PRABHUPADA NEWS

Myth: “Ritvik system is Christianization of Vaisnavism”

16. May 2026 By Prabhupada News Leave a Comment

Anti Ritvik Myths debunked (#45)

Myth: “Ritvik system is Christianization of Vaisnavism, it’s a bogus Christian idea”

Truth: Srila Prabhupada called Christ a Vaisnava acarya and never disapproved accepting Christ by his modern followers.”

Sometimes one can hear statements like, “You are Christianizing Lord Caitanya’s parampara” (Sri Rama das in his article “Questions about Bangalore, Bombay Meetings”, 08/13/98). These are incorrect charges. The authority of Jesus Christ as the current acarya of one of the branches of Vaishnavism (monotheistic religion) is recognized by Srila Prabhupada himself. He never blamed Christianity for still considering Christ as their savior guru and for conducting the official initiation (baptism) by priests (ritviks) even in our time. He disapproved of widespread disregard of the commandments and superficial attitude among many modern Christians, distorted interpretations and changes of the Bible words, excessive emphasis on the crucifixion of Christ instead of focusing mainly on his instructions, practice of repeated confessions of sins instead of giving them up, killing of cows, etc., but Srila Prabhupada never criticized the principle of taking shelter of Jesus Christ even in our time, after two thousand years. Srila Prabhupada didn’t say that modern Christians should look for a “living guru” in order to accept initiation from him. [Read More…]

Myth: “Ritvik initiation system is mayavada”

9. May 2026 By Prabhupada News 3 Comments

Anti Ritvik Myths debunked (#44)

Myth: “Ritvik initiation system is mayavada”

Truth: Srila Prabhupada’s ritvik system has nothing to do with mayavada, but the anti-ritvik doctrine has lots of real similarities with it.

Some people argue that Srila Prabhupada’s instructions on initiations (branded as “ritvik theory” for the sake of distraction) are supposedly hidden mayavada, or impersonalism. For example, this is emphasized in Jayapataka’s propaganda book “100 Deviations of Ritivikism”. The reader is relentlessly pushed to accept the idea that “ritvikvada is mayavada”. This is a manifestation of mode of ignorance- white is called black, and black is called white. Such false accusations of Mayavada are a characteristic feature of Kali yuga (as stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam, 12.2.6, in the age of Kali, “one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful”). A reasonable and sincere person, provided he/she is well informed of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, will not even think that Srila Prabhupada’s instructions (including on ritvik initiations) are Mayavada.

1. Actually there is no such authorized “ritvikvada-mayavada” term. This is a newly minted propaganda cliché. The word “Mayavada”, which has a negative connotation in Vaisnava circles, is taken, and an artificial, baseless connection of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions on ritviks with this negative Mayavada word, is pushed into minds of people so that just by hearing the word “ritvik” people would immediately reject this topic and don’t try to thoroughly understand it’s importance and conclusions. Srila Prabhupada’s disciples who accept his instructions on initiations do not add anything principally new that was not established by Srila Prabhupada himself in ISKCON even during his physical presence. [Read More…]

Myth: “If we can accept Srila Prabhupada now then we can instead accept some previous acarya as our guru”

2. May 2026 By Prabhupada News 5 Comments

Anti Ritvik Myths debunked (#43)

Myth: “If one can take shelter of Srila Prabhupada now, then one can become a diksa disciple of some previous acarya like Rupa Gosvami or Narada Muni”

Truth: Srila Prabhupada didn’t sanction this, and it’s he who is the current acarya.

One teacher of maya-ISKCON’s Mayapur Institute wrote against Srila Prabhupada’s ritvik system, “If I was to be given a choice to get diksa from a guru not present on the planet, then I would probably accept Srila Rupa Gosvami”. Another person wrote, “Then what is the difficulty to accept initiation directly from Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Or from Brahma, Narada? What is the hindrance?” From ‘100 Deviations of Rtvikism’ book (issued by maya-ISKCON guru Jayapataka Swami and his team):

“Rtvik-maya vadis jump over the guru […] If you can jump over one generation of the disciplic succession you can jump over so many.”
(100 Deviations of Rtvikism, point 27)

“It fosters the idea that one can take diksa from any previous acarya.”
(100 Deviations of Rtvikism, point 107)

There are many similar statements from those who don’t accept Srila Prabhupada’s instructions regarding initiations in ISKCON. But this argument can easily be defeated as follows:

1. Although it’s potentially possible to get darsana (spiritual audience) of any previous acarya, as they are eternal souls, still there is general rule: one must take initiation from the spiritual master who is current link of bona fide Vaisnava guru parampara (disciplic succession of spiritual masters). Srila Prabhupada, not any previous acarya, is the current bona fide link after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya. And Srila Prabhupada didn’t authorize any guru successor(s) but he said that he would continue as ISKCON’s initiating guru and the formal part of initiations would be assisted by ritvik representatives. Some quotes: [Read More…]