GBC versus Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta

GBC versus Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta…
[Compiled by Narasimha das]

SIT BACK AND VIEW THE HYPOCRISY then…

jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole
kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole

Lord Gaurānga is calling, “Wake up, sleeping souls! Wake up, sleeping souls! How long will you sleep in the lap of the witch called Māyā?

THE HYPOCRISY CONTINUES:

1) GBC: The spiritual master may be a self-made guru who is nominated by his peers or followers and sanctioned by the GBC, an ecclesiastical board. There is no need for a direct, specific order from Srila Prabhupada to become a diksa-guru in Iskcon.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “A guru can become guru when he is ordered by his guru. That’s all. Otherwise nobody can become guru.”

2) GBC: Srila Prabhupada authorized the GBC to sanction and dismiss diksa-gurus in ISKCON.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “Mundane votes have no jurisdiction to elect a Vaisnava acharya. A Vaisnava acharya is self-effulgent, and there is no need of any court judgment.” Prabhupada authorized the GBC to select (or dismiss) representatives (ritviks), who initiate on His behalf. No one can be guru without the direct order of Krishna or His perfect devotee.

3) GBC: Lord Caitanya gave a blanket order for every devotee to initiate his own disciples.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: Lord Caitanya ordered His followers to become “gurus” by asking everyone they meet to chant Hare Krishna. He never ordered all devotees to initiate their own disciples. Even Lord Caitanya’s eternal associates, like Sri Gadadhara Pandita, refused to initiate disciples without a direct order from Lord Caitanya. Many great devotees never initiated their own disciples.

4) GBC: Persons who are not self-realized souls or topmost Vaisnavas can be diksa-gurus if the GBC approves.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “Only a topmost devotee, a maha-bhagavata, is eligible to occupy the post of guru.”

5) GBC: Spiritual masters must be sanctioned, overseen, regulated and, if necessary, disciplined by the GBC.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: The genuine spiritual master is never to be regulated or disciplined by ecclesiastical boards.

6) GBC: A spiritual master may sometimes fall down and become demoniac.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “There is no possibility that a first-class devotee will fall down…” – “The bona fide spiritual master is in the disciplic succession since time immemorial.”

7) GBC: One may ignore, neglect, or reject his spiritual master who falls from grace with the GBC.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: A genuine disciple never rejects his spiritual master.

8) GBC: A student of Krishna consciousness may select any spiritual master, according his or her personal tastes and the ecclesiastical conventions current in Iskcon.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “Srila Jiva Goswami advised that one not accept a spiritual master in terms of hereditary or customary social and ecclesiastical conventions. One should simply try to find a genuinely qualified spiritual master for actual advancement in spiritual understanding.”

9) GBC: There are dozens of gurus in Iskcon and each is entitled to his or her own ideas and opinions.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “Guru is one. He has no independent ideas or opinions.”

10) GBC: Iskcon gurus who have fallen down, if rectified, may be reinstated by the GBC.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “A bona fide spiritual master is in the disciplic succession from time eternal, and he does not deviate at all from the instructions of the Supreme Lord.

11) GBC: There are various levels of spiritual masters, or diksa-gurus, and not all are uttama-adhikaris.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “The spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Radharani or a manifested representation of Sri Nityananda.” Only such a Vaisnava can impart transcendental knowledge into the heart of a disciple.

12) GBC: The bona fide spiritual master dies, like all mortal men, and thus becomes useless in the matter of initiating and guiding students of Krishna consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “The spiritual master is eternal…” — “He lives forever through his divine instructions, and his follower lives with him.” — “He reasons ill who tells that Vaisnavas die!”

13) GBC: One must accept as one’s diksa-guru a man or woman who is living. A posthumous spiritual master, one dead and gone, cannot offer diksa and impart transcendental knowledge.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “The spiritual master is eternal.” — “Although a physical body is not present, the vibration should be accepted as the presence of the spiritual master. Vibration—what we have heard from the spiritual master—that is living.”

14)GBC: Students of Krishna consciousness whose spiritual masters have fallen from grace with the GBC may shop around for another Iskcon guru and accept “re-initiation” as many times as required for them to find an “Iskcon guru” who is steady.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “A devotee must have only one initiating spiritual master because in the scriptures acceptance of more than one is always forbidden.” (Cc. Madhya, 22.71, Purport)

15) GBC: Every senior Iskcon devotee, even a dependent woman or neophyte with no ability to preach, is eligible to initiate his or her own disciples. Srila Prabhupada, however, is ineligible because he cannot posthumously offer diksa. One needs a guru who is alive. A fully transcendental guru with a spiritual body is useless in the matter of initiating devotees after he is dead (posthumous).

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “The spiritual master is eternal.” He is not limited by material considerations of time and space. “A perfect Vaisnava is all-powerful, just like the Supreme Lord.”

16) GBC: Not all of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and orders are to be accepted literally or permanently. Some may be interpreted, altered, edited–or rejected as being outdated. For instance, his final order on initiations (July 9th, 1977), which he ordered sent to all ISKCON leaders and temples, is now obsolete and must therefore be rejected in favor of the current system for initiations created by the GBC.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: A genuine disciple of the spiritual master always accepts his instructions wholeheartedly. He never tries to dodge, ignore or subvert his instructions.

17) GBC: At the time of his demise, Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and ideas regarding the future of initiations in ISKCON were vague or contradictory. He left it to the GBC to sort out the details.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: Prabhupada specifically responded to the question of how initiations would be continued in ISKCON after his departure by dictating, reviewing and signing an official directive establishing ritvik initiations. He ordered that this directive be sent to all leaders and GBC members in ISKCON. Ritvik initiations were nothing new for ISKCON. The ritvik system of initiations and all standards had been current in ISKCON for several years prior. Nonetheless, through this official directive and numerous conversations thereafter, Srila Prabhupada clarified it in detail and institutionalized the procedure to operate without his personal supervision For sincere disciples, there is nothing vague or contradictory in His numerous instructions.

18)GBC: Iskcon is meant for recruiting disciples for living Iskcon gurus. Those who claim to be direct disciples or aspiring direct disciples of Srila Prabhupada are deviant upstarts if they accepted initiation or joined Iskcon after 1977. In the history of Vedic culture posthumous ritvik initiations have never been seen.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: In Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Puranas there are many stories of ritvik priests conducting Vedic sacrifices under the auspices of a great rishis who were not present on the same planet. There are no injunctions barring so-called “posthumous” ritvik initiations. Prabhupada clearly stated that all ISKCON leaders and trustees now and in the future must be “my initiated disciples”. (See Prabhupada’s “Final Order on Initiations”, July 9th, 1977, Srila Prabhupada’s “Final Will” and “Directions for Management” and Conversation, May 28, 1977

19) GBC: Post-1977 Iskcon devotees may accept Prabhupada as their instructing guru and param-guru, but they need to take initiation from a living guru to get Prabhupada’s blessings and mercy.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: Srila Prabhupada is both the diksa-guru and siksa-guru for all serious students of Krishna consciousness. Advanced disciples may also act as “instructing guru” by teaching devotees to accept Srila Prabhupada and follow his instructions.

20) GBC: Vaisnava gurus are ordinary men who sometimes make common mistakes, and even great devotees sometimes become degraded under the Lord’s external maya-shakti.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “One should consider the Acharya to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In spite of these instructions, if one considers the spiritual master an ordinary human being, one is doomed. His study of the Vedas and his austerities and penances for enlightenment are useless, like the bathing of an elephant.”

21) GBC: Although Prabhupada accepted what he had at the time, his books had many errors. Although hundreds of senior devotees have chanted these verses and translations in Prabhupada’s presence and afterwards for many years, these sayings needed several revisions done by expert pandits.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: “Mistakes, illusions, cheating, and defective perception do not occur in the sayings of authoritative sages.”

22)GBC: Unless the GBC sanctions diksa-gurus, the disciplic succession cannot continue. Srila Prabhupada is dead; he cannot order anyone to become guru.

Srila Prabhupada’s Siddhanta: The disciplic succession is continued not by the manipulations of blind clerics but by genuine disciples. “The Supreme Lord said, My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you the most secret wisdom, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.” (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 9.1) When repeatedly asked who would be His successor, Srila Prabhupada replied, “My success is always there. Yes. Just like the sun is there always. It may come before your vision or not—the sun is there. But if you are fortunate you come before the sun… The sun is open to everyone.” (Conversation, February 12, 1975, Mexico City) – “Only Lord Caitanya can take my place. He will take care of the movement.” (Conv., Nov. 2, 1977, Vrindaban.)

Summary Conclusions:

It is truly said, “One bad apple spoils the bunch!” In this case, at least three or four bad apples polluted the entire GBC body, most Iskcon leaders and most senior preachers. Due to the poisonous ideas introduced by a few foolish individuals, leaders in Iskcon and the vitiated Gaudiya Math temples diverted these institutions from the correct understanding of Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta and sadhana-bhakti, particularly with regards to guru-tattva and diksa.

In the later part of the 1980s, the GBC officially banned all scriptural and philosophical discussions on the topic of initiations in ISKCON and labeled all devotees who wanted to follow Srila Prabhupada’s system for ritvik initiations as heretics, fools or fallen rascals.

Today the Iskcon GBC is comprised mostly of disciples and followers of “Iskcon gurus”. Most GBC members and “Iskcon acharyas” from the 1980s have resigned, retired, died, become incapacitated, gone insane, or fallen from the path of Krishna consciousness. Others are preaching a sahajiya hodge-podge of Krishna consciousness and Hinduism. (Only one former “zonal acharya” has admitted his mistake and rectified it.) On the other hand, by Krishna’s grace, almost all of the original proponents for Srila Prabhupada’s ritvik system are still actively preaching Krishna consciousness as it is.

Some devotees ask, “What is the harm if I accept an Iskcon guru as my so-called diksa-guru as long as I follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions?” The problem with this approach is that it involves conceding dangerous philosophical misconceptions and contradictions. It involves impure diet and association. The GBC’s disobedience is not an innocent mistake but rather a conspiracy to utilize Srila Prabhupada’s mission for personal prestige and gain. Such motives have polluted Srila Prabhupada’s movement with false ambitions, guru-aparadha, Vaisnava-aparadha and sadhu-ninda.

Srila Prabhupada’s name, fame, temples and institutions are being exploited by deviant upstarts, and some of his important teachings are being twisted, minimized or ignored by Iskcon leaders as official policy.

Srila Prabhupada…ki jai…