After realizing their mistake that the word "henceforward" was not enough to fool all ISKCON leaders and most devotees in general, the proponents of rtvik-maya vada have now found a new speculation based on the word "order". They eagerly challenge the GBCs, and whoever they argue with, to show an explicit order by Srila Prabhupada where he uses the word "order" like, "I am ordering you to become guru" and if such a statement cannot be found, they propose that ISKCON should accept the July 9th letter as Srila Prabhupada’s final order. Although they do admit that Srila Prabhupada expressed a strong desire that his disciples become regular gurus, he none the less never gave any explicit order for it, they add. They also give many examples, backed by really poor logic, to prove their claim. Obviously they don’t have many valid arguments and keep jumping from one point to the other, only to come back to the initial point in the end. If that doesn’t work they go wild and start offending vaisnavas. This is what I call the monkey-strategy. Although it’s important to expose their stratagem we will talk about that a little later. For now let’s see if we can help them find the "order" they have lost along with their intelligence.

Rtvik-vadis say Srila Prabhupada may have "desired" that his disciples become gurus, but that is not sufficient; we must show that Srila Prabhupada "ordered" his disciples to be gurus. They say we cannot accept any of Srila Prabhupada’s statements as an order, even where he expresses his strong desire that his disciples should become regular gurus, because he has not used the word "order". By suggesting this division they have reached new heights of absurdity. Of course, Srila Prabhupada did use the word "order", but the rtvikvadis say it was an order to become siksa-guru and not diksa-guru. This is offensive because it’s a direct negligence of Srila Prabhupada’s own words: "The word guru is equally applicable to the vartma-pradarsaka-guru, siksa-guru and diksa-guru".

What comes to my mind is whether Srila Prabhupada ever expressed a desired to continue the parampara through rtviks or officiating acaryas after his physical departure? On the other hand he said hundreds of times that he desired/wanted his disciples to continue the parampara system and become regular gurus. Why think of something that is not even Srila Prabhupada 's desire and try to convert it into to his order, and purposefully ignore his strong desire that he repeatedly expressed? Isn’t this plain nonsense?

Apart from that, since the rtvik-vadis are sticking to the July 9th letter and presenting it as if it were Srila Prabhupada’s direct order, my question to them is: did Srila Prabhupada use the word "order" anywhere in the July 9th letter? NO! Then on what basis are they proposing that it was Srila Prabhupada’s order to continue the rtvik system of initiations in ISKCON after his departure? The July 9th letter doesn’t even say anything about Srila Prabhupada’s departure. So where is the "order" that they are talking about in their asat-sastra called The Final Order? There is no such "order". Does this mean we propose that the July 9th letter should not be followed in any way because Srila Prabhupada didn’t use the word "order"? It would be ridiculous to propose such thing. The point is that the rtvik-vadis have no right to present the July 9th letter as Srila Prabhupada’s order if they don’t want to accept the fact that Srila Prabhupada did order his disciples to become regular diksa gurus after his physical departure.

Did Srila Prabhupada ever say that he "ordered" his followers to follow the four regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds daily? He rather said his followers "should" do it or "have to" do it and thus we take it as an order. Why should we find excuses not to follow Srila Prabhupada’s order? What’s the point except to stay bound up by maya?

God knows from where this distinction between "desire" and "order" has sprung in the rtvik-vadis’ minds when it is well known that the spiritual master’s desires are to be taken as his orders by sincere disciples. Have they forgotten that the first-class disciples fulfill the desire of their spiritual master even without being ordered? Or do they want all of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples to join their company and fall in the category of third or forth class disciples, who, even after repeated requests by the spiritual master, somehow or other find excuses to ignore his order? It's rightly said that an intelligent person needs only an indication (to carry out an order), but a dull- headed one needs a bamboo-stick or lathi. This "unless you give me an order I won't do it" is third class mentality and one should try to overcome it. Again, rtvik-vadis should not try to force all of Srila Prabhupada disciples to become third class disciples.

Let’s take this simple example. If a guru tells his disciple "I want you to go out and distribute books", shouldn’t the disciple go out and distribute books? Shouldn’t he take it as his guru’s order and follow it? He should. Then why, even though Srila Prabhupada has said many times that he wants his disciples to become future gurus like him, do the rtvik-vadis have problems understanding it as an order from the spiritual master? The two words "desire" and "order" may have two different meanings according to dictionary but when they are spoken by the spiritual master they suggest only one thing: "follow it". It is really very simple. Of course, some rtvik-vadis, with a lack of brain substance, may say that this example is not relevant because distributing books is not similar to becoming a guru, which is a highly esoteric subject, but they forget that order is an order, be it to bring water, distribute books, or become guru. Ignoring such a desire of the spiritual master is the third offence to the holy Name.

Let’s remember why Srila Prabhupada emphasized so much the printing of books:

Here Srila Bhaktisiddahanta Sarasvati Thakur says, "If you get some money print books". He did not say, "I want you to print books", what to speak of "I order you to print books". But Srila Prabhupada took it as an order. This is called a first class disciple. We should be proud of His Divine Grace that he took his spiritual master’s desire so seriously as an order. We should try to follow in his foot- steps and carry out his desire as an order. It’s not a question of imitation as some rtvik-vadis may suggest. It is to follow what our founder-acaryas has taught us by his own example. Ignoring such teaching is self-cheating and proof of ignorance.

Here is one more quote from Srila Prabhupada where he talks about the importance of fulfilling the guru’s desire even when it's not necessarily a direct order.

So, "I thought, "Let me try in this old age." Does this "I thought" mean Srila Prabhupada speculated? Certainly not. In fact Srila Prabhupada correctly took Srila BSST's desire as a direct order because he was a first class disciple. Can you imagine where we would have been today if Srila Prabhupada didn’t accept his guru maharaja’s desire as an order? And can you imagine where we will be if we ignore Srila Prabhupada’s desire with the excuse that he never "ordered" his disciples to continue the guru-parampara by initiating their own disciples? Well, certainly we will not be in ISKCON!

Srila Prabhupada talks about his own desire when he says, "So the only desire was to satisfy the desire of the spiritual master". By his own example Srila Prabhupada teaches us how we should sincerely try to fulfill our spiritual master's desire by all means. He doesn’t promote the idea of sitting lazily doing nothing until the spiritual master takes a stick in his hand and shouts "Hey guys, don’t be lazy when I have ordered you to do so and so". Why not try to properly understand Srila Prabhupada 's desire the way that he showed us by his own example?

Did Srila Prabhupada ever say, "I am ordering you not to smoke bidis and not to have illicit sex"? No. Rather he suggested what one should do and what he wanted us to do. I don’t know if all rtvik-vadis are following this and other such instructions but if they do, my question is why are they taking these "wants" and "desires" of Srila Prabhupada sincerely to their hearts and not the desire of making all his disciples regular gurus after his physical departure? There seems to be something seriously wrong with them and this needs to be immediately rectified.

Here are some more quotes from Srila Prabhupada in this regard. There are plenty like these ones:

"You'll have to become spiritual master. You, all my disciples, everyone should become spiritual master." (London, August 22, 1973)

"You each be guru," he said. "As I have five thousand disciples or ten thousand, so you have ten thousand each. In this way, create branches and branches of the Caitanya tree." (Mayapur GBC meetings 1976)

"You’ll have to become spiritual master. You, all my disciples, everyone should become spiritual master." (London, August 22, 1973)

What else do the rtvik-vadis need in order to realize that their new speculation of establishing a difference between "desire" and "order" of the spiritual master is too stupid to be taken seriously by the GBC and ISKCON-devotees in general? Their concoction doesn’t make any sense. ISKCON cannot afford to accommodate their every speculation and waste a lot of time, money and energy to make them understand something that they are determined not to understand. They are creating a mess in our society and have confused many innocent devotees. One confusion is "What is wrong with the rtvik system when Srila Prabhupada himself approved it?"

Some rtvik-vadis do recognize that at some time Srila Prabhupada ordered his disciples to become regular gurus but on July 9th he changed his mind and said they should become rtvik-gurus. They ask the question, "What is wrong with the rtvik-system when Srila Prabhupada himself approved it while he was present on the planet?" The answer is there is nothing wrong with rtvik initiations provided it is conducted according to sadhu, guru and sastras. In fact there is nothing wrong with rtvik initiations in and of itself. What is dangerously wrong, according to sadhu, guru and sastras, is continuing such initiations after the spiritual master leaves the planet. Apart from that Srila Prabhupada never promoted rtvik-system in his lectures, conversations, letters and books but always instructed us to continue the standard parampara-system. This was clearly understood by the GBCs and other devotees in general.

I would like to add here that this understanding is not new. It’s almost built-in in any community based on sadhu, guru and sastras. Being born in an Indian family I had the opportunity to have this understanding from the beginning and when I read the July 9th letter I never thought Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to remain rtviks even after his physical departure. He wouldn't do it since it was against sastric principles. I wonder how come some Indians are getting bewildered by the present rtvik-vada apa-siddhanta. I am sure constant hearing of vaisnava criticism and reading TFO which is a mayavadi explanation of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings are among major reasons. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has warned us against both criticizing vaisnavas and reading mayavadi literature.

Coming back to the point, we know that Srila Prabhupada approved rtvik initiations in ISKCON while he was present, but the very fact that he did so while he was physically present on the planet, makes a gulf of difference. Srila Prabhupada has very clearly made the point that when a spiritual master is alive his disciples don't initiate their own disciples as an etiquette. If he does so, then it's on behalf of his spiritual master, and the new disciples are not considered his own but his spiritual master's. The person performing such an initiation is called a rtvik and such initiations are bona fide. But initiating one's own disciples when one's guru is physically present is ignoring the presence of the spiritual master and can be compared to someone wanting to perform the sraddha ceremony of his living father. Srila Prabhupada warned his followers against such practice and told his disciples to not initiate in his presence. This was an etiquette. However, on July 9th, when he was physical present he approved a rtvik- system, which means his immediate disciples would initiate new devotees and the newly initiated disciples were to be considered Srila Prabhupada’s disciples and not of the person initiating. (I won’t be surprised if some rtviks selectively quote me on this)

Now the question comes "when after July 9th, 1977 did Srila Prabhupada say that the rtvik system he approved should be discontinued after his departure?" and "how can one become regular diksa guru when Srila Prabhupada approved them to be only rtviks?" Consider the following example to understand the answer.

A spiritual master told his new disciples "My dear children, when a spiritual master finishes honoring prasadam the remnants are considered maha-prasadam and it’s important that all disciples take such maha-prasada because it helps them in their spiritual life. So you all follow this standard and take such maha-prasadam everyday. But remember, do not take it from my plate while I am eating. To take prasadam from my plate, while I am eating, is a breach of vaisnava etiquette and you must not do it. It’s important however, that when I finish eating you all accept the maha-prasadam. I request all of you to please accept maha-prasadam after I finish eating." All disciples understood what the guru was saying and continued serving him prasadam. At one point the spiritual master said, "Alright now I have finished eating". After saying this much he left the prasadam hall for the day and went into his room. Later on, by the supreme will of the Lord, he left his body on that same day.

Now what should the disciples do? The simple answer is, take the maha prasadam because the spiritual master had requested/wanted/instructed, or ordered them to do so. There should be no problem in understanding this simple thing. There is no need for speculation. One should sincerely try to fulfill the desires of one’s spiritual master. This is the principle.

In the above example, if one of the disciples with a stomach disorder proposes, "Let’s follow our spiritual master and not take maha-prasadam until he comes out and orders us to take it", should the other disciples follow him and let the maha-prasada apparently rot? Of course not.

So the answer to the question, "when after July 9th, 1977 did Srila Prabhupada say that the rtvik system he approved should be discontinued after his departure?", would be, "Before he approved the rtvik-system," as in the above example where the spiritual master instructed his disciples to take the remnants after he had finished eating. The answer to the second question, "how can one become regular diksa-guru when Srila Prabhupada approved them to be only rtviks?", is this: "Srila Prabhupada has already repeatedly told his disciples to become regular diksa-gurus after his departure."

I hope this is clear to all of us including the bewildered rtvik-vadi followers of Srila Prabhupada who are proposing something similar to what that the disciple with the stomach disorder suggested in the above example.

Another example: A doctor told one patient who was being operated "Take this medicine after I finish the operation and leave. If you don’t take it you will suffer severe pain". After some time the doctor left. The patient wanted to take the medicine because he realized if he didn’t he would suffer, but some people proposed that he should wait for the doctor to come back and instruct him. The patient argued that the doctor had already instructed him before he left but didn’t succeed and finally without medicine he died after severe pain!

Isn’t the rtvik-vadis’ proposal of a similar nature? Do we want ISKCON to suffer severely by not following Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to continue the disciplic succession after his physical departure? Certainly not! ISKCON cannot accept the rtvik-theory, and, besides ignoring Srila Prabhupada’s desire, risk its own very existence. ISKCON’s duty is to establish proper vaisnava standards, not destroy them. We are yet to fulfill many desires of Srila Prabhupada and we can’t afford to entertain any theory which is not only apa-siddhanta and against the will of our founder-acarya but which takes away so much time, money and energy from ISKCON. It’s just unacceptable.

I believe that by presenting so many useless pages of speculations and arranging many unauthorized meetings at the cost of ISKCON funds, if the rtvik-vadis think that their proposal will be accepted by ISKCON then they are living in a fool’s paradise. Being a granddisciple of a great acarya Srila Prabhupada, I would never give up the principles taught by Srila Prabhupada himself and supported by sadhu, guru and sastras. The following one is just one of them:

I would like to specifically request all my dear spiritual brothers, sisters and cousins to be very careful dealing with rtvik-fallacies. I am not against someone believing in the rtvik-apa-siddhanta at present but is willing to give it up, at least while calling himself/herself an ISKCON member and a follower Srila Prabhupada. I won’t even be the last person to believe that Srila Prabhupada wanted us to continue rtvik system in ISKCON after his physical departure. I have explained earlier why there is nothing wrong with the rtvik-system if conducted properly. But as it is being advocated now it is simply and plainly wrong.

Before I conclude, let me inform many innocent devotees, who may still not know the real identity of the rtvik-asat-sastra called "The Final Order", that what is there in TFO and other rtvik-literature is nothing but a mayavadi explanation of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. Lord Caitanya said one who even hears mayavadi philosophy destroys his/her spiritual life. So be careful while talking to rtvik-vadis. Please take a look at the "monkey-strategy" described below. It explains how the rtvikvadis try to confuse people and "defeat" the opposite party by eventually defeating themselves.

In simple words, following the monkey-strategy means acting like monkeys. Actually the rtvik-vadis only have a few arguments to present and they keep jumping from one to the other until they find the person arguing with them is becoming confused. But if we think a bit ahead and go to their next step ahead of them, they get stuck like a buggy computer program. Then someone else would jump in the discussion to help the person who got stuck and this is how they work along. If that doesn’t work out they shamelessly come back to their first argument and play the same tape again and again, although they don’t always follow the proper sequence. The funny thing is that if they can’t confuse or defeat their opponent they either announce themselves to be the victor or go wild and start offending the GBCs and other vaisnavas.

The following illustration graphically exposes the monkey-strategy. You can see how they start with July 9th and end with July 9th, and if that doesn’t work, begin to rave and offend vaisnavas--- something similar to what the monkeys do when they can’t get their work done.

Is reading this confusing and boring to you? I guess to some extent it is. Ok, so this is how rtvik-vadis make the whole discussion boring and when you say you don’t want to discuss anymore they conclude that you couldn’t provide enough proof for following the parampara-system in ISKCON and so TFO’s explanation of the July 9th letter is what we should all follow. If you want to change the system, show us the "order".

Obviously there is no end to their speculations and we can’t afford to spend time in refuting all of them. How can we wake up those who are pretending to sleep? We have to simply stick to sadhu, guru and sastras and try to carry out Srila Prabhupada’s order sincerely. If some people do not want to cooperate how can we force them? In fact we shouldn’t pull the string so much so that it violently breaks. Better to release the knot.

It seems the only request we can make to the rtvik-vadis is, either accept whatever the GBC says or respectfully do what the title of this paper suggests, namely go out of ISKCON and do whatever you like. Of course, we certainly don’t want devotees to leave ISKCON but what can be done? A patient also doesn’t want that his finger is cut off but he is compelled to separate it if it gets an incurable disease. Let me repeat, this is not to say rtvik-vadis should leave ISKCON but that they should leave the theory they are sticking to and unauthorizedly promoting within ISKCON using ISKCON funds. I personally would be very glad to see rtvik-vadis give up their improper demands and misunderstandings. But if they are reluctant to do so, the only way for them is to go out of ISKCON with their concocted theory (and start a new apa-sampradaya?), although it will not make us happy. Hare Krishna!

Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!