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Myth: “Srila Prabhupada said we should become monitor diksa gurus”

27. September 2025 By Prabhupada News Leave a Comment

Anti Ritvik Myths debunked (#14)

Myth: Srila Prabhupada said we should become monitor diksa gurus.

Truth: Monitor guru, as established by Srila Prabhupada, is a siksa guru acting on behalf of the diksa guru .

Another quote incorrectly used to claim that Srila Prabhupada’s followers should freely become diksa gurus (even without high spiritual qualification and proper authorization):

“13. He must not take on unlimited disciples. This means that a candidate who has successfully followed the first twelve items can also become a spiritual master himself, just as a student becomes a monitor in class with a limited number of disciples.” (Easy Journey to Other Planets, 1972)

A number of ISKCON diksa gurus claimed to be monitor gurus referring to this quote. E.g. Jayapataka Swami wrote on Oct 3rd, 2012 in the ISKCON India Bureau Discussions:

“That is why I proposed to them that they could minimize the role of diksha guru using Srila Prabhupada’s description in the book called ‘Easy journey to other planet’ where he describes the diksha guru can be a ‘Monitor Guru’ like in the school the older students are sometimes teacher or monitor of the younger student. At the same time they could accept Srila Prabhupada as Founder Acarya, preeminent siksha guru and their deliverer.”

First of all, ‘Govinda Bhasya’ by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana (purport to Vedanta Sutra, text 2), cites one relevant sloka: [Read More…]

Myth: “Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada ordered everyone to become diksa gurus”

20. September 2025 By Prabhupada News 3 Comments

Anti Ritvik Myths debunked (#13)

Myth: Lord Caitanya’s words āmāra ājñāya guru hañā (Cc. Madhya 7.128) and Srila Prabhupada’s call for everyone to “become guru” mean all are authorized to be diksa gurus.

Truth: Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya called everyone to preach, not to initiate one’s own disciples and accept worship on par with God as soon as possible.

In 1997, the GBC of maya-ISKCON approved an anti-ritvik paper called ‘Timeless Order’. The book and its title suggest that an alleged blanket order has been there for everyone to become an initiating spiritual master (diksa guru), which, as its authors think, has existed from time immemorial, or at least since Lord Caitanya’s time when He spoke the ‘amara ajnaya guru hana’ verse about 500 years ago. The anti-ritvik party often refers to this instruction for everyone to become guru (Cc. Madhya 7.128) even now. For example, it was claimed recently, “And the rtviks are saying […] They want an order. Lord Caitanya gave the order. Prabhupada said, “We follow Lord Caitanya.” […] once the spiritual master passes and goes on to his next service, his disciples, the ones who are inspired to take, to give initiation, and I believe that applies to anybody, any one of Prabhupada’s disciples, has that right.” (Mayesvara das, 23/9/22)

Let’s examine this argument.
[Read More…]