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EDITORIAL February 14, 1999 VNN3045 See Related VNN Stories Not Just Your Guru Or My Guru BY SWAMI BV PARIVRAJAK  EDITORIAL, Feb 14 (VNN) — (In response to "Facts or Fiction" by Gauridasa Pandita Dasa) Dear Gauridas Pandit Prabhu, Hare Krishna.Your answer to Swami BV Tripurari is another proof of the lack of philosophical foundations of the ritvik theory. This is perhaps the reason why you are wholly dependent on quotes. Do not minimize the thinking capacity of the Vaishnavas. It is more valuable than hundreds and thousands of dead quotes which is often very difficult to verify. That you need to support every single statement of your/our talks with quotes from others (including from one's own spiritual master) reminds me the ways of the Mormons and the Witnesses of Jehova who always try to scare the devotees of other religions with Biblical verses. For me, the fact that you need quotes means that you do not trust the words of your fellow Godbrother. Perhaps you also do not accept whatever he says. Swami Tripurari is right when he says that Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to go to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Read in this connection "Our affectionate guardians" by Swami BB Vishnu and "The search for purity" by Swami BA Paramadvaiti. After reading these books your doubts about the nature of the relation between Srila Prabhupada and Srila Sridhar Maharaj will be dispelled. Not for all time to come. It is true. My beloved gurudeva Srila Bhakti Rakshak Shridhar Maharaj did appoint Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj when he was still alive. This is the bonafide system. Everywhere, whenever a guru becomes unable to perform by himself the ceremonial rites of initiation, he appoints a ritvik to act on his behalf. You can easily find out that almost every guru does that, not just your guru or mine. As my Gurumaharaj became very sick, he also introduced that in his own lifetime. Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not introduce the ritvik system for all time to come. The ritvik system is never meant to continue after the departure of the guru. It goes without saying, this was also the case with Srila Sridhar Maharaj or any genuine guru of our lineage. This statement does not need quotations in order to be substantiated and accepted. It has never been the system in the Gaudiya sampradaya, except for some prakrita sahajiya groups like the Kartabhajas or the Sikhs outside our traditional lineage. Please, do not mind my heavy words. Actually, you ritvik proponents are not members of the rupanuga sampradaya. Many of the deviant groups mentioned by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his times have probably disappeared by now. So a new list of the groups which spread apasiddhanta should be made and include all the new sects therein. 16 rounds The problem with you is that you find differences even when there are none. My guru maharaj recommended all of the disciples of Srila Prabhupada to chant a minimum of 16 rounds (see The search for Sri Krishna: Reality the Beautiful by Srila BR Sridhar Maharaj). Then, what is the difference? However, it is necessary to understand the guru's order in a dynamic way. Then only shall we benefit. It is a question of quality, not quantity. 4, 16, 64 or whatever number of rounds will not do, if we do not open ourselves to the flow of mercy which comes from the guruvarga (the sampradaya of Srila Rupa Goswami) which includes also our own godbrothers, at least those who are making progress. Not even the leaves fall The other difference you mention is that of the jiva fall theory from Vaikuntha. Here is another deviation from the teachings of the sampradaya. How is it that one falls from the spiritual world, where the influence of maya does not exist? To apply material reasoning to the spiritual reality is meaningless. The fall theory has no place in the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His genuine followers. It seems that Srila Prabhupada preached sometimes in a different way in letters and conversations, never in his own books (which we may regard as the ultimate proof for siddhanta). He had his own reasons for doing that. Here we do not question his ways. His preaching techniques are not a matter of dispute among the honest Vaisnavas. However, preaching and siddhanta are not always the same. A proposal You mention that nowadays many ritviks are living undercover in the ISKCON temples. I cannot blame the ISKCON leaders in their attempt to check the ritvik wave. I hope it will happen without any violence. The wave will subside. You ritviks present yourselves as victims of the "cruel" regime of the GBC. Why should the riviks live in places where people do not love them? I have a suggestion for you, a humble proposal. Leave ISKCON in peace and start your own fully independent ritvik temples where nobody will challenge "your authority". In this way nobody will trouble you and the devotees who do not accept your dogma will not look at you with much anxiety as they do now. I do not have personal motivations in speaking to you like this. I sincerely hope you will take my words philosophically, as simple reflections and suggestions. Our debate is only for the purpose to serve better our gurus and the Lord. We want love and trust, don't we? Yes, we do. But love and trust among Godbrothers does not go well together with the ritviks' attempt to impose such unhealthy idea on others. I wish you well. Swami BV Parivrajak See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9902/ET14-3045.html
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