September 14, 1976 : Vrindavana

Hari Sauri: Nitai Dasa was supposed to be engaged in Deity worship and teaching the gurukula children, but he was absent from the temple. The devotees told Prabhupada that he had taken four thousand rupees to buy books for the Mumbai temple library, but instead, he took the money and went to stay at Radha Kunda.

Nitai Dasa sent Srila Prabhupada a letter today, explaining his reasons for leaving ISKCON. At first, Harikesha Maharaja didn't want to read the letter to Prabhupada because it was so offensive. But when Hansaduta Maharaja saw it, he insisted that it be shown so that we could hear Prabhupada's rebuttals to the points.

Nitai began by disclaiming the authenticity of our disciplic line. He cited Radharamanacharana dasa Babaji, a contemporary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, who claimed that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was never initiated by Srila Gaura Kishora. "It was well known that Gaura Kishora never had any disciples." Prabhupada responded that Radharamanacharana dasa Babaji was a kanistha-adhikari whom Srila Bhaktisiddhanta had strongly criticized for advertising himself as a great preacher without his having any actual knowledge of the Gaudiya-Vaishnava philosophy.

Nitai went on to say that he now doubted ISKCON's teachings, "They are just the opposite to, or a misrepresentation of, what is actually in the shastra." As an example, he offered a quote from Chaitanya-bhagavata where Lord Chaitanya says that one cannot become one of His associates unless one chants one lakh of names daily. Prabhupada's reply was practical. "If you take all of the so-called gosvamis, babajis and mahatmas in the whole of the Vrindavana area together, they have not advanced Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's movement one inch!"

Nitai's next point was that Srila Haridasa Thakura was the nama-acharya. Since he chanted three lakhs of names a day, we either have to imitate that or keep it as our goal. Nitai asserted that if we chant at least one lakh of names daily, then "Krishna will automatically give us prema." But Prabhupada disagreed. He said that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta condemned the idea of sitting down and chanting in one place as merely a cheating process adopted by unscrupulous people desirous of obtaining name and fame as a so-called advanced devotee. He added that the idea that Krishna will 'automatically give prema' is karma-mimamsa philosophy. Krishna is not obligated to give prema to anyone, he said, no matter how many rounds they chant.

Incredibly, at the end of Nitai's letter, he had the audacity and hypocrisy to tell Prabhupada that he was now going out to seek the shelter of some other great mahatma "in whom I can place greater faith," and he asked for his blessings "so that I may advance more and more." Srila Prabhupada's response was very strong. "Yes. I bless you that you shall never advance!" He then dictated a telegram to be sent to all the GBCs, "Please let it be known that Nitai has become a venomous serpent. Be careful of him. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami."