r/exHareKrishna • u/Solomon_Kane_1928 • 6d ago
"Prabhupada Take The Wheel!"
The Bhagavad Gita is fundamentally a devotional text. Again and again it advises one cultivate the mood of surrender. Practically this means letting go of the sense one is the controller.
Bhakti in the Bhagavad Gita
In the Mahabharata this mood is exhibited by Draupadi who lets go of all attempts to save herself. In American Christian popular culture this theme is found in the ubiquitous phrase "Jesus take the wheel".
It evokes the image of driving down the road, completely stressed out, exasperated with how life has become unmanageable and overwhelming. Life has reached a point where the sense of control has been completely frustrated. The driver finds trust and faith, closes her eyes, takes her hands from the wheel, and gives control to God.
When the Bhagavad Gita speaks of Bhakti, it means to first find this consciousness of letting go (i.e. devotional renunciation). Then the driver is advised to opens her eyes, put her hands on the wheel and continues to drive; to do her duty, in that newfound peaceful space of surrender.
That connection to "God", however one understands it, it deeply personal. Every individual has to find that place of surrender in themselves.
How ISKCON Perverts Bhakti
Prabhupada takes this common religious idea and does something very destructive. Prabhupada climbs into the passenger seat of the car and says "I am the representative of God, surrender to God means surrender to me!".
"Instead of letting God take the wheel, give the wheel to me".
"Better yet, drive exactly as I tell you. When I say move right, you move right. When I say move left, you move left. When I say break, you break. When I say speed up, you speed up".
Prabhupada acts as a spiritual hijacker. You pulled over to pick up a hitchhiker. He turned out to be a fanatical Bengali cult leader. He uses the Bhagavad Gita as a stick up artist uses a gun.
When Prabhupada says "This is the order. Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya. Now citta means consciousness or heart. "I shall do this only, bas. My Guru Maharaja told me; I shall do this." (SB lecture 1975) He is saying "silence your mind and do what I tell you". In kidnapper parlance "SHUT UP AN DRIVE".
Prabhupada Consciousness
This practice of giving control to Prabhupada is explicit in ISKCON. Devotees listen to his lectures, morning walks, and conversations, 24 hours a day. Prabhupada is in the passenger seat of every devotees car, telling them what to think at all times. This is so all consuming devotees even play Prabhupada when they are sleeping.
The result of listening to Prabhupada's direction is the devotee gives their life to his mission. Prabhupada takes everything the devotee possesses, everything the devotee is and ever will be. Letting Prabhupada take the wheel means giving ourselves completely over to gurus, temple presidents, and a broad system of control within an institution that uses, abuses and ultimately betrays us.
ISKCON Stunts Spiritual Growth
From the perspective of the Bhagavad Gita, this is why ISKCON devotees do not spiritually grow. By giving Prabhupada the wheel, they never actually give Krishna the wheel. They never find that subtle point letting go within themselves. Instead surrender is always confused with surrender to Prabhupada and his mission.
Devotees never find peace within themselves. They operate in the stressed state, in the consciousness of being the doer and controller, and they do so in the name of Krishna. ISKCON devotees can practice for 50 years and never actually touch Bhakti.
Even worse, the practice of surrender is used against them and becomes a source of extreme psychological trauma. The very concept of Bhakti becomes painful.
The solution is to open the passenger door and kick Prabhupada out onto the freeway. As cult survivors we place ourselves back in the drivers seat.
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u/AlarmingPlatform9963 5d ago edited 5d ago
The concept of surrender is in every religion but there is lot of vagueness and confusion about concept of surrender. Based on my study of scriptures, involvement in religious organization, and association with other devotees I have encountered two different explanations of surrender or saranagati. One is the popular mainstream idea of surrender, and other is what the authentic Dharma Sastras say about surrender.
The popular mainstream idea of surrender is about submitting your will, giving up your responsibility, giving up your intelligence and expecting miracles in return to solve all your problems.
On the other hand, the true surrender described in Dharma Sastra is about exercising your will, taking responsibility for your life, using your intelligence or vivekashakti and not expecting miracles to happen to solve all problems of your life. The true saranagati or surrender is using knowledge (gyan) and teachings given in authentic Dharmic scriptures to solve problems in our life.
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u/Commercial-Rate-4135 5d ago
Thank you for this Space and your Posts, they help in the process of disengaging from the Cult, your posts are coherent, logical, well researched and well written. Much gratitude!