The Uttama-adhikari as taught in Purport to NOI 5

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharaja,

 

Thank you for some good references.

 

ys

 

ada

 

> 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