Oct 13, 2018 — CANADA (SUN) —
Undermining Srila Prabhupada's Status as Sampradaya Acarya
Over the past twenty-five years, many insidiously subtle forces have seriously undermined the conception of Srila Prabhupada as a nitya-siddha, shaktavesa avatara and Sampradaya Acarya. The most serious influences are the spurious preaching against Srila Prabhupada originating from his Gaudiya Matha Godbrothers, the undignified vision of Srila Prabhupada enshrined in the "Lilamrita" by the Zonal Acaryas, and the overall influence of Kali Yuga on neophyte disciples.
Gaudiya Matha Influence
I. The ISKCON Lila Era
In the early years of ISKCON, most of the active participants embraced the recognition of Srila Prabhupada as spiritually situated on the same transcendental echelon as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur. The collective conclusion was that Srila Prabhupada is more advanced than his Godbrothers. Due to our isolated circumstances, many of the rank and file gave little thought to making a comparison - but all unquestioningly perceived Srila Prabhupada as residing in a lofty spiritual state. For most, this perception flowed from a spontaneous exhibition of dependent devotion and youthful exuberance, and was not generally based upon deep philosophical comprehension. Little or no open discussion took place on this subject.
Outside the borders of ISKCON, other Vaisnavas in our line not only did not accept the exuberant conclusions of Srila Prabhupada's foreign disciples, many within the Vaisnava community voiced disapproval. During the ISKCON lila period, the deprecation of Srila Prabhupada emanating from the Gaudiya Matha made little impact on members of the Society, primarily because most of the disciples were serving in the West. Nonetheless, their protestations will be preserved as part of Vaisnava history.
His Godbrothers denigrated A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami for adopting the honorific title "Srila Prabhupada" -- the same endearment given their exalted Spiritual Master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. This disagreement was exacerbated by Srila Prabhupada's endorsement of non-traditional practices within ISKCON, such as those relating to the worship of the guru: daily elaborate guru-pujas, use of throne-like vyasasana, and allowing his disciples to glorify him in what his Godbrothers considered to be an ostentatious manner. In reality, Srila Prabhupada was finally declaring himself to be the preeminent Sampradaya Acarya that he truly was all along.
Throughout his ISKCON lila, Srila Prabhupada projected a humble persona, giving all credit for his success to his Guru Maharaja. He related to his disciples in the mood of a kind father, thanking them for their sincere efforts, and never abusing his power and opulence. All these factors contributed to the disciples' image of Srila Prabhupada as being the one and only living Sampradaya Acarya. The society-wide reverential mood and daily guru puja practice introduced into ISKCON by Srila Prabhupada reinforced the concept that it was his desire to have his followers view him as a nitya-siddha Sampradaya Acarya.
We can emphatically state that Srila Prabhupada broadcast definitive, society-wide instructions to all his disciples to avoid intimate relations with his Gaudiya Matha Godbrothers. In part, this directive stemmed from a desire to spare his neophyte disciples the anxiety of hearing the many insidious innuendoes and the occasional outright criticisms born of his Godbrothers' envy and their lack of realization of his status as the Sampradaya Acraya.
"So I have now issued orders that all my disciples should avoid all of my godbrothers. They should not have any dealings with them nor even correspondence, nor should they give them any of my books or should they purchase any of their books, neither should you visit any of their temples. Please avoid them."
Srila Prabhupada Letter to Visvakarma, 11-09-75
The ultimate insult in the minds of the Gaudiya Godbrothers was Srila Prabhupada's articulation of his profound philosophical disagreement with them, which he published in his purports to the Caitanya-caritamrta. Srila Prabhupada had broken the tacit accord, "I'm OK, you're OK.... don't publicly criticize each other". Of course they had already broken that trust, but for Srila Prabhupada to enshrine his opinion in immortal context was unthinkable. Acting in his elevated status as a Sampradaya Acarya, Srila Prabhupada had the right - or more accurately, the sacred duty -- to speak out truthfully for the benefit of future generations and to maintain the purity of the Sampradaya. If you don't agree with Srila Prabhupada's controversial statements or the fact that he broadcast his opinions in such an irreversible manner, then by definition you are at odds with my proposition of Srila Prabhupada's elevated status as Sampradaya Acarya.
"Why this Gaudiya Matha failed? Because they tried to become more than guru. He, 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 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."
Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 08-16-76, Bombay
"Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation."
Caitanya-caritamrita Adi-lila 12.9 Purport
Today's Gaudiya Matha avoids discussion on the distinction between the lofty spiritual qualifications of the Sampradaya Acaryas and the regular diksa gurus. They do not recognize Srila Prabhupada to be of equal stature with his predecessor Sampradaya Acaryas, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur. The Gaudiya Matha leadership's practice of actively seeking and encouraging siksa relationships with the Sampradaya Acarya's own disciples is a practice that clearly ignores Srila Prabhupada's elevated spiritual status. The Gaudiya Matha does not differentiate between the potency of the disciple's direct connection to the Sampradaya through a Sampradaya Acarya, as opposed to the connection made through any other diksa or siksa guru.
Srila Prabhupada possessed extraordinary powers of personal perception. This was evident when he shared his realizations about the unfortunate events following His Spiritual Master's disappearance. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati requested the appointment of a GBC to maintain the preaching mission upon his departure, but he was silent as to the appointment of a successor Acarya. History has repeatedly demonstrated that both Acaryas placed the burden of responsibility squarely upon their respective GBC appointees, without precise instructions as to how their tasks should be accomplished. The onus was on them to come to the proper conclusion that their guru was much more than a "regular" spiritual master, but was rather a rare Sampradaya Acarya. As such, the normal course of events did not apply. During his lila, Lord Caitanya choose not to provide a nitya-siddha, maha-bhagavata, parampara-Acarya to replace him.
By purposefully sidestepping the succession issue, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's final instruction was for a cooperative effort. This was also the case with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada's Godbrothers were left with the same dilemma faced by Srila Prabhupada's GBC. Both GBC's (1937 - 1977) had to ponder the question of whether they should simply revert back to the traditional process of allowing disciples to assume diksa guru responsibilities, or work together to come up with a practical alternative that would maintain the momentum within the surcharged mission established by a shaktavesa avatara. Common sense and historical memory indicates that taking the traditional direction would likely cause the Acarya's organization to self-destruct, which they both undoubtedly did.
