Gaura Govinda Swami:
A member of the disciplic succession?


irm


Back to Prabhupada, Issue 28, Summer 2010

“I do not want to receive your words. They are coming from a spiritual position which is not pure because it is not respectful of the Brahma Madhava Gaudiya Sampradaya disciplic succession to which belongs [...] Gaur Govinda Maharaja, etc.”
- Vraja-Vilasini Dasi (translated from French)

Editor replies:

You have stated that ISKCON guru HH Gaur Govinda Swami (“GGS”) is a member of the disciplic succession. However, GGS does not even preach the same philosophy as Srila Prabhupada. For example, GGS states that:

1) Srila Prabhupada’s tapes are useless for acquiring spiritual knowledge:

“Sabda-brahma* will never descend through a tape.”
(GGS, ‘Q&A’, The Worship of Sri Guru)
* Transcendental sound vibration.

2) Srila Prabhupada’s books and those of the previous acharyas are useless for acquiring spiritual knowledge:

“You may say, “Oh I have read their books; I have their association.” That won’t help you [...] You cannot understand what they have said merely by reading their books.”
(GGS, The Process of Inquiry, chapter 6)

3) Srila Prabhupada’s philosophy is incomplete and limited by time, while GGS is bringing eternal, higher philosophy:

“Similarly, you cannot understand why Prabhupada said what he did. Tat-kalika, at that time it was needed. But not for all time. He was laying the foundation. [...] So I have taken up this task: now the time has come we’ll teach all this higher philosophy. Prabhupada left it in a seed form. [...] He did what was needed for them at that particular time.”
(GGS, My Revered Spiritual Master, chapter 12).

Please chant: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare.
And be Happy!