Our Divine Master, Srila Prabhupada, earnestly wanted to have a Gurukul school next to his temples to develop spiritually educated, Vedic mannered devotees, to help spread Krsna consciousness around the world. Despite great endeavor, the Gurukul schools were unsuccessful. In hope to turn the schools around, ISKCON leaders approached us around the year 1981 and offered us the position of principal of their Vrindaban Gurukul school. At that time, in light of much unwanted criticism regarding the operation of ISKCON Gurukul schools, we proposed to first close the Gurukul school for 5 years to allow the criticism to quiet down and use that time to properly train teachers Vaisnavism and proper etiquette, and then properly resurrect the school to honor Srila Prabhupada’s will. To our dismay ISKCON leaders disagreed with this plan so we declined their offer. Since then it has been in our mind that when Lord Krsna gives us the opportunity we will establish a real Gurukul school, thereby fulfilling the desire of our Divine Master, Srila Prabhupada.

By Lord Krsna’s grace and for the first time in the history of Vedic Gaudiya Vaisnavism, we have successfully educated devotees with proper spiritual knowledge and taught them Vedic manners in our Gurukul school. These students have become greatly learned devotee pundits well versed in Vaisnava philosophy, devotional music, devotional singing, are expert cooks, know all the Vedic rituals and rites needed to uplift human society, and have Vedic etiquette. The mantras and Vedic rites we have taught our students are all in line with authentic Vaisnava tradition. We request anyone interested in having an authentic fire sacrifice; a temple inauguration; an abhishek ceremony; a yearly festival; or any required purificatory ceremony performed properly- either at their home or at their temple – to please contact us to perform the ceremony so the desired result from the ceremony can be obtained. Our devotional school is sincerely dedicated to fulfilling the desires of our Divine Master, Srila Prabhupada.

Some years ago, about 10 yards away from our Vrindaban temple, our Godbrothers constructed a two story concrete building to be used as a school. I thought, why would they build so close to our temple other than to show us their achievements? But in time as our Gurukul flourished there was no denying our successful school, thus they left and had their building dismantled. To build and demolish such a nice building must have cost millions. It surprises us that people who donate to these people are blind to the fact they are not receiving spiritual merit for donating their hard earned money to these people. We request all non-bias parties to study both sides of this issue to find the truth, which will uplift their soul.

Thank you very much,

Jai Sri Radhe
Krsna Balaram Swami

[Sri Krsna Balaram Swamiji, KBS5139]