Posted Oct 05 2009, Australia: This article is in response to Rocana dasa’s recent article, “Krishna Can’t be Controlled (Except by Pure Devotion)“.
One freedom that Krishna has given us all is the right to change our mind, and I believe that it is our God given right to do this without being made to feel guilty by others. In saying this, I am not in any way saying that Rocana prabhu is making me feel guilty by cornering me into stating my position.
I have chosen to follow the Ritvik path over the last few years after reading first of all, the Back To Prabhupada magazines, and then studying the Final Order written by Krishna Kant. To my knowledge, no one has refuted Krishna Kant’s work. There are plenty of arguments, but it is a fact that the Final Order has not been refuted by any scholarly effort. Apparently ISKCON is full of scholars and intellectual thinkers, but not one of them has been able to properly address The Final Order.
I have preferred not to join the IRM or any other group because I truly believe that all of these issues will eventually be resolved and Srila Prabhupada’s Organization will pick up where it left off, all those years ago. Not wanting to be a fanatic in any way whatsoever, I also accept Rocana dasa’s position and his Sampradaya Acarya paper, which may seem to be contradictory, but sometimes this is the nature of spiritual life, and things are not always as they seem.
Two points really stand out for myself in Rocana’s Sampradaya Acarya paper, and that is that Srila Prabhupada fits into the concept of a very unique Acarya like those unique Acaryas that have appeared throughout time, and this is a place where Srila Prabhupada stands alone! No organization or group can manufacture this artificially. The other aspect is that the sound vibration coming from Srila Prabhupada through His books and lectures is non-different and it fits into that category of a uniqueness that cannot be artificially manufactured. Therefore a person does not need to be officially initiated. So in that sense, I am not a Ritvik advocate and I do not believe that initiation is absolutely essential. Anyone can go back to Godhead simply upon Srila Prabhupada’s sound vibration.
Hare Krishna.
Just to address these topics from Kurma Prabhu.
I think there are alot of mistakes in our understanding of the words “Diksa” and “Initiation” and in the way they have been juxtaposed by Srila Prabhupada quite frequently.
I think alot of misconceptions came from the early joining devotees whom broadcast their misconceptions throughout Iskcon in a fairly naieve way.
Especialy from the zonal days we find masses of misconceptions,philosophical inaccuraces,intimidation and a whole host of misconstrued ideas.I especially think the “senior” devotees are to blame for all of this.Considering that it could only have been “senior” devotees whom introduced the zonal fiasco and operated within that organization,its not an unfair accusation just a matter of fact.The “senior” devotees have then carried on the same joke and even expanded the joke to include all sorts of neophytes.
But getting back to the points.
The Diksa Guru transmits the process of Diksa,thats what Diksa,Initiation means.The Kanishtas and Madhyamas are maninly not advanced enough to accept the process of Diksa until they reach the stage of Nishta/Ruci.Diksa is mainly for these devotees.
For the beginners we have to accept the rules and regulations of Vaidhi-Bhakti.Its a mechanistic introduction from material life on to the ladder of Religious life ,a via medium to get us to the next step which is eternal spiritual life.This is the Vedic system that Vaisnavism works in conjunction with.
If we decide to follow 4regulative principles,chant a minimun of 16 rounds daily,rise early,be clean, study scripture then we are acceting the principles of Vaidhi-Bhakti.Unless we are displaying symptoms of Krishna Prema then Srila Prabhupada prescribes the medicine that we have to follow.In the Pancharatriki-Vidhi the rules and regulations are all laid out for the Kanishta to follow.By following the process we are accepting the Spiritual Master and being Initiated .The ceremony is just a formalisation of what is going on already.We are already chanting 16 rounds and following, otherwise we would not be at an Initiation ceremony.
The first Initiation is not Diksa,Initiation then.
To fully comprehend the full import of Diksa a Vaisnava would have attained the stage of Nishta in Madhyama-Adhikara.That is why there is no possibility of Kanishtas and Madhyamas being Diksa Gurus,its impossible for them to give the process of Diksa because they dont have it.Only an Uttama-Adhikari Diksa Guru can give Diksa,Initiation,no one else.It is not possible.
The propaganda that has been spouted out from the Gbc and the gurus is just rhetoric not substance so that you believe them and then take Initiation from them.
The rittviks fit in quite simply,its not a problem.Rittviks cant give Diksa nor can they Initiate all they can do is conduct ceremonies on behalf of……..in our case its Srila Prabhupada,the question of Srila Prabhupadas physical presence is totally irrelevant.The reason for this is because He has ALREADY appeared and we are now in the time after His appearance and so
we are naturally consequently in the era of Srila Prabhupada until the next link in the Disciplic Succession.The time inbetween the links can be whatever Krsna and Srila Prabhupada deem necassary.Its not up to us or the GBC.The GBC cant even get close to that level.
My analogy for the understanding of how Srila Prabhupada is presently the current link is this.When a person sets a world record for say sprinting a 100metres he is the world record holder.If he stops running or even leaves his body,if no-one has beaten his recod he is still the record holder.Only when someone beats the record does the next person become the world record holder.
Only when Srila Prabhupada is succeeded can He stop being the current link.Srila Prabhupada is presently the Sampradaya Acharya and is the current link.He has NOT been Succeeded.
The question asked by the GBC at the May 28th 1977 meeting in Vrindavana only concerned the conducting of ceremonies related to 1st and 2nd Initiations NOT the giving of Diksa,Initiation and certainly NOT authorising Diksa Gurus.Srila Prabhupada did not even touch on the subject of Diksa.
The July9th letter is a documented corroberation of the earlier conversation which is referred to in the July 9th letter(1st paragraph).It cant be made any more clearer than that.