Jul 24, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) — Studying Srila Prabhupada's conversations with ISKCON leaders.
Today's Talks is inspired by Srila Prabhupada's Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.7, February 27, 1977 in Mayapur. You can listen to the audio or read the transcript here. This was the last time Srila Prabhupada was on the planet during a Mayapur Festival and was preaching directly to the assembled devotees, including all the GBC who were there. It's interesting to note that in both 1976 and 1977 during the Mayapur meetings, Srila Prabhupada was preaching about Prahlad Maharaja. At that point in time no one in attendance had any idea that one year from that day, those in the class who were the most senior would be declaring themselves "Zonal Acaryas" at the next GBC meeting, and Srila Prabhupada would have left the planet.
From my point of view, this could well be the most significant Srimad Bhagavatam class ever given, in that Srila Prabhupada is trying to make it clear to those present that he was a nitya-siddha maha-bhagavata. And as I define it, he was also a Sampradaya Acarya. In order to understand this, all one has to do is to see Srila Prabhupada in the same kind of spiritual position as Prahlad Maharaja.
In this lecture, Srila Prabhupada immediately makes the clear definitive statement that Prahlad is a maha-bhagavata and a nitya-siddha. Of course, that's very difficult to determine because he's only five years old. Likewise, it's obviously been very hard for the Vaisnavas on the planet to see and accept Srila Prabhupada as a nitya-siddha. Even though he's been called that by various people at various times, it has not been established definitively in the same way that Narada Muni definitively described Prahlad Maharaja as a nitya-siddha maha-bhagavata.
It's also interesting to note that later on in this lecture, Srila Prabhupada states that he considers Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur to be nitya-siddhas, and as such their title is "Thakur". He also calls Prahlad Maharaja "Thakur". But we don't see the ISKCON leaders or devotees calling Srila Prabhupada 'Thakur'. Now why is that? Why isn't Srila Prabhupada considered "Thakur"?
Various individuals have tried to rebut my Sampradaya Acarya thesis on the basis that there's no difference between nitya-siddha and sadhana-siddha. Srila Prabhupada states that this is true, but he also says there is a distinction -- how did one reach siddha? Those who are nitya-siddha never fall down and they always remember Krsna, but clearly there is a distinction between one who arrives on this planet as a nitya-siddha, and one who reaches the stage of nitya-siddha during this lifetime. In this particular Bhagavatam class Srila Prabhupada gives the example of Prahlad, but also of all the thousands of associates that came to help play a part in Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes.
My contention is that Lord Caitanya's pastimes were enacted, in part, by the appearance of three great nitya-siddha Acaryas, who came in succession in order to fulfill the Lord's prediction -- which in a sense is part of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes -- that Krsna consciousness would be spread around the world. To me, that's just abundantly clear. But it's obviously not clear to many other people - and if it is, they're not writing or talking publicly about it.
In this lecture, Srila Prabhupada also makes it clear that there are three ways to reach siddha, and the third way is krpa-siddha. He warns us at least five times in this lecture, do not imitate the nitya-siddhas, and do not try to think that you're krpa-siddha. In other words, the only way to reach siddha is to become a sadhana-bhakta, under the guidance of a nitya-siddha. That's how sadhana-bhaktas come to the stage of siddha, at that point they become nitya-siddha.
We have to keep in mind that one year from this very time, the Zonal Acaryas presented a theory that they had become krpa-siddhas, and that we all had to accept that. In other words, they said they had reached nitya-siddha status through krpa, in the same way that Jagai and Madai were benedicted.
The Zonal Acaryas were claiming to be krpa-siddhas, and all the other people in the room -- in fact everyone in the movement -- had to accept them as krpa-siddha. If you didn't, then you'd end up like the person who was chanting for Srila Prabhupada in this very lecture - Pradyumna prabhu, who was callously thrown out of the movement.
Srila Prabhupada warns us that you should never think you're going to reach siddha by this krpa-siddha process. He gives the example of Rabindranath Thakur, who got the title of "doctor" from Oxford University as an honorary degree, without ever having gone to school. But that's not how you get a doctorate degree… you have to go to university and work very hard to get a doctorate. And if you do think it's this easy, Srila Prabhupada says that is very dangerous. Yet this is exactly what these devotees did. And sure enough, it was very dangerous for everyone in the movement, let alone them.
Srila Prabhupada also stresses the point that you have to accept a guru, and that even Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Krsna and all the nitya-siddhas showed by example, just as Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati did. But he also clarifies that the guru must be authorized, the guru cannot be self-made. He says there's not a single incidence throughout the whole Vedic literature:
"And nowadays, so many rascals, they are becoming guru without any authority. That is not guru. You must be authorized."
Then he says:
"You can dress like a guru, you can talk big, big words, but it will never be effective."
Srila Prabhupada goes on to say that Prahlad Maharaja is our guru. So it's not simply on the basis of your Spiritual Master passing away, so now instantly you're authorized and you can become guru. The authorization is not that simply your guru has gone into samadhi or left the planet, and that automatically authorizes you, or that you get some institutional group to authorize you.
Srila Prabhupada said here that this is a humble way -- the humble way is that you have to become just like a dog for your Spiritual Master. He is quoting from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur songs regarding the humble way to actually be a guru, and that is to become like a dog to your guru. Not that you become a "krpa-siddha Zonal Acarya" for your guru.
Srila Prabhupada goes on to explain that if you don't do this, if you don't have that dog-like mentality, then you commit vaisnava-aparadha, which is a very great offense. To think of the guru as an ordinary guru, that is also an offense, Srila Prabhupada says. Just look at the offensive way the Zonal Acarya spokesman, Satsvarupa, presents Srila Prabhupada in his Lilamrta.
Srila Prabhupada says it's so easy to think that Prahlad Maharaja is an ordinary boy, and if it wasn't for the real Acaryas, it would be easy to misunderstand that. Of course, Narada Muni made that clear to the demigods, and Srila Prabhupada is making it clear to us that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur were also maha-bhagavat nitya-siddhas. But today, we don't see many advanced devotees declaring Srila Prabhupada to be a nitya-siddha maha-bhagavata. And I'm just wondering why that is.
Elsewhere Srila Prabhupada has said: "Nitya-siddhas means they never come in contact with this material world, and even they come here for some business, they do not forget their position." (Bg 1:13-14, July 14, 1973)
So did Srila Prabhupada come onto the planet for some business? Well, isn't it obvious? And if this is not obvious even to Srila Prabhupada's own senior disciples, then they're just envious and committing vaisnava-aparadha.
