Excerpt from Bhagavad Gita As It Is defeating ritvikism

[Guest guest]

Dear Deepak Prabhu, PAMHO. AGTSP!

 

You quoted Srila Prabhupada as follows:

 

> As long as the Spiritual Master is physically present, the disciple should

> serve the physical body of the Spiritual Master, and when the Spiritual

> Master is no longer physically existing, the disciple should serve the

> instructions of the Spiritual Master.” (S.B. 4.28.47, purport).

 

So Srila Prabhupada said that at the beginning when a person becomes a

disciple (at the time of initiation) the spiritual master is physically

present. How is this compatible with the ritvik idea?

 

ys Ramakanta dasa

[Guest guest]

Dear Ramakanta Prabhu,

 

PAMHO. AGTSP!

 

Thank you very much for your question with regards the following quote:

 

>As long as the Spiritual Master is physically present, the disciple should

>serve the physical body of the Spiritual Master, and when the Spiritual

>Master is no longer physically existing, the disciple should serve the

>instructions of the Spiritual Master." (S.B. 4.28.47, purport).

 

 

>”So Srila Prabhupada said that at the beginning when a person becomes a

>disciple (at the time of initiation) the spiritual master is physically

>present. How is this compatible with the ritvik idea?”

 

Unfortunately I do not see the following words in the passage I quoted:

 

“at the beginning when a person becomes a disciple (at the time of

initiation)”

 

Srila Prabhupada simply says that "as long as the spiritual master is

physically present, the disciple should serve the physical body of the

Spiritual Master". In other words we do not just completely ignore the

Spiritual Master when he is physically present, ‘we serve his physical

body.’ So the quote does not exactly match the words you have used to

summarise it. And we know that even this serving of the "physical body of

the spiritual master" cannot be an essential element of diksa (the issue

under discussion), since thousands of Srila Prabhupada’s original disciples

never once served him physically - nor even met him. Also, Srila Prabhupada

never physically attended large numbers of initiation ceremonies. So,

although the disciple serves the body of the guru when he is present before

him (he doesn’t just ignore him), that is not essential to DIKSA or

initiation. Therefore the fact that Srila Prabhupada is now physically

absent cannot be used as a reason to terminate the ritvik system of

initiation he formally established, since physical presence in itself has

nothing to do with the process of diksa. Never has and never will.

 

It’s interesting to me that this objection was ably answered way back in

1996 in "The Final Order", I wonder why devotees are so far behind in this

debate. You may well be able to come up with another reason why the GBC

were correct to stop the ritvik system they were ordered to run, if you do

please let me see it, but this one is not valid with all due respects to

your good self.

 

Best wishes.

 

Your servant,

Deepak

 

 

 

>"Ramakanta (das) HKS (PAMHO.NET SysOp) (Zurich - CH)"

><Ramakanta.HKS (AT) pamho (DOT) net>

>"Deepak Vohra" <dv108 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>, "Initiations in ISKCON"

><Initiations.in.ISKCON (AT) pamho (DOT) net>

>Excerpt from Bhagavad Gita As It Is defeating ritvikism

>Sat, 14 Aug 2004 20:53 +0200

>

>Dear Deepak Prabhu, PAMHO. AGTSP!

>

>You quoted Srila Prabhupada as follows:

>

> > As long as the Spiritual Master is physically present, the disciple

>should

> > serve the physical body of the Spiritual Master, and when the Spiritual

> > Master is no longer physically existing, the disciple should serve the

> > instructions of the Spiritual Master." (S.B. 4.28.47, purport).

>

>So Srila Prabhupada said that at the beginning when a person becomes a

>disciple (at the time of initiation) the spiritual master is physically

>present. How is this compatible with the ritvik idea?

>

>ys Ramakanta dasa

>

>-----------------------

>To from this mailing list, send an email to:

>Initiations.in.ISKCON-Owner (AT) pamho (DOT) net

 

_______________

It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today!

http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger