Srila Prabhupada’s Mercy
The following e-mail came to my inbox yesterday as part of a discussion between several devotees regarding Srila Prabhupada’s wishes for how initiations would be conducted after his disappearance. I haven’t seen any responses yet, but I found his point of view very relevant. It is reprinted here with permission. Hare Krishna.
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From: Gary Lund (Gauridasa Pandita Dasa)
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:40 PM
To: …
Subject: Re: Proper Initiation
Dear Goura Kesava & all Prabhus,
Please accept my respectful obeisances.
All glories to our jagat guru Srila Prabhupada!
The debate goes on. I’ve been watching on the sidelines this internet istagosthi and now I had to jump in. I will be short and to the point because I am typing on my iphone.
I was personally serving Srila Prabhupada back in 1977 when he first decided he was going to leave the planet. I heard him say that he wanted the ritvik initiation system for his movement after his departure. This is documented in the July 9th 1977 Newsletter to all Temple Presidents and G.B.C.’s. That letter was dictated from a July 7th 1977 Garden conversation which I heard. That is our sastra! That is specific. You say we must follow sastra; there it is. Is there anymore sastra after that date that would change anything?
We need the guru to explain the sastra to us; otherwise we will pick and choose whatever suits us and end up not following the real orders of the spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada warned us about ‘over- intelligence’ and I think that is what we have here. Instead of us trying to figure out how initiations should go on from (which) sastra we should instead try to figure out what our guru said and did. He had the ritvik system up and running for years before he left, physically and he wanted that to continue as he said on July 7th 1977. It’s on tape!
I have been trying to speak to the GBC for 32 years now but so far my requests have fallen on deaf ears. They say they have no time every time every year I ask to attend their meetings to discuss this most important issue. Most of them are initiating on their own so you can imagine why they won’t discuss it. It might mess up their retirement plans. Profit, distinction and of course adoration.
If we leave it up to the new devotees to check out their gurus they will be misled. Then later if their ‘guru’ falls down they will probably be disheartened and leave KRSNA Consciousness altogether as so many have. That is why Srila Prabhupada most intelligently set up the ritvik initiation system for his movement.
If someone wants to be a diksa guru he or she must be able to deliver them back to Godhead. They must have full KRSNA prema. They must do this in their own temples; not Srila Prabhupada’s! That is Vaisnava ettiquette. Srila Prabhupada did not try to become a diksa guru in the Gaudiya Math. The self-efullgent acharya can attract the souls and build his/her movement from the ground up. That’s what Srila Prabhupada the acharya did; that’s what we need to do.
We’ve got guru fever. Sikas gurus we can and should be but diksa guru is one for ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada! It’s simple for some but complicated for the over-intelligent speculators. I hope this helped.
Haven’t seen you for many years since you were with Dristadyumna I’m Hawaii. Glad to see you are hanging in there but have faith in His Divine Grace; he’s there also if you let him.
Hoping this meets you and all the Vaisnavas well and advancing in KC Your servant, Gauridasa Pandita Dasa
Hare Krishna Pr.,
PAMHO. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
That was a wonderful letter. You are one of few, who have openly discussed this matter. Please continue your inspiring work.
I came across a controversial article by Bhatka Eric, wherein he writes that if Srila Prabhupada had translated the actual meaning of some words in Sanskrit, then the controversy about ‘Low birth’ such as women, sudras and vaisyas won’t be offended. This i felt was absolute nonsense. Have we now started to dictate what Srila Prabhupada should have written.
I tried to go to his website and give him a peace of my mind, but unfortunately our gateway has certain restrictions and i couldn’t do so. Could you issue a rebuttal to that kind of dangerous thinking. It is almost similar to being better than ‘Guru’.
Haribol,
In the service of Srila Prabhupada.
Arun Ramakrishnan.
Mmm, this is a powerful letter by Gauridasa Pandita dasa prabhu. I can’t help but think it makes complete sense.
But where to go from here? To hide-out within ISKCON, always looking over one’s shoulder, waiting for when one will be booted out for “sacriligious talk” and “not following authority,” or to go out in the wilderness, like Moses, and pray alone for the mercy of the Lord?
I respect other Vaisnava groups, but I do feel the guru issue permeates problematically throughout. I certainly don’t want to jump from the frying pan into the fire. At the same time, I must have the association of devotees. I’m not attracted to the hard-core Ritvik movement, because they seem to spend more time on tearing down ISKCON that actually just taking shelter of the spiritual nectar in a sober way. Not that I’m very sober, but I don’t want to spend my life meditating on negativity.
I’m praying to Srila Prabhupada that he will reveal the right direction to me. He has never let me down.
Where to go from here? I don’t know either. The GBC says the rtvik view is a deviant philosophy and its proponents are ISKCON’s enemies. I don’t consider anyone in ISKCON my enemy, and I don’t want to be seen as such either. I want devotee association for myself and my family, but thanks to the GBC, if the local devotees hear about my understanding of this issue, some will probably turn against me. They did it before. “They” say devotee friendships are our real friendships, so I don’t know how these relationships can turn sour so quickly.
I can defend my position without too much trouble, but the debates are often more emotional than anything. People have an interest in their chosen conclusion. The contemporary gurus want to stay gurus, and their disciples also want it that way. I can accommodate that, but they don’t want to accommodate my view.
I’m a conditioned soul, not yet Krishna conscious, so I know I can be wrong. Therefore I don’t want to disturb their faith or offend anyone. Yet I’ve noted that as late as May 28, 1977, Srila Prabhupada emphasized that authorization is needed for a disciple to become a diksa guru, but he did not give that authorization. So I do have a concern about the bona fides of the modern initiations. I doubt the validity of my own initiation. I expected it to give me a boost in my spiritual life, but instead it was a drag. Everything became more difficult.
Several times I was told that being initiated as Srila Prabhupada’s grand-disciple, that I would be situated even better than his direct disciples, but that has not been my perception. Instead it felt like it separated me from him, but not in a good way.
I can’t pretend to be conclusive on this, but I find a strong balance of evidence supporting the view that Srila Prabhupada wanted to continue accepting disciples. I also feel it would have prevented a lot of problems if ISKCON accepted that, but of course they won’t. Sometimes I hope they will in the future, but I don’t really expect it.
So what to do? I’m not quite sure, just going one step at a time. I’m taking shelter of Srila Prabhupada with faith that he will guide me. Even if I’m wrong about all this, I don’t believe he would abandon me, nor would Krishna. I figure anyone who suddenly hates me for this probably wasn’t really a good friend anyway.
Hare Krishna.
Thanks for sharing your realizations, Pandu prabhu. Yes, I saw firsthand what happened when you opposed the prevailing regime at Gita Nagari. Are things less turbulent there now that BTS has left the building?
Personally, I find all the ritvik hyper-analyzing and nitpicking bewildering. I have no problem with accepting a diksa guru who can connect me to Srila Prabhupada, the sampradaya acarya. For me, and for many others, the problem occurs when the current gurus demand the level of worship and surrender due solely to Srila Prabhupada. I thought a qualified Vaisnava leader was:
a) humble
b) the servant of the servant
c) concerned about the genuine welfare of every living entity
d) simple in his daily needs
Are these the qualifications of our current gurus, who demand opulent prasadam, elaborate travel and sleeping arrangements, and above all, unconditional worship from their disciples and godbrothers? This is the problem. They are misrepresenting their level of spiritual advancement. Instead of acting like priests, humbly directing us to the lotus feet of a pure devotee, they usurp his position and turn into demons, mad to defend their stockpile of money and power.
No doubt all the current gurus would be nice devotees if they were merely given the status of senior bramacaris, and lived a simple life, hunbling trying to assist others while being honest about their spiritual position and that of Srila Prabhupada. But no. The false ego has been institutionalized as king in ISKCON. And chaos reigns in the form of the sudra Kali wearing the opulent garb of rulership while breaking the legs of the beautiful bull of dharma.