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EDITORIAL January 23, 1999 VNN2900 See Related VNN Stories Giving Up Your Father And Your Grandfather BY JEEVANMUKTA DASA EDITORIAL, Jan 23 (VNN) — In reply to the various emails received due to my article in VNN titled "Officiating Acharya" Dear G Prabhu, All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Please accept my humble obeisances. I received your emails highlighting points wherein Srila Prabhupada 'according to you', recommends the ritvik system. Unfortunately they are not conclusive and I am quite sure, numerous references can be compiled for supporting the opposing point of view. Besides, one can hardly go by Navayogendra's persuasions, nor Amogalila's dreams. Are they fresh ones or merely reruns of the 80's? My earlier article titled "Officiating Acharya" in the VNN exclusively covered the discrepancy in the 'Final order'. I had humbly pointed out that 'Officiating Acharya' was the term coined by Srila Prabhupada (in tape transcript) for this post, not ritvik. The term 'Ritvik' was introduced and 'actively pushed' by his disciple secretary. 'Ritvik' means 'priest'. But the good news is that Srila Prabhupada did not use that term and in fact showed his irritation for this inappropriate term. His own 'newly mint word' for this post was "Officiating Acharya". A rather conflicting combination of words that could be loosely translated into, 'Acharya-in-waiting'. A period of officiating followed by the real thing. Half priest, half Acharya, a veritable nara-simha! (who has emerged from between the lines, to rip apart the ritvik platform!) Spiritual etiquette demanded the creation of this new specie. As long as the Founder-Acharya was alive, his disciples could not accept disciples: could not become Acharyas. Yet, Srila Prabhupada went ahead and appointed his "officiating Acharyas" anyway, who commenced initiating, while the Founder-Acharya was alive and to circumvent the etiquette impasse, the disciples initiated during this interim period, the Founder-Acharya graciously counted as his own. The Founder Acharya eventually passed away, and the next generation Acharyas, who were kept waiting in the wings, by the master himself, automatically became viable. 'Officiating Acharyas' became Acharyas. The baton was successfully transferred. The moth becomes a butterfly! All the world over this system of 'change of guards' is initiated at the very top. The outgoing CEO grooms their successors and even allows them to take over the reins fully, while he himself gradually recedes into the background but continues to remain the titular head until the very end. If on the other hand, the term 'ritvik' is used instead of 'officiating Acharya', (as unfortunately a rather pushy secretary had done, fascinated perhaps with his tenacious yet frivolous grasp of Sanskrit), then we run straight off the ritvik platform into trouble waters. For, if the chosen eleven were Ritviks, then they haven't a leg to stand. As ritviks for Praphupada, their service gets automatically terminated, their concessions wound up, in the event of the latter's demise. Srila Prabhupada may not have wanted to split hairs at this stage. He was still around to ensure nothing went sour. Besides, 'post' capturing was assiduous and rampant. Even a casual encouragement to a disciple to go look into prasadam (polish the floor, perhaps), elicited a hopeful, "am I now GBC of Prasadam halls, Srila Prabhupada?" under similar circumstances, he wittily answered, "ABC, or GBC, go do it, we shall see.. " Prabhu please study this argument carefully. This particular interpretation of the 'final order', (touted as the prima fascia evidence by the ritvik-vadis) gives it the correct perspective. It also takes the wind out of the sail of the ritvik dinghy for all practical purpose. Having recapped that for your reference, I beg to submit the following peripheral arguments. Firstly, I doubt if Srila Prabhupada would have instituted a system alien to the tradition of the sampradaya. After all, he was a bona-fide Acharya of the sampradaya. All the teachings that he transmitted, where for all practical purpose, the property of the sampradaya. They belonged collectively to an erstwhile chain of previous Acharyas no less in stature that himself. And, at all times Srila Prabhupada religiously acknowledged complete allegiance to the sampradaya. Thus, proclaiming himself as the last link to the sampradaya (as claimed by the ritvik-vadis) is tantamount to usurping the entire disciplic successions weighty conclusions and sublime realizations. Besides, it disallowing future Acharyas to emerge. In fact, such an act would immediately render his branch, aberrant and cancerous. An independent, freelance teacher like Jesus Christ may do so, for he does not claim allegiance to any particular sampradaya and his teachings are his very own- homespun and rudimentary. He may very well write his name on it. But, Srila Prabhupada, as the Acharya of one of the primary sampradaya of the world, cannot, would not, and emphatically did not do so. Secondly, prabhu, correct me if I am wrong. During the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, none of his followers felt the need to abandon their 'less glamorous' Spiritual Masters and queue up at Mahaprabhu's doorsteps for initiation. Nor did gurus come and embarrass Mahaprabhu by unloading their private hordes of disciples on to him. Indeed the various branches of the sampradaya flourished exactly as the branches of a massive tree. They are lovingly traced by Krishnadas Kavaraj Goswami, who had an ecstatic time rating the multifarious branches in order of merit, based chiefly on the fruit or 'produce' (inspired preacher, Acharyas) of the said branch. Thus, one must not be bewildered by numerous branches nor by the transcendental competition or for that matter periodic evaluation by a committee of Vaishnavas. This, vigorous growth spreading through the three worlds, represents the sampradaya's vibrant growth cycle-its strength. Compared to this, the ritvik faction is propagating 'deep freeze' of the sampradaya. This is unfortunate and unprecedented. If the present gurus are unsuitable, they may be judiciously pruned. No need to cut the tree. Thirdly, what I am against is what could well lead to 'deification of Srila Prabhupada' and instituting a system similar to that of the Christian organization. Soon we too will be having Bishops, Cardinals, Priests, and all manners of 'castrated' officials- very like these the eunuchs of Jesus. And, before you know it, a need would be felt to build a bigger 'cutout' of Srila Prabhupada (to hide behind), and he would then be officially recognized as an 'avatar'. We would be chanting his name instead. I can name three organizations that have gone the same way and probably there are countless others. Christianity, Sikhism, and Swaminarayan all mouthing all manners of mumbo jumbo! In all these organizations, the teachers were inevitably deified, replacing the Supreme Lord himself, who mercifully neither rains fire, nor spews venom. Organization---Founder---Original focus---Corrupted focus Christianity---Jesus---God the father---Jesus Christ Sikhs---Guru Nanak---Hari---Granth (scriptures) Swaminarayan---SwamiNarayan---Krishna---Swaminarayan ISKCON---Prabhupada---Krishna---??????? The question is, do you want to be party to this corruption? My advice is, get on with your struggle. Prune a few branches, shake down the rotten apples, but try not to get weird. But then again, ultimately this is a power struggle. And, you would soon be targeting buildings, properties and what not, right? Just whom do they belong to anyway? Knowing Srila Prabhupada, I am sure you might find a few surprises. Finally, I don't think I like the sound of 'ritvik initiated devotee,' the new nomenclature applied to the grand disciples in your news letter. Would be issuing numbers instead of names? Grand disciple sounds infinitely more sweet. They have a father and a grandfather. Who in his right mind would trade them for a eunuch (ritvik)? Is this a bona-fide spiritual link, or nipples on the neck of a goat? Your humble Servant, Jeevanmukta Dasa nrjames@hotmail.com Note: One good thing that has emerged of this controversy is of course the coalescing of all the former devotees who had left the movement due to various reasons. The rag-a-tag army of Srila Prabhupada has finally found a forum to unite and reemerge! My humble obeisance to all the leaders and members of the ritvik faction for this service. See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9901/ET23-2900.html
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