Was Prabhupada Poisoned? (by Bhakta Charles)

Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.  
(Bg.9.11 translation)

Instead of hearing their instructions on how to be free from the ass-like slavery in the material world, the foolish become envious because devotees are always taken care of by the Lord. It is of no surprise, therefore, that a saintly personality is persecuted. Lord Buddha, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Prahlada Maharaja, Sankaracarya, the Pandavas, Pariksit Maharaja, and Haridas Thakur can be named amongst many who were harassed by the atheists.  
You try to trace out the history of the world, you'll find always persons who are for Krṣna or God, they have been persecuted. 

Srimad Bhagavatam lecture 7.9.8 Seattle, October 21, 1968 
 
Perhaps the most famous example is found in the personality of Jesus Christ, a pure devotee, who was crucified for preaching God consciousness:

Just see in the Western countries the Lord Jesus Christ. He was preaching about God, God consciousness. That was the only fault, and he was crucified. Just see. He was crucified. The state ordered him to be crucified because he is talking. Similarly, Hiraṇyakaśipu, his five-years-old bo(d)y, he was talking only of Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa. So therefore his father became enemy. He was trying in so many ways to kill him. This is the very old story, that if you become a devotee, you must be prepared to be put into miserable condition by the demons. That is their business. Āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. Asuras... Just like even Kṛṣṇa, even God Himself, He was attempted to be killed by Kaṁsa. Not only that, He engaged so many demons, Pūtanā, Aghāsura, Bakāsura, Mahīśāsura, so many asuras. But Kṛṣṇa is always Kṛṣṇa. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8]. He is able to finish these duṣkṛtas or the asuras by His omnipotency. That He can do. But the asuras are always... Their only business is to give trouble to God and His devotee.
Therefore it is advised, titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām [SB 3.25.21]. A devotee should be so advanced that in spite of being troubled by the asuras, he should tolerate, titikṣavaḥ, and still, he should be kind upon him, not that "This man is talking against me, against God. Therefore I shall be angry and drive him away." No. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ. Everyone in this material world, more or less, they are asuras, atheists. So if you want to preach, then you have to learn tolerance and speak in such a way that these asura can become also devotee. That is the business.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.35 Bombay, December 4, 1974 
 

Srila Prabhupada turned thousands of young asuras who were previously addicted to the usual materialistic ways of life (drugs, illicit sex, gambling and meat eating primarily) into pure lovers of God. His movement is probably the fastest growing religion in history and one American politician even proclaimed that if this movement continues, it will take over the government. Considering the threat Srila Prabhupada presents to the materialistic society and seeing all the historical examples of devotee persecution, he would be the topmost target of such persecution.  
 
Before going any further however, we should note a very important point. From the strict standard of perfection of bhakti-yoga as enunciated in the Vedic scriptures, a fully realized pure devotee (mahabhagavata) cannot be killed as he is completely transcendental to the material laws of nature. Let us examine this more closely.  
 
The Vedic way of acquiring knowledge is by hearing from perfect authority. This is superior to the ascending process, where we try to research a particular phenomenon by our imperfect senses. The best example is that if we want to know who our father is, the best person to ask is our mother. In this way we will get the perfect information. But if we want to understand on our own and ask every single man on the planet whether he's our father, we will never be successful. Similarly if we want to understand the nature of a pure devotee, who is completely on the transcendental platform, we have to do so through the eyes of the sãstras (scriptures), otherwise there is a tendency to observe a pure devotee superficially through imperfect senses and conclude that a pure devotee is an ordinary man.  

People with a poor fund of knowledge do not know the difference between the death of a devotee and the death of a nondevotee. In this connection, an example can be given: a cat carries its kittens in its mouth, and it also catches a rat in its mouth. Superficially, the catching of the rat and the kitten appear to be one and the same, but actually they are not. When the cat catches the rat in its mouth it means death for the rat, whereas when the cat catches the kitten, the kitten enjoys it.

SB 4.12.30  

A pure devotee of the Lord does not live on any planet of the material sky, nor does he feel any contact with the material elements. His so-called material body does not exist, being surcharged with the spiritual current of the Lord's identical interest, and thus he is permanently freed from all contaminations of the sum total of the mahat-tattva.  

S.B. 1.13.55  

Foolish people consider Krsna a human being, and they consider Lord Krsna's pure devotee an ordinary human being also.  

C.c Madhya lila purport 22.51

All the members of the original Hare Krsna movement accept Srila Prabhupada to be a pure devotee of Krsna(God) - an uttama adhikari paramahamsa, which means he is on the highest platform of spiritual realization. This has been proven by his speech, by his activities, by his personal character and by the depth of his realization of Krsna consciousness in his books. Arrival of this powerful acarya (teacher), who is teaching the Sankirtana yuga dharma has also been predicted in the Vedas. Such a pure devotee is always in the personal service of the Supreme Lord and cannot be killed under any circumstances.

mahatmanas tu mam partha 
daivim prakrtim asritah  
bhajanty ananya-manaso  
jnatva bhutadim avyayam

TRANSLATION  
 
O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.

Bg. 9.13

Because a pure devotee is fully realized, his body is fully spiritual and does not come under the control of the material laws. Srila Prabhupada is ever-liberated and his body is eternal. 
According to Hari-bhakti-vilas, therefore, after the disappearance of the acarya, his body is never burnt to ashes, for it is a spiritual body. The spiritual body is always unaffected by natural condition.

S.B. 10.4.20

Therefore, a devotee who engages in the service of the Supreme Lord, and who constantly thinks of Him, should never be considered to have a material body. It is, therefore, enjoined: gurusu naramati - One should stop thinking of the spiritual master as an ordinary human being with a material body.

S.B. 8.3.2

So in conclusion, a pure devotee's "death" is an illusion.  The attempt to persecute him, however, can be real.
In this connection, it has been recorded that prior to his departure, Srila Prabhupada gave many hints about a threat of this kind. Here, for example Srila Prabhupada directly admits that an attempt to kill him is possible.
Prabhupada: This is our position. Gradually they will show Hare Krsna movement. In India also, although India's... They will want to crush down this movement. So this will be up to Him. Krsna or Krsna's movement, the same thing. And Krsna was attempted to be killed by Kamsa class of men and his company, the demons. So it will be there; it is already there. Don't be disappointed, because that is the meaning that it is successful. Krsna's favor is there, because Krsna and Krsna's movement is not different, nondiff..., identical. So as Krsna was attempted to be killed, many, many years before He appeared... At eighth child, if the mother produces child yearly, still ten years, eight years before His birth, the mother was to be attempted to be killed. So there may be attempt like that. And Lord Jesus Christ was killed. So they may kill me also.

Room Conversation May 3, 1976, Honolulu

And here, Srila Prabhupada informs that a guru-killing mentality is developing in his society:
I am also practically finding that if any of our students artificially try to become scholars by associating with unwanted persons they become victimized, for a little learning is dangerous, especially for the Westerners. I am practically seeing that as soon as they begin to learn a little sanskrit immediately they feel that they have become more than their guru and then the policy is kill guru and be killed himself.

Letter to Dixit Vrindaban 18 September, 1976 

In May of 1977, Srila Prabhupada arrived in Vrndavana, India, Lord Krsna's eternal residence and the most significant city, ready to perform his final pastimes there. He was accompanied by a handful of his disciples. Just a few days prior to his departure, Srila Prabhupada raised the point that someone had poisoned him.

Bhakti-caru: Prabhupada just said that I mean, this morning his condition was bad, not now. 
Bhavananda: Prabhupada was complaining of mental distress this morning also. 
Bhakti-caru: Srila Prabhupada? 
Prabhupada: Hm? 
Bhakti-caru: (Bengali) ...mental distress? 
Prabhupada: (laughter) 
Kaviraja: (in Hindi) Tell us, tell us 
Prabhupada: (in Hindi)That talk, that someone has poisoned me  
Kaviraja: (Hindi) Okay. He thinks someone has... 
Bhakti-caru: Someone gave him poison here. 
Kaviraja: (Hindi long explanation) 
Tamala Krsna: Prabhupada was thinking that someone had poisoned him. 
Bhakti-caru: Yes. 
Tamala Krsna: That was the mental distress. 
Bhakti-caru: Yes. 
Kaviraja: (in Hindi)This is what (Srila Prabhupada) says, then there must be some truth in it. In this there is no doubt.  
Tamala Krsna: What did Kaviraja just say? 
Bhakti-caru: He said that when Srila Prabhupada was saying that, there must be some truth behind it. (People all speaking at once) 
Tamala Krsna: Srila Prabhupada, Sastriji says that there must be some truth to it if you say that. So who is it that has poisoned? 
(13 seconds silence, then talk continues without Srila Prabhupada ever answering the question)

Room conversation 8th of Novemeber 1977 (listen to the audio)

 
Prabhupada: Someone says that I've been poisoned. It is possible. 
Balaram Mishra (?): Hmm? 
Kaviraja: (doctor) What is he saying? 
Prabhupada: Someone says that someone has given poison. 
Kaviraja: To whom? 
Prabhupada: To me. 
Kaviraja: Who said? 
Prabhupada: These all friends. 
Bhakticaru: Who said, Srila Prabhupada? 
Tamal Krishna: Krishna das? 
Kaviraja: Who would give you poison? Why would anyone do that? 
Tamal Krishna: Who said that, Srila Prabhupada? 
Prabhupada: I do not know, but it is said.
Room Conversation November 9, 1977, Vrndavana, India

(listen to the audio) 
 
In a short period of 12 years, Srila Prabhupada has opened 108 Krishna temples and initiated thousands of disciples into the pure Vaisnava life-style. He has written and translated over 80 volumes of books from ancient Vedic literatures, which has made him the most prolific writer on the subject matter of God in history. Such accomplishments are historically unparalleled. Furthermore, on the authority of Vedic sastras, it is understood that such a powerful personality is an empowered incarnation of the Lord (sakty avesa avatar).  
Without being empowered by the direct potency of Lord Krishna to fulfill His desire and without being specifically favored by the Lord, no human being can become the spiritual master of the whole world... Only an empowered personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen souls to worship Krishna.
(Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Anubhasya, cited in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 25.9, Purport)

This highly elevated devotee is not subjected to material flaws.

Mistakes, illusions, cheating, and defective perception do not occur in the sayings of the authoritative sages.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 2.86  
 
In the last conversation quoted, Srila Prabhupada states that it is possible that someone had given him poison. There are people who, in ignorance, minimize the importance of the words of the self-realized spiritual master and who suggest that Prabhupada in this instance was not sure, or was hallucinating due to his poor health, etc. But claiming that the word "possible" is merely an expression of Srila Prabhupada's speculation, unclear idea, or uncertainty is a complete misunderstanding of Srila Prabhupada's elevated platform. Please note what Prabhupada says about those who think in uncertain terms:

Prabhupada:  If you do not know, sit down. It is better not to talk foolish. There is an English proverb: "It is better not to talk than to talk foolish." If you do not know, then don't talk. That is nice.
What is the use of philosophically foolishly talking this and that and "maybe," "perhaps," like that, like that? 

Conversation about Soren Aabye Kierkegaard

Prabhupada: Well as soon as you say, "perhaps," "maybe," that is not... This has no meaning. Because it is not certain. You have no clear idea. 

Conversation with Mr. Wadell July 10, 1973, London

So if Prabhupada says: "Someone says that I've been poisoned. It is possible." should we take it as meaningless? Not according to this instruction:  
A highly realized person never says anything that has no meaning. 
Adi lila 7.105 purport

One may object that Prabhupada also said "I do not know" and we should therefore not dwell on this. However, one should note the following:

Although a devotee may apparently express himself to be ignorant, he is full of knowledge in every intricate matter. 

S.B. 3.7.8

It is therefore a natural conclusion that this is Srila Prabhupada's humility. When he says "possible", he's telling us: Yes, it is true, but I do not want to make it a big issue as I am insignificant. But we should never take anything that Prabhupada says lightly:
A Vaisnava is always humble, and if a person does not misuse this humbleness of a Vaisnava, he gets a chance to be elevated. But if somebody misunderstands the humbleness of a Vaisnava then he is doomed. Just like in the Caitanya Caritamrta, the author Kaviraja Goswami says that he is lower than the stool, and Sanatana Goswami says that he is born and associated with most degraded persons. If such humbleness of Vaisnavas are taken verbatim, then we are misled.

Letter to Gurudasa, Los Angeles 14 December, 1968

We can see that they were taking Srila Prabhupada to be an ordinary man, not understanding that Srila Prabhupada was simply giving them a great opportunity.
A Vaisnava is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but if he appears to be an invalid, this gives a chance to his disciples to serve him.  

C.C. Adi, 9.11 
 
 
After continuous argument between Srila Prabhupada and his caretakers over whether Prabhupada should go on parikrama or stay in the room, the following took place:

 
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This seems like suicide, Śrīla Prabhupāda, this program. It seems to some of us like it's suicidal. 
Prabhupāda: And this is also suicidal. 
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Prabhupāda said, "And this is also suicide." Now you have to choose which suicide. 
Prabhupāda: The Rāvaṇa will kill and Rāma will kill. Better to be killed by Rāma. Eh? That Mārīca-if he does not go to mislead Sītā, he'll be killed by Rāvaṇa; and if he goes to be killed by Rāma, then it is better. 

Room conversation 10th of Novemeber 1977 (listen to the audio) 

 
This is perhaps the most significant verbal exchange during Srila Prabhupada's last days in this connection. We would like to submit the following question to anyone who still believes that Prabhupada was not poisoned:
Why does Prabhupada say "Ravana will kill" and "if he does not go to mislead Sita, he'll be killed by Ravana"? 

 
If you noticed, after Srila Prabhupada says: "it is better", Tamal Krsna asks something and the other disciples respond. According to the ISKCON issued transcript(Vedabase), at this point Tamal Krsna says the following:  

"Who is this Prabhupäda's talking about?"

However, when we listen to the original audio, what is heard doesn't seem to match this sentence at all.  We have separated the sentence and here's the audio, you can make your own judgement of what Tamal Krsna really says:

(listen to the audio) 
 
Why was the transcript seemingly tampered with in this particularly crucial moment of the conversation?

Tamal Krsna Goswami gave his version of what was going on in November 1977 right after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance:

It's hardly the position of the servant to .. in any way to strongly request the master for anything. He should simply receive the instruction, or order and carry it out. Yet, we found in the later months, the most recent months that Srila Prabhupada seemed to be demanding from us a different type of attitude or emotion, at least especially from his most personal y' know servants. A number of times he would say: Can you give me a medicine, please give me a medicine that will allow me to disappear now. Another time he would say I want most now to disappear. I want to die peacefully. Let me die peacefully. Now on one hand we could take it...and give him that medicine or let him stop eating, fast until death, we could have done that. And yet it seemed that, of course we could have not do that out of our love for him and he seemed to respond so beautifully to that , our loving requests that he would not leave that he please stay with us longer. 

(listen to the audio) 

interview with Tamala Krsna Goswami by Satsvarupa Goswami November 1977

In other words, according to this disciple, Prabhupada was indeed asking his caretaker disciples to assist him in suicide. However, in the light of scripture, such a request from a pure devotee is utterly inconceivable. In the Caitanya Caritamrta it is stated:

Acts such as suicide are influenced by the mode of ignorance, and in ignorance and passion one cannot understand Krsna.

CC Ch 4, text 57 (2)

So after so much personal association with Srila Prabhupada and so much dedicated service this disciple seems to have concluded that Prabhupada cannot understand Krsna.
 

So neither do we have any evidence about this suicide business from Prabhupada's books, nor from any of his conversations. The sole evidence is the statement of Tamal Krsna Goswami that Prabhupada said it. This is not very convincing.

...They misunderstand me. Unless it is there from me in writing, there are so many things that ‘Prabhupada said.'

Letter to Omkara Vrindaban 2 September, 1975

Srila Prabhupada, however, further elaborates on the analogy of Ravana, Sita and Rama in the following purport:  

The material opulences a person obtains by offering prayers to the goddess Durga are temporary. As described in Bhagavad-gita ( 7.23), antavat tu phalah tesam tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam: men of meager intelligence desire temporary happiness. We have actually seen that one of the disciples of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura wanted to enjoy the property of his spiritual master, and the spiritual master, being merciful toward him, gave him the temporary property, but not the power to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. That special mercy of the power to preach is given to a devotee who does not want anything material from his spiritual master but wants only to serve him.
The story of the demon Ravana illustrates this point. Although Ravana tried to abduct the goddess of fortune Sitadevi from the custody of Lord Ramacandra, he could not possibly do so. The Sitadevi he forcibly took with him was not the original Sitadevi, but an expansion of maya, or Durgadevi . As a result, instead of winning the favor of the real goddess of fortune, Ravana and his whole family were vanquished by the power of Durgadevi (srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka [Bs. 5.44]).  
 
SB 5.18.22

It is well-documented that after Srila Prabhupada's departure, the ISKCON institution has been taken over by disciples who disobeyed his order about initiating on his behalf as his representiatives (rtvik system), usurped Srila Prabhupada's position of spiritual master and excommunicated anyone who protested against such wrongdoings. 
It is an open secret that many of these people, who became false gurus in this organization, are the same ones who served Srila Prabhupada "so lovingly" in his final days. Instead of serving Srila Prabhupada, they became allured by temporary happiness of enjoying position, property and cheap followers. The very same scenario occurred in the Gaudiya Matha, a society formed by Srila Prabhupada's spiritual master in the 1930's, (:) and history has repeated itself with the sad story of ISKCON:     

Why this Gauḍīya Maṭha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He, before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that "This man should be the next ācārya." But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be ācārya. That is the failure. They never thought, "Why Guru Mahārāja gave us instruction so many things, why he did not say that this man should be ācārya?" They wanted to create artificially somebody ācārya and everything failed. They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Mahārāja wanted to appoint somebody as ācārya, why did he not say? He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it. They declared some unfit person to become ācārya. Then another man came, then another, ācārya, another ācārya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Mahārāja. That is perfection. And as soon as he learns the Guru Mahārāja is dead, "Now I am so advanced that I can kill my guru and I become guru." Then he's finished.

Room Conversation August 16, 1976, Bombay 

We, the conditioned souls are struggling for existence and if we take a pure devotee to be like us, naturally we become confused after hearing of his so-called death, torture, illnesses. We think that the pure devotee has lost the battle against the material nature and because the Lord is the ultimate controller of the material nature we conclude that the Lord does not protect His devotee. However, a pure devotee has no desire to control the material nature. His only desire is to faithfully serve the Lord.
If the Lord decides to teach through the example of a pure devotee about the crooked nature of this world, he very happily accepts this service and at the same time remains untouched by any material contamination. This is a "pastime"(lila), a transcendental play a pure devotee and Lord Krsna enjoy together.
One thing you may inform all devotees that Maya cannot touch a pure devotee: When you find a devotee is supposed in difficulty it is not the work of Maya but it is the work of the Lord by His Personal internal energy. The Pandava's tribulation in so many ways, Lord Ramacandra's departure to the forest, His wife the Goddess of Fortune's being kidnapped by Ravana, Lord Krishna's death being caused by the arrow of a hunter, Thakura Haridasa's being caned in 22 market or Lord Jesus Christ being crucified are all acts of the Lord personally. We cannot always understand the intricacies of such incidences. Sometimes they are enacted to bewilder persons who demons. You should therefore discuss in the Istagosthi from current reading matters from B.G. or S.B. We should only try to understand everything from the standard of devotional service. It is stated clearly in the B.G. that any one who is cent per cent engaged in the service of the Lord is transcendentally situated and the influence of Maya has no more any action on such body.
The Lord and His pure devotees are always beyond the range of Maya's action. Even though they appear like action of Maya, we should understand their action of Yogamaya or the internal potency of the Lord.

Letter to Satsvarupa San Francisco 3 April, 1968

Prabhupada: These, these rascals, they thought that "Jesus had a material body. Let us kill him." So Jesus Christ bewildered them more, to remain rascal, that they will continue to think that Jesus had a material body.  
Jyotirmayi: Bewildered them?  
Yogesvara: Yes, he bewildered them more by saying: "All right, go on thinking like that."  
Prabhupada: That is their punishment. They remain always in darkness that Jesus had a material body.

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest June 15, 1974, Paris

Everything about the persecution is the Lord's arrangement, which serves the higher purpose of glorifying His devotees and teaching the conditioned souls about the nature of the material world.  The Lord accomplishes several tasks simultaneously, so if there is a demoniac person who wants to harm devotees, He uses them to perform such inauspicious acts in a pure devotee's lila and bewilders them even more in their already deluded envious mentalities.

The queens of Kṛṣṇa, they could not be touched. But it is a play only. Similarly, Yadu dynasty, the descendants of Kṛṣṇa, they also could not be killed. But... Just like Kṛṣṇa was killed by the arrow of a hunter. How Kṛṣṇa can be killed? But it is for the persons, for the demons, to demonstrate like that, who thinks Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. So for them it is a jugglery. They will still know that "Here your Kṛṣṇa is killed." Yes. They will say like that. So tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān kṣipāmy ajasram asura-yoniṣu. The demons, as they want to forget Kṛṣṇa, or they do not like to understand Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa plays something like that so that they will be more convinced that Kṛṣṇa is not God, Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being. Tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān. They will remain in darkness forever. 

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.22-23 lecture Los Angeles, December 2, 1973