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I've decided to leave the Swami

Umapati Swami : Prabhupada talked so much about impersonalists and Buddhists that Hayagriva and I began to think, "The Swami is not liberal enough," and for a short time we stopped attending his lectures. We were sitting around Mott Street talking about this when Kirtanananda came in and said, "I've decided to leave the Swami. I don't like what's going on." I said, "We've been talking about that too." Kirtanananda said, "You fools! Do you think I could leave the Swami?" He had tricked us and he insisted that we talk with Prabhupada. When we saw him, Prabhupada said, "If you have some doubts we can discuss them." I said, "We don't like what you're saying about the Buddhists and Sri Ramakrishna." Prabhupada said, "Okay, I will explain. I have never criticized Lord Buddha. In fact, I have always called him 'Lord Buddha'. But his followers eat meat, they don't believe in God and they don't believe in the soul. They are atheists. The Buddhist scriptures do not talk about God or the soul. As for Ramakrishna, I have always said and I will always say that he was nothing but a crazy priest. Ramakrishna said that you could worship Kali or worship Krishna and it's the same, but Krishna says, 'If you worship the demigods you go to the demigods, and if you worship Me you come to Me.' Ramakrishna has contradicted Krishna. It's as if he's saying that by buying a plane ticket to Chicago you will get to Los Angeles." I said, "What about all the wonderful things in his books?" Prabhupada said, "His disciples took them from the Vedas, put them in his books and said that he said them. Besides that, Ramakrishna's followers eat meat. They go to the doctor and get a letter saying they'll die if they don't eat meat. All the sadhus in India know this." Prabhupada told me about a gathering of holy people in India where some sadhus saw a dead fish floating on the water. They laughed and said, 'Quick, call the Ramakrishna Mission!' Prabhupada also said that when Vivekananda, Ramakrishna's principle disciple, met Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna touched him on the forehead and Vivekananda felt electric shocks. Prabhupada laughed and said, "You have read about the Universal Form, where does it say anything about electric shocks?" After that Vivekananda fainted and when he woke up, Ramakrishna was crying. Vivekananda said, "Why are you crying?" Ramakrishna said, "I have given you all my power, I have none left." Prabhupada said, "Is spiritual knowledge like money, that if I give it to you I have none left?" That was the clincher.


Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa