More pro-FDG drama by Kaunteya Prabhu - August 2026

 August 2026 - Back to Kaunteya Prabhu's FDG Pastimes

Recently Kaunteya Prabhu started to propagate pro-FDG propaganda via an anonymous email account called Iskcon India Independently Thoughtful (IIIT: india-pro-fdg@zohomail.in). He claimed to have received email from this "ghost" account and forwarded the same to a huge number of ISKCON India leaders.

The following is my response email to Kaunteya Prabhu, which also captures the other responses trail all the way leading up to the original email from the "ghost" account of IIIT:

As the saying goes, " A Picture is worth a thousand words," let us see the pictures (attached below) which are referred to in my response are below:

Picture 1: Kaunteya calls all members of ICC attending this ICC conference as neo-smartas.

Picture 2: Kaunteya's visualization of ISKCON India leaders (neo-smartas) wives's position and Kaunteya's opinion on Srila Prabhupada's model for protection of women.

Picture 3: Kaunteya's imagination of what Diksha means

==========begin my response

From: Sridhara Srinivasa das 
Date: Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Subject: Re: An appeal to the ISKCON India Bureau to reject the ICC proposal on Vaisnavi-diksa-gurus
To: Kaunteya Das 
Cc: [list of receipients masked]

Dear Kaunteya Prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Please take off your IIIT mask...

Nice try....but your (disguised as IIT unnamed rebels) refutation to the ICC resolution is only as bad as your books are.

You are the toolkit in the hands of Hdg because what you are trying to do here is exactly what hdg describes in the attached video below (in which he calls ISKCON India leaders as mafia, usurpers...):

================

https://youtu.be/NVe19knNexQ?si=MJX-I4yVNVns6n6u&t=2746

[Prabhupada Priya Devi Dasi]:
So what are some practical things that the Indian leaders, temple presidents, and just any devotees can do to resist this?
[Hridayananda das Goswami]:
Yeah, communication is the key. They need to communicate with each other. They need to talk to each other in, you know, in a free, independent atmosphere where they're not—they don't have one of these mafia men standing over them. That's what the temple presidents did before. When ISKCON was threatened before, in those days, of course, there were many more temples in the West. The temple presidents rose up, and they demanded that the GBC do what was best for ISKCON. And so it's time for the—I mean, you know, Indian temple presidents—they all have cell phones, they all have email addresses, they have telephones. They need to communicate with each other, and they need to understand what's going on and how they're being exploited as pawns—unwillingly in many cases—to satisfy the dark ambitions of these western invaders who simply want to control ISKCON. And that's what needs to happen. And I think at this point there's no use mincing words. You know, if it—if it like they say—like philosophers say, if it looks like a duck, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. And so, you know, if it looks like usurping, if it looks like violating Prabhupada's system, if it looks like threatening and bullying, then that's what it is.

===============

In your response and the earlier response (disguised as IIIT) you openly lie that members of ISKCON India temples who support FDG, are afraid of the leadership ... this is a total lie because many temples are under the leadership of HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja who is known to be a supporter of FDG implementation. HH JPS M has given freedom to his disciples to make their own choices in this matter. Similarly, GKG maharaja and his leading disciples and followers do not suppress the views of their devotees. So, this is the trick that you are employing using the method given by Hdg, supporter of your blasphemous book that calls Srila Prabhupada as Racist, sexist, etc..

In the past you have always been antagonistic to ICC and have called the entire group of members in the picture attached below as neo-smartas which also included several ISKCON India senior leaders and Bureau members. (See picture attached). In the second and third pictures attached herewith you make derogatory statements about these leaders and how they control their wives (see pictures 2 and 3).

Either you give scriptural injunctions that support the implementation of FDG or just accept that you don't have anything meaningful in your responses. Srila Prabhupada clearly says in SB 4.12.32 purport that according to shastric injunctions:

"According to śāstric injunctions, there is no difference between śikṣā-guru and dīkṣā-guru, and generally the śikṣā-guru later on becomes the dīkṣā-guru. Sunīti, however, being a woman, and specifically his mother, could not become Dhruva Mahārāja’s dīkṣā-guru." 

If you claim that it is only applicable to Suniti even then you are supposed to show that shastric injunction which forbid Suniti (either as her individual case or as women in general) from becoming a diksha guru.

Yet again in SB 3.24.40 Srila Prabhupada says that women are not eligible for sannyasa and they only have three stages of life: protected by by father before marriage, protected by husband after marriage and protected by older son in old age:

"A woman is not supposed to take sannyāsa. So-called spiritual societies concocted in modern times give sannyāsa even to women, although there is no sanction in the Vedic literature for a woman’s accepting sannyāsa. Otherwise, if it were sanctioned, Kardama Muni could have taken his wife and given her sannyāsa. The woman must remain at home. She has only three stages of life: dependency on the father in childhood, dependency on the husband in youth and, in old age, dependency on the grown-up son, such as Kapila. In old age the progress of woman depends on the grown-up son." - SB 3.24.40 purport

But you dont accept Srila Prabhupada's statements but you are expert in making pictures criticizing Srila Prabhupada (see picture 3).

Your book on supporting the FDG has been thoroughly refuted, especially your mistaken claims on female Deities wearing upavita has been thoroughly debunked with reference from Shilpa shastras that what you see as upavita is just a support for covering the ornament of woman sculptures's breasts (Kati bandana or stana vara).

So why are you wanting this assembly of devotees in this forum to waste their time reading such irresponsible accusations against India leaders. You yourself had attacked ad hominem, India leaders with bad name and openly challenged Sriman Basu Ghosh Prabhu,  Sriman Sumitra Krsna Prabhu by callimg them names when your presentation on "How to mess up Varnasrama" and later as usual renamed to "How not to mess up Varnasrama..." was blocked in ILS conference.

You resigned from all your positions from iskcon because of your nasty posts "No-dick-no-diksha" (see picture attached) is yet another example of your intelligent creativity. You called Indian leaders of ISKCON as neo-smartas and why are you now appealing to the same leaders whom you have zero respect for?

Consistency is certainly not a word that seems to be applicable to your thoughts

Your humble servant

sridhara srinivasa das 

On Tue, 11 Aug, 2026, 17:41 Kaunteya Das, wrote:

Good try to divert the topic (of Indian devotees disagreeing with the ICC) with an ad hominem attack.

You can try attempts at "character assassination" as much as you like (and people can think whatever they like about me), but that doesn't change the fact that many, many devotees in India fully support having Vaisnavi diksa-gurus all over the world, including in India.  

Thank you for the advertisement of my book, "Tough Questions, Difficult Answers," a humble attempt to defend Srila Prabhupada and his Society's reputation from criticism.

Devotees can download it for free, read it , and come to their own conclusions on the value of its contents: 

[link suppressed to prevent proliferation of blasphemy of Srila Prabhupada]

Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

Your servant, Kaunteya das

On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 5:03 PM Krishna Kirti Das  wrote:

Dear Devotees, Maharajas, Prabhus, and (yes) Mata Ji.

In a book originally titled How to mess up your life with Varnashram, later renamed Tough Questions, Difficult Answers (TQDA), His Grace Kaunteya Prabhu has made many statements which the Leaders of ISKCON India found offensive toward Prabhupada. Thus, he is persona non grata in ISKCON India affairs.

Kaunteya Prabhu wrote:

• Kaunteya considers Prabhupada's statements in his own books to be impediments to preaching. Regarding Prabhupada's statement in Gita 1.40, he says, "Even if, for argument’s sake, we could substantiate that ‘women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy,’ do we really need to say it at the beginning of our most important book? That sentence – and similar ones – has a poisonous, radioactive effect on our outreach." TQDA 621 
• He advises devotees to forgive Prabhupada for hurting their feelings: "If you still feel embittered (due to something he [Śrīla Prabhupāda] said about race, gender, sexual orientation or whatever), and still think that what he said was unfair, unnecessary, or mistaken, you should consider just forgiving him. . . . Please, find the strength in your heart to excuse and absolve him for whatever pain his words caused you." TQDA 627
• Kaunteya advises distancing ourselves from Prabhupada's statements he finds disagreeable. "Moving forward requires taking an impassionate, hard look at Srila Prabhupada’s contentious statements for what they are and for how they are perceived, and then decide what to do with them. Do we truly agree with them and wish to defend them? Or do we disagree with them and therefore we dissociate from them?" TQDA 617

And there are many more such statements made by Kaunteya in his book against Prabhupada. Further references can be found at: Responses to Tough Questions, Difficult Answers – ISKCON India Scholars Board

Bhavatāṁ dāsaḥ,

Krishna Kirti Das

Convenor, IISB

On Tue, 11 Aug, 2026, 4:14 pm Kaunteya Das, <kaunteya.jps@iskcon.net> wrote:

Hare Krishna, I was forwarded the following message. 

I think it's important for everyone to know this side of the discussion.

Your servant, Kaunteya das
----------------------------------------

============ Forwarded message ============

From: IIIT - ISKCON India Independently Thoughtful <india-pro-fdg@zohomail.in>
To: "jayapataka", "BhanuSwami", "BasuGhoshACBSP", "BhimaACBSP", "MadhuSevitaACBSP", "BPS", "RevatiRamanJPS", "sahadevadasa", "sabhaiskcon"
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:42:39 +0530
Subject: ISKCON India Bureau: please don't accept the ICC proposal about VDGs

============ Forwarded message ============

Dear Members of the ISKCON India Bureau and respected other receivers, please accept our humble obeisances all glories to Srila Prabhupada

We are a large group of ISKCON leaders and senior devotees from India. We call ourselves IIIT (ISKCON India Independently Thoughtful). Please forgive us if we don’t list our names, but we are afraid of repercussions if we speak openly.

Some of us have ALREADY experienced ostracism and retaliation for expressing opinions different from the ICC. We know that in the present flammable environment we could lose opportunities for devotional service (removal from our roles and positions, prohibition to give lectures, etc.).

But we are many, and we openly say: the proposal of the ICC proposal (attached) doesn’t represent us and many other thousands of ISKCON members in India.

We seriously considered the ICC proposal to the Bureau in connection with the FDG dispute, and we think that the proposal is WRONG and we want to go on record saying that it DOESN’T REPRESENT US, and it SHOULD NOT REPRESENT THE WHOLE OF ISKCON INDIA.

Our conclusion:

We are very disappointed by the low quality of the suggestions; and we believe the ISKCON India Bureau, a respectable executive body, shouldn’t endorse the poorly conceived, contrived, and often misleading claims of the ICC proposal.

The compilers of the proposal talk of, “sastra, sastra, sastra, sastra, sastra” but it appears that they want to misrepresent both Srila Prabhupada and shastra.

We can give more details and reply to questions if requested, but the basic opinions we disagree with are the following – beside the overall approach:

The proposal states that the Nov 2019 GBC resolution “was unanimously opposed by the Indian leadership.” This is demonstrably false. We agreed with that resolution, which established FDGs, and even Indian leaders of the caliber of Jayapataka Maharaja, Gopal Krishna Maharaja, and Bhakti Charu Maharaja, and publicly supported that resolution. Don’t soil the memory of Gopal Krishna Maharaja and Bhakti Charu Maharaj by endorsing false statements.

About the “three-year moratorium”: it’s certainly the responsibility of the delegates from India if they largely wasted all that time without a very active interaction. It’s unfair to blame the GBC when the onus of moving the dialogue forward was obviously on the part of those who objected to the 2019 resolution.

Frankly, we find the ICC objections to the “Terms of Reference (TOR)” as ridiculous and offensive. The ICC rightly emphasizes that theological decisions should be based on sastra, but we object that the key books Srila Prabhupada presented (such as Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrita, and Nectar of Devotion) are insufficient for our deliberations. Srila Prabhupada specifically declared:

“In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have therefore limited our study of the Vedic literatures to Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. These four works are sufficient for preaching purposes. They are adequate for the understanding of the philosophy and the spreading of missionary activities all over the world.”
—Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.118, purport

Rejecting the TOR would be an insult to Srila Prabhupada and the most essential and comprehensive sastra he translated and commented upon.

The proposal opines that “Srila Prabhupada’s statement in SB 4.12.32 purport [shows] that women cannot become diksha gurus.” This is a clear misinterpretation: the purport deals with a single woman, Suniti, at a time in which women were not even taking initiation, and it’s completely dishonest to twist its meaning as to include all women at all times.

The ICC wrote “No implementation of FDGs in ISKCON should take place until a genuine consensus is reached through proper shastric dialogue between the GBC and the ISKCON India leadership.” This is thuggery, not proper Vaisnava behavior.

Does the India Bureau wants to use this rebellious, challenging, and illegitimate tone?

ISKCON India had 20 years to convince the GBC, if they failed, they should consider that their arguments have been… poor and unconvincing, not resort to politics.

The proposal talks about an imaginary “unilateral implementation of FDGs by the GBC” but FDG and MDG (male diksa-gurus) have to get the approval of Local Area Councils, the Bureau is familiar with the procedure and at present there is no change of that. The GBC is not imposing FDG on anyone who doesn’t want them.

One thing we fully agree with in the ICC proposal is that the 2021 “cultural sensitivity” resolution should be disbanded and revoked. A theological stand of ISKCON shouldn’t be affected by local sentiments. People should be able to choose their guru (a qualified ISKCON guru, male or female) – as per ISKCON Law – without the artificial veto of any national council.

To indicate a vote by selected representative of ISKCON leadership as “vox populi” is inaccurate and offensive. Vox populi means “popular opinion, public sentiment, or the views held by the majority of the public.” It is insulting to compare senior, learned devotees to “the majority of the public” only because they may disagree with us.

The proposal protests that India has only 2 representatives, but we all know that philosophical discussions shouldn’t be based on politics; they should be based on the validity of arguments. Apparently the 2 representatives are failing to present cogent, convincing reasons for their anti-FDG stand and therefore seek strength in numbers.

And this is shown by the fact that members of the ICC couldn’t convince – despite so much pressure – the GBC in so many years.

The proposal includes the false statement that the GBC process: “is trying to force a conclusion in less than 2 months when the whole issue has dragged for more than 20 years.” The conclusion was reached by the GBC several times, in 2005, in 2009, and in 2019.

Its implementation was stalled by the insistence and intimidations of… certain well-known individuals.

The GBC allowed three years more for further discussion – which was largely squandered by the delegates from India. ISKCON India needs to take responsibility for:

 

1.    The poor arguments from the militant Indian anti-VDGs group.

 

2.    For wasting an enormous amount of time that could have been productively utilized to create harmony and agreement.

 

Frankly, by supporting this proposal, the ISKCON India Bureau will look foolish in front of the whole world. Everywhere devotees will (legitimately) think and say:

“What?! They want more time? The GBC gave them three years, and they did nothing with all that time. The GBC even gave them more time this year, if they don’t have good arguments, simply adding time won’t help!”

The proposal declares such false things such as:

“Srila Prabhupada himself instructed that his letters were written for specific individuals and circumstances and should not be published as general instructions.”

Exactly the opposite is true: Srila Prabhupada approved the publication of his letters:

“Regarding the printing of my different letters, if you have sufficient time you can work on this project.” – letter to Gargamuni, 5.2.1969

This shows that the ICC has been trying hard to hide information from the devotees.

Perhaps the biggest lie of the whole proposal is: “Not accepting FDG does not mean we are misogynists. This is the position of our parampara and shastra.”

How can anyone say that if in our Parampara there are dozens of examples of FDGs – starting from two of the wives of the members of the Panca-tattva!

It’s also remarkable that NO ACARYA in Gaudiya-vaisnavism has even spoken against FDG, although they were obviously aware of their existence.

The proposal again lies: “Prabhupada’s overall instructions and practice are clear. Innumerable statements make it evident that if a woman is to become a dikṣā-guru, she will have to be a very extraordinary devotee.” This is demonstrably false: Srila Prabhupada (and the Bharadvaja-samhita) never indicated that women need higher qualifications than men to become guru:

“The qualification of guru is that he must be fully cognizant of the science of Kṛṣṇa. Then he or she can become guru. Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei guru haya.”

-       Conversation, Toronto, 18.06.1976

The proposal brings up irrelevant quotes such as “SB 10.4.5: ‘we never find that a woman was given the post of chief executive.’” This is ridiculous (and it would be shameful for the ISKCON India Bureau to submit such a foolish argument). We are talking about FDG (female diksa-gurus) not FCE (Female Chief Executives)!

To avoid making this letter too long, we refrain for pointing out other misuses of quotations, other half-truths, and other mistakes in the proposal (but we can if requested).

We believe the proposal contains many other unacceptable suggestions and ideas; but we stop here for the sake of brevity.

Our simple request: do not approve the ICC proposal; it’s philosophically and logically indefensible and will put the ISKCON Indian Bureau in a bad light in front of the whole world.

Signed,

The IIIT (ISKCON India Independently Thoughtful)

PS - Again, we have PERSONAL experience of how these “proposals” are forced upon the ICC members, and how dissenting members are treated. We remain anonymous because this is an emergency and we must protect ourselves, our services, and our families from those who turned the FDG issue into a personal fight and an ego battle, those who want to smash any difference of opinion at any cost.  

========================= end of my email response....

Kaunteya never responded to my above email response but he forwarded another email sent by Hrdayananda Maharaja (Hdg) to the "ghost" account managed by the IIIT members, thereby confirming my statements that Hdg is the master mind behind this "ghost" mail trail and Kaunteya Prabhu is his toolkit.

============ Forwarded message ============
From: Hridayananda Goswami 
To: "IIIT - ISKCON India Independently Thoughtful"<india-pro-fdg@zohomail.in>
Cc: "MadhavanandaGGS", "krishnakirti", "kaunteyajps", "iskconvizag", "nitaisevini", "Brahmatirtha Prabhu"
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2026 02:43:05 +0530
Subject: Re: Dear ISKCON India Bureau members: please don't accept the ICC proposal about FDGs
============ Forwarded message ============

Dear Members of the IIIT,

Jaya Prabhupada! You have my deep gratitude for your courageous, intelligent, timely, and essential statement. You are the real followers of Prabhupada, and may Lord Krishna bless you and empower you more and more. Please distribute your statement as widely as possible. You are playing a vital role in our effort to save ISKCON from those who represent not Prabhupada, but the old Smārta tradition which for centuries has tried to stop the free expansion of Vaishnavism, and specifically Lord Caitanya’s movement. I know that Prabhupada will be very proud of you.

With best wishes,

HD Goswami 

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