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EDITORIAL January 26, 1999 VNN2914 See Related VNN Stories Srila Prabhupada's Ultimate Instruction BY MADAN MOHAN DASA EDITORIAL, Jan 26 (VNN) — "...Such a Vaishnava should be accepted as an uttama-adhikari, a highly advanced devotee, and his association should always be sought." (Nectar of Instruction, Text Five, Purport) Dear VNN readers, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga! There appears to be a great deal of confusion around the worldwide Gaudiya Vaishnava community at the moment about what Srila Prabhupada wants us all to do. Everything is clearly stated in his books, including all his most essential instructions, summarized with total and absolute clarity in his crystal-clear purports to Sri Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada's Nectar of Instruction. Three points about the above "prime directive" from Nectar of Instruction: 1) Srila Prabhupada wants us all to ALWAYS seek out the association of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas. That is an absolute, all-time instruction. Without obediently following this instruction, no-one can possibly follow in the footsteps of an eternal resident of Vraja or succeed on the path of suddha-bhakti by any other means. There are no credible or viable "alternatives" to the direct, pure sanga of mahabhagavata Vaishnavas at every step in pursuing the ultimate attainment of Krishna-prema. 2) Srila Prabhupada wouldn't deceive us or ask us to do the impossible. If we are instructed by him to ALWAYS seek out the association of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, it naturally follows that uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas are ALWAYS present and ALWAYS to be found. 3) It is quite impossible to understand the instructions and character of one uttama-adhikari Vaishnava without taking shelter of another uttama-adhikari Vaishnava. The puru, mahabhagavata siksa guru is ALWAYS absolutely essential for spiritual progress and is accorded due prominence in the Gaudiya Vaishnava bhagavata-guru parampara. These are absolute, irrefutable facts, fully supported and upheld by guru/sadhu/sastra. (I can quote vast tracts of relevant, supporting sastra, if required, e.g. ALL of Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta). "Ritvikism" demands that all "ritvik" followers NEVER seek out the association of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, contrary to the most essential teachings of Sri Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada and thereby naturally in diametric opposition to the teachings of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, himself an exemplary rupanuga Vaishnava acarya. "Book-sanga" alone is for liberated souls. These are the basic, irrefutable facts supporting the absolutely conclusive and watertight case for total rejection of "ritvik" anti-sadhu-sanga philosophy by all serious aspirants on the supremely sacred path of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. "Ritvikism" is calamitous at every step, guaranteeing the certain failure of all "ritvik" followers to connect with the real world of Radha-Krishna lila, while simultaneously exposing all such unsheltered souls to the insane risk of spiritual suicide through complicity in Vaishnava aparadha. I do appreciate something of the appeal of "ritvik" thinking, up to a point. It's obviously better to have a pure guru than a bogus one. Where "ritvikism" collapses utterly is within the context of understanding that conditioned souls are totally incapable of taking essential personal directions and guidance from any acaryas or other pure gurus who are no longer physically present. Connection with a physically present mahabhagavata Vaishnava guru is an absolute prerequisite for success on the path of Krishna-bhakti for all sadhakas in a conditioned state. Please excuse my presumption, but I have yet to detect the faultless qualities of self-realized bhava-bhaktas - serving with full knowledge of their eternal spiritual identities - within the absurd single-letter-based extrapolations of the "Final Order", the alleged "ritvik sastra" so glorified by it's fanatical followers, but so utterly devoid of genuine, supporting sastric evidence, coherence, consistency or even basic logic. "The Final Order" simply reads like a dictionary of abuse symptoms and should be properly understood as a desperate cry for help from a large group of souls suffering the lack of direct, pure sadhu-sanga, which is the very essence of spiritual life. It must be properly understood that "ritvikism" presumes the absence of any pure Vaishnava on the planet, not only now, but for the next 400 generations (10,000 years), while simultaneously demonstrating the calamitous effects that the lack of pure sanga has had within one generation since the reentry into nitya-lila of our glorious Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada didn't come to introduce something "new" or even something to last for a paltry 10,000 years. "I came not to reject the Old Laws, but to fulfill them". (ok, Jesus said that). He brought the eternal truths of the Vedas, which have always existed beyond time and space. Those truths were spoken to our one and only sampradaya-acarya, Lord Brahma, at the dawn of the creation of this universe and will remain after the duration of his mere 311,040,000,000,000-year life span. It is Srila Prabhupada's emphasis on the presently-available golden opportunity of reaping the very fruits that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descended to freely distribute - i.e. Vraja-prema in the mood of the gopis - that we should grasp. Our present epoch is a once-in-every-8.64-billion-year opportunity to walk and talk with Vraja gopis who have descended into this world in the form of Gaura-lila Gaudiya Vaishnava acaryas just to personally distribute Srimati Radhika's ultimate mercy to every soul, qualified or not, who is prepared to simply go and bathe in the purifying, prema-saturated moonbeams of their direct sanga. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is our eternally existing Supreme Lord, not the 10,000-year "flash-in-the-pan" portrayed by the atheistic "ritvik philosophy". All the acaryas in the Gaudiya line have been fully capable of delivering innumerable brahmandas from the clutches of Mayadevi. Gaudiya Vaishnavism is not a personality cult for the false glorification of one acarya above all others. Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the ultimate manifestation of Sri Sri Radha-Govindajis' mercy in the eternally present form of Sri Guru. Anyone who "glorifies" Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as the "one-and-only-all-time-greatest-acarya" and proclaims there can be no successor acarya in the Gaudiya line after him is an atheist. Guru worship means we glorify the entire parampara, who are all Sri Guru, i.e. akhanda (undivided) guru-tattva, otherwise we demonstrate gross ignorance of guru-tattva and simply perform guru-aparadha by minimising other manifestations of the same one-and-only Sri Guru. The Supreme Absolute Truth is inconceivably, simultaneously one and different. We must simply accept this essential truth. It is beyond our understanding. Even omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent Sri Krishna Himself is bewildered by the extent of His own opulences, so who are any of us to dare presume His absence or minimise any of His direct expansions who eternally reside in this world in the various manifestations of Sri Guru? I am inexperienced, neophyte and junior to all of Srila Prabhupada's disciples and most of his grand-disciples. Yet I daily receive letters of gratitude and appreciation (on behalf of my Gurudeva) from very senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada thanking me for articulating what they have thought and felt for many years, but have been unable to express becuse they have always understood Srila Prabhupada's preaching institution to be non-different from his body and have thereby been handicapped in challenging the obscene deviations performed in his name by the corrupted administration and various deviant groups which masquerade under the glorious ISKCON banner. I have no such significant obstacles to cloud my objectivity in boldly declaring that the true ISKCON tenets of pure Gaudiya Vaishnavism are diametrically opposed by a xredundant Iskcon management and it's numerous sub-sects such as "ritvikism" and various other forms of deviant impersonalism, atheism and sahajiyism. ISKCON philosophy and the Iskcon institution are poles apart and categorically different. One is purely spiritual, as exemplified in Srila Prabhupada's life and precepts; whereas the other is DEMONstrably mundane as conclusively proven in the ever-increasing mountain of evidence of Vaishnava-aparadha-as-a-matter-of-policy, corruption, theft, sexual perversion, physical and sexual abuse of children, mental and emotional abuse of all members, murder, drug-running, misappropriation of funds, false propaganda, speculative re-interpretation and misrepresentation of guru/sadhu/sastra, persistent blasphemy of pure Vaishnavas, ruthless managerial ambition, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. "Ritvikism" proposes a few "internal adjustments" within the institution, to carry the entire human race back to Godhead over the next 10,000 years. And they really believe they can do it. If that isn't dysfunctional self-delusion to the max - please excuse my directness - I don't know what is. Sanity requires that the institution be properly recognised as the hive of unbridled corporate mis-management and ritualised abuse that it has rapidly declined into over the last 21 years, which must NOW be either rebuilt from the ground upwards according to proper understanding of guru/sadhu/sastra, or be completely and utterly rejected out of hand as a useless but nonetheless immensely damaging pseudo-spiritual cult religion claiming allegiance to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Intelligent consideration must conclude that the latter is not a viable option and can no longer be tolerated as some sort of "alternative" Gaudiya Vaishnava movement. Ther can never be any alternative, even by way of the minutest deviation from Gaudiya Vaishnava tattva, siddhanta and sadacara. Does anybody recognise any noticeable deviations in the 3 preceding paragraphs, which simply represent clear, objective summary statements of known facts? Either Iskcon is fully restored to Srila Prabhupada's magnificent ISKCON with proper, qualified help which only exists outside the dysfunctional organisation (if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem) or we can all sit back to watch so much of Srila Prabhupada's good work slide deeper into the abyss of apathy, aparadha, apasiddhanta and despair to eventually self-destruct, all for the sake of maintaining the self-indulgent lifestyles of an apasampradaya of misguided pseudo-gurus. The time for radical reformation and change is NOW. We should all be very careful not to blame any individuals at this time, but to face up to our collective responsibility for all that has happened in the last 21 years, all that is happening now and the immediate and future functionality and effectiveness of the worldwide Gaudiya Vaishnava suddha-bhakti movement, a responsibility that is placed in our hands only if we have sufficient strength of character to accept pure, direct guidance at every step. We are currently experiencing a "gathering of the clans" on a subtle level, preceding the most almighty clash between good and evil since Kuruksetra. It's our choice - as always - to side with the Pandavas, and Krishna in the form of Sri Guru, or to stand behind Duryodhana under the illusion that Krishna's external energy is mightier than Krishna Himself. The undoubtedly well-intentioned (I hope), but nonetheless grossly misrepresentative proponents of "GBC Iskconism" and "ritvikism" are currently driving their chariots into Duryodhana's camp, with a considerable following of confused and bewildered souls, all devoid of the pure sadhu-sanga that every baddha-jiva so desperately craves within, naturally hungry to claim the supreme gift of Krishna-prema that is every soul's birthright. Srila Prabhupada's loyal followers - i.e. those who have continually sought and found direct, pure sadhu-sanga - are lined up behind Arjuna's chariot, driven this time by none other than Lord Gauranga Himself. They are armed with the peace of mind and ever-growing faith born out of honest service performed under the direct guidance of pure, invincible mahabhagavata warriors - who carry the supreme weapons of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings - to annihilate all bogus and deviant opposition with total fearlessness and irresistable might. There's no middle ground. There is just a little time to change camps if any of us find ourselves stranded unwittingly amongst the hordes of deluded souls who think they can fight Sri Krishna and win. The most basic meaning of "surrender" is "stop fighting". True atma-nivedanam (soul surrender) is the gateway to bhakti. Our choices are crystal-clear. He who hesitates is lost. If we do recognise that we are on the wrong side, we just need to drop our hurt pride and our attachment to bad habits, along with our cripplingly burdensome false egos and run immediately to the lotus feet of Sri Guru for safety. There are no prisons built to house the Vaishnava aparadhi foes in this battle. They face certain spiritual death, but just have a few precious moments left to claim the reprieve of unconditional forgiveness that awaits them the moment they wake up and apologise sincerely to all Vaishnavas they have offended, maligned and misrepresented, from deep within their hearts. That's more than just. Mercy is a higher principle than justice. Here is Lord Gauranga's pure mercy, manifest in the eternal presence of Sri Guru and freely available to everyone who has the good sense to step forward and claim it. The last recorded occasion of the most inauspicious occurence of two eclipses within the same month preceded the battle of Kuruksetra, approximately 3,000 B.C. The same phenomenon is due to take place in 1999. Can anyone doubt the significance of the time period in which we are now living? The biblically-prophesied "final days" of this present era of rampant materialism are upon us. That may not be Gaudiya sastra - which is primarily focused on attaining Krishna-prema, to the exclusion of considering mundane events - but we would be foolish to ignore the daily fulfilments of ancient prophecies indicated in even somewhat corrupted holy scriptures, which nonetheless describe these "end times" (the end of materialistic atheism) with haunting insight and chilling accuracy. It's time for some scrupulously honest self-seeking, reappraisal and preparation for what could either be our last days in our present bodies or our transition into more peaceful and enlightened times. Duryodhana's allies won't make it through, that's for certain. Pariksit Maharaja has shown us how to focus our hearts, bodies and minds in suddha-bhakti, constantly hearing Hari-katha directly from the lotus mouths of pure Vaishnavas. That is the ultimate expression of guru-seva and our single and only means of attaining Krishna-prema. Gaura premanande! Your servant aspiring for the service of Sri Guru & Gauranga, Madan Mohan dasa. p.s. Would all devotees out there who would like to participate in the biggest-ever worldwide-coordinated, non-stop, ecstatic naga-sankirtan festival to carry all souls on this planet through a transition period overshadowed with inauspicious portents, please drop me a line? It's time to knock down all our "Berlin Walls" of "us and them" distractions and get together to do what we all do best. Loudly. Lord Gauranga will be there with us wherever we are, with all His associates, for certain. You can reach me at: 106650.1421@compuserve.com Jaya Sri Radhe! Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam! HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE About the Author | Other Stories by this Author See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9901/ET26-2914.html
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