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| EDITORIAL November 27, 1998 VNN2567 See Related VNN Stories As Good As Uttama Adhikari BY VISVAMITRA DASA EDITORIAL, Nov 27 (VNN) — On my recent visit to Vrndavana during Kartika I spoke at length with Prithu Prabhu about the issue of initiations in ISKCON. We were in agreement that the falldowns of the Godbrothers who had taken the post of diksa guru was most detrimental for the welfare of their disciples and the reputation of ISKCON. However, he was emphatic in his defense of the current system of initiations and the its central principle that many of Srila Prabhupada's disciples are qualified to act as diksa gurus. None of this is news to anyone, and would not prompt me to post a report on VNN. Unfortunately, a particular statement made by Prithu in support of his belief in the correctness of his position was so disturbing and disappointing to me that I felt it necessary to communicate it to other devotees. Personally, I see it as evidence of a most dangerous mentality that is presently all too pervasive in the leadership of the ISKCON movement. The report of our conversation is presented without embellishment, and I am certain Prithu would not contest the accuracy of my representation of its content. Unfortunately, that is, to me, the most alarming part of the entire affair. Essentially, he explained to me that he firmly believed Srila Prabhupada intended his disciples to become full-fledged diksa gurus. He dismissed my concern over the new gurus' "less-than-uttama adhikari" status with the following rationale: when one repeats Srila Prabhupada one becomes "as good as an uttama adhikari." Obviously, by this logic even the newest bhakta becomes "as good as an uttama adhikari" when he quotes/repeats what he has heard, which led me to wonder if one's actual level of realization counts for anything. However, the statement by Prithu that I found truly troubling came when he continued to describe his unwavering commitment to the current guru system. Certain that Srila Prabhupada did not order any sort of a rittvik system to continue after his physical departure, he claimed that such an idea was so contrary to sastra, that if he had, hypothetically speaking, he would be forced to reject Srila Prabhupada as a Vedic authority. Clearly this idea was presented, as I indicated, as a hypothetical scenario. Nevertheless, the remark seemed so audacious and out-of-line with the type of thinking I normally associate with devotees of Srila Prabhupada that I felt both shocked and dismayed. Have we now become such independent experts in the Vedic conclusions that we can even imagine challenging the authority of Srila Prabhupada on the "strength of sastra?" Without even considering the fact that any "sastric authority" disallowing rittvik initiation has yet to be proffered, is it not clear that the appropriate mood for those of our previous condition is spelled out by Srila Prabhupada in his discussion of the life of Ajamila, "Those engaged in broadcasting the holy name of Narayana, Krishna, through the Krishna consciousness movement should always consider what our position was before we came and what it is now. We had fallen into abominable lives as meat-eaters, drunkards and woman hunters who performed all kinds of sinful activities, but now we have been given the opportunity to chant the Hare Krishna mantra." This is not false humility; it is the simple reality of who and what we are: the most fallen. The task before us is to establish whether Srila Prabhupada ordered the system of rittvik initiation to continue after his physical departure, not to lay the intellectual groundwork for rejecting his authority should it be proven to be the final order. See Related VNN Stories This story URL: http://vnn.org/editorials/ET9811/ET27-2567.html NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP |
