"Those that Deviate are Useless"

BY: BALAVIDYA DASA

Sep 26, USA (SUN) — Srila Prabhupada's Commentary on the Appointment of Diksa-gurus by the GBC.

Balabadra dasa, Puri Maharaja, is exposed as unqualified to be a sannyasi or diksa-guru by the GBC. However a number of years earlier, the GBC were presenting the same devotee as qualified, at least in terms of their procedures. What therefore is the value of such procedures?

Certainly, Srila Prabhupada made it clear that he wanted the qualified amongst his disciples to be diksa-gurus. And, one can only agree that if a devotee starts to deviate, the GBC, in the role vested in them by Srila Prabhupada of overseeing spiritual standards within ISKCON, have the duty of stepping in and trying to straighten matters out, particularly if the devotee under examination is in a leading role within the society.

However, the point remains that the GBC were never invested with the role of appointing diksa-gurus in the first place. Actually, this is a role they have assumed directly against the directions of Srila Prabhupada. The results have been less than edifying.

In the following quotes, we find Srila Prabhupada's clear condemnation of acarya/guru by GBC appointment/no objection. And Srila Prabhupada's clear instruction that the 'appointment of gurus 'not be followed within ISKCON. Unfortunately, by the quotes we are left to conclude that all the diksa-gurus appointed by the GBC and the GBC themselves are being disobedient to Srila Prabhupada. Thus, their eventual gross falldown is practically unavoidable, because their initial assumption of "diksa-guruship by GBC appointment" is in itself the falldown of disregarding the order of one's spiritual master, the 3rd offence against the Holy Name:

As Srila Prabhupada stated in a letter to Rupanuga P. on 28th April 1974:

"In the latter days of my Guru Maharaja he was very disgusted. Actually, he left this world earlier, otherwise he would have continued to live for more years. Still he requested his disciples to form a strong Governing body for preaching the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He never recommended anyone to be acarya of the Gaudiya Math. But Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja, and he and others who are already dead unnecessarily thought that there must be one acarya.

"If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acarya, he would have mentioned, because on the night before he passed away he talked of so many things, but never mentioned an acarya. His idea was acarya was NOT to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said openly you make a GBC and conduct the mission. So his idea was amongst the members of GBC who would come out successful and self-effulgent acarya would be automatically selected. So Sridhara Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acarya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acarya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps, the acarya is being changed three times a year. THEREFORE, WE MAY NOT COMMIT THE SAME MISTAKE IN OUR ISKCON CAMP. Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya. So it is better not to mix with my Godbrothers very intimately because instead of inspiring our students and disciples they may sometimes pollute them. This attempt was made previously by them, especially Madhava Maharaja and Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja but somehow or other I saved the situation. This is going on. We shall be very careful about them and not mix with them. This is my instruction to you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are very competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful about them."

Srila Prabhupada: Room conversation, Bombay: August 16, 1976

"Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta), before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'This man should be the next acarya.' But these people, just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acarya. That is the failure. They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction in so many things, why he did not say that this man should be acarya?' They wanted to create artificially somebody acarya and everything failed. They did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint somebody as acarya, why did he not say? He said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And they insist upon it. They declared some unfit person to become acarya. Then another man came, then another, acarya, another acarya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection."

History Repeats Itself: The Following is the ISKCON update of the Srila Prabhupada quote directly above:

"Why this ISKCON failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He (Srila Prabhupada), before passing away, he gave all direction and never said that 'These eleven men should be the next acaryas.' But these people, (the GBC) just after his passing away they began to fight, who shall be acarya. That is the failure. They never thought, 'Why Guru Maharaja gave us instruction in so many things, why he did not say that these eleven men should be acaryas?' The GBC wanted to create artificially eleven paramhamsa-acaryas and everything failed. The GBC did not consider even with common sense that if Guru Maharaja wanted to appoint eleven devotees as paramhamsa-zonal-acaryas, why did he not say? Srila Prabhupada said so many things, and this point he missed? The real point? And still to this day, the GBC insist on appointing diksa-gurus. They declared eleven unfit persons to become acaryas. Then another man came, then another, acarya, another acarya. So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection."

Furthermore, Srila Prabhupada purport: Sri Caitanya-caritamåta, Adi-lila, 12.8-10:

"Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively. He did not instruct a particular man to become the next acarya. But just after his passing away, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of acarya, and they split in two factions over who the next acarya would be. Consequently, both factions were asara, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. Despite the spiritual master's order to form a governing body and execute the missionary activities of the Gaudiya Matha, the two unauthorized factions began litigation that is still going on after forty years with no decision.... The members of the self-appointed acarya's party who occupied the property of the Gaudiya Matha are satisfied, but they could make no progress in preaching. Therefore, by the result of their actions, one should know that they are asara, or useless.

"... When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas.... Persons who strictly follow the orders of the spiritual master are useful in executing the will of the Supreme, whereas persons who deviate from the strict order of the spiritual master are useless. "

So from the above quotes we see that the GBC's policy of appointing diksa-gurus, whatever way it is termed (no-objection, etc.), is a deviation from the directions of Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada clearly condemns the concept of GBC appointment for the "attainment of diksa-guruship".

Srila Prabhupada further clarifies that those who deviate from the order of the spiritual master are "useless". Therefore one must conclude that all the ISKCON 'gurus' that have been appointed by the GBC deviation are "useless".

This is a hard truth to swallow, but these are the statements of Srila Prabhupada and so the unavoidable conclusion remains: GBC appointed diksa-gurus are "useless".

Srila Prabhupada undoubtedly wanted the qualified amongst his disciples to be "regular-gurus", i.e., give diksa to their own disciples. However it is clear from the above Srila Prabhupada didn't want the GBC to be involved in "appointing those disciples as diksa-gurus". The inability of the GBC to recognise this and act accordingly is the very heart of the problem of "diksa-guru-falldown " since November 1977.

Srila Prabhupada's November 1977 instruction: "No Such Thing As 'Here Is Leader'. "

On November 2nd 1977, just twelve days before his disappearance lila, Srila Prabhupada was asked privately by some Indian guests who would succeed him as acarya. (Actually the leader of the group was Mr Bajaj of Indian scooter fame - he wanted Srila Prabhupada to appoint an "Indian" acarya.) Srila Prabhupada described his answer moments later to his disciples when Bajaj and his group had left and the devotees were back in the room of Srila Prabhupada. (emphasis mine):

Prabhupada: "[They asked] ...after you, who will take the leadership?" And [I replied] "Everyone will take, all my disciples. If you want, you can take also. (laughter) But if you follow. They are prepared to sacrifice everything, so they'll take the leadership. I may, one, go away, but there will be hundreds, and they'll preach. If you want, you can also become a leader. WE HAVE NO SUCH THING THAT 'HERE IS LEADER." Anyone who follows the previous leadership, he's a leader. 'Indian,' we have no such distinction, 'Indian,' 'European.' "

Brahmananda: "They wanted an Indian to be the leader?"

Prabhupada: "Yes. (laughs) 'Everyone, all my disciples, they are leaders. If you want to follow, you can become a leader. You are Indian. But you don't want.' I told them that."

Clearly with, "We have no such thing, that 'Here is leader'." Srila Prabhupada indicates that he did not intend to appoint a successor acarya, or have such a GBC appointment system institutionalized within ISKCON. With such an answer, Srila Prabhupada follows in the footsteps of his own Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta P.

Furthermore, Srila Prabhupada states, "As purely as they follow, they become leader." Clearly, this is a restatement of the eternal principle of guru-parampara: One must be a perfect disciple-that is the basis of any spiritual qualification, particularly the qualification to be 'guru'.

This restates Srila Prabhupada's position on those qualified to be gurus after his departure, given in the May 28th GBC conversation, repeated here:

Prabhupada: "And Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajïaya guru hana. One can understand the order of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he can become guru. Or one who understands his guru's order, the same parampara, he can become guru."

The simple summary of all Srila Prabhupada's copious directions on guruship was that the "message should be delivered unchanged". The question then arises: What is that message?

That "message" is guru, sadhu and sastra. For instance, in Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya, 20. 352, Srila Prabhupada quotes and explains Srila Narottama dasa Thakura:

"Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says, sadhu-sastra-guru-vakya, cittete kariya aikya. One should accept a thing as genuine by studying the words of saintly people, the spiritual master and sastra. The actual center is sastra, the revealed scripture. If a spiritual master does not speak according to revealed scripture, he is not to be accepted. Similarly, if a saintly person does not speak according to the sastra, he is not a saintly person. Sastra is the center for all."

The GBC have failed to understand that their guru-appointment system is a deviation from Vedic sastra and Srila Prabhupada and is therefore not a bona fide branch of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Parampara.

The bona fide method for continuing the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Parampara is given by Sanatana Goswami in the Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa. This book was composed under the direction of Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya the bestower of religious principles for this age of Kali. In the book, a period close mutual examination is prescribed between the prospective guru and prospective disciple.

The First Vilasa:

Text 74

The Mantra-muktavali instructs, "The guru and aspiring disciple should live together for a year. They should examine each other to find out their nature, character and compatibility. There is no other way of achieving this."

Text 75

The Sruti states, "An aspiring disciple who does not stay together with the guru for a year should not be given diksa-mantra by the guru."

Text 76

The Sarasangraha also declares, "The guru should examine an aspiring disciple under his tutelage for a year."

Text 78

It is described in the Krama-dipika, "The disciple who is desirous to receive diksa [in the Gopala-mantra] must serve the guru for three years employing his wealth, simplicity of heart, affectionate behaviour, full physical endeavour, gentle speech and favourable attitude with the understanding that the guru is as good as the Supreme Lord. In this manner, when the disciple satisfies his guru, he may beg for diksa."

The process of examination is based on the requisite qualifications mentioned within the sastra. Thus accepting a guru is not an off-hand casual affair. One should be educated in sastric standards and spend considerable time in respectful examination. Accepting a guru superficially on the basis of an institutional rubber-stamp is pure foolishness. And the GBC, to their discredit, have created the dynamics for such foolishness within ISKCON. Moreover the GBC appointment system directly subverts the sastric direction of mutual examination, because when the naive hear that "this guru is GBC appointed", they tend to be diverted from the necessity of close personal examination.

Until the GBC start to obey Srila Prabhupada and thus stop "rubber-stamping" "diksa-gurus" and instead just present the parampara-sastra AS IT IS, then we may be assured the big diksa-guru-mess in ISKCON will continue.

Certainly the GBC appointed persons can never be true representatives of Srila Prabhupada and the Brahma-Madhava-Gaudiya-Sampradaya until they realize their mistake and vigorously campaign against this "useless" deviation.

We hope this is found helpful,

Your servant, Balavidya dasa

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