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| EDITORIAL November 22, 1998 VNN2540 See Related VNN Stories The Humble Disciple BY DANAVIR DASA GOSWAMI EDITORIAL, Nov 22 (VNN) — In response to "The Humble Guru" nama om visnu padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine nirvisesa-sunyavadi pascatya-desa-tarine It is not without regret that I am impelled to write another response to the latest version of reform ideas circulated within the ISKCON community. Dhira Govinda dasa, on behalf of the New Raman Reti Board of Directors, has given us a smooth rewrite of NRR's "Ideas for ISKCON Leadership Reform" produced a few months ago. The paper I wrote in response to that proposal applies here also. The American tendency for unnecessarily changing and tampering with Vedic culture is flourishing and "The Humble Guru," although lacking any scriptural basis, gives lots of so-called logical reasons for accepting ritvik philosophy or something similar. The author praises his paper as promoting an ISKCON which is "more Prabhupada-centered," while he simultaneously proposes that Srila Prabhupada's instructions about the position of the guru and the disciple be moved aside. Thousands of statements, like the one below, are conveniently dismissed: "Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has greatly stressed the mercy of the guru, and it is an actual fact that if we satisfy the guru by our service, he will give us his blessings. This is a very great opportunity, for the guru is the confidential servant of Krsna. The guru never claims that he is Krsna, although he is worshiped as Krsna: saksad dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih (Gurv-astaka 7). All the sastras describe the guru as being on an equal basis with Krsna, for he is the representative of Krsna. Therefore he is worshiped as Krsna. Being the most confidential servant of Krsna, the guru is very dear to Krsna; therefore if he recommends someone to Krsna, Krsna accepts the person. The guru is the confidential servant of Krsna because he canvasses from door to door, saying, 'Please become Krsna conscious and surrender unto Krsna.' Krsna tells Arjuna that such a person is very dear to Him. The bona fide guru tells people to surrender not unto him but unto Krsna. Thus one has to surrender unto Krsna through the via media of the guru, not directly. This is the process. The guru does not accept respect from his disciple for his personal self but conveys this respect to Krsna." (TLK vs 30) Proponents of "The Humble Guru" place their own ideas at the center, moving His Divine Grace's to the side. More alarming is that this is all done in the name of Srila Prabhupada just as some politicians who use Bhagavad-gita to expound their own imaginative philosophies. Ritvik proponants, whether blatent or covert, suggest straw gurus who don't "interfere" in the lives of their disciples. Instead of becoming humble disciples respecting Lord Krsna's instructions, they accuse the guru of being proud for accepting respect from his disicples. Therefore kanistha adhikaris are confused about how to spread Krsna consciousness. New Age Parallels In the Ô70's, newagers eagerly imported unfamiliar ideas from Eastern teachers and Vedic philosophical principles such as, yoga, karma, reincarnation, guru, and mantras. But since at heart they were impersonalists, who have no respect for any authority except themselves, they gradually replaced all these with themselves and their own modern, concocted processes for enlightenment. We should note that the trend toward creating a guruless ISKCON is paralleling the "New Age" movements' activities exactly. In the beginning some devotees liked Srila Prabhupada's teachings but because of their strong inclination toward sense gratification and Mayavadi tendency, they now reject them in favor of their own imaginative theories, such as ritvik, reiki, three regulative principles, etc, etc. It is painful to hear Dhira Govinda dasa try to create polemics by the use of terms "Prabhupada-centered choices" and "non-Prabhupada-centered choices." The author decides what are "Prabhupada-centered choices" without referring to Srila Prabhupada's instructions and then labels those who disagree as proud proponents of non-humble gurus. By continuously coaxing granddisciples to choose between honoring their spiritual master or honoring Srila Prabhupada, the author fails to recognize that in spiritual life, both are equally important. By serving their bonafide spiritual master, a granddisciple is also perfectly serving Srila Prabhupada, the entire disciplic succession and Lord Sri Krsna. Recently one devotee argued in favor of ritvik or similar "guru reform" measures by saying that, "we have tried the guru system for twenty years, but it didn't work." This is like a child deciding to discontinue his doctor's medicine after a few days because "it doesn't feel like it is working." Srila Prabhupada and the disciplic succession have prescribed principles meant to guide society perpetually. They do not give us some quick medicine to last twenty years and then be rejected by modern-thinking disciples and granddisciples. To the extent to which we follow Vedic teachings, they work and if we reject them then it will create havoc. ISKCON First "The Humble Guru" accuses ISKCON of "institutionalizing exploitation" because some diksa gurus may fall from the pure standard of devotional service. This is unreasonable. ISKCON cannot insure that a living entity, even one acting in the capacity of a guru, will not misuse his free will. The most important duty of ISKCON is, indeed, to insure that the Vedic teachings, as received through His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, are preserved intact. By minimizing the importance of the guru in the life of the disciple, one demeans Vedic culture. Thus, the supporters of ritvik philosophy, or something similar, like "The Humble Guru," actually propose the greatest "institutional exploitation" by urging ISKCON to misrepresent Srila Prabhupada's teachings. The author extols, "Why should the disciple have to offer prasadam to his guru's picture?"; "Why should the disciple have to chant a pranama mantra for his guru?"; "Why should the disciple have to address his guru as gurudeva or guru maharaja?"; "Why must disciples put so much trust and faith in the spiritual master? After all, he is fallible like you and me." Gurusu nara-matir. .. naraki sah. Minimizing the injunction forbidding disciples to regard the guru as an ordinary human being, the author encourages devotees to relegate their so-called "non-Prabhupada-centered" guru to an unimportant position. After trying his best to diminish the importance of the guru for the disciple, the author of "The Humble Guru" magnamimously agrees to "grandfather in" the ISKCON disciples and gurus who are happily executing devotional service as enjoined within the scriptures. The Brighter Side Besides those who are dissatisfied with ISKCON, however, there are many who are very happily serving Srila Prabhupada by following his instructions to honor the spiritual master and take his instructions seriously. Hundreds of book distributors, pujaris, temple presidents, brahmacaris, grhasthas, ladies, sannyasis, and thousands of congregational members are, right this moment, blissfully swimming in the nectarean ocean of devotional service, undisturbed by the volcanic eruptions spewing from a remote corner of the world. The sincere devotees should not despairÑKrsna and Srila Prabhupada will protect them from such mischievous doctrines. Conclusions The conclusion is that to become a pure devotee requires complete faith in both the guru and Krsna. Sadly, some disciples are unable to accept this and instead of trying to advance further, they prefer to change the Vedic system of guru parampara. The actual solution is that all devotees in ISKCON acting as a guru or GBC or any other position should strictly follow GBC regulations. It is not required to keep manufacturing new systems. The result of democratic reform movements is constant change and politics. The policy which ISKCON uses at present is good but can be improved through more vigilant supervision. Rather than pull down the guru, better we rise up to the standard expected by our founder-acarya, to become humble disicples. Embracing the paper "The Humble Guru" would open the door to endless, whimsical, political, and psychological schemes to "solve problems." The real problem which "The Humble Guru" proponents ignore is that devotees do not apply Srila Prabhupada's instructions like rising early, attending mangala aratrika, guru puja, Srimad Bhagavatam class, following four regulative principles, chanting sixteen rounds daily, attending the evening temple program, and reading Srila Prabhupada's books regularly. Those who are deficient in these areas are part of the problem of ISKCON, and instead of trying to reform the society, they should concentrate on reforming themselves. In my opinion, it is time for members of ISKCON to decide, as Drutakarma Prabhu has suggested, which boat they prefer to sit in. Attempting to fashion ISKCON into a hodgepodge shop where everyone can liveÑso-called peacefully tolerating scores of nonsense philosophies, is not what Srila Prabhupada had in mind. (from Chakra) See Related VNN Stories This story URL: http://vnn.org/editorials/ET9811/ET22-2540.html NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP |
