03/02/98 - 1659

Srila Prabhupada - a Ramanuja Acharya for Us!

USA (VNN) - by Dharmapada Dasa

Ramanuja Acharya was a great acharya of the Shree sampradaya, and passed away in the year 1137. But even today the members of that sampradaya are known as the followers of Ramanuja Acharya. The other acharyas who have come in disciplic succession after him are hardly known, but Ramanuja Acharya has retained the role of the principal teacher of that line hundreds of years after his disappearance. This is not surprising because he did great service defining and schematizing vaishnava philosophy in the face of mayavad onslaught and exhibited personal bravery, risking his life on many occasions. His status as a pure devotee was recognized by all, as only a pure devotee could have been empowered to achieve what he did. He is the natural leader for all time of that sampradaya.

Many spiritual masters have initiated in that line since the time that Shree Ramanuja disappeared; but we cannot expect that all of them were maha bhagavats like Ramanuja. Pure devotees are not so common. This may appear to some as a break in the disciplic succession as, according to the Upadeksamrita, any master less than a pure devotee can only elevate a disciple up to his or her own level.

But the key point is that the entire disciplic succession serves as one’s guru. In his 1936 Vyas puja homage to own guru, our Shrila Prabhupada stated that “the guru is one.” In several places in the literature Shrila Prabhupada tells us that “there is no difference between the siksha and diksha guru.” Every guru, in fact, is the representative of Vyas. So whether or not the person who initiates one happens to be a maha bhagavat, it doesn’t impair a person’s spiritual progress because the pure, elevated concepts of Vaishnavism are equally available to all through the teachings and literature of the disciplic succession. This concept serves the purpose of the verse from the Uadekshamrita; it is not that one has to have a physical mahabhagavat as one’s guru. all of the maha bhagavats in our line are our gurus.

So why can’t this understanding be incorporated into ISKCON, what opposes it? Many gurus have already allowed themselves to be depicted among their disciples as divine human beings, in spite of any ISKCON regulations in this regard. We may give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they have allowed this to happen only to assure the faith of their disciples, because if any disciple thought that they were anything less than maha bhagavats, then the disciple would see them as insufficient somehow. But now, in the light of this higher understanding of what the position of the guru really is, it is not necessary to deceive disciples about being divine.

But there is another reason for certain ISKCON gurus to continue to present themselves as pure devotees. This is not a blanket criticism against all of them, though it does have reference to several prominent ones. It has to do with their luxurious lifestyles, and the fact that they have fancy cars, properties and bank accounts in their names. You see, they don’t really have any independent source of income. Their only income comes to them by way of robbing the assets of the disciplic succession in the name of guru dakshine. Guru dakshine does exist, but it’s not supposed to be an excuse for lavish, millionaire lifestyles, opulent properties and socking away huge sums in the bank. Ever since the guru reform, they have taken their pictures off the alters except during puja as a concession, but most of the new disciples are schooled to be their disciples and to collect for them. The upshot is that Shrila Prabhupada’s temples are falling apart, underfunded, while they rake in literally millions of dollars. The fact that Shrila Prabhupada’s picture is or is not on the altar is simply a matter of exterior appeasement which has bought time for them and allowed them to consolidate their positions. You see, in order to continue misappropriating into their pockets, they can’t be questioned by their disciples or have ISKCON interfere. Therefore, the pure devotee status must be maintained by them. This insures absolute obedience to them on the part of their disciples, over and above allegiance to ISKCON.

The fact that our gurus are worshipped in the temples as divine beings, along with all the attendant obedience and servitude, doesn’t sit well with the temple guests who come to find out about the movement. Actually, the public is not exposed to a lot of this at the Sunday feast, but once they delve into things, they get the idea. I’ve personally sat in the ranks of Sunday feast guests and gotten to know a few. I’ve exchanged ideas with them and heard their impressions. Of course, a lot of these people conclude that the movement is a cult and they stay away. This is one reason the population of our movement has dwindled and makes me wonder about the quality of the newer members. I know that my sister and I never would have joined if we had been encouraged to accept these people as a divine personalities, collect for them personally and watch them behave arrogantly and drive around in a Town Cars and hear comments to the effect that “ Prabhupada said gurudev’s anger is divine like Lord Nrisimhadeva’s.” So this whole pure devotee scheme acts as a filter which alienates the intelligent class of people, whom we would love to attract, and encourages the entry of people whom seem less discriminating and more easily manipulated.

They have used Shrila Prabhupada’s temples as a springboard for building up their own organizations, and whether or not they return the now half-empty, dilapidated temples with Prabhupada’s picture on the altar instead of theirs is immaterial. They are guilty of usury and robbery, what to speak of lying and oftentimes of sexual misconduct. And our GBC is guilty of weak appeasement, the kind which can only provoke lip-curling disdain in the hearts of honest men and women.

I have read that there are GBC subcommittees studying ways to bring Shrila Prabhupada back into a central role in our movement as the founder-acharya. Beautiful, just beautiful. Twenty years later, twelve after the guru reform, after the movement has been robbed blind and run into the ground, we now have subcommittees.

One Airuddha Das from Australia has mentioned that Gaudiya traditions will have to be researched. Well, there is no reason not to study the living, functional tradition of the Shree Vaishnavas while they are at it. After all, we are all Vaishnavas and the siddhanta of the Shree sampradaya is not really different from our siddhanta, either. The only real difference is that we worship the Vrindavan pastimes, especially of Radha and Krishna. Granted, they don’t worship Radha, but it’s not as if the Shree Sampradaya doesn’t worship the Hladdinin shakti; they do, in the form of Laxmi-Narayana. And they accept Harikirtan as the yuga dharm. They accept the pre-eminece of Vaishnava status over caste distinctions, and their principal scriptures are the same- the Bhagavatam and the Bhagavat Gita. They are a bonafide Vaishnava line, and the way in which they have conserved the status of Ramanuja as the principal acharya over the centuries is an example which we can learn from. Actually, what am I talking about? The Madva sampradaya, which is from whence we came anyway, has treated Madva in a similar way. So I would like to inform the ISKCON subcommittee that the problem has been identified and solved already. Shrila Prabhupada can be the pure devotee guru of the sampradaya the rest can initiate into the Shrila Prabhupada sect and create followers for him. Those who follow may or may not be maha bhagavats, it is immaterial.

If anyone feels slighted or feels that his or her guru has been slighted, then let them go off on their own to start their own movement and prove that they are deserving of they type of acharya status which has been accorded to Shree Ramanuja and which we would like to accord to Shrila Prabhupada. This is a more honest proposal than sitting on top of what Shrila Prabhupada has already built up and then elbowing him out of the way.

The implementation of a scheme in which Shrila Prabhupada becomes a Ramanuja for us is simply a matter of confronting the gurus who have gone off on a tangent, and stipulating that they must accept ISKCON standards AS WELL AS FINANCIAL AUDITING as a condition for remaining in ISKCON. Of course, some of them will break off and take some manpower and assets with them. We can’t do much about that; the problem has gone on too long and the infection has eaten into the ISKCON body too deeply to be dealt with painlessly. But at least a clean break will allow us to pick up the pieces and begin building things up again with proper safeguards in place to ensure that this problem won’t repeat itself anymore.

I now call on VNN to orchestrate a petition to the GBC to study the Shree sampradaya and their treatment of Shree Ramanuja Acharya as a model for ISKCON, and to swiftly, yes swiftly confront all gurus and demand adherence to ISKCON guidelines and financial auditing. This would include turning over personal assets, which have been unethically accumulated, to the movement.

Others may choose a more delicate approach, but twelve years after guru appeasement, I mean reform, no- I mean appeasement, I think we have to exert some pressure, shake things up a bit, and be prepared to cut off a finger to save our hand. Only in this case, it’s more like cutting off an arm and a leg to save our lives, but it has to be done.

Thanks to modern communication technology principally in the form of this particular web site, the assembled devotees have already been able to inform themselves and form a consensus in a way which would not have been possible even as little as ten years ago. So now it is a matter of coming forward and doing something about it. We have already procrastinated for twenty years, so we had better not waste any more time just rehashing what we now know. We had better do something about it soon!

I thank the assembled devotees for their indulgence, their approval is what I really crave, and I look forward to arguing with, uh ..., I mean hearing from a few of you.

Your Servant am I, Dharmapada Dasa
dean@uninet.com.br