The complete record of the mediation between ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai — every demand, every response, both letters in full, and how it ended. Reproduced from the compilation published by the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore, September 2013.
Read the original volume (PDF) · the offers, summarized on the main page
How the mediation began
In connection with the dispute between ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai, one of the interim orders of the Supreme Court of India, dated June 6, 2011, stated: “However, we express a pious hope that the learned counsel appearing for the respective parties shall find some time and examine the possibility of amicably resolving the issues involved in the present matter. We would also expect that the different sections of this august institution would avoid unnecessary litigation and the office bearers of both the societies shall fully cooperate in this behalf.”
On March 28, 2012, both ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai requested the retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Sri R.V. Raveendran — also the Chairman of the Oversight Committee appointed by the Supreme Court — to attempt an out-of-court settlement of the dispute through mediation. He kindly accepted.
The first mediation meeting was held on April 3, 2012 in the premises of the Bangalore Mediation Centre under his chairmanship, assisted by Smt. Laila Ollampalli, a professional mediator. Three representatives of the Bureau (the Governing Body) of ISKCON Mumbai and three representatives of the Governing Body of ISKCON Bangalore attended. Several proposals and counter-proposals were made from both sides over the following months; hundreds of pages of documentation were painstakingly prepared, amended and rewritten over the next twelve months. The broad contours of the discussion are summarised below.
Normally, mediation in a suit is restricted to the suit-schedule property — here, the ISKCON Sri Radha Krishnachandra Temple on Hare Krishna Hill. The representatives of the Bureau of ISKCON Mumbai, however, insisted that the mediation should integrate the two groups completely as one ISKCON in India — which, they said, could happen only if all the properties of the ISKCON Bangalore society, including the undisputed ones acquired after the litigation began, were brought under the control and ownership of ISKCON Mumbai.
Demand M1 · ISKCON Mumbai
The ISKCON Sri Radha Krishnachandra Temple on Hare Krishna Hill, Rajajinagar, Bangalore to be fully brought under the ownership and control of ISKCON Mumbai.
Response · ISKCON Bangalore
Accepted this demand entirely — with just one condition: that only Srila Prabhupada be revered as the guru or Acharya of ISKCON in the temple on Hare Krishna Hill — and that the same be accepted before the Supreme Court as part of a written compromise decree. No one else should occupy the revered position of Acharya, and all devotees made in the temple will be initiated by the ritviks, or representatives of the Acharya, as per the institutional directive of the Founder-Acharya, Srila Prabhupada, dated July 9, 1977.
Demand M2 · ISKCON Mumbai
Two Temple Presidents for the Hare Krishna Hill temple — one from each group — with financial, legal and administrative control vesting in the ISKCON Mumbai group’s president; Deity worship, preaching and initiations overseen by the ISKCON Bangalore group’s president.
Response · ISKCON Bangalore
Accepted this demand entirely — with just one condition: that only Srila Prabhupada be revered as the guru or Acharya of ISKCON in the temple on Hare Krishna Hill.
Demand M3 · ISKCON Mumbai
All the properties of the ISKCON Bangalore society beyond Hare Krishna Hill — Kanakapura Road, Mysore and Hubli — also brought under the full control and ownership of ISKCON Mumbai. All of these were acquired after the litigation began and are not part of the litigation.
Response · ISKCON Bangalore
Accepted this demand entirely — with just one condition: that only Srila Prabhupada be revered as the guru or Acharya of ISKCON in the temples on Kanakapura Road, Mysore and Hubli.
Demand M4 · ISKCON Mumbai
The Hare Krishna Movement trusts in 16 different locations in India, and their properties — although beyond the purview of the suit — also brought under the control and ownership of ISKCON Mumbai, for “complete integration.”
Response · ISKCON Bangalore
Accepted this demand entirely — with just one condition: that only Srila Prabhupada be revered as the guru or Acharya of ISKCON in all these 16 temples.
Demand M5 · ISKCON Mumbai
Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa and the other office bearers involved in the litigation should cease to be office bearers of the Hare Krishna Hill temple.
Response · ISKCON Bangalore
Accepted this demand entirely — with just one condition: that only Srila Prabhupada be revered as the guru or Acharya of ISKCON in the temple on Hare Krishna Hill. The Hare Krishna Hill temple had been home to these devotees since its inception — they were the ones who persevered to get the land allotted, raised the money and built the temple. Yet they accepted even this.
The Bureau of ISKCON Mumbai took the position that ISKCON Bangalore’s requirement — that Srila Prabhupada alone be revered as the guru or Acharya of ISKCON, with initiations conducted by ritviks as per his directive — would be placed before the International GBC (Governing Body Commission); the Bureau would deal with the property matters only.
With all five demands — M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5 — accepted by ISKCON Bangalore, the ball was in ISKCON Mumbai’s court to fulfil the one requirement of ISKCON Bangalore: the prime and only cause of the dispute.
During March 2013, the International GBC and the Bureau of ISKCON Mumbai met in Sridham Mayapur to discuss the matter. Their final, conclusive reply was communicated to ISKCON Bangalore in a letter dated March 9, 2013. In it, the International GBC refused to accept the only demand of ISKCON Bangalore — and instead offered to make some of the senior devotees of ISKCON Bangalore regular gurus themselves. Both letters are reproduced here in full.
To the Leaders of the Bangalore Group of Temples · with a hope of settlement · 09.03.2013
“Dear Prabhus, please accept our respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. With this letter we, the Governing Body Commission (GBC) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and members of the Bureau of ISKCON India, wish to express our sincere and earnest appeal for all of you to return to the greater family of ISKCON…
We have been informed of, and definitely share, some of the pain and concerns you have for the personal and social upheavals caused by misconceptions of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions regarding ISKCON’s diksha guru system. There has been an unrealistic, artificial conception, widely promoted, about the diksha guru’s actual position, which has, at times, tragically minimized the position of Srila Prabhupada as the preeminent guru for everyone, for all generations within ISKCON…
We would like to briefly explain why your insistence on your interpretation of the July 9 letter is creating a barrier to our common purpose… Based upon traditional, philosophical and scriptural references too numerous to include in this document, there will be a major outcry and dissent from our society’s scholars as well as thousands of devotees worldwide if the GBC were to include your interpretation of Tamal Krishna Goswami’s July 9 letter within our system of initiation…
We invite several of your senior devotees to take up the service of regular gurus. They will be free, within this system, to inspire unlimited faith in Srila Prabhupada as the primary guru of each disciple… Together we can discuss how to resolve the challenges before us. Let us forgive each other for what may have been done or said in the heat of our devotional concerns. Let us serve together as a united family for the higher principle of assisting Srila Prabhupada in spreading unconditional love for Krishna throughout the world. This will be a time of immense joy for all.”
To the GBC of ISKCON and Bureau of ISKCON Mumbai · 14.03.2013
“Dear Maharajas and Prabhus, please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. We are very grateful to you for your clear response in your joint letter dated March 9th, 2013. It is unfortunate that for you, Srila Prabhupada’s system of initiation as outlined in the July 9th, 1977 written directive, is a barrier for an out-of-court settlement. This is in spite of our offering of the ownership and control of all the properties of our group temples in India, in return for your leaving intact our present system of initiations, as per Srila Prabhupada’s July 9th directive, and allowing it to be practised and preached in our temples.
While recognizing our concerns of minimization of Srila Prabhupada’s position in ISKCON, it is unfortunate that you are not embracing the straightforward solution of declaring all initiating gurus to be initiating on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. This alone ensures that His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada will spiritually rule the heart of every devotee in ISKCON. This is a one-stroke solution to the admittedly major problems that ISKCON is facing on this front today: parallel and conflicting lines of authorities, fall-down of gurus, internal guru-centred factions within ISKCON, lack of financial accountability of gurus due to the unavoidable tradition of guru-dakshina, etc. Yet, we see your reluctance to accept the simple and straightforward solution, provided by Srila Prabhupada.
We believe that if Srila Prabhupada were to take a decision in this matter, where hundreds of his devotees have implicit faith in him as their spiritual master, deliverer, giver of transcendental knowledge and bestower of Krishna prema — which we sing every day as part of the daily program established by Srila Prabhupada (what an irony, we can sing every day but are not allowed to believe!) — he would never have responded with a demand that we give up such faith in him. Your act of rejection will definitely not be seen in the spirit of co-operation. Srila Prabhupada said, “Of course, disagreements may be there, but there should not be dissension” (Letter to Umapati, May 30th, 1968). It is agonizing that our sincere efforts to prevent dissension, while agreeing to disagree, have been rejected.
We also wish to reiterate that all of us, without exception, loathe to become “regular gurus” without direct, explicit and institutional authorization by Srila Prabhupada. This is because Srila Prabhupada has explicitly stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam purport: “One should take initiation from a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession, who is authorized by his predecessor spiritual master. This is called diksha-vidhana.” (SB 4.8.54, purport). We humbly request you to desist from offering such enticements to us, as nothing could be farther from our desires than this.
The GBC-Bureau having decided not to take our organization, with our faith, under the umbrella of the GBC-Bureau, let us at least work towards “live and let live” as two separate groups and continue to expand and serve Srila Prabhupada’s mission… Let this mediation exercise at least bear the fruit of peaceful co-existence as two different groups, spreading their own missionary works… When we have decided to part ways keeping our differences intact, let us both think creatively how to produce more preaching results in terms of more temples, devotees, books etc., for Srila Prabhupada’s larger mission of spreading the Krishna Consciousness Movement throughout the world.”
Although ISKCON Bangalore accepted all the demands of ISKCON Mumbai — to give the temple property on Hare Krishna Hill under the full ownership and control of ISKCON Mumbai, along with all the properties of the Bangalore group of temples — ISKCON Mumbai and the International GBC failed to meet the one demand of ISKCON Bangalore: to accept the practice that Srila Prabhupada shall be the only Acharya and initiating guru for the devotees of the ISKCON Bangalore group of temples.
Further, the International GBC invited the senior devotees of the ISKCON Bangalore group to join them in becoming regular gurus. ISKCON Bangalore firmly declined this offer in the letter of March 14, 2013.
The Supreme Court-appointed oversight committee recorded in the proceedings of its 25th meeting that the negotiations for settlement failed on account of difference on a theosophical issue, and the mediation process was closed — with the mediators expressing the hope that, if not now, the parties would in future be in a position to sort out their differences for the benefit of the ISKCON movement and its innumerable followers.
It had been extensively portrayed that the dispute was a veiled attempt by Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa to keep total control of the properties of the ISKCON Bangalore temple, and that the theological dispute was a sham. The mediation record answers this. During the process: (1) ISKCON Bangalore offered all of the properties of the Bangalore group — disputed and undisputed — under the full ownership and control of ISKCON Mumbai; (2) Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa agreed to relinquish all his services in the Hare Krishna Hill temple and take up other services. The only demand was that the devotees of the ISKCON Bangalore group be allowed to practise the system of initiation outlined by Srila Prabhupada’s directive of July 9, 1977. That demand was rejected by both the Bureau of ISKCON Mumbai and the International GBC. The claim that this was ever a property dispute did not survive the mediation.
The institutional directive on initiation approved by Srila Prabhupada — the document whose acceptance was the sole condition through every round — reads in full:
ISKCON · International Society for Krishna Consciousness · July 9th, 1977 · to all G.B.C. and Temple Presidents
“Dear Maharajas and Prabhus, please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. Recently when all of the GBC members were with His Divine Grace in Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada indicated that soon He would appoint some of His senior disciples to act as ‘ritvik’ — representative of the acharya, for the purpose of performing initiations, both first initiation and second initiation. His Divine Grace has so far given a list of eleven disciples who will act in that capacity: His Holiness Kirtanananda Swami, His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, His Holiness Tamala Krsna Gosvami, His Holiness Hrdayananda Gosvami, His Holiness Bhavananda Gosvami, His Holiness Hamsaduta Swami, His Holiness Ramesvara Swami, His Holiness Harikesa Swami, His Grace Bhagavan dasa Adhikari, His Grace Jayatirtha dasa Adhikari.
In the past Temple Presidents have written to Srila Prabhupada recommending a particular devotee’s initiation. Now that Srila Prabhupada has named these representatives, Temple Presidents may henceforward send recommendation for first and second initiation to whichever of these eleven representatives are nearest their temple. After considering the recommendation, these representatives may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada by giving a spiritual name, or in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the Gayatri thread, just as Srila Prabhupada has done. The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the above eleven senior devotees acting as His representative. After the Temple President receives a letter from these representatives giving the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the fire yajna in the temple as was being done before. The name of a newly initiated disciple should be sent by the representative who has accepted him or her to Srila Prabhupada, to be included in His Divine Grace’s ‘Initiated Disciples’ book.”
“When I order, ‘You become guru,’ he becomes regular guru. That’s all.” — Srila Prabhupada, recorded room conversation of May 28, 1977 with the GBC members, on the process of initiation after his physical departure. It is historically established that Srila Prabhupada did not order any of his disciples to become a regular guru, but explicitly ordered eleven of his senior disciples to act as ritviks.
Every demand was accepted. Every property was offered. The one request — that the founder’s written directive be honoured in these temples — was refused. The mediation failed on a theosophical issue, and the record of it is here.
From the settlement proposal · 09.10.2014
“In short, my client is willing to compromise to any extent with respect to their rights in the properties but without curtailing their freedom to profess, practice and propagate their faith in the ritvik system of ISKCON movement which they consider as the sacred order of the Founder, Srila Prabhupada.”
The counter-offer, declined
Rather than accept the condition, the movement’s governing body offered to make senior ISKCON Bangalore devotees initiating gurus themselves. They declined — the point was never position. The mediation closed with the Supreme Court-appointed oversight committee recording that settlement failed on “a theosophical issue” — not on property.
After the victory · 2025
Having won everything on May 16, 2025, ISKCON Bangalore renewed the offer — willingness to come under the international governing body’s umbrella, on the same single condition: the ritvik system of Srila Prabhupada’s directive of July 9, 1977 in its temples. It was again not taken up. The address making the offer is below, on video and in full text.
After the Supreme Court victory, on Vijaya Utsava day, Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa made the renewed offer publicly — on camera, before the devotees. Watch it, and read it, here.
The peace proposal address · after the May 16, 2025 judgment · transcript below
Transcribed from the address · lightly edited for readability
“On this Vijaya Utsava day that we are celebrating, I would like to make an offering to the GBC and ISKCON Mumbai. Coming to the offer to the International GBC: in spite of winning not only the property battle for ISKCON Bangalore but also winning the right to function in ISKCON’s name all over India, in spite of the GBC having rejected our earlier offer for peace, we once again give an open invitation to ISKCON Bombay and the GBC, for the next 30 days — we are ready to discuss the terms of how we can bring all our temples under your GBC, but with one, one and only, no two — one and only non-negotiable condition: that the GBC allows only the ritvik system of initiation, as per the July 9th directive on initiation. And that too, we are not telling you to change your system. The temples that we have, we are giving to you — and there, you don’t interfere. There, this will be the system in our temples that we hand over. I know many are watching this online, so therefore I am giving this offer to them — a peace offer.
However, it is our last attempt to the GBC. Please have an all-inclusive ISKCON. See, Prabhupada’s movement is the only hope for bringing peace and happiness in this world. Let all our energy go towards expanding the movement and not towards any internal squabbles. Finally, what happens with this peace offer? With great hope we are offering. After winning, we are offering. There is simply no need for any more evidence that it is a property dispute. It is not a property dispute. Take it — even now, you take it.
Twenty-five years of struggle in the court to establish that this property is ISKCON Bangalore society’s. Still, you all enter into ISKCON Bangalore society and you run the society. With the same terms — that me and Chanchalapathi will do no management service, some pujari service. Because we are attached to the deities. That is, if you accept the ritvik system, we are ready to sacrifice anything — but we will humbly request you, please keep us as pujaris.
So, whatever happens is the will of the Supreme Lord. Just as we said in the court, ultimately everybody has to accept the final will of Krishna. He is watching. It is not humans who do these things. We are all Vaishnavas. All big decisions are taken by the Supreme Lord himself, by Srila Prabhupada himself, by the entire Guru Parampara themselves. No accidents can happen.
Yesterday, our ISKCON group of temples’ GBC met together and passed this resolution: to offer them all the same peace. Let us discuss the terms, if they are ready to declare that the ritvik system will be implemented in these 52 centres of the Hare Krishna movement. So, irrespective of their response, one thing is certain now, with this victory in the Supreme Court: Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON Hare Krishna movement is unstoppable. It will grow and grow and grow, and fulfil all of Srila Prabhupada’s desires. We will all give our life — till the last breath, we will try to fulfil Srila Prabhupada’s ambition to spread Krishna consciousness to every town and village. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Vishwa Guru Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Once again — please, just think about how much gratitude we should have towards the Lord, towards the deities here, and Srila Prabhupada, and Nama Prabhu, where every Ekadashi we do here the 108-rounds Japa Yajna. All their mercy — if it was not there, the consequences would have been… we wouldn’t be sitting here today. Thank you. Hare Krishna!”
Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa · the peace proposal address · where this transcript and the video differ, the video prevails
Everything material was offered — the temple, the properties, the posts. The one thing asked was fidelity to the founder’s written instruction. That, and not property, is what this case has always been about.