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EDITORIAL April 13, 1999 VNN3585 See Related VNN Stories The Christians Are Ritviks BY GAURASUNDARA DASA EDITORIAL, Apr 13 (VNN) — Is the Christian religion a bad misleading concoction? Should we label them Ritviks - A name that should leave a bad taste in our mouths? After all, they accept Lord Jesus Christ as their personal spiritual teacher. He is each Christians Spiritual Teacher, and they direct their prayers to Him; as He is the Founder-Acarya of the Christian faith. Think about it for a minute. When you join the Christian faith you accept initiation into that faith through Baptism by a minister of the church and is the authorized representative of Lord Jesus because he follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. After that you take instructions from the minister of the Church on how to follow Christ's teachings correctly. The minister does not try and take the place of Christ in your life or think that he is better than you; because he became a Christian before you. How do the Christians view the original disciples of Lord Jesus? Are they looked at in awe and reverence as holier than the holy? Are they worshipped in the Christian Church? A few of Christ's disciples are worshipped and respected in the Christian religion. Some of them had Lord Jesus' personal association- and some of them did not. Some came after Lord Jesus' had left the planet and went back to the Spiritual world, and some were present when he was on the planet. Lord Jesus Christ was the Acarya of the Christian religion. He was perfect and His grand-disciples, and great-grand disciples have been following Him nicely for 2000 years. The problem we have in ISKCON with a few direct initiates of Srila Prabhupada is that there are a lot of them that do not understand what it means to be a disciple of a Guru. And what it means to be a disciple of an Acarya. An Acarya is different than an ordinary Guru. An Acarya is the Spiritual Master whose feet all other Gurus bow down to. He is the founder of the Spiritual institution for as long as the institution exists. Some direct initiates falsely think that in order for a person to be a disciple of Srila Prabhupada then they would have had to formalize their link with Him in a fire sacrifice. That would in effect seal their relationship with Him and He would accept them as His disciple no matter what kind of nonsense they decided to do in the future. Initiation takes place in the heart. It is not just a formal ceremony based on sentimentality. A person doesn't belong to a social club when they accept a Guru. This relationship is not based on anything material. It is not a contract that gives a person an advanced degree in Spiritual life immediately. It starts the process. After that it is the individual's responsibility to surrender more and more to Lord Sri Krishna with the help of their Guru and other advanced Vaisnavas. If a person creates a hierarchy in His or Her mind of direct initiates of the present Acarya versus second generation devotees then it proves only one thing; that that individual doesn't understand the principle of Guru at all. I have direct experience to the fact that someone who did not help me in the least Spiritually initiated me into this Bhakti Yoga process in this lifetime. For 10 years he sat on His high seat and looked down from His lofty perch pretending to be a pure devotee. All he was doing was hurting himself. I kept making advancement, worshipping Lord Sri Krishna and Srila Prabhupada while my so-called Spiritual teacher was becoming more and more materialistic. Pride is a great danger in Spiritual life. There are still so many neophytes that have the wrong understanding of Srila Prabhupada. They assume wrongly that only someone initiated in a formal ceremony can have a relationship with Him. That is an offensive mentality and minimizes Srila Prabhupada's position. He is not on the level of our present Gurus in ISKCON. He is an Acarya. And any one can approach Him directly with a humble and loving heart to receive His mercy. Siksa Guru/ Diksa Guru- Srila Prabhupada says that Guru is one. A Guru is simply the external representation of the Supersoul. To the degree that that particular soul is connected to the Supersoul is the degree that they can give a person Krishna. Everyone can and should become Guru. Srila Prabhupada wanted everyone to become Guru and represent His mission nicely. Not just direct initiates. We have a big control problem in ISKCON right now. Certain individuals are striving for power, fame, and wealth at the expense of Srila Prabhupada. I personally do not like it and will have no part of it. In the past there were several clubs created in ISKCON. If you were a member of these clubs you got all facility in the institution. If you were not a member then you received no facility. All you have to do to become a member of these clubs is to pretend you are more advanced than everyone else is. After 21 being connected to this ISKCON movement I have personally witnessed some of the most disgusting behavior by so called disciples of Srila Prabhupada done to other initiates in the name of Religion. Some of this behavior an animal wouldn't even do to their young. I have been classified and re-classified at the whims of so called Spiritual leaders as a "second generation devotee, grand-disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Etc." Never once was I ever given any facility materially for Preaching. I worked 16 hours a day for 11 years in the Temples of ISKCON collecting laxsmi for Srila Prabhupada only to find out later that individuals at the BBT were embezzling a large portion of it. While I struggled living in squalor so called "Prabhupada disciples" were busy buying beachfront houses in California. For 10 years I stayed behind and worshipped the Deities while initiates of Srila Prabhupada went to India every year. So now I put myself on an equal level with all of you. I will serve Srila Prabhupada until the day I leave this material world. If any so called "Prabhupada disciple" gets in my way of serving Lord Krishna or Srila Prabhupada I will push them out of my way and look down upon them as being ignorant of the desires of Lord Sri Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada didn't want anyone to become Guru while He was personally on the planet. This does not apply to the initiates of the present Spiritual Masters. Anyone who is qualified should be allowed to become a Spiritual Master if the Lord and their Guru ask them to, that includes initiates of the current Gurus. In order to push forward in spreading Srila Prabhupada's Movement there needs to be more facility given to all members of ISKCON. If you strive for fame, control over others, recognition for your service you will miss out on the nectar of surrendering everything to the Lord. At present the Temple are empty, laxsmi is not coming in, and the Temples can barely maintain the buildings. This is the reason. No one wants to be exploited in the name of Religion. Everyone living in the Temples is afraid to speak out for fear of being thrown out. Is this what the GBC wants? Individuals pretending to be a certain way in order to live in the Temple while talking behind their backs in secret condemning them. Don't become puffed up thinking that you have the correct understanding of what Srila Prabhupada wanted. There are so many nice advanced devotees living not only within the walls of ISKCON; but also, living outside the walls of ISKCON. If the GBC is not protecting the devotees within ISKCON and causing harm instead then the individuals responsible should step down and let more qualified devotees occupy the position. The ones that were in office when the child abuse was going on should resign immediately if the abuse took place in their areas of management. The leaders are responsible for any deviations that take place in the Temples that they oversee and will get horrible reactions if harm comes to any of the devotees in their charge. If a person is a Guru they should not also be a GBC as this is definitely a conflict of interest. Instead they should just focus on instructing their disciples, as that is their sole responsibility. How can one manage the movement and teach? I hope this letter finds everyone well in Krishna Consciousness and in the service of Srila Prabhupada. Please forgive me for any of my offenses. I am not afraid to speak out against injustice and only strive to make ISKCON a better place to live for all sincere devotees. Yours in the Service of Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees of the Lord, Gaurasundara dasa See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story | Contact VNN regarding this Story
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