Rupanuga dasa: The reasonable conclusion to all this is straightforward when based upon Srila Prabhupada’s declared intentions: he wished to return to his duties as initiating spiritual master as soon as he could, which means that the word “henceforward” was equivalent to “for the foreseeable future” and “until further notice.” Therefore, there is no evidence that Srila Prabhupada intended to introduce the July 9th letter as a permanent procedure for continuing his disciplic succession. That parampara procedure had already been explained in his books. Hare Krsna, Rupanuga dasa.
Full article: http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/03-09/editorials4187.htm
Damaghosa das: Obeisances Rupanuga prabhu, All glories to Srila Prabhupada and the ever present quandry in devotees minds of Guru tattva — I do not agree with your conclusion and I will try to keep this reply simple and to the point. First of all that letter/ “henceforth” word is hardly ALL the evidence that “ritviks” propose as proof. There are volumes more. Secondly, Since you have concluded that this july 9th order was only a temporary arrangement, then where is the permanent arrangement come into play spoken from our spiritual masters mouth? Where has he said or written any order for disciplic sucession contrary to this ritvik order — especially in his last days which are considered the most important of all concering how the movement would go on in the future?
Just like he mentioned in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj’s last days, …………
[760816rc.bom Conversations 447191/530501
They (Gaudiya Matha) tried to become more than guru. He, before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that “This man should be the next acarya.” But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acarya. That is the failure. They never thought, “Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction so many things, why he did not say that this man should be acarya?” They wanted to create artificially somebody acarya and everything failed. They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acarya, why did he not say?
He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it. They declared some unfit person to become acarya. Then another man came, then another, acarya, another acarya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection. And as soon as he learns the Guru Maharaja is dead, “Now I am so advanced that I can kill my guru and I become guru.” Then he’s finished.]
Damaghosa das: He has spoken and written many times in his books / conversations that guru is not (GBC) appointed, the disciple has to be qualified and so ordered by his own guru-before the guru business is taken up. Where is that specific order??? Just like in that above conversation, he mentioned Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj in his last days – where he told all his ambitious disciples he wanted a GBC formed, just like our Prabhupada did. He (Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj) took care of the sucession business by this formation of a GBC and that all of them work cooperatively together, and in THAT way the Gaudiya matha would go on. But they didnt do it, just like iskcon did not follow the ritvik order.
This would be a fitting place to introduce YOUR famous letter received from Srila Prabhupada … 74-04-28.Rup Letter: Rupanuga 297907/530501
[SPL: Still he requested his disciples to form a strong Governing body for preaching the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He never recommended anyone to be acarya of the Gaudiya Math. But Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja, and he and others who are already dead unnecessarily thought that there must be one acarya. If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acarya he would have mentioned. Because on the night before he passed away he talked of so many things, but never mentioned an acarya.
His idea was acarya was not to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said openly you make a GBC and conduct the mission. So his idea was amongst the members of GBC who would come out successful and self effulgent acarya would be automatically selected. So Sridhara Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acarya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acarya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acarya is being changed three times a year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp.
Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya. So it is better not to mix with my Godbrothers very intimately becauseinstead of inspiring our students and disciples they may sometimes pollute them. This attempt was made previously by them, especially Madhava Maharaja and Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja but somehow or other I saved the situation. This is going on. We shall be very careful about them and not mix with them. This is my instruction to you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are very competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful about them.]
Damaghosa das: I would think that since Prabhupada wrote this letter to you specifically, you above all persons would have understood the purport. The purport being, why would we devotees, less than neophytes, who knew less than nothing about God, guru, and param para, before Prabhupadas coming here, now a few years later foolishly think that we American born mlecchas could even conceive ourselves as the sum total of all the demigods as Acaryas?
This one decade leap in evolutionary consciousness by our ambitious Godbrothers is exactly like Darwin’s jump from life forms with only light sensing cells in their bodies, immediately to life forms WITH eyes. This bogus explanation by Darwin has always been under fire by the opponents of evolutionary theory. Actually there is NO transition between the two life forms, but they assumed it took place – “somehow or other.” Just like the Infamous 11 “Great Ones” now were qualified to sit on the elevated seat of Srila Vyasadev !!!
Where was THAT order to do so? Come on Prabhu — who do you think you can kid with this one? His books spell out so many things in general and specific terms. He gives the qualifications of a pure devotee, saying such as the soul has to be liberated, free of the 4 defects, know his eternal relationship with Krsna, free of all anarthas, (etc) Madhya 24.330 The Sixty-One Explanations of the Atmara
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maha-bhagavata-srestho
brahmano vai gurur nrnam
sarvesam eva lokanam
asau pujyo yatha harih maha-kula-prasuto ‘pi
sarva-yajnesu diksitah
sahasra-sakhadhyayi ca
na guruh syad avaisnavah
[The guru must be situated on the topmost platform of devotional service. There are three classes of devotees, and the guru must be accepted from the topmost class. The first-class devotee is the spiritual master for all kinds of people. It is said: gurur nrnam. The word nrnam means “of all human beings.” The guru is not limited to a particular group. It is stated in the Upadesamrta of Rupa Gosvami that a guru is a gosvami, a controller of the senses and the mind. Such a guru can accept disciples from all over the world. Prthivim sa sisyat. This is the test of the guru…….When one has attained the topmost position of maha-bhagavata, he is to be accepted as a guru and worshiped exactly like Hari, the Personality of Godhead. Only such a person is eligible to occupy the post of a guru.]
Damaghosa das: So why didnt you — Rupanuga prabhu — continue as a (GBC appointed) “guru”?? Why did you fall down from your previous position? The answer my friend is given by our spiritual master …. as follows SB 5.12.14 P Conversation Between Maharaja Rahugana and 47211/530501
[If one always follows the orders of the spiritual master, there is no question of falling down. As soon as a foolish disciple tries to overtake his spiritual master and becomes ambitious to occupy his post. he immediately falls down. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ‘pi. NoD 14 Devotional Qualifications 174779/530501
[The spiritual master must never be carried away by an accumulation of wealth or a large number of followers. A bona fide spiritual master will never become like that. But sometimes, if a spiritual master is not properly authorized and only on his own initiative becomes a spiritual master, he may be carried away by an accumulation of wealth and large numbers of disciples. His is not a very high grade of devotional service. If a person is carried away by such achievements, then his devotional service becomes slackened. One should therefore strictly adhere to the principles of disciplic succession.]
Madhya 22.71 The Process of Devotional Service: There is no possibility that a first-class devotee will fall down, even though he may mix with nondevotees to preach…..
Adi 1.46 The Spiritual Masters. If one poses himself as an acarya but does not have an attitude of servitorship to the Lord, he must be considered an offender, and this offensive attitude disqualifies him from being an acarya. The bona fide spiritual master always engages in unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By this test he is known to be a direct manifestation of the Lord and a genuine representative of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Such a spiritual master is known as acaryadeva.
Influenced by an envious temperament and dissatisfied because of an attitude of sense gratification, mundaners criticize a real acarya. In fact, however, a bona fide acarya is nondifferent from the Personality of Godhead, and therefore to envy such an acarya is to envy the Personality of Godhead Himself. This will produce an effect subversive of transcendental realization.
———————–
So from these few verses and purports it is clear that if one “asumes” the position of guru on his own accord, being unauthorized to do so, then his falldown is guaranteed — as we have so brutally seen in the past iskcon experiences. Even if you dont consider all the sastric evidence of Who is qualified to be guru (something nobody ever seems to want to talk about) if you just consider the practical RESULT of a devotee wanting to be “guru”-look at the sordid history of iskcon and the fate of the “Great 11” — They are all in maya of some sort today or been decapitated. Jayapataka had to have the GBC order him to chant his 16 rounds since he was not doing it and even his so called disciples noticed it – what to speak of all the Prabhupanugas who already knew all these things.
Judge by the result is a very powerful argument – a very common sense thing, especially if one does not know sastra. Even the uninformed public knows these persons sitting on huge vyasasanas, taking worship from the blind followers, are not pure devotees So anyway, I can continue this discussion further if you wish. I am guessing here, but I think I can safely assume you have not heard the “ritvik” issue from Srila Prabhupada disciples who are still following in his lotus footsteps without personal motivation. Most of the time we get into discussions about this hot topic by 99.9% uninformed devotees who have not seriously studied the books thoroughly-all of them.!!
I dont know your situation there or what you understand or dont understand about this relevant issue. But if you want to hear more, or can at least rebute the statements above given by our spiritual master, I would greatly appreciate it prabhu. I am always open to discussing this with rational souls, who can argue on the basis of reason, sastra, guru , and common sense.If you would like to continue, please do so. As I mentioned before we at the Hare Krsna Society, have published a short booklet specifically on this topic, and others as well. Hari bol your humble servant Damaghosa das
The very fact that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada formed a gbc to govern their society proofs that they didn’t find any of their disciples qualified to become next acharaya.This is common sense.
RE: Rupanuga dasa (Robert Corens). Rupanuga was first warned by Srila Prabhupada in a personal 1974 letter to never take advice from the Gaudiya Matha and in particular from SRIDHARA MAHARAJA. Yet Rupanuga was part of the 1977 campaign to delcare that the Gaudiya Matha and Sridhara Maharaja are now our ISKCON’s “higher authorities.”
And so we then had homosexual gurus just like the Gaudiya Matha had in 1936, because of people like Rupanuga being huge cheer leaders for this deviation, depsite being warned personally by Srila Prabhupada to AVOID this deviation. Then Rupanuga was voted in as guru by the GBC, because he adopted the Gaudiya Matha’s “guru by votes” system, another deviation. Children in the Rupanuga guru regime’s charge were apparently starved and deprived of an education, and much worse, in their “guru school” system.
That means he was like the other leaders — not focusing on the devotees of ISKCON but on getting himself into a big vyasa seat and being worshipped as the sum total of the demigods.
Now he writes that our whole idea of worship of Srila Prabhupada is bogus ritvik idea, after his bogus living guru idea ruined the whole of ISKCON and the children of ISKCON, the reputation of ISKCON, the validity of the parampara of ISKCON, and in sum the Rupanuga plan ruined the credibility of the teachings of Krishna wholesale, ad infinitum, and he was simply another bogus sannyasa guru himself, and now he is lecturing us that his process if the right process? Shameless!
And if we are not supposed to worship Srila Prabhupada, then whom else? He never tells us? Beelzebub ki jaya?
I am sorry to say that Rupanuga’s writings simply begs more questions than he answers. Whom else should we worship then? If the GBC are not agents / deputies / priests, then who made them into gurus? And we could go on here for fifty pages, but the bottom line is that his “living guru” process has created havoc. It seem the “old guard” good ole boys are freaking out!
The worship of Srila Prabhupada system is working and gaining ground, so now they are feeling threatened that maybe people will worship the pure devotee and not their bogus acharya system.
Too bad. This is all good news, the old guard dogs of the bogus gurus and Gaudiya Matha are trying to re-write history and support that their idea of living gurus, voted in gurus, and so on, is wunderbar. They were right all along: Srila Prabhupada was wrong to tell them not to go to the Gaudiya Matha and make hokey pokester gurus.
This is another version of Rocana’s “worship of a departed pure devotee is bogus,” ummm, the enforced cult ritualistic worship of homosexuals and pedophiles is bona fide? Or what? How come they never can explain their position? Well never mind, we AND SRILA PRABHUPADA will explain it for them. thanks pd]
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mahesh.agtsp@ymail.com
Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. (CC Adi 12.9 Purport):
Date: Friday, 13 March, 2009, 7:37 PM
Reply to Rupanuga dasa
By Prabhupadanugas
Actual text of conversation with Srila Prabhupada in his room, October 18, 1977, Vrndavana, India
Srila PrabhupÄda: So, you are taking care of that conveyance?
TamÄla Krnsa: Yes, we are, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda.
JayapatÄkÄ: Because you are a paramahamsa, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda, you are seeing everyone else as surrendered to Krsna. But only by your mercy, you are forcing us to serve Krsna.
Srila PrabhupÄda: Hare Krsna. One Bengali gentleman has come from New York?
TamÄla Krsna: Yes. Mr. Sukamal Roy Chowdury.
Srila PrabhupÄda: So I have deputed some of you to initiate. Hm?
TamÄla Krsna: Yes. Actually… Yes, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda.
Srila PrabhupÄda: So I think JayapatÄkÄ can do that if he likes. I have already deputed. Tell him.
TamÄla Krsna: Yes.
Srila PrabhupÄda: So, deputies, JayapatÄkÄ’s name was there?
BhagavÄn: It is already on there, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda. His name was on that list.
Srila PrabhupÄda: So I depute him to do this at MÄyÄpura, and you may go with him. I stop for the time being. Is that all right?
TamÄla Krsna: Stopped doing what, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda?
Srila PrabhupÄda: This initiation. I have deputed the, my disciples. Is it clear or not?
GirirÄja: It’s clear.
Srila PrabhupÄda: You have got the list of the names?
TamÄla Krsna: Yes, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda.
Srila PrabhupÄda: And if by Krsna’s grace I recover from this condition, then I shall begin again, or I may not be pressed in this condition to initiate. It is not good.
GirirÄja: We will explain to him so that he will understand properly.
Srila PrabhupÄda: Hm? Hm?
GirirÄja: I said we will explain to the Bengali gentleman just as you have described to us, so that he’ll be satisfied with this arrangement.
Srila PrabhupÄda: And Dr. Ghosh has his scheme, but actually the scheme is there in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ and ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. We want to introduce that scheme to our Gurukula. We haven’t got to manufacture scheme. Is that correct?
GirirÄja: Yes.
Srila PrabhupÄda: Let them learn to rise early in the morning and cleanse. This is the first scheme. This will keep their health nice. CÄtur-varnyam mayÄ srstam [Bhagavad Gita. 4.13]. Unless in the human society the varnÄÅ›rama system is introduced, no scheme or social order, health order or any order, political order, will be successful.
BhagavÄn: Everything is there very clearly in your books, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda.
Srila PrabhupÄda: A man-made scheme-useless. SÄttvika-yuga.(?) What is that verse? SattvÄvalambi-para-sattva-viÅ›uddha-sattvam…. From Brahma-samhitÄ?
Rupanuga dasa statement: A Bengali gentleman has come from New York seeking initiation from Srila Prabhupada. But Srila Prabhupada has already deputed his ritvik acaryas and he thinks Jayapataka should do the initiation.
Note: Srila Prabhupada has not specifically told anyone to be a diksa-guru, only to act as officiating representative as per his July 9th letter. Srila Prabhupada is only reconfirming what he had already established in his earlier directive of July 9th 1977 letter.
Rupanuga dasa statement: The key sentences here are not the ones containing the word “deputee,” but rather the following: “I stop for the time being,” “And if by Krsna’s grace I recover from this condition, then I shall begin again.”
Note: Classic word jugglery. After Srila Prabhupada has emphasized the word deputee [aka ritvik] in five different grammatical combinations, we are now being informed that this not the key point.
Srila Prabhupada’s emphasis is not only three times, but five times. It is common understanding that in Vedic literatures, to emphasize an important point, it is done three times.
Srila Prabhupada says: “anything is uttered three times — “do it, do it, do it”—one should understand that this is meant to indicate great stress on a fact…” Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.9.20:
This verse repeats the word ‘eva’ [‘certainly’] three times for emphasis, and it also three times repeats ‘harer nÄma’ [‘the holy name of the Lord’], just to make common people understand.
PURPORT
To emphasize something to an ordinary person, one may repeat iit three times, just as one might say, “You must do this! You must do this! You must do this! Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Unrevised original edition) Adi-Lila 17.23
“This verse repeats the word ‘eva’ [‘certainly’] three times for emphasis, and it also three times repeats ‘harer nÄma’ [‘the holy name of the Lord’], just to make common people understand.
Srila Prabhupada: “…The Vedic literature, for emphasis, clearly states three times that in this age of Kali—kalau nÄsty eva nÄsty eva nÄsty eva—there is no other alternative, no other alternative, no other alternative than harer nÄma Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.21.6
Note: Srila Prabhupada uses the word deputy five times referring to his prior nomination on July 9th 1977 of 11 officiating representatives to carry initiations on his behalf.
11 chosen devotees were only officiating / deputees / representatives.
Srila Prabhupada’s repeated use of the word deputee five times is the key point of this conversation.
Rupanuga dasa’s statement: “And if by Krsna’s grace I recover from this condition, then I shall begin again.” “I stop for the time being” indicates that the ritvik appointments made three months earlier were necessary due to Srila Prabhupada’s condition, but he considered them temporary—to last until his own initiations could begin again. In other words, “for the time being” indicates Srila Prabhupada’s expectation of taking up initiations again in due course. “And if by Krsna’s grace I recover from this condition, then I shall begin again,” indicates his hopeful intention to take up initiation duties again in the future.
Note: More speculative interpretation. Nowhere did Srila Prabhupada has ever said that the following: “the ritvik appointments made three months earlier were necessary due to Srila Prabhupada’s condition, but he considered them temporary” In other words, “for the time being” indicates Srila Prabhupada’s expectation of taking up initiations again in due course.
Fact: it is well known that Srila Prabhupada’s health at that time was not in the best condition. Although he is always fully transcendental and above the modes of nature, he had been bed ridden for several months, and his health had been deteriorating.
Fact: July 9th 1977. Srila Prabhupada had put in place an officiating representative system by his letter of July 1977. And he again reconfirmed his original intention of setting up an officiating representative system.
Fact: July 19th 1977.
Srila PrabhupÄda: So let us artificial activity. I think this is a nice arrangement.
Devotee: Upendra and I could see it for the last… [break]
Srila PrabhupÄda: And nobody is going to disturb you there. Make your own field and continue to become rttvik and act on my charge. People are becoming sympathetic there. The place is very nice.
Devotee: Yeah. He says, “The introduction of Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ has been translated into Tamil, and I will have the second chapter done next. Then publish a small booklet for immediate distribution.”
Srila PrabhupÄda: Very good.
Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, July 19, 1977, Vrndavana, India.
Srila Prabhupada is only indicating that his health is not good enough to carry on the ceremonials of the fire sacrifice etc. and that his deputies can do this on behalf, initiating his disciples by acting as his deputee representatives.
Srila Prabhupada was still and is still giving divyam-jnanam, the essence of diksa, and accepting disciples. All he is asking his disciples to do in this conversation is for his deputees, officiating representatives is to take up the process of (i) chosing the names of the new initiate; (ii) chanting on the japa beads on behalf of Srila Prabhupada; (iii) perform the fire sacrifice of the initiation on his behalf.
Srila Prabhupada always used specific terminology. -There is no mistake in Srila Prabhupada’s rhetorical arrangements.
Sri Caitanya-Caitamta says: “Mistakes, illusions, cheating and defective perception do not occur in the sayings of the authoritative sages.. Purport …But there cannot be mistakes, illusion, cheating or imperfect perception in the words of liberated sages… ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsadeva revealed these statements after perfect realization, and therefore they are perfect, for liberated sages like VyÄsadeva never commit errors in their rhetorical arrangements… Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Unrevised 1975 edition- 1975 Adi-lila 2.86
-Srila Prabhupada’s direction is the same s Krsna’s direction. Srila Prabhupada says: “… The spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord, his direction is directly the direction of the Supreme Lord…†Bhagavad-gita As It Is, (Unrevised 1972 edition) 10.3.
– Srila Prabhupada never contradicts himself.
Srila PrabhupÄda: Yes. So contradiction means imperfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge means who sticks to his principles. That is perfect knowledge. One who does not stick to his original proposal, his knowledge is imperfect. Philosophy Discussions: Discussions with Syamasundara dasa: Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz
If Srila Prabhupada had intended for his disciples to be full-fledged diksa-gurus by this conversation, why did he not use the specific words “diksa-guru†or acarya? He only used the word deputee. He was precise, and simply reconfirmed the last previous statement he had made on July 19, 1977: “continue to become a ritvik and act on my chargeâ€.
Srila Prabhupada does not use the word (i) diksa-guru, (ii) successor guru, (ii) zonal guru, (iv) appointed guru, etc, he clearly uses the word deputy to emphasize that these 11 chosen devotees were only officiating representatives.
If Srila Prabhupada had intended to amend, modify, change, supplement or reverse his written directive (His “Final Orderâ€) of July 9, 1977, “these representatives may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada… the newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada†and his reconfirmation on July 19, 1977 “continue to become a ritvik and act on my chargeâ€, why did He not use the specific words diksa-guru or appointed guru, or successor guru or acarya?
List of names.
Srila PrabhupÄda: You have got the list of the names?
TamÄla Krsna: Yes, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda
Rupanuga dasa conveniently avoids one of the most important point in this whole conversation: the list of names.
And what is that list? The July 9th 1977 written directive approved by Srila Prabhupada, specifying the direct capacity in which the officiating representatives were to continue the officiating service to be done on His behalf.
Srila Prabhupada designated these 11 devotees to act as ritviks and did not indicate that after his departure they would be empowered to act as guru-acharyas, it must be accepted that ritvik representative was the authority he saw them fit to handle
His last written words were “act as rittvik representative of the acaryaâ€. That is His order, his arrangement for continuation of the disciplic succession.
It has now become a fashion for the members and supporters of the self-appointed acarya party to quote Srila Prabhupada to contradict and defy Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada made his intentions and directions very clear in His directives of July 9 and July 19th 1977. There is no need for new interpretations. A few historical notes.
Outside advice? Rupanuga dasa and the GBC went to seek outside advice and clarification from Gaudiya Matha advisors in 1978.
Srila Prabhupada differs: “You should not give attention to any outsider’s advice because they are completely unfit to give you advice..” SPL Sunday, March 9, 1969
“There is no need whatsoever for outside instruction..” SPL to Gurukrpa and Yasoda nandana dasa, December 1973
LETTER TO RUPANUGA! “… he never recommended anyone to be acarya of the Gaudiya Math. But Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja, and he and others who are already dead unnecessarily thought that there must be one acarya . If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acarya he would have mentioned…â€
“…So Sridhara Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acarya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acarya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acarya is being changed three times a year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp. Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya…â€
“So Sridhar Maharaja was responsible for disobeying…
“We shall not make the same mistake in our ISKCON camp…
” They [Gaudiya matha] are very competent to harm our natural progress” SP to Rupanuga dasa, April 1974
“…I have also read specifically your articles on the matter of acaryas, wherein on the 14th Paragraph I see the acharya shall be entitled to nominate in writing his successive acharya. But we do not find any record where our Srila Prabhupada nominated any acharya after Him. Different persons have interpreted on this point, and every one of our Godbrothers are acting as acharya, so this is a controversial point which I do not wish to enter into while we are proposing for cooperation …†August: Letter to: Swami B. S. Bhagavata Maharaja — Los Angeles 21 August, 19
So where is the record of the so-called acarya appointment allegedly done by Srila Prabhupada and propagated by Rupanuga das and the GBC in 1978?
Clear as Mud?
Fact: The GBC and Rupanuga went to the Gaudiya Matha Nabadvipa advisor in March of 1978 to seek advice and clarification about the guru issue and how it should be implemented in ISKCON.
Rupanuga dasa, in knowledge of the above-referenced clear warnings by Srila Prabhupada, did not warn and alert devotees and the leaders of ISKCON about Srila Prabhupada’s prophetic letter. He went right along with the concocted acarya appointment. But now he wants all of us to believe that he understood Srila Prabhupada’s real intentions in October of 1977! Why did Rupanuga dasa and the GBC go to the Gaudiya Matha advisor, for clarification for something they now claim they had understood all along?
If, according to Rupanuga dasa and company, everything was so clear to them in October of 1978, as per the following conversation: Srila PrabhupÄda: This initiation. I have deputed the, my disciples. Is it clear or not? GiirirÄja: It’s clear, then why did they jump to Nabadvipa to seek clarification from an outside advisor to seek clarification of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions? How did everything become so unclear within just a few months that they felt that had to go to the Gaudiya Matha advisor to seek clarification? Another unresolved mystery!
Convenient Amnesia.. Srila Prabhupada had already warned Rupanuga dasa about the history of the Gaudiya Matha in April of 1974. Had Rupanuga dasa conveniently forgotten the April 28, 1974 personal letter from Srila Prabhupada and His warnings about Sridhar Maharaja’s role in destroying the Gaudiya Matha and their unauthorized acarya appointment?
Consultation with Higher Authorities? Further, in March of 1978, at the Mayapur festival, Rupanuga dasa and the GBC issued a position paper to explain the process of future initiations for ISKCON. Under the title of the position paper was placed “In Consultation with Higher Authorities”. So why did Rupanuga dasa and company have to consult with “Higher Authorities” in March of 1978, just a few months after they had allegedly understood Srila Prabhupada’s clear instructions in the matter of initiations in October of 1977? More unresolved mysteries!
And who are these so-called higher authorities? And when did Srila Prabhupada ever instruct us to go consulting other higher authorities than Him for the conduct of the missionary activities of His movement?
1978 Guru appointment hoax. Following the Mayapur festival in March of 1978, a worldwide propaganda campaign was orchestrated by Rupanuga dasa and the GBC to attempt to convince the ISKCON devotees that Srila Prabhupada had appointed 11 gurus who were his true successors, that these 11 were pure devotees, uttama adhikaris, and that Srila Prabhupada had personally appointed these pure devotee diksa-gurus in May and July of 1977, as his true successors pure devotees acaryas.
Mythology Revival. The secretary himself admitted the guru appointment myth in December of 1980 in Topanga Canyon, California. He clearly admitted in a quasi-public forum that the idea that Srila Prabhupada had appointed 11 gurus was a myth and that Srila Prabhupada had never appointed any gurus.
It should be noted that these important conversations with His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada were not released by the GBC for many years after Srila Prabhupada’s departure. Why not?
This new grammatical jugglery and interpretation is simply another attempt to revive the same old Guru appointment myth in a different format and avoid the order of the acarya Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada did not use the word diksa guru, acarya, appointed guru, appointed successor, etc He was very consistent by use of the word deputee in five different grammatical variations.
Historical facts. By June of 1977, Srila Prabhupada had already removed himself from the chosing of the names of the new initiates, the chanting on the beads, the performing of the fire sacrifice but he was still the diksa-guru of the new initiates and was to remain the diksa-guru. Sri Prabhupada never gave the order to any of these 11 or 111 disciples to actually be diksa-gurus in the last few months of 1977. The current Rupanuga dasa interpretation and all of the post 1977 GBC interpretations of these various conversations are simply an attempt at mythology revival and avoiding the order of the acarya, as per his clear directive of July 9th 1977.
When was Srila Prabhupada’s July 9th 1977 order changed or modified by Srila Prabhupada himself? When was the specific order to any of his disciples to be diksa-guru ever given after May 28 1977? It is a fact that Rupanuga dasa and company’s post 1977 propaganda campaign throughout ISKCON, coupled with the GBC‘s iron fisted approach, conveyed myth and falsehood that the 11 had been appointed by Srila Prabhupada as diksa-gurus?
While it is certainly noble of Rupanuga dasa to enlighten us with his new current interpretation, it should not be forgotten that he was one of the original GBCs who vociferously supported and preached the appointment hoax and myth for many years.
While this new interpretation after 32 years seems to be an interesting pious belief, can he now publicly answer as to when these original 11 were ever appointed or selected by Srilla Prabhupada as diksa-gurus When? Where? How?
Has anything been learned from the post 1936 and post 1977 appointment guru fiasco and the Maha-bhagavata assembly line of the GBC? Srila Prabhupada had already warned a few months earlier about the dreaded personal ambition disease that destroyed the Gaudiya Matha: Srila Prabhupada warns about the result of manufacturing?
Result of suppressing Guru..
Result of ambition to take the place of guru.
Srila Prabhupada: We haven’t got to manufacture. To manufacture ideas is troublesome. Why should we take the trouble? And as soon as you want to manufacture something to my…., that is DANGEROUS. …That you are singing every day, “what our guru has said, that is our life and soul.” …As soon as this POISON will come-suppress guru and I become Brahman-everything FINISHED. Spiritual life is finished. Gaudiya Matha finished, …VIOLATED the orders of Guru Maharaja. …And as soon as you manufacture, fall down. This manufacturing idea is very, very dangerous in spiritual life. …Our mission is to serve bhakta visesa and live with devotees. NOT THAT YOU TAKE THE PLACE OF GURU.. THAT IS NONSENSE, VERY DANGEROUS. Then everything will be spoiled. As soon as you become AMBITIOUS to TAKE THE PLACE of GURU-gurusuh nara matih. That is MATERIAL DISEASE. April 1977 Bombay, India
Srila Prabhupada’s warning about concocting whimsically.
Srila Prabhupada defines preaching.
“So if you are actually, perfectly carrying out the orders of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, then you are preaching. Otherwise you will do wrongly, mislead. Don’t do that. Andha yathandhair upaniyamanah . If you remain blind, don’t try to lead other blind men. That is misleading. First of all open your eyes. Everything is there. Nobody can do anything whimsically. If you do whimsically, concoctedly, that will be failure. It will not be effective. (Conversations with Srila Prabhupada, 2 May, 1976, Fiji)
Srila Prabhupada warns about proceeding on the wrong platform.
What will be the result of the wrong platform?
“So, on the wrong platform you may go-go forward more and more-but it will be dismantled, because it is wrong.” Lecture 6-5-74
Srila Prabhupada warns about contradictory philosophy.
DISCIPLE: One day they say one thing. One day they say something else.
PRABHUPADA: That means rascal. Room Conversation 2-23-75
Srila Prabhupada explains how will questions be answered?
Every one of you must regularly read our books at least twice, in the morning and evening, and automatically all questions will be answered. (Srila Prabhupada Letter to Randhira, 24/01/70)
What will be the result of the wrong platform?
“So, on the wrong platform you may go-go forward more and more-but it will be dismantled, because it is wrong.” Lecture 6-5-74
DISCIPLE: One day they say one thing. One day they say something else.
PRABHUPADA: That means rascal. Room Conversation 2-23-75
“If you cannot express, if you do not understand. Simply people wants jugglery of words, they don’t want substance. They don’t want substance. That is the difficulty in the mod…, in the present age..†Lectures: Philosophy Discussions: Discussions with Hayagriva dasa: Karl Marx
It is interesting to note that Rupanuga dasa did not challenge the following article when Sridhar Maharaja was exposed.
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/12-07/editorials2250.htm
The article below covers proof of the Ritvik initiation system of formality and the six accompanying articles within in depth:
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/02-09/editorials4085.htm
Diksa is given by Uttama Adhikari (Maha Bhagavata) refer to CC Madhya 24.330 and SB 10.2.18. Diksa is not given by conditioned souls appointed by GBC/pretending as “gurus†as is current practice in ISKCON. All these conditioned soul “gurus†can give at the most is formality – that’s all. Nothing more. It appears Rupanuga Prabhu is thinking that these conditioned soul “gurus” are Maha Bhagavatas and therefore capable of giving Diksa. He has no clear understanding of what Diksa is.
Jaya Srila Prabhupada! “We request you to chant HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA, KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA HARE HARE, and your life will be sublime.”