The Uttama-adhikari as taught in Purport to NOI 5

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Mahanidhi Prabhu wrote:

 

> According to different devotees none else but an infallible

> uttama-adhikari is to be accepted as a bona fide guru in the

> line of our disciplic succession. The base for this are Srila

> Prabhupada's statements. Now, the question is, in the light of

> such rather a stressful and demanding situation, how a disciple

> can go on in his conviction that his guru is a bona fide one

> at al, if his guru is not seen as an uttama-adhikari?

 

I think Vidvan Gauranga Prabhu may have answered your question on this

point, by discribing the two different types of uttama-adhikaries.

 

In other places Srila Prabhupada indicates that a madhyam-adhikary can also

accept disciples."The second-class devotee accepts disciples from the

section of third class devotees or nondevotees. Sometimes the first-class

devotee also comes down to the category of second-class devotee for

preaching work." (SB-2-3-21. Purport.)

 

Of course it is the responsiblity of the disciple to find a spiritual master

who is qualified, but what if there is no "first-class" devotee on the

planet at this time? Does it mean that the guru disciple dynamic will cease?

In the Nectar of Devotion Srila Prabhupada states: "The one point is that

without increasing the number of disciples, there is no propagation of the

cult of Krsna consciousness." ND.pp-65.

 

In an early letter to Janardana Srila Prabhupada states that a guru from the

non-liberated section can also act as a bonafide guru by taking shelter of a

liberated soul, and strictly following his instructions.

 

> Or, to be more direct. The dilemma that is hitting the heads of

> many is -- May a Vaisnava of a lesser staus than an uttama-adhikari also

> be accepted as a bona fide guru, able to connect disciples to the

> Guru-parampara and Krsna?

 

My answer is to this question is a qualified yes. So long as the guru of a

lesser status doesn't cheat us by pretending that he is more advanced then

he actually is, then Krsna can use him to help us on our journey back home

back to Godhead.

 

In a lecture in Ahmedabad in 1972 Srila Prabhupada says:

"If somebody brings lamp, ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya... the

tourchlight, he's guru. So maybe of different degrees, but anyone opens the

spiritual eyes, he's guru.

 

Yours in Srila Prabhupada's service

Trivikram Swami