Initiation (?)

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you for taking the time to reply my ignorant questions. I am aware

that it may sound like I am challenging my superiors. I have a hard time

giving that up and it sometimes makes me feel like an offender, but in the

same time it seems important to me to understand as much as possible what is

actually going on and what my own position is, I hope that you and others

who might have been offended by this will kindly correct me if this is the

case.

I learned a lot about the guru-relationships during the recent

conversations and I am thankful to you and the other participants for that.

 

> I do not know all of the gurus in ISKCON currently and even if I did I

> probably would not be the best judge of "bonafide-ness". I would probably

> measure them against my own guru maharaja and they would have a hard time

> measuring up to that. Does this mean they can't be gurus? It depends

> totally on what they teach, in my opinion. If they are repeating Srila

> Prabhupada's words and teachings exactly then they are guru. Guru is one.

> There may be some gurus with these qualifications in ISKCON. I have full

> confidence that my guru maharaja's program is fully capable of developing

> pure devotee/gurus.

I am really happy to hear that.

 

> But if they are concocting and not teaching those things which Srila

> Prabhupada recommended for his movement and spreading the Krsna

> consciousness movement throughout the world; then they are deviants and

> will not serve a disciple well. They may be devotees but that alone does

> not make them guru.

clear.

 

> In my opinion, if current gurus are not actively, constantly, daily,

> promoting, preaching, teaching and supporting the priority of recognition

> and implementation of daiva varnasrama-dharma within this society then I

> do not accept them as bonafide gurus. Srila Prabhupada said, just before

> he left, it(VAD) was the ONLY thing that he felt was left unfinished. He

> gave explicit instructions over 25 years ago to start varnasrama colleges

> in EVERY center. We have none.

My husband is asking for a quote on that, it could prove useful.

 

He gave explicit instructions that all

> devotees are not brahmanas and that varna training must be there and yet

> it is still the standard practice within ISKCON to jam square heads into

> round holes with the concommitant injuries. He said it (VAD) was the most

> auspicious program. Even if they say they are emphasizing brahminical

> culture, he gave explicit instructions that brahminical culture cannot be

> created without cow protection and yet we have an extremely poor record of

> cow protection with our society.

Where I live we dont have one single protected cow in the whole country, no

school for the children and practically no land to grow food. However I

still have hope that things will change, we have had very nice comunications

around establishing farms lately.

 

> We cannot make light of any of the atrocious behaviors of demonic cheaters

> like Bhavananda and others and if the leaders/gurus who were not directly

> involved in such crimes do not correct the situation they will be

> considered accomplices. Srila Prabhupada gave the instructions, advice and

> orders to implement varnasrama-dharma to stem the tide of these problems

> which were beginning to manifest even when he was present. Because his

> instructions were not acted upon by the leaders then we are now suffering

> the consequences.

>

> A guru must train a disciple according to their psychophysical condition

> based upon the modes of material nature and divide them into the four

> varnas for proper spiritual and material development. If they are not

> doing this they are cheating the disciples. This is how I judge gurus.

Sounds like the good old gurukula as I have imagined it, where one learns

the purpose of life but also how to survive while progressing on the

spiritual path.

 

>

> > > But I believe those rituals can be performed by

> > > authorized "ritviks" on behalf of the pure devotee, and specifically

> > > the most current parampara representative.

>

> > Authorized by who?

> > Did not Srila Prabhupada already authorize all of his disciples to

> > become

> > his representatives in due time?

>

>

> Yes. In time. Why try to institute quantuum mechanics into an elementary

> arithmetic class? Just because it is a bonafide science does not mean you

> prematurely include it into beginning classes. Not that I think rituals

> are very advanced things, but the principle of step-by-step, gradual

> development of higher learning and practiced principles applies. Srila

> Prabhupada said we cannot even chant very well and therefore

> varnasrama-dharma must be instituted immediately. After training in

> varnasrama-dharma there will be good qualified ritviks to perform many

> different important rituals.

I still dont quite understand your definition of a ritvik, but maybe thats

simply due to my limited braincapacity or impurity. I agree that instead of

blind following it is time to educate ourselves and others.

 

> I'll say it again, if a "guru" in ISKCON is not promoting

> varnasrama-dharma and the appropriate varna and asrama training along with

> cow protection (including women), I do not consider them "bonafide" gurus.

> They are cheaters. They are not repeating what Srila Prabhupada said

> accurately. That is my opinion.

>

> If there are gurus who are doing this I will support them fully and

> recommend any aspiring candidate to them for training.

 

I always felt protected by my gurumaharaja, when he took charge I was

finally properly married to my husband after many years of worries that they

would succeed in convincing my husband that I was of no use for his

spiritual upliftment. As a lonely mother there would have been no question

of me continuing templelife. However Krishna took care of me. I am grateful

for that.

Thank you for your good instructions.

Your servant Gunamani d.d.