Posted Mar 25 2009, UK — “Don’t fight…I have given… my will. Execute like that.” The most debated issue amongst the devotees of the Hare Krsna movement since the departure of its Founder/Acarya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, has been the method of initiation. And this is the most important issue, as the Guru has to be fully authorized and qualified to take us back home, back to Godhead.
On Hare Krsna-debate-websites such as the Sampradaya Sun and the like, as well as in many papers, there have been many arguments. And of course, we have seen the massive disservice the so-called Gurus have rendered to the movement. Despite all the innumerable, obvious deviations by the “gurus”, there are still some hard-core fanatics arguing in favor of them.
Srila Prabhupada’s progressive investment of the power of attorney in the matter of conducting initiations on his behalf to the GBC during his life time, the July 9th, 1977 Directive, the Direction of Management issued in 1970, and the May 28th, 1977 (the Appointment Tape) conversation, which invariably point to the Rtvik system of initiation, have been quoted as evidences by both the Guru camp as well as the Rtvik camp.
Especially the fighters in the Guru camp manipulate the words of Srila Prabhupada and present a false and often foolish interpretation. Many of them, especially from the Guru camp, do not touch The Will of Srila Prabhupada, because the Will contains the most solid evidence of the Rtvik system of initiation. It seems that even many of the Rtvik followers are not aware of the power of the Will of Srila Prabhupada, as we do not find many Rtvik followers quoting it.
In the 3rd clause of the Will, where the executive directors of the properties of ISKCON are mentioned, Srila Prabhupada mentioned there as follows:
“The executive directors who have herein been designated are appointed for life. In the event of death or failure to act for any reason of any of the said directors, a successor director or directors may be appointed by the remaining directors, provided the new director is my initiated disciple following strictly all the rules and regulations of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as detailed in my books, and provided that there are never less than three (3) or more than five (5) executive directors acting at one time.”
The executive directors of all the properties of ISKCON have to be disciples of Srila Prabhupada. ISKCON is predicted by Srila Prabhupada to last 10,000 years. Definitely, the disciples of Srila Prabhupada who were initiated during his physical presence on this planet will not be able to continue as executive directors for such a long period of time. So the question is, “Did Srila Prabhupada, who installed Radha Krsna temples all over the world after an entire lifetime of intense prayer to his dear Lord Krsna, did so only to donate all those properties to the respective governments in a matter of 50 years?” Well, if we take the standpoint of the “gurus”, this was what Srila Prabhupada meant. But if the Rtvik system is executed, then it all makes sense. Even after say, 9,000 years, there will still be Srila Prabhupada’s disciples and the properties will still belong to ISKCON.
One may question that maybe it was by mistake that this two-letter word “my” has somehow crept into the Will. The answer to that is that when the draft of the Will was being read by HH Giriraja Swami to Srila Prabhupada on June 2nd, 1977, the two-letter word was ‘an’ (….an initiated disciple….). We can actually understand from that particular conversation how serious Srila Prabhupada was in choosing the right words for his Will. In the Will, the word is ‘my’.
A very peculiar point to be noticed in this connection is that the Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Folio does not contain any conversation of Srila Prabhupada from the 3rd of June, 1977 to the 16th of June, 1977. For Srila Prabhupada, who was speaking so often before and after this period, it is very unlikely that he did not speak anything for an entire fortnight. So we do not know what happened between the June 2nd, 1977 conversation and the signing of the Will on the 4th of June, 1977, but the word has been changed. It was definitely Srila Prabhupada’s deliberation. Besides all this, Srila Prabhupada said very clearly in one conversation on the 8th of October, 1977 thus: “Don’t fight amongst yourselves. I have given the explanation, my will. Execute like that.”
This particular sentence is so powerful. If there is any dispute, we must immediately consult the Will. The importance of the immediate instruction supersedes that of the previous instructions. Of course, if we accept Srila Prabhupada in toto, we will not find any contradiction in his books or the predecessor Acaryas, etc., but the Will is the most direct instruction beyond doubt.
The above statement in the October 8, 1977 conversation is so clear. We have heard enough explanations from so many parties. Srila Prabhupada says, “I have given the explanation, my will.” We do not have to speculate. And he adds, “Execute like that.” Period. The order is very clear. Our duty is to execute it only. There cannot be any different interpretation to the Will of Srila Prabhupada. There is only one possible meaning – Srila Prabhupada is the only Diksa Guru for ISKCON and the Rtviks/deputies/representatives initiate the prospective disciples on behalf of Srila Prabhupada.
In case of any fight, the central document to be consulted is the Will, as is evident from the October 8, 1977 conversation. The July 9th, 1977 Directive, the May 28th, 1977 conversation, the Direction of Management (1970), etc., only expand the same system consistently to executable modus operandi. There is no contradiction at all.
One may argue as to why Srila Prabhupada would do something unprecedented in the Vaisnava history. They may term it as asiddhantic or apa-sampradaya, etc. The answer is that Srila Prabhupada did innumerable unprecedented things in order to fulfill the prediction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Prabhupada made so many adjustments in order to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. One of them is that instead of asking us to chant the stipulated 64 rounds of Hare Krsna mantra, he agreed to take us back to Godhead even if we chant only 16. If we can accept this adjustment, why should we reject the Rtvik adjustment, all the more when it is so clear? We should not resort to the logic of half-a-hen. After all this evidence, it is only natural to conclude that Srila Prabhupada is the Diksa Guru for ISKCON for its entire lifetime and he wanted the Rtvik system of initiations executed.
Your humble servant,
A Prabhupadanuga
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