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Srila Prabhupada, My Spiritual Master -- Life after Life
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Subject: Srila Prabhupada, My Spiritual Master -- Life after Life
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From: Hirdesh <krishna@krishna.org>
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Date: Mon Nov 18 15:14:50 1996
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Message-Id: id7047
Dear Hridesh
Haribol! Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila
Prabhupada!
Thanks for your letter and comments. I see you are writing from India so
you have somewhat of a different perspective of things than us in the
West. It's true there are many sincere devotees in ISKCON. That is a
fact. But the problem is ISKCON has developed a system whereby ordinary
men are voted in as gurus by the GBC. But ordinary men can't give us
Krishna consciousness. That can only be done by Krishna's pure devotees,
who are not appointed by some mundane management committee, they are
self-effulgent.
"Unfortunately in this Age of Kali there are many mundane persons in the
dress of Vaisnavas, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has described them as
disciples of Kali. He says, kali-cela. He indicates that there is another
Vaisnava, a pseudoVaisnava with tilaka on his nose and kanthi beads
around his neck. Such a pseudoVaisnava associates with money and women
and is jealous of successful Vaisnavas. Although passing for a Vaisnava,
his only business is earning money in the dress of a Vaisnava.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura therefore says that such a pseudoVaisnava is not a
Vaisnava at all but a disciple of Kali-yuga. A disciple of Kali cannot
become an acarya by the decision of some high court. Mundane votes have
no jurisdiction to elect a Vaisnava acarya. A
Vaisnava acarya is self-effulgent, and there is no need for any court
judgment. A false acarya may try to override a Vaisnava by a high-court
decision, but Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that he is nothing but a disciple
of Kali-yuga." (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya 1.220)
So that is the problem. So many disciples of Kali in the dress of
Vaisnavas in ISKCON... We have to be conscious of this and not just
blindly accept anyone who shaves his head and wears tilok as a devotee of
Krishna. We have to test and see if he has actually developed the
qualities of a pure devotee of Krishna.
"Pure devotion is as much infectious, in a good sense, as infectious
diseases. A pure devotee is cleared from all kinds of sins. The
Personality of Godhead is the purest entity, and unless one is equally
pure from the infection of material qualities, one cannot become a pure
devotee of the Lord. The bhakti-vedantas as above mentioned were pure
devotees, and the boy became infected with their qualities of purity by
their association and by eating once the remnants of the foodstuff taken
by them. Such remnants may be taken even without permission of the pure
devotees.
"There are sometimes pseudodevotees, and one should be very much cautious
about them.
"There are many things which hinder one from entering devotional service.
But by the association of pure devotees all these obstacles are removed.
The neophyte devotee becomes practically enriched with the transcendental
qualities of the pure devotee, which means attraction for the Personality
of Godhead's name, fame, quality, pastimes, etc. "Infection of the
qualities of the pure devotee means to imbibe the taste of pure devotion
always in the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead.
This transcendental taste at once makes all material things distasteful.
"Therefore a pure devotee is not at all attracted by material activities.
After the elimination of all sins or obstacles on the path of devotional
service, one can become attracted, one can have steadiness, one can have
perfect taste, one can have transcendental emotions, and at last one can
be situated on the plane of loving service of the Lord. All these stages
develop by the association of pure devotees, and that is the purport of
this stanza." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.25)
"A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities,
and some of the prominent features of those qualities are as follows: he
is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild,
clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to
Krsna, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced
eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic,
expert and silent." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.13)
As far as pure devotees existing in ISKCON, there may well be, but the
ISKCON of today gives them a VERY hard time. Actually Krishna
consciousness is uncheckable, no material difficulties can stop it.
Prahlada Maharaja was born as the son of Hiranyakasipu, the greatest
demon, but -- even though he was surrounded by demons -- he didn't forget
Krishna for a second. That's the main thing. We have to organize our
lives so we never forget Krishna for a single second... So Prahlada was a
pure devotee even among so many demons, it may be possible in ISKCON
also...
The difficulty in ISKCON is one has to take initiation from one of the
GBC approved "Gurus". Otherwise life is very, very difficult. There are
no self-effulgant pure devotees among the GBC gurus, at lest they have
not shown themselves yet... And there are many demons. The history shows
us that very clearly. We've had homosexual child molesters like
Bhavananda (who's now back living in the Sydney temple in Australia ready
for a second chance) and Kirtanananda (who's now in prison), we've had
drug addicts and women-hunters like Jayatirtha, we have had all sorts of
materially motivated persons after wealth, followers, fame, sex, etc...
We've also had (and have) so many Mayavadi and impresonal gurus. It's
amazing. Some have come form India as the whole of India is contaminated
by the Mayavadi philosophy of Sripada Sankaracarya, and we have many
Western Mayavadis as well. The Mayavadis may well be chanting 16 rounds
and following the principles but their preaching is deadly:
"If anyone wants to derive transcendental pleasure by hearing the
pastimes of the Lord, he must hear from the authoritative source, as
explained here. Maitreya heard the narration from his bona fide spiritual
master, and Vidura also heard from Maitreya. One becomes an authority
simply by presenting whatever he has heard from his spiritual master, and
one who does not accept a bona fide spiritual master cannot be an
authority. This is clearly explained here. If one wants to have
transcendental pleasure, he must find a person with authority. It is also
stated in the Bhagavatam that simply by hearing from an authoritative
source, with the ear and the heart, one can relish the pastimes of the
Lord, otherwise it is not possible. Sanatana Gosvami, therefore, has
especially warned that one should not hear anything about the personality
of the Lord from the lips of a nondevotee. Nondevotees are considered to
be like serpents; as milk is poisoned by a serpent's touch, so, although
the narration of the pastimes of the Lord is as pure as milk, when
administered by serpentlike nondevotees it becomes poisonous. Not only
does it have no effect in transcendental pleasure, but it is dangerous
also. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has warned that no description of the
pastimes of the Lord should be heard from the Mayavada, or impersonalist,
school. He has clearly said, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva nasa: if
anyone hears the Mayavadis' interpretation of the pastimes of the Lord,
or their interpretation of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam or any other
Vedic literature, then he is doomed. Once one is associated with
impersonalists, he can never understand the personal feature of the Lord
and His transcendental pastimes.
"Suta Gosvami was speaking to the sages headed by Saunaka, and
therefore he addressed them in this verse as dvija, twice-born. The sages
assembled in Naimisaranya hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from Suta Gosvami
were all brahmanas, but to acquire the qualifications of a brahmana is
not everything. Merely to be twice-born is not perfection. Perfection is
attained when one hears the pastimes and activities of the Lord from a
bona fide source." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.19.34)
-------------------------------------------
And ISKCON have advertised all of them (the homosexuals, the child
molesters, the men seeking fame, followers, wealth and of course the
Mayavadis and impersonalists) as pure devotees, paramahamsa's on the same
level as Srila Prabhupada... To be worshipped on the same level as
Krishna... But when someone wants to serve Srila Prabhupada directly
that's something ISKCON cannot accommodate at all. According to them
Srila Prabhupada is now dead... You need a "living guru"... So you are
expected to take pot luck and chose someone from the group of
homosexuals, child molesters, power freeks and Mayavadis they have on
offer... Do you really think if there was actually a pure devotee in
ISKCON the GBC would appoint him as a guru?? Or would he want to be part
of this system? Pure devotion is not one of the selection criteria at
all. If the local temple authorities agree and none of the GBC have any
objections then he gets the green light... He can then canvass disciples
in ISKCON and get them to worship him on the same level as Srila
Prabhupada and Krishna...
As a result thousands of innocent young people's lives have been
completely destroyed. Many come to Krishna consciousness after reading
Srila Prabhupada's books. Srila Prabhupada preaches to them and convinces
them Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the purpose of
life is to serve Krishna... And then they join the temple thinking this
is Prabhupada's organization... But very soon they find they are being
forced to formally "aspire" to be initiated by some other "living
guru"... That means forget about Prabhupada's lecture tapes -- listen to
his lecture tapes, forget about Prabhupada's books -- read his books
(they say one can't understand Prabhupada's books -- you have to hear
them explained by a "living guru"!! Why then did Srila Prabhupada spend
so much time writing his books I wonder?), and it means joining that
guru's "clique" in the temple... So it is a complete distraction from
Srila Prabhupada, the undisputed paramahamsa capable of giving us all
Krishna consciousness...
If you should be so fortunate to see through this scam to steal Srila
Prabhupada's disciples from him and want to keep your relationship with
Srila Prabhupada -- after all it was Srila Prabhupada who preached to you
(at least in my case), it was he who dispelled all your dobuts about
Krishna consciousness, it was he who answered all your questions at every
step, it was he who pulled you back up when Maya knocked you out... --
ISKCON has no place for you. You are thrown out on the street, called a
demon, they send their lawyers out to get you should you be such an
offender as to try and preach outside ISKCON...
Anyhow we are very attached to Srila Prabhupada. I think you can
understand that. It's rather rude when someone comes up to you and says
"you need a living guru prabhu... Prabhupada's dead now..." as is the
current ISKCON mood.
My personal experience is Srila Prabhupada is not at all dead, he's
living in transcendental sound. Srila Prabhupada's mercy is such that I
(and everyone else anywhere in the world) can associate with him
constantly, 24 hours a day. Here Srila Prabhupada is singing bhajans 24
hours a day, right now he is saying "krsna-kirtana-gana-nartana-parau...
...vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau"
This morning I heard Srila Prabhupada give two classes, one from the
Srimad Bhagavatam and one from the Bhagavad-Gita. I read one chapter from
his Srimad-Bhagavatam and later I will read something from Bhagavad-gita,
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and Krsna Book. So in this way I can associate
with Srila Prabhupada and Krishna 24 hours a day... And they say: "What
about questions?, How can you ask Srila Prabhupada questions?" but
Prabhupada always answers my questions. Whatever the problem is, whatever
questions I have, I just go on reading Srila Prabhupada's books and
hearing his classes and he always answers my questions. All the answers
are in Srila Prabhupada's books. Everything is in Srila Prabhupada's
books. There has never been a time when Srila Prabhupada has not answered
my questions. So there is no question in my mind as to who is my
spiritual master.
"If one simply regularly chants and follows the rules and regulative
principles all questions of philosophy will be answered by Krsna from
within and all doubt will be cleared also in this way. And the same
answer are there again in our books like Bhagavad-gita As It Is,
Srimad-Bhagavatam, etc. So please see that all the initiated devotees
stick rigidly to their daily chanting and regulative living in devotional
service. This is most important.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami" (Letter to Madhudvisa 14 Feb 1970)
Before I knew anything of the politics of "ritvic", etc. I knew Srila
Prabhupada was my spiritual master, he's the person who told me about
Krishna, he's the person who trained me how to become Krishna
consciousness and he's the person still guiding me at every moment. So I
asked a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupad if he could initiate me on
behalf of Srila Prabhupada. He agreed and held the fire sacrifice in
front of Srila Prabhupada, in front of the Deities and in front of the
Vaisnavas. He gave me the name "Madhudvisa dasa" and gave me second
initiation also by teaching me how to chant the gayatri mantra and
playing the tape of Srila Prabhupada chanting the gayatri in my right
ear. So that was a simple thing for me. Official confirmation of the
relationship I already had with Srila Prabhupada.
So the ISKCON fanatics can scream at the tops of their voices, "You need
a living guru!! Prabhupada is dead!!!!" BUT I KNOW SRILA PRABHUPADA IS
ALIVE AND VERY WELL. He is living in sound... we just have to listen very
carefully and attentively... and the dormant love of Krishna within our
hearts will awaken and we will experience real transcendental bliss...
that's the potency of the real Maha-Bhagavata, the real pure devotee, the
real Jagat-Guru... With all due respects I don't see that transcendental
ecstasy developing in the ISKCON devotees, however, I am feeling great
bliss hearing Srila Prabhupada, reading Srila Prabhupada's books and
trying in some small way to tell other people of the great treasure Srila
Prabhupada is giving us...
After some time I discovered the initiation from Srila Prabhupada I took
was actually the system established by Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada
didn't appoint 11 acaryas as his successors as ISKCON still claim, even
though the so-called "acaryas" have shown themselves to be not fit for
the title and the whole Zonal Acarya system self-destructed in the early
'90's. Srila Prabhupada actually apointed ritvic priests who were to
accept disciples on Srila Prabhupada's behalf. So the "leading men" in
ISKCON schemed to hide this from the devotees and claimed Srila
Prabhupada appointed them as his successors... And the rest is history...
According to the ISKCON database the following letter is the third last
letter Srila Prabhupada wrote before leaving his body in 1977 at
Vrndavana. There are also other letters ISKCON has somehow or other
misplaced along with many tape recordings of conversations, etc. which
are mysteriously missing. One letter to Hansadutta on the 10th of July,
1977 states: "You are a suitable person and you can give initiation to
those who are ready for it. I have selected you among 11 men as "ritvik"
or representative of the acarya, to give initiation, both first and
second, on my behalf." There is a letter to Kirtananda Swami on the 11th
July, 1977 from Tamala Krishna, Srila Prabhupada's secretary at that
time, stating: "Srila Prabhupada has appointed thus far eleven
representatives who will initiate new devotees on his behalf." There's
another letter to Hansadutta on the 31st of July, 1977 stating "Now you
have a very good field. Now organize it and it will be a great credit.
Make your own field and coontinue to be rittvik and act on my behalf...
July
Letter to: All G.B.C., All Temple Presidents
--
Vrindaban
9 July, 1977
To All G.B.C., and Temple Presidents
Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. Recently when all of
the GBC members were with His Divine Grace in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada
indicated that soon He would appoint some of His senior disciples to act
as " ritvik- representative of the acarya, for the purpose of performing
initiations, both first initiation and second initiation. His Divine
Grace has so far given a list of eleven disciples who will act in that
capacity:
His Holiness Kirtanananda Swami
His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami
His Holiness Jayapataka Swami
His Holiness Tamala Krsna Gosvami
His Holiness Hrdayananda Gosvami
His Holiness Bhavananda Gosvami
His Holiness Hamsaduta Swami
His Holiness Ramesvara Swami
His Holiness Harikesa Swami
His Grace Bhagavan dasa Adhikari
His Grace Jayatirtha dasa Adhikari
In the past Temple Presidents have written to Srila Prabhupada
recommending a particular devotee' s initiation. Now that Srila
Prabhupada has named these representatives, Temple Presidents may
henceforward send recommendation for first and second initiation to
whichever of these eleven representatives are nearest their temple. After
considering the recommendation, these representatives may accept the
devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada by giving a
spiritual name, or in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the
Gayatri thread, just as Srila Prabhupada has done. The newly initiated
devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupad, the above eleven senior devotees acting as His representative.
After the Temple President receives a letter from these representatives
giving the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the fire yajna in
the temple as was being done before. The name of a newly initiated
disciple should be sent by the representative who has acceted him or her
to Srila Prabhupada, to be included in His Divine Grace's " Initiated
Disciples" book.
Hoping this finds you all well.
Your servant,
Tamala Krsna Gosvami
Secretary to Srila Prabhupada
Approved:
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ISKCON have no way of explaining these letters. They simply change the
subject if one mentions them... ISKCON still claims Srila Prabhupada
appointed successors--they just pretend these letters don't exist... It's
a case of knowingly disobeying the instructions of the spiritual master
and of course this is a great offense, how can such offenders help anyone
advance in Krishna consciousness?
There may be other pure devotee acaryas in the future as there have been
in the past. That is required of course and Krishna will make the
necessary arrangements in this regard. BUT VAISNAVA ACARYA IS
SELF-EFFULGANT... As when the sun is in the sky one doesn't have to look
very hard to find it, when Prabhupada was travelling all over the world
preaching everyone could see he was a pure devotee, everyone could see he
was very special, everyone could see he was empowered by Krishna... even
the nondevotees... (except his envious godbrothers and now many of his
"disciples" are envious also... They want to be "Prabhupada" too. But
they don't want to follow Prabhupada's instructions...)
Please take Srila Prabhupada's instructions very seriously and don't be
fooled by the disciples of Kali dressed as Vaisnavas who are very
prominent in ISKCON at the present moment.
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, my
eternal spiritual master.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy
Madhudvisa dasa
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Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!