Editor of Back To Godhead Magazine

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: When we got to Mayapur, I had about a week or so left as Prabhupada's secretary before the mass of devotees arrived, and during that time, Prabhupada mentioned at least twice that I should stay in India and manage the library parties there. (He was pleased with the success of the library party work in the Western countries, and I had informed him that it appeared that the work there was largely done.) Some of the GBC men in India had heard Prabhupada's suggestion and they were also encouraging me to stay in India.

Therefore, my future was really up in the air. In my mind, I also had ideas as to what I might like to do, but I wanted to see what would happen in terms of zonal assignments, etc., at the GBC meeting. What I hadn't expected was that I would become the editor of Back To Godhead (BTG) and be assigned a residence in Los Angeles ISKCON. This started when some of the senior devotees voiced their complaints about the editorial policies of BTG that were being enacted at that time. The L.A.based editorial group had a vision that BTG was too dogmatic and too easily identifiable as the magazine of the Hare Krishna movement. They wanted to make it a bit like a New Age magazine and tie in things like the teachings of Roszak and George Schumacher. They also wanted to speak of meditation in a broad way, and to include as many articles and photos as possible that were not directly Krishna conscious, in order to appease the general public. This definitely included no more pictures of Krishna on the cover and plans for changing the old-fashioned name of the magazine. Some of these suggested changes were already appearing in the magazine, and some were still on the drawing board for the future. When the complaints become vociferous, it was discussed with Prabhupada in his room in the presence of many of the sannyasis and GBC men. Srila Prabhupada was disturbed to hear the complaints and he fully agreed with maintaining the old standard.

At a later meeting, the GBC man who was in favor of the New Age policies made all his best arguments to Prabhupada as to why it was favorable, but Prabhupada did not accept them. It was Prabhupada himself who said that I should become the editor. It was decided and my assignment was settled. I felt a bit guilty that I had left the editorship in the first place to travel and preach, but the best thing was that I received the assignment directly from His Divine Grace.

While still in Mayapur, I met with Prabhupada a couple of times about BTG. He wanted it to return to straightforward, Krishna conscious preaching. At that time, he was speaking strongly, as usual, against all materialistic follies and speculations. I was also somewhat bewildered about a group of devotees in L.A. who at that time, had formed a Conch Club. Their motto was: The best of both worlds. They were advocating that both the spiritual and material worlds should be sources of happiness to a devotee in Krishna consciousness. This anticipates what has now become a concern for all devotees, namely how to enact the varnasrama-dharma culture within the culture of pure devotional service. It was a difficult situation for me at the time. I was trying to be a strict sannyasi and yet learning to relate with members of a big householder community. I am sure I made mistakes and was offensive to some, and for this I can only beg their forgiveness.