In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court on Monday restrained several entities from reproducing works of ISKCON founder AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Prabhupada, noting that while no copyright can be claimed for scriptures, their adaptations are entitled to protection, reported the Hindu.
The HC directed media platforms like Google and Meta to take down the infringing works from their platforms while ordering suspension and blocking of the offending links by the authorities.
The order, dated September 21, came on a plea by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established by Swami Prabhupada.
For the unversed, the spiritual leader is the founder of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and Hare Krishna movement. He has also translated several Hindu classic scriptures, including the Bhagavad Gita.
However, he has also been subject to criticism over his racist views against black people, discrimination against lower castes, anti-Semitism, negative views on women, and advocacy of crimes of Adolf Hitler.
This article deals with some little known facts and views of Prabhupada, who developed a massive cult following in India and the West.
Family Background
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was born as Abhay Charan De on 1 September 1896 in Calcutta, India to a Suvarna Banik family. His father was Gour Mohan De, who worked as a cloth merchant.
Suvarna Banik, popularly called Bene, is a mercantile group from Bengal dealing in gold and silver. During the late eighteenth century, merchants of the Suvarnabanik caste became prominent in trade.
Education and Career
Swami Prabhupada was educated at the Scottish Church College. After completing his education, he worked at a small pharmaceutical business where he met and became a follower of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.
In 1959, after his retirement, he left his family to become a sannyasi and started writing commentaries on Vaishnava scriptures.
As a travelling Vaishnava monk, he became an influential communicator of Gaudiya Vaishnavite theology across India and the Western world through his leadership of ISKCON, founded in 1966.
ISKCON is today one of the most richest religious order in the world and is known for its lavish temples in many prominent cities across the world.
Recently, it slapped a INR 100 crore defamation notice on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi who had criticised it for fooling people in the name of cow protection.
Swami Prabhupada ravelled throughout America with his disciples, popularising the movement through street chanting (sankirtana), book distribution and public speeches.
Disturbing & Questionable Views
Slavery
Swami said that black people should remain in bondage.
“The blacks were slaves. They were under control. And since you have given them equal rights they are disturbing, most disturbing, always creating a fearful situation, uncultured and drunkards. What training they have got? They have got equal rights? It is best, to keep them under control as slaves but give them sufficient food, sufficient cloth, not more than that. Then they will be satisfied”.
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Lower castes
Bhaktivedenta asserts that Shudras require no training:-
“Shudras does not require any training. Shudra means no training. Ordinary worker class. Otherwise other three, especially two, namely the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, they require very magnificent training”.
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Hitler and Jews
Swami mentioned Hitler to provide an example of materialistic scheming, he also called him a hero.
“Sometimes he becomes a great hero – just like Hiranyakashyap and Kansa or, in the modern age, Napoleon or Hitler. The activities of such men are certainly very great, but as soon as their bodies are finished, everything else is finished.
He held Jews to be responsible for Holocaust:
Therefore Hitler killed these Jews. They were financing against Germany. Otherwise he had no enmity with the Jews… And they were supplying. They want interest money – “Never mind against our country.” Therefore Hitler decided, “Kill all the Jews.”
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Women
AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was known to be “kind and accommodating” to his female disciples, but much of his literary work, conversations, and lectures contradict his actions.
Prabhupada has made negative remarks about women, addressing topics such as adulteration, prostitution, women’s lesser intelligence, and women’s need for dependance on men.
Prabhupada has said that “women in general should not be trusted” and “women are generally not very intelligent.”, among other statements.
After studying Prabhupada’s life, some scholars have argued that balancing religious beliefs and traditions at a given time and place can result in mixed interpretations of events.
Although he has received negative attention for his statements about women, he has also received admiration for making the philosophy and practice of the Hare Krishna movement available to women and men equally, which was not commonly seen prior.
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Evolution
Swami was an advocate of Vedic creationism and referred to Charles Darwin and his followers as “rascals”. He disputed evolution, and claimed that:
Darwin’s theory stating that no human beings existed from the beginning but that humans evolved after many, many years is simply nonsensical.
Religion
Swami Prabhupada used to say “actually, it doesn’t matter – Krishna or Christ – the name is the same. The main point is to follow the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures that recommend chanting the name of God in this age.
Other typical expressions present a different perspective, where he pointed out that “today I may be a Hindu, but tomorrow I may become a Christian or Muslim. In this way faiths can be changed, but dharma is a natural sequence, a natural occupation or a connection and it can not be changed, because it is permanent, according to him”.
His approach to modern knowledge was similar to that of Islam and Orthodox Judaism, where the skills and technical knowledge of modernity are encouraged, but the values rejected. “Whatever our engagement is, by offering the result to Krishna we become Krishna conscious”.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Brown, Cheever. (2020). Asian Religious Responses to Darwinism Evolutionary Theories in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian Cultural Contexts. Springer. p. 122. ISBN 9783030373405
- Cole, Richard; Dwayer, Graham (2007). The Hare Krishna movement: forty years of chant and change. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-407-7.
- Bryant, E.; Ekstrand, M. (2004). The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. Columbia University Press. pp. 113–125. ISBN 978-0-231-50843-8.
