Krishnakant, November 3, 2009: As usual the article below has been first published in the IRM’s official magazine Back To Prabhupada. BTP is being distributed for free to ISKCON devotees and people interested in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings worldwide. If you would like to receive BTP as well, simply send us your full name and street address via myspace or the following email address: irm@iskconirm. com.
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Myth-busters
1) “The July 9th 1977 Directive appointing representatives was applicable only during Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence.”
a) But the directive itself does NOT state this – that it was meant to apply only for a limited time or that it should terminate at a certain time.
b) Indeed, the very absence of any specific time-period for the directive’s operation is itself proof that the directive was meant to apply permanently. One only stipulates a specfic time-period to indicate something’s temporary nature, i.e. that there is a limited period in which it must apply.
c) Hence the fact that the directive does not specifically say it will continue after Srila Prabhupada’s departure is no reason to stop it, since it does not say it will continue after ANY time period – i.e. it does not even say that it should apply after July 9th, 1977 (the date on which it was issued), or that it should apply even when Srila Prabhupada was still physically present. So if the mention of a certain time-period is required for the directive to apply within that same time-period, then the directive could never have applied at any time at all. Yet Srila Prabhupada obviously wanted it to apply, otherwise why did he bother sending over one hundred copies of the directive to his entire worldwide movement, just shortly before he physically departed?
d) Rather, the directive is not time-dependent in any way, but is issued to an institution and all its managing officers (Temple Presidents and Governing Body Commissioners), to be implemented within that institution. Thus the July 9th directive, and with it the ritvik system it established, must be applied within the institution of ISKCON for as long as that institution exists.
2) “The phrase ‘my initiated disciple’ in Srila Prabhupada’s Will should not be taken literally.”
a) The statement in Srila Prabhupada’s Last Will and Testament that all executive directors for ISKCON’s properties in India must always be Srila Prabhupada’s initiated disciples, was certainly no mistake. Indeed, in the original reading of the Will on June 2nd, 1977, the phrase was first read out as “an initiated disciple”.
But by the time the Will was prepared,the phrase had been deliberately changed by Srila Prabhupada to “MY initiated disciple”, thus avoiding any ambiguity.
b) Neither can the phrase mean “someone else’s initiated disciple” or a “non-initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada”, unless we completely ignore the dictionary meanings of the words “my” and “initiated”. The phrase “my initiated disciple” was used many times previously by Srila Prabhupada to exclusively, and perhaps unsurprisingly, refer to disciples who were initiated by him. No points for guessing why the current 80 unauthorised Gurus would have you believe that on just this one, crucial occasion, Srila Prabhupada would use this same, identical phrase, but mean something completely different by it!
3) “There is no reference from Guru, Sadhu (saintly persons) and Sastra (scripture) for the Ritvik System.”
a) Whatever the GURU states is ALREADY in line with Sadhu and Sastra
“Sadhu, sastra and guru. Guru means who follows the sastra and sadhu . So there are three, the same.”
(SP Lecture 30/11/76,Vrindavana)
b) So an order from the Guru Srila Prabhupada does not need to be independently verified with Sastra and Sadhu. As long as we accept he is a bona fide Guru, as everyone in ISKCON must, then Srila Prabhupada’s words alone are enough. And as seen above, his orders in the July 9th directive and his Last Will and Testament authorise that he remain the sole initiating Guru for ISKCON. These orders are therefore automatically in line with Guru, Sadhu and Sastra.
4) “One cannot understand Srila Prabhupada’s books unless they are explained by a ‘living’ Guru.”
a) Srila Prabhupada never states this. On the contrary he wrote:
“In my books the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness is explained fully so if there is anything you do not understand, then you simply have to read again and again. By reading daily the knowledge will be revealed to you and by this process your spiritual life will develop.”
(Letter to Brahmarupa Dasa, 22/11/74)
Indeed, even to someone who was new to the movement he wrote:
“In conjunction with this you should always read my books daily and all your questions will be answered and you will have a firm basis of Krishna Consciousness. In this way your life will be perfect.”
(Letter to Hugo Salemon, 22/11/74)
b) In any case,if this myth was true then no one could have understood Srila Prabhupada’s books since none of his disciples, including the 80 unauthorised Gurus, ever sat down with Srila Prabhupada to have all his books explained to them personally, line by line. And since they never had the books completely explained to them then obviously they would be in no position to explain them to us either!
Clearly it is a myth that we need a so-called “living” Guru as an intermediary just to read and understand Srila Prabhupada’s words. They are crystal clear to any sincere soul who wishes to understand them.
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