Sannyasa Gurus
BY: ROCANA DASA
Feb 06, 2012 — CANADA (SUN) — Upon publishing my recent article, "Prabhavisnu: A Fallen Prince", there followed some confusion regarding the circumstances of Prabhavisnu's sannyasa initiation. Our readers will note that the day after publication the article was revised, noted as 'Updated' in the byline. Today, we are reverting back to the original article.
Over the years, it has always been my understanding that Prabhavisnu took initiation from Jayapataka Swami, in Mayapur, circa 1979. That appeared to be supported by Prabhavisnu's service history, even as he stated it in his recent open letters. However, after my article was published we received an email from a devotee saying that I was mistaken – that in fact, Prabhavisnu had taken sannyasa from Bhagavan in Paris around 1979. It made little sense to me that Prabhavisnu would have gotten sannyasa from Bhagavan given his field of service at the time -- let alone at a ceremony in Paris – but this prabhu claimed to have a photograph of the ceremony as evidence. While I didn't have access to the photo at that moment, we took the writer's word at face value, and revised the article accordingly.
Following that, we received further reader comments on the subject, including one from Ananda Svarupa prabhu. He affirms that I was correct in the first place: That Prabhavisnu did take sannyasa from Jayapataka Swami, in Mayapur in 1979. The initiation ceremony took place on Gaura Purnima, and Ananda Svarupa was given sannyasa at the same time, also by Jayapataka.
Right to left: Indradyumna, Sivarama, Ananda Swarup, Prabhavisnu
Given the personalities featured in this photograph of the initiation ceremonies at Sridham Mayapur, Gaura Purnima 1979, one might assume by the picture that all four devotees (Prabhavisnu, Ananda Svarupa, Sivarama and Indradyumna) were given sannyasa at the same time, by the same initiating guru – Jayapataka Swami. But that is not the case.
I attended the ceremonies in Mayapur that year, and recall seeing various groups of sannyasa candidates sitting in the room pictured above. But it was not just Jayapataka Swami giving sannyasa initiations that day. Many other Zonal Acaryas were also initiating their own sannyasa candidates. So one cannot assume by looking at a picture like this that two sannyasis sitting side-by-side were both initiated by the same sannyasa guru on that day.
One key point of interest became evident as we made the last minute cut-and-paste revisions to my article, thinking we had erred. The process underscored the fact that regardless of who took sannyasa initiation from whom, nearly all the Zonal Acaryas were engaged in this one-upmanship game of making their own sannyasis. The predictable results followed, and many of these princes of the Zonal Acarya kings fell down. They suffered, their disciples suffered, and Srila Prabhupada's movement suffered.
Today, we all know that the ISKCON GBC, diksa gurus, sannyasis and leaders make every effort to avoid talking about the Zonal Acarya days. With little exception, they don't acknowledge it, don't refer to it, won't apologize for it. And most importantly, they refuse to give members of the society a philosophical explanation of what took place and why, and the ramifications of the Zonal Acarya legacy that still exists in ISKCON today. Instead, our ISKCON leaders make every effort to bury this troublesome chapter of history, and that fact became obvious once again as we tried to gather additional documentation on who took sannyasa from whom during the Zonal Acarya era. Here's some of what we found:
First, we went to the ISKCON Sannyasa Ministry website to look for a list of sannyasis, year of initiation and name of sannyasa guru. We found that the entire Ministry website was gone (it used to reside at ISKCON.net.au/sannyasaministry). Instead, we went to the Wayback Machine and pulled up the listings page for the old Ministry website, as it appeared on November 15, 2010. This archived page lists all the ISKCON sannyasis by name, giving only their field of preaching. No dates of initiation, no names of sannyasa gurus were included.
We then began visiting the websites of individual Sannyasis, to gather the information from their bios. And at that point, the trend became obvious. It is now a common practice for ISKCON sannyasis to eliminate references to who their initiating sannyasa guru was. This is no doubt being done so they can avoid the embarrassment of being associated with a sannyasa guru who has fallen down or been committed to history as a great rascal.
For example, on the Wiki page for Indradyumna Swami, it says that he took sannyasa in 1979, but it does not name his sannyasa guru. On Indradyumna's personal website we find his bio page, in which he also neglects to state who he took sannyasa from.
Also linked from Indradyumna's website is an article entitled "Sannyasa Ceremony – 1979", written by a disciple in honor of the 20th anniversary of Indradyumna's taking sannyasa. Strangely enough, although the article states that Indradyumna took sannyasa in 1979 at Sridham Mayapur, and gives a great deal of minutia detail about the circumstances of his becoming a sannyasi, the article fails to say who Indradyumna's sannyasa guru is. What a strange piece of information to omit in an article dedicated to the subject! Following is an excerpt:
"Indradyumna dasa was getting ready for this important step in his life. He would sacrifice a young devoted wife and growing child, for the purpose of spreading Krsna consciousness far and wide. He was already living like a sannyasi, austerely and purely. This time however, the formality in the change of asrama would turn into a life time dedication.
Each year, Indradyumna Prabhu attended the Gaura Purnima festival at Sridhama Mayapura (India). But that year, 1979, he would pronounce his sannyasa vows. This event took place shortly after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance from our material vision and a new wave of sannyasis flooded our movement to push on the sankirtana worldwide. At this initiation ceremony, Indradyumna Prabhu would not be alone sitting at the yajna to receive his sannyasa danda. Sivarama dasa, Prabhavisnu dasa, and other famous devotees would also pronounce their sannyasa vows.
Hundreds of devotees gathered in the Mayapura Candrodoya Mandira temple room to look on as the newly initiated sannyasis threw their grains into the fire, chanting, "Svaha! Svaha! Svaha!" Indradyumna Prabhu was now known as His Holiness Indradyumna Swami Maharaja. 1979 was indeed marked by this special Gaura Purnima festival."
So although Prabhavisnu was pictured sitting next to Indradyumna, they did not take sannyasa from the same initiating guru. Indradyumna Swami took sannyasa from Bhagavan, and Sivarama took sannyasa from Tamal Krishna Goswami. Again following the trend, Sivarama Swami's website bio says he took sannyasa in 1979, but it doesn't say who his sannyasa guru was; nor does his Wiki page.
Let's look at a few other examples. On his official website bio page, Radhanath Swami gives this brief mention, omitting the fact that he took sannyasa initiation from Kirtanananda:
"At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassin and became known as Radhanath Swami."
Devamrita Swami, who was also given sannyasa by Kirtanananda, likewise omits mention of his initiating guru's name in his bio.
One would think a sannyasi would want to give all respects to his initiating sannyasa guru, just as Srila Prabhupada always honored Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Gosvami. But in ISKCON, it appears that our senior sannyasis prefer to obfuscate rather than promote that relationship.
