Jayatirtha Dasa - ISKCON GBC Member and Initiating Guru

ISKCON GBC Member and Initiating Guru

Jayatirtha later went on to become a senior leader and preacher within the movement, a member of its management body known as the Governing Body Commission, and the head of ISKCON in Europe. In 1975, Jayatirtha was sent by Prabhupada "to take over and organise" the Hare Krishna movement in Great Britain. Jayatirtha resided with his family at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a beautiful manor house donated by George Harrison to ISKCON. He travelled extensively throughout the world under the direction of Swami Prapupada and performed the Vedic ritual of Pratista (deity installation ) in numerous temples. He was commended by Swami Prabhupada for his refined abilities in arcana padati (the process of deity worship) which set the standard of deity worship throughout the society. He co-compiled a handbook under Swami Prabhupada’s direction to assist all authorized students in that process. He was also chief editor of The Maha Bharat Times; a news paper which highlighted the concerns of the Hindu community of Great Britain.

The last place Swami Prabhupada visited in the western hemisphere before his departure was Bhaktivedanta Manor, where he embraced Jayatirtha saying "your name is Tirtha I have come to take shelter of you," before returning to Vrindavan in India to take Samadhi (die). Jayatirtha was the only member of the G.B.C. who did not follow Swami Prabhupada back to India to witness their Guru’s departure.

In the aftermath of Swami Prabhupada's death, Jayatirtha was one of eleven disciples selected to become an initiating guru. He was located in London and was responsible for initiating disciples and managing ISKCON in Great Britain and South Africa. Due to his capabilities and organizational power, the Hare Krishna movement has significantly expanded and developed in those countries.

In December 1980, Jayatirtha bought Croome Court, an estate in Worcestershire 25 miles (40 km) south of Birmingham. He renamed it Chaitanya College, looking to introduce an ISKCON college degree in the Vaishnava tradition. The estate included a two-hundred-room mansion, a chapel and various outbuildings. It was built in 1750 for the Earl of Coventry by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. The design of the interiors was made by Robert Adam. The property included 40 acres (160,000 m2) of fields and landscaped parkland. During the World War II, the place served as a residence for Queen of Holland. Jayatirtha spent hundreds of thousands of pounds restoring the property and turning the chapel into the Hare Krishna temple.

Jayatirtha frequently lectured about the divine love of Radha and Krishna. He had been holding long kirtan sessions, which were considered by other GBC members to be interfering with the street collections and accumulation of funds by the society members. His concentrated focus on spiritual practices were in some respects a cause for concern. Jayatirtha always maintained that a divine flow of spiritual energy descended upon him at that time and refuted the allegations that his deep meditations were the result of taking LSD. The meditations which he entered into during kirtan (congregational chanting) sessions were conducted with composure, often with his eyes closed, whilst sitting crossed legged and with a straight back.

Jayatirtha's responsibilities within ISKCON required him to make regular visits to Africa, India, U.S.A and other countries although he resided with his family in the U.K. His influence in South Africa was one of the major contributing factors to reversing the trend of Hindu conversions to Islam. During his visits to India, in his free time, he would travel to remote holy places for meditation.

The Governing Body Commission suspected that Jayatirtha's meditations or so called ecstasies were the symptoms of drug use. Jayatirtha became "the topic of serious conversations among GBC members". During a GBC meeting in Los Angeles (called to deal with problems of another Hare Krishna guru, Hansadutta Swami) Jayatirtha was relieved from all his responsibilities in ISKCON for one year and required to renounce his wife and take sannyasa. The sannyasa initiation ceremony took place in LA Hare Krishna temple and was conducted by Kirtanananda Swami. Although Jayathirtha begged and pleaded with the GBC not to enforce the sannyasa order upon him, especially as he had not consulted with his family members, his pleading fell on deaf ears.

GBC members hoped that taking sannyasa would help Jayatirtha to overcome the problems in spiritual life, but Jayatirtha was unhappy in ISKCON after that. He started to "shift his loyalty away from ISKCON leadership to Shridhara Swami", a godbrother of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who lived in West Bengal. At the spring 1982 GBC annual meeting in Mayapur, Jayatirtha was told, that if he did not stop seeing Shridhara Swami, he would be removed from his leadership post in ISKCON. In response, Jayatirtha walked off the ISKCON Mayapur property taking nothing with him and took refuge in the Gaudiya Math ashram of Shridhara Swami. Shridhara Swami, being a senior Gaudiya Vashnava leader, was concerned about the growing tension in ISKCON. He tried to mediate various problems, but usually only drew fire on himself as a result. Many of Prabhupada's disciples, disillusioned with the existing "zonal guru system" in ISKCON at the time left the organization and turned to Shridhara Swami and Gaudiya Math in search of spiritual renewal. Consequently, the GBC considered Shridhara Swami a threat, especially when such senior ISKCON members as Jayatirtha took his side.