It started with a letter to a group of ISKCON members who had gathered in Florida to discuss a multi-million dollar project, the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TVP), to be built in West Bengal, India. I wrote a private letter to them on June, 10th 2008 and waited for a reply. To my surprise a few weeks later a reply appeared, but not to me — it was published in ISKCON’s main news organ, Dandavats.com. The author, Hari Sauri Prabhu, reproduced my thoughts and arguments without my permission on Dandavats.com, and took a stab at defending the TVP project. His reply is mainly straw men (addressing a point we never made) and ad hominem arguments (attacks against the person rather than the argument) (see link below for his article).
To say the least, I wasn’t impressed with Hari Sauri Prabhu’s reasoning, the quality of his historical information and analysis or the demeanor in which he conducted himself in conversations that ensued. This was deeply worrisome because he is in charge of the project!
The substance of my problem was this: he claims (ad nauseum) that Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON, wanted a temple in West Bengal that looks something very much like the U.S. Capitol Building. Anyone who questioned this historical claim cares nothing for Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and is against the progress of ISKCON, is discouraging the main donor for the TVP (Alfred Ford or Ambarisha Dasa) and is in general an anti-American pest. But it isn’t clear from the history that Srila Prabhupada wanted a U.S. Capitol. And if he did, then why did it take Hari Sauri Prabhu and Ambarish Prabhu until 2005 to articulate their view? For, it was not until 2005 that Hari Sauri’s team changed the TVP design from a beautiful Indian style to a kitsch imitation of the U.S. Capitol. (My personal belief is that they changed the design from Indian to U.S. Capitol imitation in 2005 because the Akshardham, a true architectural masterpiece in New Delhi, was unveiled that same year.)
Myself and a number of friends decided to dig a bit deeper into the history of ISKCON, to see if Hari Sauri Prabhu’s claims had any weight. Of course they didn’t.
It turns out that in 1977, the year Srila Prabhupada passed away, the person in charge of designing the TVP was instructed to design it more like a traditional India style temple and very little like the U.S. Capitol. We discovered this by contacting the person who was in charge of designing the TVP in 1977 (and beyond). His name is Surabhi and he now lives in Hong Kong. Amazingly, Hari Sauri Prabhu never thought to contact him, even though he was aware that Srila Prabhupada had confidence in his ability and had spoken with him extensively about the TVP right up until his passing. You can read Tattvavit Prabhu’s excellent reply to Hari Sauri Prabhu here, which includes recent letters from Surabhi Prabhu:
why the TVP design should be changed
Tattvavit Prabhu has been the main force behind the protest to the current design of the TVP and has collected some very important historical information for ISKCON, a job which TVP group should have done years, if not decades, ago.
The adventures continue as we await the reply of Hari Sauri Prabhu and other members of the TVP design group.
Articles about the TVP:
I’ve seen the previous design when it was shown in Mayapur (1998) and I am completely frustrated seeing the new design shown in this video: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=5543
As a journalist and expert in Communications, I am sure for what I’ve heard across the years, ISKCON wants to give a spectacular impression and make this Planetarium the center of attraction, as Prabhupada wanted. I think the US Capitol design will be taken as a sarcastic imitation and not as a serious project. It’s impact in world media will be weak and won’t last at all. I am sure an Indian design like this one: http://indianskyscraperblog.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/the-temple-of-vedic-planetarium-mayapur-india-the-worlds-tallest-hindu-temple-35-storeys-part-1/
will be taken seriously and as an innovation that will make heads turn to Mayapur day after day, and that was what Prabhupada wanted.
The devotees in charge MUST think about impact all over the world, and we must take into consideration time, place and circumstance. And impact is mostly caused by uniqueness, not by copying or sarcastic adaptation.
Please don’t make a mistake. The previous Indian design is astonishing and will create the impact Prabhupada wanted. Don’t rush if you still don’t have the needed lands, this project is for at least one thousand years.
Yours,
Jose Enrique Escardó Steck
Director | GENTE magazine
Professor | Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University