ISKCON Gurus 100% Bonafide

[Guest guest]

"This Kr.s.n.a consciousness movement directly receives instructions from

the Supreme personality of Godhead via persons who are strictly following

His instructions . Although a follower may not be a liberated person, if he

follows the supreme, liberated Personality of Godhead, his actions are

naturally liberated from the contamination of the material nature. Lord

Caitanya therefore says: "By My order you may become a spiritual master ."

One can IMMEDIATELY become a spiritual master by having full faith in the

transcendental words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and by following

His instructions . Materialistic men are not interested in taking

directions from a liberated person, but they are very much interested in

their own concocted ideas, which make them repeatedly fail in their

attempts . Because the entire world is now following the imperfect

directions of conditioned souls, humanity is completely bewildered ."

(Bhag. 4.18.5)

 

Following the Supreme Lord's instructions (order) means following 100% your

own guru's order:

 

"The Lord's order descends in disciplic succession through the bona fide

spiritual master, and thus execution of the order of the bona fide

spiritual master is factual control of the senses . " (Bhag. 2.9.8)

 

"Following the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the ONLY duty of

the disciple, and this completely faithful execution of the order of the

bona fide spiritual master is the secret of success." (Bhag. 2.9.8)

 

Here's another reference:

 

"The bona fide representative of God is as good as God Himself. Or, in

other words, the loving representative of the Lord is more kind and more

easy to approach. A sinful soul cannot approach the Lord directly, but such

a sinful man can very easily approach a pure devotee of the Lord. AND IF

ONE AGREES TO PUT HIMSELF UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF SUCH A DEVOTEE OF THE LORD,

HE CAN ALSO UNDERSTAND THE SCIENCE OF GOD AND CAN ALSO BECOME LIKE THE

TRANSCENDENTAL *PURE DEVOTEE* OF THE LORD and thus get his liberation back

to Godhead, back home for eternal happiness." (Bhag. 2.7.46)

 

See the point is if you are always acting under the guidance of someone who

is 100% under the guidance of Krsna then you are also 100% under the

guidance of Krsna. And following the order of one's own guru guarantees

that guidance even if the spiritual master is not physically present:

 

"...the disciple and spiritual master are never separated because the

spiritual master always keeps the company with the disciple AS LONG AS THE

DISCIPLE FOLLOWS STRICTLY THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER." (Bhag.

4.28.47)

 

Now if the guru's level of faith is not that strong, he may give up that

order of the spiritual master but that does not take away his devotional

service that he performed while acting under the order of the spiritual

master. Therefore, the level of the guru's faith does not take away the

fact that he performed VALID devotional service. One cannot question the

medium as not being pure enough to deliver the spiritual instructions

because Srila Prabhupada himself used his disciples as MEDIUMs to deliver

the spiritual instructions for newer disciples. So the medium is

transcendental. Therefore the devotional service is eternally valid. This

is the Bhagavatam version and is confirmed in other literatures like Nectar

of Instruction (verse #5):

 

"One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the

platform of uttama-adhikaarii. A neophyte Vais.n.ava or a Vais.n.ava

situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such

disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that

they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal of life under his

insufficient guidance. Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an

uttama-adhikaarii as a spiritual master ."

 

Any guru can take on disciples, but the uttama-adhikari is preferred. Now

it does not say that the disciples of gurus of lesser faith go to hell.

They cannot advance under *HIS* insufficient guidance so the books tells

them to take shelter of an uttama-adhikari BUT NOT FOR REINITIATION! The

devotional service is still valid else it would say the neophyte gurus are

bogus. There are many pages devoted to exposing mayavadis and bogus gurus

but here it is CLEARLY saying that neophyte gurus can accept disciples

which means the devotional service they receive is VALID! Now Srila

Prabhupada is an uttama-adhikari and his vani is nondifferent from him so

they have to take shelter of Sastra and/or siksa-guru. The initiating guru

fixes your devotional service so here the devotional service is STILL valid

and eternally so! Some mental speculators selectively quote the above to

tell people to go out and look for an uttama-adhikari and get reinitiated

or that the neophyte gurus are bogus, but that's just speculation.

 

As far as gradual elevation is concerned, that is mentioned in the story of

Narada and many others-- how by executing devotional service they became

self-realized.