Back to Prabhupada, Issue 27, Spring 2010
By Krishnakant
In the BTP 21 article “The proof is before us every morning!”, we proved that the Guru-vandana prayers sung every morning by every ISKCON member refer exclusively to Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON’s diksha guru. In the wake of our exposé on his teachings in BTP 25, ISKCON guru HH Giriraja Swami (“GRS”) now appears to have adopted the IRM’s philosophy, as revealed in a question and answer session after a class he gave following the publication of BTP 25:
Gaura Bhagavan Das: “Every day in the Guru-vandana prayers we sing, sri-guru-carane rati, ei se uttama gati, ye prasade pure sarva asa: “Attachment to the lotus feet of the spiritual master is the best means of spiritual advancement. By his mercy all desires for spiritual perfection are fulfilled.” So if someone is attached to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, he will achieve all perfection. He doesn’t need anything else but to associate with devotees who are attached to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada.”
Giriraja Swami: “I agree with you. What you quoted confirms what was said in the class.”
(GRS Class, January 17th, 2010)
GRS agrees with the IRM that it is sufficient for every ISKCON devotee to only accept Srila Prabhupada as the diksha guru-spiritual master sung about in the Guru-vandana prayers and simply associate with other devotees who accept the same.