Svatantra

Srila Prabhupada often said the religious process we are following is not Hinduism, but Varnasrama Dharma or Sanatana Dharma and he repeatedly glorified and stressed the necessity of establishing and following Varnasrama duties in his purports and lectures. Towards the end of his manifest presence, in his last instructions to his disciples and followers, he ordered us to ‘immediately’ establish Varnasrama colleges wherever our temples are, as a prerequisite to establishing Varnasrama. In other words, all temples, leaders and members of ISKCON should be working towards this. What to speak of Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktivinoda Thakura (the grandfather of ISKCON who pioneered the worldwide spread of the sankirtan movement) also wanted it and ordered his disciple and son Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura to establish Varnasrama. So it was quite astounding and horrifying to see that Seminar no. 15 in this year’s Iskcon Leaders Sangha (ILS) 2020 held from 14 th – 20 th February at Mayapu...

Recently a grave error was committed by the management of the Bhaktivedanta Manor towards its devotee community. About a week back or so devotees may have seen a video circulating on social media of H.H. Bhakti Purushottama Swami speaking in the Mayapur temple about how scores of devotees contracted the corona virus after a funeral and a series of programs held in the UK for a departed Vaisnava. After he passed away several programs were arranged for H.G. Sruti Dharma Das with many devotees attending on 12 th March as follows; 11:30am to 1:45pm at the Sri Krishna Haveli at Bhaktivedanta Manor, was Antima-sraddhanjali, or kirtan, offering flowers and final respects. The second, from 3 to 4pm at Saint Marylebone Crematorium in London, was the Antyeṣṭi-kriyā, or Ceremony of Cremation and lastly kirtan, from 7 to 9pm at the Sri Krishna Haveli. Further evenings of kirtan were planned at the same time for Friday, and Saturday, after and from 4 to 9pm on Sunday. This means that there ...