Case Settled

The court case dragged on for many months, but fortunately in the end the legal battle was finally settled with none of the BBT or ISKCON properties lost. Śrīla Gurudeva had advised the ISKCON sannyāsīs, “Listen, this man is the son of your Gurudeva. I think it is better to give him some money and reconcile it. They will not win because I am here and I will give all proof from scripture and no one will be able to defeat me. But still I think it is better to give him some money and settle this.” They agreed to Śrīla Gurudeva’s recommendation.

There is no doubt that Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja is greatly pleased with Śrīla Gurudeva for standing up and fighting for ISKCON. Śrīla Gurudeva was very happy to do this service. Gurudeva was very compassionate and wanted to help these young inexperienced devotees. Most of the ISKCON devotees were half his age, at that time in their twenties and thirties and very new in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

It didn’t matter to Śrīla Gurudeva that some of these new devotees were disrespectful and arrogantly dismissed what he did. Śrīla Gurudeva considered Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja as his dearmost friend and śikṣā-guru, a relationship that some ISKCON leaders have tried to minimize. From these historical facts we can understand that a genuine disciple is just as rare as a genuine guru. Śrīla Gurudeva remained unfazed by their general lack of respect and wished them all well before heading back to Mathurā with his personal servant.