Quotes, Notes and News (QNN)
Krishnakant | IRM| In the BTP 24 article “The Divinity Delusion”, we cited ISKCON GBC voted in guru HH Bhakti Vikash Swami (“BVKS”) claiming he should be worshipped as good as God almighty simply because, like any new bhakta (devotee) who joins ISKCON, he will tell people to follow Srila Prabhupada:
“My Vyasa puja [...] So you may think, well, what is my qualification to accept the honour and affection that you are offering to me [...] Well, that is my qualification, that if I can glorify Prabhupada then that’s the qualification …actually, the er… I’m not qualified, intrinsically, but qualified because I can point, “here is Prabhupada, and follow his instructions, and ask you to have faith in what Srila Prabhupada has given.”
(BVKS, “Vyasa Puja” Lecture, Tirupati, January 5th, 2008)
In fact, this philosophy of “act like a bhakta, get worshipped as a guru” was preached nearly two decades prior by the man responsible for “The Great Guru Hoax, Part 2″ (the current GBC guru system), HG Ravindra Svarupa Das (“RSD”). RSD claimed that Srila Prabhupada actually delivers divya-jnana (transcendental knowledge), and one can become a GBC elected successor guru simply by claiming the credit for delivering this divya-jnana oneself!
“For example a spiritual master may instruct a disciple, “Make sure you read Srila Prabhupada’s books for two hours every day…” — then he’s giving divya-jnana. He can do it this way. He need not be able to write those books, but if he keep his students reading the books, and he makes sure they understand what they read, then he’s giving divya-jnana.”
(Ravindra Svarupa Das, Vaisnava Institute for Higher Education, January 21st, 1990,
Vrindavan, published in ISKCON Journal, 1990).
An ISKCON guru is now no different to any bhakta who distributes books.
ISKCON’s guru hoaxers are happy to let Srila Prabhupada do all the hard work of giving divya-jnana and delivering disciples, while they take all the worship and credit and they openly admit it!
ISKCON leader set in concrete
ISKCON UK congregational preaching director HG Kripamoya Das (“KMD”) has again argued that due to the need for “rebuke, correction, and ongoing guidance”, the diksha, or initiating, guru must be: “..in Srila Prabhupada’s own words: ‘concrete’, ‘appearing before the physical senses of the disciple, and someone to whom the disciple can surrender in person.”
(both quotes from The Vaishnava Voice, April 4th, 2010)
As we have documented in previous issues of BTP, KMD continues to falsely attribute to Srila Prabhupada his philosophical misconception that the guru must be physically present before the disciple in order to act as the disciple’s guru. Let us examine the first quotation KMD alludes to:
“Not that in air you make a spiritual master. You make a spiritual master concrete.”
(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, September 23rd,1969)
Here all Srila Prabhupada is saying is that you cannot fabricate a spiritual master out of the air. Is KMD arguing that Srila Prabhupada is a fabrication? If so, he has been the disciple of an imaginary guru for the past 33 years!
Regarding the guru “appearing before the physical senses of the disciple”, KMD later confessed:
“I will admit to being unable to find the specific quote I wanted.”
(HG Kripamoya Das, June 10th, 2010)
As for the need for “rebuke”, “correction” and “ongoing guidance”, KMD contradicts himself, since he has admitted that he himself was never rebuked, corrected or guided by Srila Prabhupada when he was physically present!:
“you (Srila Prabhupada) replied “Jaya” [...] That was the only word you said to me directly [...] One word spoken thirty years previously”.
(HG Kripamoya Das, Vyasa Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada, 2007)
Same quote, opposite conclusion
1) GBC 1998: Srila Prabhupada is NOT the current link
Below, while attempting to refute the IRM’s The Final Order position paper, the GBC claim that Srila Prabhupada stating we must accept the “immediate next acharya” means that Srila Prabhupada is a previous acharya (guru), and we must accept a successor GBC-elected guru:
“[...] surrendering to a living bona-fide spiritual master, is imperative to the proper understanding of Vedic knowledge. This point is made clear in the following quote: “[...] You cannot imagine what my spiritual master said. Or even if you read some books, you cannot understand it from me. This is called parampara system. You cannot jump over to the superior guru, neglecting the next acarya, immediate next acarya.”
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, December 8th, 1973)
[...] He clearly explains the principal of parampara, and even explicitly states that simply to read books is not enough ( a corner stone of the ritvik-theory), but rather the disciple must understand everything through his own spiritual master, and not attempt to independently understand the previous acharyas.”
(Prabhupada’s Order, Ministry for the Protection of ISKCON, GBC 1998)
2) GBC 2000: Srila Prabhupada IS the current link
However, just 2 years later, the GBC claimed (correctly) that Srila Prabhupada stating we must accept the “immediate next acharya” means that Srila Prabhupada is the current acharya, not a previous acharya:
“Srila Prabhupada said in a Srimad Bhagavatam lecture given in Los Angeles on December 8,1973:
“You cannot imagine what my spiritual master said. Or even if you read some books, you cannot understand unless you understand it from me. This is called parampara system. You cannot jump over to the superior guru, neglecting the next acarya, immediate next acarya.”
This would mean that in answering any difficult question, where there are apparent contradictions that cannot be easily resolved, our primary resource should be the words of Srila Prabhupada our “immediate next acarya.” [...]. If we were capable of independently absorbing sastra, why did Srila Prabhupada write purports to all of his translations? So the first resource should be Srila Prabhupada’s words.”
(Drutakarma Das, GBC Sastric Advisory Council member, The Origin of the Jiva, 2000)
Thus, depending on their agenda, and which conclusion they seek to prove, the GBC have no problem in shamelessly turning Srila Prabhupada’s teachings on their head claiming he is not the “next immediate acarya” when it comes to preserving their own illegal status as self-appointed successor hoaxer gurus, but claiming the exact opposite when arguing a different issue.
