100 Contradictions: The Life & Teachings of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami

Book excerpt: HH Bhakti Charu Swami - In his own words There are currently some 70 persons claiming to be gurus in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON, or the Hare Krishna Movement) - successors to the original guru and founder, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Out of all of these, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami is considered one of the most successful, respected and scholarly. Given this, and the fact that all ISKCON gurus were authorised via the same GBC* system, a detailed examination of the life and teachings of Bhakti Charu Swami as an ISKCON GBC-elected guru will simultaneously provide an evaluation of the whole ISKCON guru system. This examination will be undertaken solely by studying the words and actions of Bhakti Charu Swami, and simply letting them speak for themselves. In this way, what follows cannot be disputed as simply being someone’s subjective opinion about Bhakti Charu Swami. Rather, this will simply be Bhakti Charu Swami’s opinion of himself, thus rendering it beyond argument. Since this book is Bhakti Charu Swami himself presenting his own life and teachings in his own words, it can thus be considered as an “autobiography” of this ISKCON guru. * Governing Body Commission “Yes, devotees need a qualified spiritual master and I will say in ISKCON we have the most qualified spiritual master who is Srila Prabhupada. [...] In ISKCON who is the ultimate spiritual master? You need a spiritual master, but who is that spiritual master? It is Srila Prabhupada.” - HH Bhakti Charu Swami “You are all my disciples and I am your spiritual master and if we don’t make it a point to develop that relationship it won’t happen. I am your spiritual master and we have a very important relationship. As your spiritual master I am like your father, I am like your friend.” - HH Bhakti Charu Swami