25 - GBC Teaches That 'Living Gurus' NOT Required
From: Adri@cwcom.net (Adridharan das)
Date: 30. June, 2000
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;;
Newsletter of the Iskcon Revival Movement (IRM)
Issue 25
Message from Adridharana Dasa, Temple President ISKCON Calcutta
1. GBC Teaches That 'Living Gurus' NOT Required.
2. The Great Vision of Our GBC Chairman.
3. Media Campaign Continues.
1. GBC Teaches That 'Living Gurus' NOT Required
We had already pointed out in previous newsletters how the issue of the IRM
needing to debate and defeat the GBC on their philosophy regarding the Guru
does not arise since the GBC do not even have a position to defeat - please
see newsletters # 16 & 19. This is because all their current position papers
on this issue contradict each other on key points. Now we find that on
inspecting recent GBC resolutions, the GBC are now actually teaching that
there is no necessity for having a Diksa Guru who is 'living and physically
present', since Srila Prabhupada is actually a better alternative!
The GBC have always argued that the reason we must support their bogus Guru
program and thereby reject Srila Prabhupada, is because they offer us a
'living, physical' Guru, and that such a 'living' guru is an absolute
necessity due to the nature of the Diksa Guru-Disciple interaction. There
are certain functions present in the Guru-Disciple relationship that only a
'living' Diksa Guru can fulfil, they argue. Some of the key functions that
are present between a Diksa Guru and a disciple are as follows:
a) The Diksa Guru Transmits Divya-Jnana To The Disciple
b) The Diksa Guru Personally Engages Disciple in Service
c) The Diksa Guru Regularly Instructs The Disciple
d) The Diksa Guru Personally Inspires The Disciple
e) The Diksa Guru Acts As A Shelter In Whom The Disciple
Can Repose His Faith
f) The Diksa Guru Receives Daily Worship From the Disciple
g) The Diksa Guru Receives Vyasa-Puja Offerings Annually
Via His Vyasa-Puja Book
h) The Diksa Guru Accepts Guru-Daksina From The Disciple
It has been argued by the GBC that in order to fulfil these responsibilities
within a Guru-Disciple relationship, the Diksa Guru needs to be 'living'.
For instance one needs a 'living, physically present' Guru to give the
disciple personal instructions for his service, or to instruct him in his
spiritual life and answer his questions etc. etc. And therefore it is not
possible to accept Srila Prabhupada as our Diksa Guru, since he is not
'living'. However let us now see what the GBC resolutions actually state
regarding how these functions should be carried out within a Guru-Disciple
relationship, and whether they do actually require a 'living, physically
present' Guru.
a) The Diksa Guru Transmits Divya-Jnana To The Disciple
The GBC have stated that Divya-jnana is received via siksa:
"Such uplifting knowledge is called divya jnana, and its transmission is
called siksa. This divya jnana is the principle active ingredient of diksa."
(No. 404, 1999 GBC Resolutions)
But they also say that the 'pre-eminent', 'essential' and 'empowering' siksa
is actually received from Srila Prabhupada:
"ISKCON's founder-acarya, Srila Prabhupada, is the pre-eminent and
compulsory
siksa-guru for all vaisnavas (gurus and disciples) in the Society, who may
directly receive empowerment from him through allegiance to his teachings."
(No. 409, 1999 GBC Resolutions)
"Srila Prabhupada's instructions are the essential teachings for every
ISKCON devotee."
(Resolution 35, Founder-Acarya Statement, 1994)
So since the siksa we receive from Srila Prabhupada is far more vital,
essential and superior to that we may receive from any 'living guru', it
cannot be for the transmission of divya-jnana that we need to have a 'living
guru'.
b) The Diksa Guru Personally Engages The Disciple in Service
"Temple presidents and project leaders are fully responsible for engaging
the devotees in their charge. Gurus must first consult with a temple
president before talking to a disciple about changing their service."
(Law 405 (G), GBC Resolutions, 1999)
No luck here either since it is the Temple President who will engage the
disciple, and the 'living diksa guru' is not even allowed to engage the
disciple without first taking permission from the Temple President.
c) The Diksa Guru Regularly Instructs The Disciple
"ISKCON leaders shall teach that Srila Prabhupada's books and teachings are
the foundation of the spiritual lives of all ISKCON members. Therefore, all
ISKCON members shall consider it their compulsory duty to study Srila
Prabhupada's books. Hearing from other devotee's books and teachings is
secondary and supplemental and should not be done at the expense of hearing
regularly from Srila Prabhupada."
(Law 405 (F), GBC Resolutions, 1999)
Please note that the term 'other devotees' includes one's own 'living diksa
guru', and therefore the GBC is saying that we should only approach the
'living' guru for instruction if one can find the time to squeeze him in
after having first received full instruction from Srila Prabhupada. Even if
one does find time to approach the 'living diksa guru', any instruction
received from him will in any case only be 'secondary and supplemental'.
d) The Diksa Guru Personally Inspires The Disciple
"A duly initiated disciple in ISKCON can accept Srila Prabhupada, the
founder-acarya of ISKCON, as his principle siksa-guru. During his devotional
life, he may experience that he derives more spiritual inspiration from
Srila Prabhupada's books and vani than from his own diksa-guru."
(Law 601, 2000 GBC Resolutions)
We see that even for the essential function of receiving 'spiritual
inspiration', again the 'living guru' is not necessary.
e) The Diksa Guru Acts As A Shelter In Whom The Disciple
Can Repose His Faith
"As it is enjoined in scripture that a devotee must honor his spiritual
master, ISKCON members shall be trained to place their faith, trust and
allegiance first and foremost in the Founder-Acarya who is the pre-eminent
siksa guru for every member of ISKCON."
(Law 405, 1999, GBC Resolutions)
Again for this essential function, the disciple is directed to place his
'faith, trust and allegiance' 'first and foremost' in Srila Prabhupada,
*not* his 'living' Diksa Guru.
f). The Diksa Guru Receives Daily Worship From His Disciple
"In order to offer appropriate respect to Srila Prabhupada as Founder-Acarya
and pre-eminent spiritual master of ISKCON, it is considered an essential
devotional practice for all ISKCON devotees to observe or perform Srila
Prabhupada's guru puja daily either in an ISKCON temple or if not possible
in one's home. With an aim to focus more fully on Srila Prabhupada and every
devotee's special relationship with him and to correct any imbalance in
application between the respect offered to siksa gurus, diksa gurus and
other senior vaisnavas contributing to a devotee's spiritual progress, an
ISKCON siksa or diksa guru may accept public guru-puja (arati and/or foot
bathing) in person once a year on ISKCON property, as a Vyasa-puja."
(Law 405, 1999, GBC Resolutions)
We see that it is 'essential' to perform daily Guru-puja for Srila
Prabhupada, whilst the Diksa Guru is restricted to receiving such worship
only once a year.
g) The Diksa Guru Receives Vyasa-Puja Offerings Annually Via His
Vyasa-Puja Book
"ISKCON members shall celebrate Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja ceremony as
the pre-eminent Vyasa-puja ceremony in ISKCON. All ISKCON members are
requested to write an annual Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupada.
Vyasa-puja for ISKCON gurus other than Srila Prabhupada should only be
observed on one day a year. This celebration may be held in the temple room.
ISKCON members conducting Vyasa-puja ceremonies for ISKCON siksa and diksa
gurus shall observe them in a modest way, significantly less elaborate in
duration and cost than Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja. In general, devotees
shall observe these Vyasa-puja celebrations in their own locales. In ISKCON,
only Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja book shall be published."
(Law 405, 1999, GBC Resolutions)
Every ISKCON member is specifically instructed to write a Vyasa-Puja
offering for Srila Prabhupada, and only Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-Puja book
is to be published.
h) The Diksa Guru Accepts Guru-Daksina From The Disciple
"Guru daksina and other donations offered to siksa and diksa
gurus are the property of ISKCON."
(Law 405, 1999, GBC Resolutions)
Our poor 'living guru', he cannot even get to keep his daksina! (Of course
in reality, there is little evidence that these funds are *actually*
the property of ISKCON!)
We can see that the GBC have decreed that a living guru is not necessary to
deliver these key functions. They have further decreed that these functions
should and can actually be delivered by Srila Prabhupada. In their desire to
reduce the 'worship' of the Gurus, the GBC have actually also eliminated the
need for a 'living guru' at all!. Bearing in mind the above resolutions,
where the GBC have systematically told us all the areas in which a 'living'
diksa guru is *not* essential, could anyone please tell us the reason why we
*do* need a 'living' diksa guru! Answers on a postcard please!
Indeed even the GBC only define a diksa Guru as follows:
"A siksa guru who gives the student formal initiation is called
a diksa guru"
(Action Order 403, 1999 GBC Resolutions)
And we have already seen that the main and 'essential' siksa guru is
actually Srila Prabhuada. This therefore merely relegates the 'living' diksa
guru to being someone who primarily performs the formal initiation ceremony.
And guess what Srila Prabhupada called those devotees who simply perform the
formal initiation ceremony and do little else. That's right - you got it one
- RITVIKS!
And ironically in the same year that the GBC passed all these resolutions
eliminating the need for a 'living' diksa guru, and instead simply
relegating him to the role of a ritvik, it also passed the following
resolution *against* the ritvik idea:
"Ritvikism contravenes absolute, unchanging principle. Hence it is
categorically different from the permissible adjustments within the power of
the GBC Body. In spite of its adjustments, the GBC Body has held steadily to
the principle of parampara and remains committed to it, for it is the
teaching of Srila Prabhupada and his predecessors, and it is a necessity in
the matter of sustaining a living tradition."
(301, 1999 GBC Resolutions)
So the GBC wants to reject 'ritvikism' because they feel they must sustain a
'living tradition'. And they intend to do that passing resolutions that
eliminate the need for a 'living' diksa Guru, by delegating those functions
to Srila Prabhupada, and instead simply reducing the 'Living' Guru to being
no more than a ritvik! Yes that makes perfect sense. So finally the GBC's
bogus 'physically present, living' diksa guru theory is smashed by the GBC
themselves. This must obviously be the result of either reading too many IRM
papers, or more likely, simply the GBC's own self-imposed mass confusion.
Whatever arguments they wish to forward as to why we must reject Srila
Prabhupada as ISKCON's diksa Guru, it is definitely no longer because the
Diksa Guru *must* be 'living and physically present'.
2. The Great Vision of the GBC Chairman
The genius who presided over the passing of many of these resolutions was
the current GBC Chairman, Ravindra Svarupa Das. We had reported in
newsletter 21, the brilliance and vision of our GBC Chairman, who while
ISKCON burned, told us that he did not actually know what to do, and that
therefore all he could offer was to re-acquaint himself with his bead-bag,
and go and fast and chant for a month in Vrindavana. We now have more
evidence of the Chairman's great foresight and vision from a time when he
was not even the GBC chairman. 2 years ago, when the Final Order was making
huge penetrations in ISKCON temples in India, the GBC naturally turned to
their master strategist Ravindra Svarupa to combat the problem. He had
helped previously to dismantle the zonal acharya system, and therefore
taking care of some ritviks would not be a problem. He immediately had a
brainwave - he would set-up a task force that would go and preach to two
ritvik temple presidents in particular, and this 'anti-ritvik' task-force
would convince them of the error of their ways:
"What would happen if we challenge them directly and told the two presidents
they had to give up their posts if they did not loudly reject ritvikism? I
suspect we would soon find ourselves (locally) with our backs against the
wall. In short, I fear that in their own area they are more powerful that
we, the GBC, are. Hence I am proposing a tour by some persuasive senior
people to meet with them and try to get them to convert. This looks like an
increasingly urgent need."
(Ravindra Svarupa Das, Current GBC Chairman, Quoted on COM, 16/6/98)
And guess who our visionary Chairman chose to head up this 'anti-ritvik'
task-force:
"Who do we have in India that could be active in an anti-ritvik campaign?
Madhu Pandit Prabhu for sure."
(Ravindra Svarupa Das, Current GBC Chairman, Quoted on COM, 16/6/98)
Yes that's right - Madhu Pandit prabhu, the current IRM Secretary. It was
less than a month following this master-stroke from Ravindra Svarupa that
Madhu Pandit called the famous Bangalore meeting by getting together many of
the leading Temple Presidents and Managers in India, who then proceeded on
July 9th, 1998, to pass the famous Bangalore resolution that declared that
Srila Prabhupada was the Current Link Diksa Guru for everyone in ISKCON for
the next 10,000 years. A meeting which was to lead to the genesis of the
IRM!
So if any of you wish to know which will be the next temple in ISKCON to
join the IRM, the answer is simple - ask our GBC Chairman who he thinks
should be selected to *fight and defeat* the IRM, and you will have your
answer for the candidate most likely to join the IRM!
One cannot help wondering from all these actions of our esteemed Chairman,
that either he is just plain incompetent, or more likely, a closet Ritvik,
whose real aim is to gradually adjust the Guru system in ISKCON so that the
'Gurus' are made so impotent that they become non-different to Ritviks!
Either way I think we should be told! I am sure that H.H. Jayapataka Swami,
the most 'high-profile' Guru in ISKCON, would be particularly interested to
know what our Chairman's future plans for ISKCON's crumbling Guru system
are!!
3. Media Campaign Continues
We had highlighted in our last newsletter how due to the inactivity of the
official ISKCON leadership it had been left to the IRM to launch a media
campaign to defend Srila Prabhupada from the horrendous claim made in the
Gurukula Child Abuse law-suit that Srila Prabhupada was somehow implicated
in the abuses. We gave some sample cuttings of the articles we had managed
to get published. We are pleased to report that we are continuing to make
progress in this campaign and we managed to get the following article
published in the Times of India, which is the most prestigious newspaper in
India. Please note how Srila Prabhupada is glorified in the final paragraph:
TIMES OF INDIA, 23 JUNE 2000
'Fight for succession caused ISKCON problems'
BANGALORE: The $400-million child abuse case filed in the US last week
against some ISKCON gurus by former pupils of its boarding schools has
brought to the fore certain ideological differences within the movement.
According to Madhu Pandita Dasa, president ISKCON, Bangalore, ``The genesis
of the problem was with the followers usurping the position of the guru in
ISKCON temples, against the very philosophy of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada, who advocated no succession (as it led to absoluteness of powers
and resulting favouritism, corruption) and advised instead that a committee
run the organisation after his demise in 1977.''
Madhu Pandita is in fact international secretary ISKCON Revival
Movement(IRM), which he terms a `movement within the movement'. In fact, IRM
filed a case in the Calcutta High Court last year against the 79 spiritual
heads who ``usurped the position of the guru and who have had a long history
of disobeying the teachings, especially after his death,'' adds Madhu
Pandita. Incidentally, many of the defendants in the Calcutta HC case are
also named in the US child abuse case. In the organisational structure that
Swami Prabhupada created for ISKCON, he did not appoint a single or multiple
guru as successor. Instead, he gave a written directive to the entire
organisation as to how he would remain in the position of guru for the
institution. Swami Prabhupada was clear on the policies that should be
followed at the school. He felt children should not be beaten at all, and
that they should simply be shown the stick. What is highly deplorable in the
US lawsuit is the aspersions cast on Swami Prabhupada by dragging his name
into the case, says an ISKCON press release.
Swami Prabhupada has been regarded the only Indian religious leader and
acharya who spread the Sanatana dharma throughout the world. Today, in more
than 60 countries his books are read in about 75 languages. The qualities of
his writings is the simplicity with which he conveys the most profound
knowledge. Within a span of 11 years he built a worldwide movement of 108
Krishna temples, purely founded on Vedic principles and knowledge.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please keep your
letters, and e-mail addresses of other devotees who should be added to our
list, flowing in. A hard copy of our main position paper 'The Final Order'
is available on request. All other IRM papers can be accessed through the
EDITORIAL SECTION of the IRM website at
http://www.come.to/irm
If you would like to receive any of the back issues of the Newsletter please
let me know.
No 1. Invitation to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja
No 2. GBC Lose First Round of Court Case
No 3. The Story VNN Refused to Publish
No 4. Poison Theorists Accuse Adri of Complicity
No 5. Iskcon Continues to Promote Child Abusers
No 6. Invitation to Malaysia
No 7. United World Body Formed
No 8. Does Srila Prabhupada Support Poisoning Theory?
No 9. PADA Attacks IRM Position
No 10. PADA Continues to Present False Evidence
No 11. GBC Funded Video says Ritvik Spiritual
No 12. Child Rapist Selected by Gurus to Defend their Legitimacy
No 13. GBC Facing Perjury Charge in Calcutta High Court
No 14. Sahajiyism Makes a Comeback in Iskcon.
No 15. Govt. Minister Inaugurates Bangalore Rathayatra
No 16. Iskcon Calcutta Triumphs Following Arson Attack
No 17. Fighting Lies with Truth Not More Lies
No 18. GBC Resolutions Continue to Provide Laughter
No 19. Indian Leaders Endorse IRM Position that GBC Confused
No 20. Convicted Child Abuser Officially 'Returns' to Parampara
No 21. GBC Special Issue - GBC Chairman Admits ISKCON 'Disintegrating'
No 22. Krsna Confirms Iskcon Rebirth - New York Special Issue
No 23. Hare Krsna Explosion Begins in New York as IRM Temple Opens
No 24 IRM Launches Media Campaign to Defend Srila Prabhupada
Your comments, questions and feedback are appreciated. Please write to me at
adri@cwcom.net
Your Servant, Adridharan das
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