Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

CHAPTER THREE

CHEAP GURUS, CHEAP DISCIPLES

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL MASTER

"The first thing, I warn Acyutananda, do not try to initiate. You are not in a proper position now to initiate anyone... Don't be allured by such Maya. I am training you all to become future Spiritual Masters, but do not be in a hurry... You don't be attracted by such cheap disciples immediately. One has to rise gradually by service... These services are most important. Don't be allured by cheap disciples. Go on steadfastly to render service first. If you immediately become Guru, then the service activities will be stopped; and as there are many cheap gurus and cheap disciples, without any substantial knowledge, and manufacturing new sampradayas, and with service activities stopped, and all spiritual progress stopped up. You have already mentioned one such non-bonafide sampradaya, Jaya Sri Sampradaya. So let me know immediately what you are going to do, in respect to my above three important businesses entrusted to you..." (Acyutananda, 8/21/68)

Note: Of course ISKCON's "gurus" say: "We were not in a hurry; we waited until six months after Prabhupada's departure to officially declare ourselves worshipable spiritual masters." It takes eight years to earn a license to pug teeth or practice medicine-but getting a throne in ISKCON less than that. Maybe that could be advertised. It could attract a huge following, which is the verification of a bona fide movement. Right?

"As for your next question: 'Can only a few pure devotees deliver others?' Anyone, if he is pure devotee he can deliver others, he can become spiritual master. But unless he is on that platform he should not attempt it. Then both of them will go to hell, like blind men leading the blind." (Tusta Krishna, 12/14/72)

Note: Pure devotees of Krsna are not a dime-a-dozen as in ISKCON today. Even the madhyama status of devotee is difficult to attain. The topmost platform of pure devotee generally takes a lifetime of sincere, humble, and serious hard work, and only one among thousands achieves it. (BG, 7.3) Prabhupada was a pure devoteefrombirthbuthesettheexampleforusbywaitingelevenyearsbeforetakingfonnalinitiation. Why today this impatience? Initiation is a serious matter and not something one does whimsically. No sane person rushes into such a commitment. Chant, study, and serve Prabhupada through his books with a competent, humble devotee. Then you are safe. Krsna will personally send a pure devotee when the sincere seeker is ready. Getting a bona fide guru is not a process of seeking outside oneself. It is an internal process of purifying one's motive. Then the guru will appear just as Narada appeared to Dhruva in the forest. The only endeavor required is trying to become sincere.

In the broad sense, very little changed when Prabhupada left the planet. He had long since placed the fate of his movement in the hands of his books. More and more he saw that his leaders were not following them or even reading them. The GBC was out of hand."What can I do?" Some of them could hardly wait to divide up the pie and start being worshipped.

"Yes, I am so glad that your center is doing so well and all the devotees are now appreciating the presence of their Spiritual Master by following His instructions although He is no longer physically present; this is the right spirit." (Karandhara, 9/13/70)

Note: Adherence to the guru's instructions is the most important measure of the legitimacy of the devotees.

"Regarding the action of Bon Maharaja: We shall discuss the matter when we meet. For the present, you may know that this gentleman is very much materially ambitious. He wants to utilize Krsna consciousness for his material name and fame. Sometimes he greatly offended our Guru Maharaja, and it so happened that at the last stage, practically Guru Maharaja rejected him. And the result, we can find that instead of becoming a great preacher of Krsna consciousness this gentleman has become artificially a head of a mundane institution. To become a very important man in the mundane estimation is not success in Krsna consciousness... On the whole, you may know that he is not a liberated person, and therefore, he cannot initiate any person to Krsna consciousness. It requires special spiritual benediction from higher authorities.

"The statements of Thakura Bhaktivinode are as good as scripture because he is liberated person. Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord; but anyone who follows the principles of such ever-liberated persons is as good as one in the above mentioned group... A person who is liberated acharya and guru cannot commit any mistake, but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession..." (Janardana, 4/26/68)

Note: This is one main basis of the ISKCON "gurus.. claim to acarya-ship. It is an undeniable truth that if someone is strictly following his guru, then he may act as guru himself. But here Prabhupada uses the word I/act." It clearly implies that, in the absence of a liberated acarya, a devotee on the neophyte platform, who, by definition, is strictly following the principles of the ever-liberated acarya, can "act" as the via medium of the parampara. He may be considered a pure devotee, but not a liberated pure devotee. He is on the level mentioned above. Such an "acting" guru is not beyond falling down and so must be very careful to strictly follow the real pure devotees instructions, not try and imitate him. He must not concoct anything. He must five very humbly and not allow pompous worship of himself, for that is reserved for those who are actually in complete touch with the Supreme. His followers must clearly understand that their "acting"-guru is a completely pure devotee, and that he can only advance so far under such limited guidance. (NOI, 6) Prabhupada recommends that if one is serious, he should not take initiation from anyone but the topmost pure devotee. And, solidifying that instruction, he recommends that unless one is such a topmost devotee, he should remain simple and humble and preach to friends and relatives at home (Cc. Mad, 7.130). So, in light of these instructions, a sincere devotee "acting" as guru is really a siksa-guru and should be respected as such. Not a diksa-guru. The purpose of this book is to make it clear that ISKCON's "appointed gurus," who are being worshipped as though they were uttama-adhikaris, are not strictly following Prabhupada's instructions and so they are not qualified to "act" as acarya or siksa-guru or any such thing. They constantly commit serious mistakes and offenses because they are neither liberated nor humble.

Only one who is very strictly practicing himself can be considered as good as the ever-liberated devotees. But if he stops strictly following the basic principles of austerity and humility, then he falls down immediately. Then all one's service to him is in vain. This is common sense and can be illustrated from the following example.

If one is going to law school, it is understood that he is going to be a lawyer in due course of time. Young women tend to loiter around the law school campuses to attract such a potentially rich husband. He is not rich yet, but they know it is just a matter of time before he will be rich. In the absolute sense, if he is strictly on the path, he is already rich. It is only a small matter of time that separates, and time is relative. But, if in the meantime, the young girls distract him by their feminine, alluring behavior, and he consequently gets absorbed in such pleasures, thereby neglecting his studies, then he is not going to be a lawyer or a rich man. The foolish girl who marries him will be poor for her whole life.

So, in this exact same way, if one finds a devotee who is very serious about Krsna consciousness, then such a seeker may assume that that devotee is going to be a topmost pure devotee in due course of time. In this way, he may be considered "as good as the ever-liberated group." You should offer him obeisances and take guidance from him. But, because he is not fully liberated, he cannot be pompously worshipped, or he will get carried away. He has to be very humble so that he can make further advancement. Srila Prabhupada says: "One should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or mahabhagavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation he will eventually become degraded." (NOD, 6)

In other words, if he imitates the position of a completely liberated soul immediately by accepting the service and worship which is reserved for the uttama-adhikari, he deviates. A deviator is guaranteed to fall down. Some of these ISKCON "gurus" may have been strictly following at one point; some of them never followed strictly. Some of them may have possessed some humility; some never did. But now all these men have changed their face and are heading straight downhill. Some have gone completely insane, as the recent Harikesh scandal has revealed.

So, for the aspiring devotee, it is better to continue to study and follow Prabhupada's teachings sincerely. Then, later, when Krsna sends him to you, take initiation from a liberated devotee. There is no rush. This rush consciousness was created by the "GBC". Nowhere in Vedic literature is such a concept preached. Guru, sastra, sadhu, is the formula. Guru is only one of the three. We have sastra-Prabhupada's books. We have sadhu-the sincere humble devotees. All we don't have at present is guru. So we must wait some tune. Krsna will not neglect any sincere seeker."Guru Krsna Prasad." Krsna is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord's mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide Spiritual Master" (Mad, 19.151). That is the essence of this very important letter. If anyone disagrees, then let them state their position. We shall debate it.

"To answer your last point, one who teaches can be treated as Spiritual Master. It is not that after we become initiated we become perfect. No. It requires teaching. So if we take instruction from them, all senior Godbrothers may be treated as guru, there is no harm. Actually you have only one Spiritual Master who initiates you, just as you have only one father. But every Vaishnava should be treated as prabhu, master, higher than me, and in this sense, if I learn from him, he may be regarded as guru. It is not that I disobey my real Spiritual Master and call someone else as Spiritual Master. That is wrong. It is only that I can call Spiritual Master someone who is teaching me purely what my initiating Spiritual Master has taught. Do you get the sense?" (Sri Galim, 11/30/71)

Note: Here again Prabhupada is making the clear distinction between the "real Spiritual Master" and one who "may be regarded as guru." There is only one guru and that is the uttama-adhikari. That is still Srila Prabhupada. Anyone else, appointed or not, if he is strictly following Srila Prabhupada, he may be "regarded as guru" but not worshipped as though he were an uttama-adhikari unless he actually has been benedicted in that way. We have been told specifically by Sriman Rohini Kumar Swami that Srila Prabhupada informed his movement that there would be no more uttama-adhikari acaryas in the immediate aftermath of his disappearance (Conversation, NY, 1968). From practical experience, we have all good reason to believe that this remains so.

"I understand that one devotee is engaged as Taittireya's personal servant. No devotee can be engaged as personal servant in this way. Otherwise everyone will do this.