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EDITORIAL April 7, 1999 VNN3529 See Related VNN Stories Krishna Kant - Thrower Of Smokescreens BY JAHNU DAS EDITORIAL, Apr 7 (VNN) — In an article on VNN Krishna Kant, responding to my post Krishna Kant - Master of Evaders, has called me the servant of evaders. In this case, though, I am quite proud of being the servant of the evaders, for it is true that ISKCON at all costs wishes to evade Ritvikvada. Krishna Kant accuses me of being an evader, but he himself deliberately and continuously evades the real issue, namely that Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to succeed him as gurus. That's why he always has to come up with such lame points of debate. The actual point is what Srila Prabhupada wanted, not that H.H. Hridayananda Maharaja may have exaggerated some numbers to drive home a point. Mr. Desai wants to make a great case out of the number 48, and he clings to it as if it were a number of great importance and revelation. Hridayananda Maharaja merely said, 'many dozens.' How does that make 48? The fact is that Krishna Kant doesn't have a case and therefore he has to put up smoke screens like that. Who cares how many times Srila Prabhupada expressed his desire for his disciples to carry on the disciplic succession? The point is that he wanted his disciples to become gurus, and that he said it many times. That's what we should care about. It is nowhere stated that the spiritual master has to repeat an instruction 48 times. This is yet another example of Mr. Desai trying to impose his own ignorant conditions on Srila Prabhupada. KK writes: "Does Jahnu think he knows better than His Holiness Hridayananda das Goswami? In an instant Jahnu can produce relevant quotes Maharaja could not give in an entire year!?" Reply: It seems there is no end to the importance Mr. Desai likes to place on himself. Did it ever occur to him that Hridayananda Maharaja simply doesn't want to waste his time with KK , and is just politely putting him off? Does KK think that Hridayananda Maharaja has nothing better to do than produce quotes for his pleasure? If it were not so sad it would be hilarious. Krishna Kant Desai, a new bhakta, thinks he is in a position to tell Hridayananda Maharaja what Srila Prabhupada wanted, demanding of him endless quotes to prove him wrong. Just see how powerfully Krishna's illusory potency is acting. Why should Maharaja feel compelled to waste his time digging up quotes that have already been presented to KK countless of times? KK, to begin with, couldn't care less about quotes from Srila Prabhupada. He is obviously not the least interested in getting to the truth of the matter, otherwise how can he keep bouncing back at you every time you defeat him with loads of direct quotes from Srila Prabhupada? Krishna Kant has tried to make the case that every time Srila Prabhupada stated in his letters and lectures that he wanted his disciples to succeed him as gurus he is only talking about siksa-gurus. In this way KK offensively suggests that Srila Prabhupada didn't know how to express himself very clearly, that he kept reiterating a redundant point. It was already understood that Srila Prabhupada's disciples were siksa-gurus. It is not something they had to wait until his departure to become. They were already acting as siksa-gurus. Srila Prabhupada told one of his disciples, that he could initiate new candidates, but that the etiquette was such that he shouldn't do it while his own spiritual master (SP) was still present. If Srila Prabhupada were only talking about his disciples becoming siksa-gurus, how does this statement make sense? His disciples were already acting as siksa-gurus in his presence. There is no etiquette that says that a disciple cannot preach and impart spiritual knowledge (give sikasa) while his guru is still living. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary Mr. Desai maintains that the diksa-guru, at the time of initiation, doesn't need to be physically present on the planet. But Srila Prabhupada says: "Krsna, He is within our heart. Hrdy antah sthah. Therefore, as soon as we become a little inclined towards Krsna, then from within our heart He gives us favorable instruction so that we can gradually make progress, gradually. Krsna is the first spiritual master, and when we become more interested, then we have to go to a physical spiritual master. That is enjoined in the next verse. Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya, upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva- darsinah." Here Srila Prabhupada clearly says that you need a physical (living) guru. Krishna Kant has tried to brush this quote off with the explanation that Srila Prabhupada is not speaking about a diksa-guru, but about a siksa-guru. But if Srila Prabhupada is speaking about a siksa-guru why does he emphasize the guru's need to be physical? Everyone knows that the siksa-guru does not have to be physical, that he can also act after his departure, just like in the case of Srila Prabhupada, who is still acting as everyone's siksa-guru. This is the actual issue that Krishna Kant continuously tries to avoid. Thus he is the real master of evasion. Personally I am only trying to evade his offensive assertions. Your servant Jahnu das See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9904/ET07-3529.html
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