maharaja determinedly continued his service to Srila Prabhupada and tried to salvage whatever he could of Srila Prabhupada’s legacy and followers. And then to be thus accused of empire-building is such a low-blow, which only betrays Rocana’s deep scars of vindictive “pound of flesh" justice. I can understand Rocana’s visceral hatred for K.S. which I partially share. Kirtanananda's follies, which ruined too many spiritual lives, will sadly remain a sordid part of the darker history of where not to go, of bitter lessons too heavily paid. And other persons who were party to his massive betrayal of Srila Prabhupada's legacy will hopefully also be held accountable. Perhaps they are also to be found within the very ranks of the cabal of "Inquisitors" now appearing regularly on his venue.

But to lasso Maharaja in with trumped-up fiction by stirring up that whole dark cesspool will not serve any real justice. And the "guilty by association" logic seems more akin to the lynch-mob mind-set. In his concluding remarks, Rocana attempts to hammer in the final nail with his disingenious argument that "the very fact that there is no response confirms that what's being said is true". Doesn't it rather prove the opposite? That those maligned by his grandstanding crusades prefer not to even dignify this whole weirdness with any response at all. Such silence is not the stifled echo of guilt, but rather the broken channels of communication, the burnt bridges of witch-hunting. To fulfill the spirit of Rocana's credo that: "it is our duty to correct any mistakes", I wish to insist in pointing out that he has made a very grievous mistake by voicing such demeaning insinuations about Maharaja's hidden motives and criminal connections. And I want to counter such slander by standing firm in my grateful support for one of my many heroes, Radhanatha Swami.

We are a strong majority who are happy to see the on-going fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada's desire to steadily "increase the disciplic succession of Lord Chaitanya"; and we are proud of anyone's successful service in connecting thousands of sincere souls to the Sankirtan revolution. Any such hard-won success is our collective gain, a living proof of Srila Prabhupada's potent blessings reaching out through us, however less qualified we may be, to salvage so many sincere souls. But we are saddened when our victorious revolutionaries attract such slanted accusations of motivated power-trips.

In conclusion, I sincerely wish for my friend Rocana that he can possibly reflect on an optimum change of vocation. I truly hope that he'll become discontented with searching about in the mine-shafts of dissension for the lingering fumes of discontent. Then he can again rekindle the fire of his shining revolutionary spirit and thus dispel the fog of despondency that often covers the potentially luminous Sampradaya Sun. Let him again join hands with all kindred souls to improve and expand Srila Prabhupada's great legacy, and thus more effectively spread the cohesive light of our great guardians' revolutionary mercy, in our collective service to the Saraswata Sampradaya of Mahaprabhu.

Your servant and friend,

Gokulananda das