STOP BRINGING THIS UP, BECAUSE HE ASKED FOR FORGIVENESS (?)
Stop bringing this up, because he asked for forgiveness (?) – Part 2
The answer to this argument is quite simple: the root cause of our protest is nothing else but the perpetuation of offensive statements towards Gauḍīya Maṭh and Gauḍīya Maṭh sādhus in the books of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj, as well as in his different letters and speeches, which nowadays are widely spread around the world via different platforms. Our humble request and honest effort are that these offenses are removed from circulation forever, for the protection of the dignity of our most exalted Gauḍīya guru-parampara. So, the fact that Swami Mahārāj has asked forgiveness does not solve this issue at all.
Still, we would also like to take the opportunity to give you some siddhānta vichar regarding this topic of how one should ask for forgiveness in case of committing vaiṣṇava-aparādha. We start by showing you below the available recordings in which it is seen that Swami Mahārāj is asking for forgiveness from some of his Godbrothers. As per the records, we can see that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj asked for forgiveness in the presence of Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāj and Śrīla Purī Mahārāj, on separate occasions. During his speech, it seems that he conveyed his apologies to every one of his Godbrothers:
With Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāj (771008 - Conversation B - Vṛndāvana):
“Guru Mahārāj . . . (indistinct) . . . he also desired . . . (indistinct) . . . he had a wish . . .”
“He had another desire that everyone has to work together . . . did you understand?”
“But where are they all? I was trying to . . . I had some desires that they will come . . . (indistinct) . . . my experience. If we work together, I want to be together with you . . . (indistinct) . . . that is possible. This is my last stage, so I wish you all to be with me as before. There are always altercations between Godbrothers while preaching. But that's an offence . . . (indistinct) . . . not doing Godbrothers. That's why please forgive me . . . (indistinct) . . . and after my passing, do this all together.”
“First of all I want to say that please forgive all my offences. Sometimes altercation comes while preaching but I didn't desire so . . .”
“Will you forgive me?”
With Śrīla Puri Mahārāj (771013 - Conversation B - Vṛndāvana):
“I may commit offenses towards your feet.”
“Please forgive me.”
“I have committed offences at the feet of everyone, so everyone please forgive me. This is actually vaiṣṇava-aparādha. I was proud to be a little rich.”
“All of you are my Godbrothers. There was a lot of nonsense during my preaching. Yes, otherwise that won't be perfect. Need to pamper their mind . . .”
“According to my leprosy I don't have longevity, but still why God kept me here?”
“The sorrows are accepted in śāstra as austerity. They have welcomed the sorrow because this is austerity, and by this one gets purified. Now all of you please forgive me, I am a puppet . . . Purī Mahārāj . . .”
“Will everyone forgive me!”
“Please forgive me. Please forgive my offenses.”
When we analyze the above public recordings about the requests of apology done by Swami Mahārāj, it is not very clear to us what Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj asked forgiveness for. Naturally, we do not have access to the full information regarding all the potential interactions that Swami Mahārāj had with his Godbrothers, but one question we would like to put in front of you all: if the reason for these requests of apology was the countless offenses recorded and printed in books, then why Swami Mahārāj didn’t issue an immediate order of removal of all those offenses, and why didn’t he issue any document or note in which he would mention his mistake and re-establish the glories of those sincere followers of the Prabhupāda whom he has offended? If you give someone a slap, and then you ask for forgiveness for that—continuing to slap that person again and again—can that person accept your apology? Of course, Guru-Vaiṣṇavas don’t take offenses, never feel injustice, etc., but how can Bhagavān consider such apology?
In his article "Ratha Yātrā in Navadvīpa," Swami B.G. Narasingha testifies to the proper procedure taught by Śrīla Bhaktirakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja for rectifying the offense of written criticism:
"The next event to unfold was that Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja came to the holy lotus feet of Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja with folded hands and humble prayers for forgiveness. True to the nature and character of Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja he was very compassionate and kind-hearted to Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja when he came to beg for forgiveness. After hearing Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja speak, Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja requested that if Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja actually felt that he had made an offence, that he should print a retraction to his previously published statements belittling Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja.”
From this, it is clear that when an offense has been made in writing, a mere private or verbal apology is not sufficient. The retraction must be made in writing and in the same public forum or manner as the original offense. This is the proper way to honor the dignity of the Vaiṣṇava and to meaningfully address the gravity of the aparādha.
Also, according to Richard Shaw Brown (who personally lived with Bhakti Hṛdaya Vāna Gosvāmī Mahārāj – Bon Mahārāj – full-time for six and a half years in Vṛndāvana), Śrīla Swami Mahārāj met Śrīla Vana Mahārāj before leaving his body and asked for forgiveness. Please read an excerpt from the text “Q&A About Tridandi Swami Bhakti Hridaya Vana Mahārāj (Part 2)”:
“Question 21. "Certainly we (Iskcon devotees) were all suspicious of Vana Mahārāj at that time. As you say, Prabhupāda was more negative about him than any other of his Godbrothers."
Answer 21 [Richard Shaw]: With over 180 horrible quotes by Śrīla Prabhupāda recorded in VedaBase, where he says that Vana (Bon) Mahārāj is "not a human being, is a Māyāvādi, is not a liberated person, never speaks about Kṛṣṇa, is black like a Gorilla, ..." etc., it is hard for me to cope with so-called devotees who take that as the truth. Especially since I am an eye-witness (as is also Śrī Radhanath Swami and your good self) and can say that just the complete opposite is the truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda [Swami Mahārāj] said that "we could not say (or think) such things" about his Godbrothers, and I know that Vana Mahārāj came to visit HDG (along with Swami Vana's intimate friend Akincana Kṛṣṇadas Babaji Mahārāj) shortly before HDG's disappearance and Swami Mahārāj directly asked Vana Mahārāj for his forgiveness for any offenses; and he was forgiven. But the legacy he left still haunts us, and causes Iskcon people great harm by their thinking Vana Mahārāj and other Gauḍīya Maṭha ācāryas, past and present, are some kind of evil non-devotees.
This collective offense caused Iskcon people to repeatedly act VERY offensively against Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh.”
Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāj has said: “Just saying the word ‘sorry’ does not mean apologising. In reality, without feeling great remorse within, the living entity's heart cannot be purified. The fire of repentance can free the seeker from all sins and offences by burning all the mistakes and distractions to ashes in a single moment. This is indeed ‘begging for forgiveness’.
Also, Śrīla Bhaktirakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja says in “Sermons of the Guardian”, Volume 3: “Repentance is not when you cry, but when you change.”
In addition, we want to quote the following śloka from CB Madhya-khaṇḍa:
ye-vaiṣṇava-sthāne aparādha haya yāra
punaḥ se-i kṣamile se ghuce, nahe āra
(22.033)
“If one offends a Vaiṣṇava, the offense can be excused only by that Vaiṣṇava, no one else.”
Śrīla Baba Mahārāj said that: “Mahāprabhu told that if you are doing offense unto the lotus feet of one Vaiṣṇava, you will have to beg pardon from that Vaiṣṇava. Suppose I have done some offence unto your lotus feet, but I am going to beg for pardon from another Vaiṣṇava, who is staying in Puri. How I can get excused? Even basic siddhānta you have not learned – even kindergarten teaching is not there. Mahāprabhu gives us this example: if some thorn is going inside your body by your leg, you will have to get it back from your leg, because it is particularly the place from where the thorn went into your body. You will have to take help of some another thorn and get it out. If one thorn is entering into your leg, that thorn surely cannot come out from your mouth, from your head, or from your hand.”
Many Vaiṣṇavas had already left this world before Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj started asking for forgiveness, so they have never received any direct nor indirect request of apology.
In conclusion, we want to reaffirm to you that our only concern is the continued circulation of the offenses. The facts remain: the offenses were indeed committed (as acknowledged by ŚrīlaSwāmī Mahārāj himself), and Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj asked for forgiveness. Yet, somehow, the effects of those offenses still persist to this day. It is the duty of all Gauḍīya devotees to solve this issue.
Written by Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda – Paramahaṁsa Jagad-Guru
First published by VISHWA-VAISHNAVA-RAJA-SABHA in the 1930's
"Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh cannot have and actually does not have anything in common with those, who duplicitously join Gauḍīya Maṭh with a motive to misuse Divine Knowledge for the service of their own selfish ends. Feigned Dīkṣā and obtainment of Divine Knowledge are never one and the same. Śrī Caitanya and His sincere Devotees are eternally present in Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh. All those owlish persons who are incapable of seeing the light are called māyāvādīs, karmmīs and wayward nondevotees."
—from the letter by Śrīla Prabhupād Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī (October 20, 1928)
Gaura Hari Haribol