This is an account I just found today where someone who was a disciple of ACB and associated with both him and Siddha makes some very telling observations about what ACB thought of Siddha and what he was getting up to. I have edited it to post all the bits that specifically mention Siddha here, but you can read the author's whole article at the link.
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www.srimadbhagavatam.org]
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Also sitting with us was Nilo Santos, a young member of the wealthy Manila aristocracy. Nilo liked to chant Hare Krsna. Prabhupada asked, “So what was your philosophy before you chanted Hare Krsna?” Nilo smiled and said innocently, “LSD philosophy.” Prabhupada returned an even bigger smile, “Oh, so many of our students also followed that philosophy. Isn’t that correct, Siddha-svarupa?”
Siddha Swarupananda Swami was one of many whom Prabhupada saved from “LSD philosophy
Siddha-svarupa Ananda Goswami, Sudama Vipra Swami, and Tusta Krsna, were our friends. Tusta Krsna was now preaching in New Zealand, and I had met Sudama Vipra Swami before he opened the temple in the Philippines. Both Tusta Krsna and Sudama Vipra Swami had been followers of charismatic Siddha-svarupa, then Sai, a home-grown Maui LSD guru-spiritual leader during the 1960s. After Sai mixed Hare Krsna chanting into his brew of natural-living, spiritual meditation, and surfing, he surrendered his asrama and his disciples to Prabhupada. The Krsna conscious style of these devotees, especially after my unfavorable dealings with my GBC, seemed refreshing, relaxed, friendly, and practical.
I gradually adapted their ideas as an attempt to make our preaching successful in Hong Kong.
But along with loosening our preaching techniques, we also slackened our Krsna conscious practices. I imagined that Prabhupada understood what we were doing, and due to our increased preaching success, was sanctioning it.
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Turning to me, he asked, “So you are following Siddha-svarupa Ananda Goswami and Sudama Vipra Swami?”
“Yes,” I answered, not prepared for what would follow.
Prabhupada began, “They are rascals. By following them you have become a rascal.
The elevator arrived. Prabhupada continued to speak from inside. “It seems that Siddha-svarupa Ananda Gosvami has come to this movement to take.” I immediately objected, trying to protect my associates.” “No, Prabhupada, I don't think he has.” Without a moment’s pause Prabhupada countered, “But we want them to take.”
My head spun. “Yes,” Prabhupada continued, “We want them to take . . . our rules and regulations!”
“Prabhupada, Siddha-svarupa Gosvami seems to always be thinking of Krsna, yet he seems to have displeased you so much.”
Prabhupada illustrated the situation through an example. “If the telephone is ringing and a man does not want to answer, he will say,” and Prabhupada pointed to his head and grimaced, “‘Oh, I have a headache. I cannot come.’ Can the actual situation be detected?”
I asked Sudama Vipra Swami how to greet and honor Prabhupada, and I made the arrangements according to his advice. When I heard both his appreciation of our offering and his strong criticism of Siddha-svarupa and Sudama Vipra Swami, I asked, “Prabhupada, I know you appreciate the arrangements we made for you. I learned this from Sudama Vipra Swami, so he helped me.”
Prabhupada’s reply was dour. “That is nice. But he cannot help you any more.”
Then how should I treat him and Siddha-svarupa now?”
“You should treat them with respect,” Prabhupada replied. “A Vaisnava treats everyone with respect, even an ant!”
In his recent Hong Kong visit, Prabhupada had clearly spoken about Siddha-svarupa Ananda Gosvami, but in Mayapura, even in Siddha-svarupa Ananda Goswami's presence, Prabhupada neither directly corrected him nor spoke openly as he did to me in Hong Kong. This confused me because I was not experienced in the subtleties of Prabhupada’s way of dealing. I asked Prabhupada to again clarify Siddha-svarupa’s position. Prabhupada replied. “At least he is now wearing dhoti.” I told Prabhupada that he wore a dhoti in Prabhupada’s presence, but at other times he wore Western clothes. Prabhupada’s reply seemed a conclusive judgment: “Just see.”
Prabhupada, understanding my affection for Siddha-svarupa Ananda Goswami, then gave me further instructions that would keep the association within the limits of his desires: “You can associate with them, but it should be on our terms. When he and his followers come to the temple in dhoti and with shaved head, you can associate with them
Prabhupada had great affection for Tusta Krsna Swami, who had served in Bombay and then opened a thriving ISKCON temple in Auckland, New Zealand. But Tusta Krsna Swami was a follower of Siddha-svarupa Ananda Gosvami. Siddha-svarupa had left ISKCON and that prompted Tusta KŠa Swami to change back to Western clothes, change his preaching style, and to give up the management of the New Zealand temple.
I sat with Tusta Krsna Swami as he spoke with Prabhupada. Tusta was a sannyasi, but he was dressed like a nondevotee and had hair and a scraggly beard.
Prabhupada recounted the story of the great struggle he underwent to procure Hare Krsna Land. Tusta Krsna was the first devotee to have seen the Juhu property and to contact Mr. Nair, and Prabhupada told the story from that point. After telling how Nair had cheated the devotees and fought against Prabhupada to maintain control of the land, Prabhupada narrated Nair’s final defeat, his death by heart attack. Tusta Krsna had been the one to inform Prabhupada of Nair’s death when a Bombay devotee phoned Prabhupada in New Zealand.
Tusta Krsna seemed eager to reciprocate with Prabhupada. He began recounting his remembrances of Prabhupada’s reaction after hearing of Nair’s death. “Prabhupada, you raised your hands in the air and called out ‘Hare Krsna!’ You then folded your hands reverently and said, ‘I am a saintly person and I know I should not have prayed for his death. But I could not help it. He was so offensive.’”
Prabhupada and Tusta Krsna spoke about Bombay ISKCON for some time. Then Prabhupada made his request, “You should go back to Bombay and be in charge. You were the first to find the land. You can even take back your wife, that Tulasi dasi. She is a nice devotee. You can go back and be in charge of Bombay.”
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I have mentioned the selling of the NZ temple before, and the letter about it is on the blog where ACB wrote to Tusta telling him not to sell the NZ temple. The info that I got was that Tusta and Siddha sold the temple and made off with the money, although in the end they did the right thing - but I also came across a reference recently that the whole affair had to do with one of the eleven, so hopefully I will be back with some more scandal soon. :twisted: