The ideal guru part 1 - PLEASE READ & COMMENT ON THIS MESSAGE-IMP

[Guest guest]

> Of course there are also a few quotes that say a non-liberated soul can

> act as guru in the absence of a fully Krsna conscious person being

> available (or for some other reasons), but isn't it true that such gurus

> should never be confused with the fully self-realized Guru, who is the

> perfect and absolute representative of Krsna, and whose every act and word

> is perfectly directed by Krsna.

 

Perfectly right Maharaj. This is whole point.

 

Before commenting furthur, I would like to beg forgiveness in advance if I

offend any devotees in the following text. I felt that this point should

strongly be made because this is what we have to learn from all the current

unfortunate happenings in ISKCON.

 

>From NOI

 

"The brahmacari in particular is supposed to beg alms from others and offer

them to the spiritual master. However, one should not imitate the behavior

of an advanced devotee or maha-bhagavata without being self-realized, for by

SUCH IMITATION ONE WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME DEGRADED."

 

[Cooment: And the guru system which supports such artificial imitation will

also be degraded, like we see in our case.]

 

"The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate

a devotee situated on a higher platform. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has

given some practical hints to the effect that an uttama-adhikari Vaisnava

can be recognized by his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaisnavism.

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

of uttama-adhikari."

 

NOI

 

"In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami advises the devotee to be intelligent

enough to distinguish between the kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari and

uttama-adhikari. "

 

This statement in the context of the other statements (above) that

Prabhupada is making in the same paragraph means that the disciple should be

intelligent enough to distinguish and thus accept an uttama-adhikari as

guru. It is not vaisnava aparadha to distinguish because Rupa Goswami says

so and because if he does not understand the various grades of devotees and

the position of his spiritual master before taking initiation, he will

commit offenses to his spiritual master after initiation and will go to

hell. So one has to deliberate seriously and when one has firm faith that

his guru is an uttama-adhikari then he can accept initiation. This is the

instruction of Srila Rupa Goswami in NOI verse 5.

 

Srila Prabhupada very mercifully points out the symptom of an

uttama-adhikari is his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaisnavism so

that the bona-fide disciple can identify the uttama-adhikari. Then he says

that only an uttama-adhikari can become guru. Then he goes on to describe

the madhyama & kanishtha gurus also. All this he is explaining just to

emphasise that we should accept an uttama-adhikari as our guru. And even if

we have a madhyama & kanishtha as our guru, we should not be misled into

thinking that he is uttama and should not loose faith when he falls down.

The disciple has to know that he is accepting a madhyama or kanistha as his

guru. There is nothing wrong in this according to Rupa Goswami. Prabhupada

says this kind of judgement is called intelligence.

 

Unfortunately the past gurus in ISKCON had accepted the titles of Visnupada

etc. which automatically means that they were proclaiming themselves as

uttama-adhikaries but actually they were not. It was mass scale cheating &

sheer hypocrisy. But they are not to blame fully because the corrupted

system due to the zonal acharya system forced them into assuming such an

artificial position. And that is why the whole ISKCON is suffering and the

present gurus are called to testify in court. THIS IS A DIRECT REACTION TO

THE BOGUS ZONAL ACHARYA SYSTEM & ITS REMANANTS WHICH CONTINUED TILL

RECENTLY. Since ISKCON supported this artificial system so ISKCON is getting

the reaction now. Not only the gurus who accepted the artificial

glorification suffered but the present gurus have also to bear the reactions

because of being silent witnesses of the artificial glorification in the

past & present or beacause of not objecting to their own artificial

glorification. And they are getting the reaction by having to go to court.

Rtvikism is just a temporary instrument Krsna & Prabhupada are using to

teach us a big big lesson. I was told that one guru (who is not there now)

said something like this: I have wired my brain to accept the worship of

guru and I cannot turn back even though I may know internally that I am not

qualified for it.

 

And Prabhupada conveyed the point when he himself used the term 'officiating

acarya' in the May 28 conversation. He introduced this term precisely for

madhyama & kanishtha gurus. He also said that they will be regular gurus and

the disciples will be their disciples but they will not be full-fledged

acaryas unless someone is unanimously selected as the self-effulgent acarya.

 

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta lect, Adi-lila 1.13, Mayapur, April 6, 1975

 

"Then, when we are completely, cent per cent follower of acarya, then you

can also act as acarya. This is the process. Don't become premature acarya.

First of all follow the orders of acarya, and you become mature. Then it is

better to become acarya. Because we are interested in preparing acarya, but

the etiquette is, at least for the period the guru is present, one should

not become acarya. Even if he is complete he should not, because the

etiquette is, if somebody comes for becoming initiated, it is the duty of

such person to bring that prospective candidate to his acarya."

 

Letter to: Tamala Krsna, Los Angeles, 17 March, 1970

 

"...it does not matter what is the social or ecclesiastical order, if one is

fully Krishna Conscious, he can act as Acarya."

 

So a madhayama & kanishtha guru can become an officiating acarya according

to the recommendation of Srila Prabhupada but the full-fledged acarya has to

be self-effulgent. There is a saying, "Don't demand respect, command it!"

The officiating acarya should be humble as per his advancement in KC and

should not demand respect, honorific titles, opulent Vyasa-Pujas like

Prabhupada got. On the other the self-effulgent acarya commands all our

respect & worship because of supernatural achievements in spiritual

advancement and in preaching KC.

 

> This point has been neglected for so many years in Iskcon, and now we are

> reaping the bitter fruit of this neglect in the form of Ritviks etc.

 

That is why Badrinarayana Prabhu said something like the rtvikism is a

fungus arisen because of the rotting guru system.

 

And if this artificial glorification continues then many deviations &

troubles will crop up in ISKCON, maybe even worse than rtvikism and Krsna

will not leave us till we learn our lesson.

 

Please forgive for maybe being crude but I want to express what I have been

feeling for a long time. And also now everyone including the GBC accept that

there is need for guru reform. But how quickly & effectively we can

implement it is also very important. The very word 'guru reform' means for

madhyama & kanishtha gurus because for an uttama guru there is no question

of reform. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Your servant,

Nayana-ranjana das

[Guest guest]

What is the meaning of artificial glorification, every devotee is

worshipable,how a sincere disciple artificially worship his spiritual

master??GURU glorification MUST be there,is there and will always be there

because a good disciple sees hes guru not as an ordinary living entity,and SP

says GURU should be worship,so even after all this reforms by our beloved

GBC,we will continue, worship ,glorification,etc....,because it givis

happines ,KC, and unlimited mercy,so yes we cant worship our gurus at our

hearts content in ISKCON,in the past the cristians have to go to the caves,so

we have to follow GBC,time place ,etc,still our unflinching faith will be

untill our last breath

yours

premananda goura das