Are We Ready for Varnasrama? Open Letter Tells the GBC to Start Training Kshatriyas During Its Pause on Initiations
GLOBAL — Vaninatha Vasu Dasa, who signs as director of the Institute for Advanced Social Design and founder of the International School for Kshatriya Training, has written an open letter to the GBC dated 3 November 2026, in response to its pause on initiations.[1][3] He asks the commission to acknowledge varnasrama as Srila Prabhupada’s programme for “big-scale preaching”, to invite devotees to train as ksatriyas, and to make the book Speaking About Varnasrama available on Vedabase.io, and he invites its members to an online festival on 9–12 November.[1][2] The letter reached Akincana Gocara on 3 November and is published below in full. Quotations are given as the author gives them and were not checked.
The letter
An Open Letter to the ISKCON Governing Body Commission
Śrīla Prabhupāda Gave Us a Society to Establish. Are We Ready?
November 3, 2026
Dear GBC Members,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
The GBC’s decision to pause initiations and re-examine the relationships between gurus, disciples, and ISKCON authorities is a welcome opportunity for reflection. The examination also addresses Śrīla Prabhupāda’s unique position as ISKCON’s Founder-Ācārya, his relationship with subsequent generations of gurus and disciples, and the proper understanding of their respective responsibilities.
I want to suggest that we take a further step back and examine how these arrangements fit within Śrīla Prabhupāda’s stated larger mission.
Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us a model for organizing society—Varnasrama.
Without this model, we are repeatedly attempting to resolve institutional difficulties through adjustments to an incomplete social system.
Śrīla Prabhupāda warned:
“Unless in the human society the varṇāśrama system is introduced, no scheme or social order, health order or any order, political order, will be successful.”
Room Conversation, Vṛndāvana, October 18, 1977
He explained how its four divisions address society’s essential needs:
“This is economic problem solved. And brāhmaṇa, brain problem solved, and kṣatriya, protection problem solved, and śūdra, labor problem solved. Four things combined together, live peacefully, happily. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”
Evening Darśana, Māyāpur, February 15, 1977
Nor was Varnasrama merely a supporting program. Śrīla Prabhupāda identified our existing approach as small-scale and prescribed Varnasrama for big-scale preaching:
“Yes. In the… For the big scale, this is required. In big scale you cannot make all of them as brāhmaṇas or sannyāsīs. No. That is not possible. This is a small scale. How many percentage of people of the world we are controlling? Very insignificant. But if you want to make the whole human society perfect, then this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should be introduced according to the Kṛṣṇa’s instruction, if you want to do it in a larger scale, for the benefit of the whole human society.
Now we are picking up some of them, best. That is another thing. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu said para-upakāra. Why a certain section should be picked up? The whole mass of people will get the benefit of it. Then it is required, systematic. Sve sve karmaṇy abhirataḥ saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ. Para-upakāra means mass benefit, not there is certain section. Then we have to introduce this varṇāśrama-dharma. It must be done perfectly, and it is possible, and people will be happy.”
Room Conversation, Māyāpur, February 14, 1977 — BigPreaching.com
He also instructed us how to begin:
“First of all, varṇa. And āśrama, then, when the varṇa is perfectly in order, then āśrama.”
Morning Walk, Vṛndāvana, March 14, 1974
And he gave us a remarkably direct practical assignment:
“At least in your country [America], create these two classes, brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya. The world will be saved, and you will be saved, and Kṛṣṇa will be pleased.”
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.14 Lecture, Los Angeles, August 17, 1972
ISKCON’s success has brought it far beyond what a brahminically oriented governing body can reasonably be expected to manage. We require trained kṣatriyas—persons prepared to assume responsibility for organizing, protecting, and maintaining the practical affairs of society.
ISKCON has invested substantially in brahminical education. Why not make a comparable commitment to training kṣatriyas? Śrīla Prabhupāda asked us to train kṣatriyas. Training is how we begin to develop them.
These instructions give us both a direction and a place to begin. May I respectfully propose three immediate steps?
First, that the GBC formally acknowledge Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instruction to establish Varnasrama as the program for big-scale preaching.
Second, that the GBC invite devotees willing to be trained as kṣatriyas, along with those willing to develop the necessary education, training institutions, and practical opportunities, to come forward and begin this work.
Third, that the GBC arrange for the revised 2024 second edition of the BBT book, Speaking About Varnasrama, to be made available on Vedabase.io for study and reference throughout ISKCON.
These three steps would move us toward establishing the model Śrīla Prabhupāda prescribed and addressing our present difficulties on a more complete foundation.
When reminded that an earlier effort to introduce Varnasrama had produced little, Śrīla Prabhupāda replied:
“That time was not right. Now you can do something.”
Māyāpur, February 14, 1977
Nearly fifty years later, are we willing to begin now?
I warmly invite GBC members to join our Govardhan Puja & Varnasrama Dharma Festival Week, November 9–12, where we will discuss these instructions and their practical implementation.
Theme: 60 Years of ISKCON: Reestablishing Varnasrama — Looking Back, Looking Forward.
Festival program and participation: https://Festival2026.org
Your servant,
Vaninatha Vasu dāsa, ACBSP
Director, Institute for Advanced Social Design, Inc.
Founder, International School for Kshatriya Training
Vaninatha@SpeakingAboutVarnasrama.com
https://SpeakingAboutVarnasrama.com
https://BigPreaching.com
Read Also:
Sources
- Vaninatha Vasu Dasa, “An Open Letter to the ISKCON Governing Body Commission”, forwarded message, copy received by Akincana Gocara, 3 November 2026.
- “Govardhan Puja & Varnasrama Dharma Festival Week”, SpeakingAboutVarnasrama.com, read on 3 November 2026. speakingaboutvarnasrama.com/festival-2026/
- “GBC Orders Every ISKCON Guru to Stop Initiating Until Gaura Purnima 2027”, Akincana Gocara, 26 October 2026. akincana.net/2026/10/26/gbc-orders-every-iskcon-guru-to-stop…
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