taken from: http://www.harekrishnamalaysia.com/nfl/bhima/prfacts.html

Just who and what is ISKCON?

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founded in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has grown in the span of 40 years from a handful of American disciples to an international institution comprised of several thousand devotees.

Since the departure of Srila Prabhupada from this world on 14 November 1977, things have changed. Faces have changed, and the dynamic character of the Hare Krishna movement once unified behind the Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada to pioneer a spiritual and cultural revolution worldwide has downshifted.

So where are the Hare Krishnas nowadays? What has become of ISKCON? First understand what ISKCON is and what it’s not. ISKCON is Like the Ganges.

ISKCON means the society of devotees, those who are faithful disciples and followers of Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya. It is not a material, legal entity. In this world we have experience that a substance is different from its shadow. And so it is with ISKCON. There are two ISKCONs: the transcendental ISKCON of spiritual substance and the shadow ISKCON.

Srila Prabhupada founded ISKCON to create facility for men, women and children the world over to associate with the pure devotee. Now, in the absence of Srila Prabhupada, the shadow ISKCON has become prominent, an institution with an ecclesiastical body made up of “gurus,” Governing Body Commissioners, “ministers,” “committees” and “laws”. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur explains in his essay Putana:

The idea of an organized church in an intelligible form, indeed, marks the close of the living spiritual movement. The great ecclesiastical establishments are the dykes and the dams to retain the current that cannot be held by any such contrivances. They, indeed, indicate a desire on the part of the masses to exploit a spiritual movement for their own purpose. They also unmistakably indicate the end of the absolute and unconventional guidance of the bonafide spiritual teacher.

History has shown us that immediately following the departure of every incarnation or great spiritual teacher his following breaks apart into factions and loses spiritual potency. See “Without the self-realized soul at its head“.

Who knows now, 2000 years later, what Christ actually taught. It has been lost or covered, almost immediately after his departure. Some glimpse is there, for instance in the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name”, and it is recorded that he was praying “I have kept them [his disciples] in Your Name.” But everything has been obscured over the centuries, millennia. Same thing in the case of Buddha. In every case, whenever the Acharya leaves, there is disruption and disintegration. Real religion is not the teachings, not the system of belief, not the Direction Of Management, not the books for 10,000 years. Real religion is living in the person, the person of Krishna, the person who represents Krishna, and as soon as that person vanishes, the real religion vanishes with him, but is picked up again in the person who is connected with him in service, heart and soul. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta points this out in his essay “Thakur Bhaktivinode“. Even if one can recite the teachings by heart, but does not serve the Person, he is disconnected.

Arjuna voiced every man’s doubts and confusion what is religion. He thought that killing Grandfather Bhishma and his teacher Dronacharya would violate religion, for to his mind, the war was unjustifiable except from the point of view of personal interests and therefore a violation of religion, but Krishna said, “I am the author of religion. I am the knower of religion. I am religion. Just surrender unto Me. Give up all other religions. I will protect you from all fear.” In other words, “Don’t think that religion is something else than what I am instructing you to do; that is not real religion." Serving the person Krishna is religion; religion is not anything else than accepting Krishna’s instructions or the orders of the Spiritual Master. It is not something different or apart from Krishna or the Spiritual Master. It is not a separate by-product. The Acharya himself is religion, he is the via medium. Everything comes back to the Person, serving with heart and soul—not the Law, but the Person.

ISKCON leaders like to say that ISKCON is Srila Prabhupada. But we understand that it is Srila Prabhupada who is ISKCON.

People like to think that dedicating their life or donating money or services to ISKCON is as good as offering straight to Krishna, and they surrender their lives or money or services out of sentiment, in good faith that ISKCON members are devotees of Krishna. But actually it is the pure devotee Srila Prabhupada—not the institution ISKCON—who is the via medium connecting us to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

To the degree that the disciples are transparent windows to the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, and remain always humble and obedient servants, we look to them as Srila Prabhupada’s representatives, and whatever they do or say as good as coming from Srila Prabhupada.

ISKCON’s leaders—gurus and GBC (Governing Body Commission)—claim to serve and represent the Society’s Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. But do they?

1. ISKCON gurus and GBC have disobeyed Srila Prabhupada’s orders with regard to initiation of new disciples and appointment of gurus.

2. ISKCON has made extensive changes to Srila Prabhupada’s books without authorisation and misled the public to believe that those books are the authorised editions, disrespecting and failing to preserve the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

3. ISKCON gurus and GBCs have belittled Srila Prabhupada and defied his express wishes for the operation of his Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, publisher of his books. ISKCON bypassed Srila Prabhupada’s legal arrangement and trustee, and then claimed in court that Srila Prabhupada’s legal trust was never valid and never owned the copyrights to his books and that Srila Prabhupada himself never owned the copyrights to his books, because he was only a hired worker of ISKCON, who provided him with pen, pencil, paper, tape recorder, typists, room and board, and so whatever books he produced belonged to ISKCON.

Srila Prabhupada warned his disciples not to go to his godbrothers (Gaudiya Math), and explained simply that his godbrothers had disobeyed their spiritual master and therefore become offenders and useless. From this, what can we conclude about ISKCON gurus and GBC and their followers?

In 1993, Hansadutta das offered USD$108,000.00 to any ISKCON guru who could show written proof that Srila Prabhupada had appointed a guru or gurus to succeed him. It is now the close of 2005, and the offer still stands. So far no ISKCON guru has come forward to demand the USD$108,000.00. There was never any appointment. Still ISKCON refuses to acknowledge the mistake in disobeying Srila Prabhupada’s order.

ISKCON continues to change Srila Prabhupada’s books.

ISKCON has not apologised or retracted its statements to the court, calling Srila Prabhupada a hired worker and his Bhaktivedanta Book Trust invalid. And ISKCON continues to bypass the trust arrangement so carefully set up by Srila Prabhupada.

We dare to say of ISKCON that IT’S GONE, gone from the institution, which remains like a dead body without spiritual life. Where is the life and soul of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada? In the association of those disciples who are faithful and obedient to his instructions.

Why not associate with and give your support to those who do serve Srila Prabhupada? The sincere servant of Srila Prabhupada does not promote himself as pure and perfect or as good as Srila Prabhupada—that’s just it: HE DOES NOT PROMOTE HIMSELF, BUT HE DOES PROMOTE AND REPRESENT SRILA PRABHUPADA as he is, without changing anything. That transparency is the faithful disciple’s qualification.

What should you give the ISKCON devotee who comes to your door? Print this out, and give it. Refer him or her to Bhima das, who has made a public pledge to surrender USD$108,000.00 to any ISKCON guru who is able to prove that Srila Prabhupada personally appointed him to be guru. If any ISKCON center wants money, all they need to do is ask their guru why he does not take up Bhima das’s offer.

We invite the reader to examine the following indisputable facts, and decide for yourself, Are ISKCON’s gurus and their followers really the servants and representatives of Srila Prabhupada or misguiding themselves and others?