Srila Prabhupada Gave No Diksa after October 18, 1977
BY: GOUR KESAVA DAS
Mar 17, THAILAND (SUN) — Written in response to a devotee, who wrote:
"Quoting again "It is imperative that a serious person accept a bona fide spiritual master in terms of the sastric injunctions."
First: Srila Prabhupada's instructions are sastra."
Great! We follow guru, sadhu and sastra. Srila Prabhupada is our guru, So everything that he has said about guru must be surely taken into consideration. However we also know that he said that he as a bona fide Guru always follows the sastra 100%. Therefore I have to ask you, what Sastra is your idea for a perpetual rtvik diksa system based on???
If you say simply Srila Prabhupada's words, then this is not enough. Because he did authorize it for as long as he was giving diksa Himself. But on October 18th, 1977 in Vrndavan he said:
Prabhupada: So I depute him to do this at Mayapura, and you may go
With him. I stop for the time being. Is that all right?
Tamala Krsna: Stopped doing what, Srila Prabhupada?
Prabhupada: This initiation. I have deputed the, my disciples. Is it
Clear or not?
Giriraja: It's clear.
Prabhupada: You have got the list of the names?
Tamala Krsna: Yes, Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: And if by Krsna's grace I recover from this condition,
then I shall begin again, or I may not be pressed in this condition to
initiate. It is not good.
End Quote.
So he clearly here said that he was stopping initiating, and IF he recovered he would begin again. He didn't recover and went back to Godhead therefore he never started initiating again.
That was the end of the rtvik system. Because without anyone to give initiation (Srila Prabhupada stopped, he said so himself), there is no rtvik initiation.
So if you accept Srila Prabhupada's words, then accept that he himself said that he stopped initiating on October 18th, 1977. Therefore if anyone tells you that Srila Prabhupada initiated anyone after October 18th, 1977, that is clearly against what Srila Prabhupada said himself.
Is that not clear????????
Your servant,
Gour Kesava dasa
P.S. Throughout history there are examples of devotees who wanted to take direct diksa from a great Vaisnava, only to be disappointed because that great Vaisnava disappears just before they can take diksa from him. You all have to get over it, just as great devotees like Ramanuja did. He came to Yamunacharya to take diksa and found his lifeless body there before him. He had just passed away only minutes before. Ramanuja didn't concoct some new system, he simply took diksa from one of Yamuna's disciples. However Ramanuja is known as the greatest follower of Yamuna because he, and not the direct diksa disciples of Yamuna, fulfilled Yamuna's desires for preaching Vaisnava siddhanta.
Yamuna was certainly Ramanuja's siksa and greatest guru. Ramanuja is known as his greatest siksa disciple and follower. There are many other examples of this. So all of you out there who didn't get diksa mantras from Srila Prabhupada before October 18th, 1977 are NOT his direct diksa disciples. However that does not mean that you can't be the greatest followers of Srila Prabhupada. What is better, to be a direct diksa disciple who doesn't follow the siksa? Or to be a strict follower of Srila Prabhupada's instructions although not having actually taken diksa mantras from im directly? I know you are intelligent enough to know the answer. So just give up this nonsense self-deception, accept Srila Prabhupada as your main guru, but also recognize that you must take diksa mantras from one of his living disciples. That person is no doubt not as great a Vaisnava as Srila Prabhupada, however Srila Prabhupada has given the diksa mantras to him and he can give them to you. No need to treat him on any level above what he appears to be. He may be a madhyama or even a kanista adhikari. Just take the diksa mantras from him and then simply follow Srila Prabhupada's siksa. If this system was good enough for great devotees like Ramanuja then why not others today?
Yes, Srila Prabhupada (or rather Tamal Krsna) wrote that rtvikism would be done "henceforward", but that all came to an end on October 18th, 1977, when he declared to his senior disciples, whom he had chosen to be his rtiviks, that he was no longer giving initiation and that he would ONLY start giving again if by Lord Krsna's grace he recovered, which as we all know unfortunately he did not. End of story. So I call on all those who are HONEST to accept Srila Prabhupada's direct statement that he himself stopped initiating on October 18th, 1977 and never started again.
Cherish his instructions and get on with your spiritual lives. Take diksa mantras from someone who is his humble disciple and continue to hold Srila Prabhupada as your greatest siksa guru. I have nothing more to say to those who refuse to accept Srila Prabhupada's last instruction on the matter of his NOT giving any more diksas after October 18th, 1977. The rtvik system as we all know who were devotees at that time was instituted for Srila Prabhupada's illness. It was always used even before it was formalized when he could not be physically present. However on October 18th, 1977 that all came to an end by his own order.
