The Current Link
BY: BHAKTA ALEX
Aug 4, OTTAWA, CANADA (SUN) — In an article from July 31st, 2007, Praghosa Prabhu writes:
"...all devotees worldwide - from the most senior to the newest devotee, state without equivocation that Srila Prabhupada is the Current Link in the Brahma-Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya..."
I have a bad taste in my mouth upon reading this line, as it doesn't strike me as an honest portrayal of reality.
My main period of participation within the ISKCON organization was from 1996 to 2000. The years 2000 to 2004 were for me a period of gradual drifting away from the organization. By 2005 it was clear to me that I don't self-identify as a member of the ISKCON organization.
During my time of closer contact with the institution I read voraciously about Krsna Consciousness, and I listened to numerous lectures, both by Srila Prabhupada and by ISKCON leaders.
The expression "Founder-Acarya" was applied to Srila Prabhupada, but this was not taken as equivalent to "current link".
The general program as I understood it was that I needed to be connected to the parampara. There were various leaders within the organization who were officially recognized as "gurus".
I was supposed to "aspire" for one of these persons. In other words, I was supposed to begin cultivating a relationship with one of these persons. Our relationship was supposed to culminate in me accepting one of these individuals as my current link to the parampara, and my point of absolute surrender.
The idea that Srila Prabhupada is the current link to the parampara is an idea that I mostly read about on websites that were considered heretical by most of my peers. In my experience, the people who stated unequivocally that Srila Prabhupada is the current link were referred to as "ritviks", "envious", "jumping over", and "trying to turn Krsna Consciousness into Christianity".
I participated in an initiation ceremony within the ISKCON organization in 2000, after taking in a 3-month bhakti sastri course.
My understanding, in the time leading up to the ceremony, during the ceremony, and after the ceremony, was that I was accepting the performer of this ceremony as my current link to the parampara, and as my point of absolute surrender. Despite a suppressed sense of doubt and apprehension, I assumed that this was the accepted program.
If it had been clear to me in 2000 that Srila Prabhupada is qualified and available to be my current link to the parampara, and my point of absolute surrender, then I find it hard to imagine that I would have gone ahead with the initiation ceremony that I chose to participate in.
Instead, I would have had gratitude for the positive things that I learned from the ISKCON leader who I had previously "aspired" for. But I wouldn't have played pretend, nor attempted to force myself to see this ISKCON leader as my current link to the parampara. Chances are that I might have eventually drifted away from him. I drifted away from this leader anyway, despite the ceremony.
Basically I didn't have sufficient confidence in this man to surrender to him fully, as my current link to the parampara. I felt like I was engaging in a charade, and eventually the whole thing felt too empty to continue.
"...all devotees worldwide - from the most senior to the newest devotee, state without equivocation that Srila Prabhupada is the Current Link in the Brahma-Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya..."
Bold statement. My experience is quite different. Repeat the above quote a thousand times, and that still won't make it true that this is how things are viewed and presented in the ISKCON organization.
