Back to Prabhupada, Issue 27, Spring 2010
We analyse here two ISKCON gurus discussing the issue of succession in ISKCON, and which successors Srila Prabhupada had authorized.
“Become guru” order
Much of the GBC’s case that Srila Prabhupada had repeatedly authorized all his disciples to become diksha (initiating) guru rests on Srila Prabhupada’s many calls for everyone to “become guru”. Here he cited Lord Chaitanya’s same order given to the brahmana Kurma in Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-Lila, 7:128 (“amara ajnaya guru hana” - “become a spiritual master”). Indeed, the GBC’s official reply to The Final Order (the IRM’s position paper), Prabhupada’s Order, opens with a whole chapter giving these quotes, so central are these quotes to the GBC’s case. Unfortunately for the GBC, however, Srila Prabhupada uses these quotes to refer specifically to becoming siksha (instructing) guru - as we prove in The Final Order. The brahmana Kurma is simply told by Lord Chaitanya to talk about Krishna to anyone he meets, and later on it states that Lord Chaitanya gave exactly the same instruction to “become guru” to anyone and everyone He met on His travels. And just in case there was any doubt that this is not an order for diksha gurus, the subsequent purport states very clearly, “It is best not to accept any disciples”, which irrefutably seals the case.
ISKCON guru’s confession
HH Partha-sarathi Das Goswami (“PSDG”), a GBC-elected guru hoaxer, has agreed with the above facts:
“Srila Prabhupada often quotes this verse, especially when addressing Indian audiences. The words “amara ajnaya” means “under My order” and “guru hana” means “becoming a spiritual master”. What type of guru is not specified because there is diksa-guru and siksa-guru. Srila Prabhupada writes, “It is best not to accept any disciples.” (Cc. Madhya 7.130, purport). Based on this warning it could be assumed that the words “guru hana” means become a siksa-guru. In the first line of Cc. Madhya 7.128, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says whomever you meet; tell them about Krishna... this also refers to siksha. A doubt arose in my mind because Srila Prabhupada says, “it is best not to accept any disciples.” How can I justify my actions in initiating disciples? One answer is that Srila Rupa Gosvami writes, “without accepting disciples you cannot increase the preaching mission.” Also Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja, who I accept as a “nitya-siddha maha-bhagavata”, gave diksa initiation to many disciples. The fact that the GBC have authorized it doesn’t necessarily make it right. With the greatest respect to the GBC, they have made mistakes in the past.”
(http://www.psdgoswami.com/joss56.htm, archived February 23rd, 2010)
No authorization
In the preceding statement, PDGS:
a) States that this order to “become guru” from Lord Chaitanya, which Srila Prabhupada repeats to his own disciples, refers to siksha.
b) Thus, PSDG admits his authority for becoming diksha guru is not from any order from Srila Prabhupda, but from his interpretation of a general statement from Srila Rupa Goswami, and by following the example of a fellow GBC-elected guru hoaxer.
This is an admission that neither does Srila Prabhupada authorise diksha gurus via his “become guru” orders, nor is becoming diksha guru in ISKCON based on any authority from Srila Prabhupada. Yet, without such authority from Srila Prabhupada, no action can be justified, no matter what rationalisation is offered:
“The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life. Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless.”
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 12:10)
No successors
Another GBC-elected guru hoaxer, HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami (“BS”), states the following in regard to who would succeed Srila Prabhupada after his departure:
“Narayana Maharaja’s followers did their level best it seemed to convince ISKCON devotees that he is Srila Prabhupada’s successor, and therefore they should take shelter of him. I really can’t understand how they come to that conclusion, as I was present when Srila Prabhupada was here, and never heard Narayana Maharaja mentioned even once by Srila Prabhupada or any of his assistants, all of whom I knew quite well. When Srila Prabhupada talked about the future of ISKCON and its leadership he said that his faithful disciples would lead after he had gone. For example there is the following conversation on November 2nd, 1977, 12 days before he left this world:
Prabhupada: (They asked) “…after you, who will take the leadership?” And (I told them) “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.”
(http://www.caitanya.org/wordpress/?p=354, archived March 4th, 2010)
The quote given makes it clear that after Srila Prabhupada, no one would be his successor, but rather EVERY one of his disciples would continue by preaching. He clearly says “all my disciples”, and “there will be hundreds, they’ll preach”.
If every one of his disciples is nominated to continue, then where is the question of Srila Prabhupada having already selected only 11 (“The Great Guru Hoax, Part 1”), or even 80 (“The Great Guru Hoax, Part 2”) diksha guru successors? Just as Narayana Maharaja was not mentioned by Srila Prabhupada as a successor, as BS correctly points out, neither were any diksha guru successors mentioned amongst his disciples. So neither has any authority - neither Narayana Maharaja or ISKCON’s diksha guru successors.
Conclusion
The IRM has all along proven that Srila Prabhupada had never authorised his succession as the diksha guru of ISKCON. Rather he had only ever authorised his disciples to act as gurus in the same manner as they were encouraged to do whilst Srila Prabhupada was physically present – by preaching and acting as siksha gurus. Due to our continued relentless preaching, ISKCON’s leadership is not only unable to offer any challenge to our arguments, but simply continues to agree!