09/14/1998 - 2218

Why Do ISKCON Gurus Fall Down?

Editorial (VNN) - by Madhudvisa dasa

Vipramukya Swami has published an article on Chakra explaining that ISKCONgurus fall down because demons pose as their disciples and trick them intomaya. He justifies this by quoting one of Hridyananda Maharaja's purportsfrom his translation of Srimad Bhagavatam.

However, although it may be true that neophyte devotees can be tricked bydemons posing as their disciples, the hard fact is in the material worldalmost all of us are demons!! After all this is the prison-house and wecome here to exercise our natural tendency to become the enjoyer, to lordit over the material energy. That is the demoniac mentality, and we haveall been trained up expertly in this mentality, particularly in the West,but also in India these days.

So, being a real "guru" is not as simple as ISKCON would have us believe.If one is tricked into maya by his demoniac disciples he was never abona-fide guru in the first place. Of course some of the disciples may bedemons, but a real guru knows this and engages them in Krishna's service insuch a way that their demoniac mentality is killed and their originalKrishna consciousness is reawakened. It's not that one becomes a "realguru" simply by being authorized to take disciples and receiving an"official ISKCON guru badge" from the GBC... A "real guru" isself-effulgant. He does not need any authorization. He is authorized byKrishna. It is not a cheep thing.

A real guru has to be able to preach the philosophy of Krishnaconsciousness very expertly and authoritatively and live his life perfectlyaccording to that. He has to have the ability to awaken the dormant sparkof Krishna consciousness within the hearts of his disciples and the generalpublic and he has to also fan that spark so it will become a blazing firethat will consume all the material, demoniac desires in the hearts of hisdisciples.

Of course to do this his own heart has to be perfectly clean and free frommaterial desires.

Those of us who joined ISKCON before 1987 or who have read SrilaPrabhupada's ORIGINAL books will remember the philosophy used to be thatone approach a pure devotee spiritual master, render service to him andinquire submissively from him as such a great soul can give real knowledgeas he has seen the truth... We can also remember the philosophy was "abound man cannot free another bound man, first the rescuer has to beliberated."

A drowning man cannot be saved by one who cannot swim. It is an act ofinsanity for a person who cannot swim to jump into the water to "save" adrowning man. He will simply drown and he will pull the other drowning mandown with him in his effort to "save" the lost soul...

Even if you joined ISKCON after 1987 if you care to take a quick look atSrila Prabhupada's [ORIGINAL] books you will find he very clearly describesthe Spiritual Master as a pure devotee in hundreds of places.

So the REAL REASON ISKCON gurus fall down is because they are part of asystem that elevates ordinary devotees to the position of "guru" and thenforces all the new devotees to give up their connection with SrilaPrabhupada, to stop chanting Srila Prabhupada's pranams, to stop offeringbhoga to Srila Prabhupada and INSTEAD offer it to one of the "BonafideAuthorized ISKCON Gurus" who ISKCON cannot even guarantee are following thefour regulative principles! Worse still, in many cases the GBC even knowsthat their "gurus" are not chanting their rounds, attending Mangal-Arotiand following the regulative principles, but still they allow them to go onwith their "guru business."

For most accepting a bogus ISKCON guru is the end of their spiritual life...

Most of us are demons... Mostly we have rejected Krishna and, even thoughwe call ourselves devotees, we are still very much attracted by Maya'sallurements. Most of us need the mercy of a pure devotee to awaken thedormant spark of Krishna consciousness within our hearts and then to fanthat spark and make it into a blazing fire to destroy all the materialdesires in our hearts. It requires a pure devotees guidance.

If, at that crucial moment of our spiritual development, instead of gettingshelter at the lotus feet of a pure devotee spiritual master who candeliver us Krishna, we get a bogus ISKCON guru interested in fame,followers, guru daksina and ISKCON politics, then instead of fanning thelittle spark of Krishna consciousness in our hearts he will practicallyextinguish it.

Of course the material world is still attractive to many of us and it is analluring proposition for many to be able to continue satisfying ourmaterial sense desires and at the same time be "devotees." So the ISKCONgurus have catered to this "market" and now we have an assortment of "VeganKrishnas," "Hard-Core Krishnas," "Gay Krishnas," "Feminist Krishnas,""Hindu Krishnas," etc. But pure devotional service has been somehow lost...

Where are the devotees who live to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,dancing daily in ecstasy on the streets of the world's major cities anddistributing Srila Prabhupada's ORIGINAL books to the fallen conditionedsouls? Where are the devotees who are always immersed in the ever-expandingocean of transcendental bliss that is the REAL Krishna consciousness movement?

The man who cannot swim may feel some compassion for the drowning man, butwithout being an expert swimmer himself he cannot save the man, and if hetries they will BOTH end up at the bottom of the ocean.

So ISKCON gurus fall down because, in most cases, they are not qualified tobe gurus and even if they were the ISKCON system is structured in such away that in any case they could do little to help their disciples as, inISKCON, the "guru" has no authority over his disciples... The disciples aremeant to be "disciplined" [and guided] by the guru, but in ISKCON that isnot permitted by the GBC and temple presidents! [ISKCON gurus cannot changethe service of their disciples, they cannot give any instruction to theirdisciples which is not approved of by the Temple President and GBC, etc.]

So the ISKCON gurus are mostly not qualified as pure devotees at all andISKCON now openly admits this and says their gurus don't have to bequalified anyhow... As long as the GBC approves it... Of course they can'tjustify this idea at all from Srila Prabhupada's teachings... SrilaPrabhupada never talks about "unqualified gurus," if the "guru" isunqualified, he is not a guru!! The whole ISKCON guru system is thereforecompletely bogus.

Of course, to support this bogus system all thoughtful devotees whoquestion it have to be destroyed. They have to be bashed, banned from thetemples, beaten and blasphemed.

Personally, in my whole life no "karmi" has ever attacked me physically,however I have been bashed so many times by ISKCON "devotees" and bannedfrom every ISKCON temple in the world just for repeating the words of SrilaPrabhupada, my spiritual master...

Vipramukya Swami dramatically illustrates this principle on his webpagewith his animated cartoon depicting ISKCON members murdering all the directfollowers of Srila Prabhupada by bashing them to death with a hammer withthe subtitle "Smash the Ritviks." And it is 100% approved by the GBC!!!

The GBC have no philosophical basis for the current ISKCON "guru system"and are therefore continually commissioning different groups of devotees towrite new "guru tattva" papers in the hope that someone will come up withsomething logical that will enable them to paint Srila Prabhupada out ofthe picture as a "dead guru" and enable them to go with their "gurubusiness."

Of course it is not possible to write such a paper, as Srila Prabhupada isnot dead, so ISKCON resort to violence and intimidation and try todiscredit the very system Srila Prabhupada personally established anddirectly ordered all temples and GBC members to follow in his July 9th,1977 letter. So Vipramukya Swami is trying to smash Srila Prabhupada bysmashing the devotees trying to follow Srila Prabhupada's direct order...That is why ISKCON gurus fall down...

Now ISKCON has the BBT spending most of it's time and Srila Prabhupada'smoney changing Srila Prabhupada's books and trying to prove in a court oflaw that Srila Prabhupada is not the author of his books, he was just ahired-hand! Jayadvaita [then dasa] and the other BBT staff imported SrilaPrabhupada from India, fed him and clothed him, and enlisted him in helpingthem write the books! Therefore Srila Prabhupada never had the authority toestablish his BBT and the copyrighs belong to ISKCON not Prabhupada's BBT!!

Also, the Bhaktivedanta Archives, instead of spending their time and energyin preserving Srila Prabhupada's lectures, etc. as they were originallyspoken by Srila Prabhupada, are spending their time and energy editing andchanging them and preserving their changed versions NOT THE ORIGINALS!

So, as it is, ISKCON is an organization determined to minimizing theposition and authority of Srila Prabhupada and to changing, "correcting",and even "improving" the teachings of Srila Prabhupada in the bookspersonally used by and approved by him.

They are also determined to establish their books are just as good as SrilaPrabhupada's books! We have already seen the BBT publish so many books byauthors other than Srila Prabhupada and present them as being"non-different" from Srila Prabhupada's books. However there is a gulf ofdifference between a book written by a Maha-Bhagavata pure devotee andbooks written by neophyte devotees! Of course a devotee may be a greatscholar and philosopher from the mundane point of view, but if he is not apure devotee then reading his books will not help us at all to reawaken theKrishna consciousness within out hearts, rather it will cover it more andmore. Reading such books is a great stumbling block on the path back home,back to Godhead yet ISKCON and the BBT promote them as being "as good asPrabhupada's books."

If one sees a book-table at an ISKCON temple these days it is a bewilderingsite to be sure! Sometimes it is difficult to even find one book by SrilaPrabhupada! They are selling so many books by so many "Vaisnavas" about somany subjects that they forget to sell Srila Prabhupada's books... Theyforget the value of associating with Srila Prabhupada personally by readinghis books... They forget the value of Srila Prabhupada's personalassociation and imply that books written by any other devotee are just asgood... As long as they are approved by the GBC of course.

If one talks to a new bhakta these days and asks, "Have you read any ofSrila Prabhupada's books?" They often say, "O yes, I have read Ray Cappo'sbook, and one book by Steven Rosen, and something about space-ships andaliens by Sadaputta... "But have you read any of Srila Prabhupada's books?..."

 If somehow a new devotee has been able to get hold of some of SrilaPrabhupada's ORIGINAL books and has actually realized that, "Hey, there'sreally something special about this guy's books!" ISKCON are determined toget him to give up the natural relationship he has developed with SrilaPrabhupada by reading his books, which is PERSONAL DIRECT association withSrila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada is living in his books and his personal association,instruction, guidance and mercy is right there for all of us to takeadvantage of 24 hours a day seven days a week. There is no other guru whocan be personally present in so many places with all his disciples andcontinually instruct and guide them all simultaneously and personally...

We have all Srila Prabhupada's books to read, all his classes to listen to,all his morning works to hear, all his conversations to read, all hisletters to read, we have at least 52 hours of CD's of Srila Prabhupadachanting Hare Krishna, singing Bhajans and explaining them, and of coursethere is at least 50 hours of video tape of Srila Prabhupada giving class,chanting, dancing, preaching, and all aspects of his life. And everythingis available on the "Complete Works Of Srila Prabhupada" CD ROM, [howeverthe ISKCON version of this has been rendered almost useless by mixing indozens of books by other authors which are all supposedly "just as good asSrila Prabhupada's books". A classic case of mixing sand with thesweet-rice. Who can eat sweet-rice mixed with sand?] That's more thanenough to keep one very busy for an entire lifetime and if we use our lifein that way we will be sure to go back home, back to Godhead after leavingthis body.

Anyhow, instead of preaching the glories of Srila Prabhupada and his uniqueposition to new devotees and allowing them to take shelter at his lotusfeet the ISKCON "party line" is "Prabhupada is dead. You need a 'livingguru' prabhu" and "You don't have to be a pure devotee to be a guru." THATIS WHY ISKCON "GURUS" FALL DOWN...

SB 3.4.32 P Vidura Approaches Maitreya
 The Lord is undoubtedly the source of all knowledge, and the messagesdispatched through Uddhava to Nara-Narayana and other sages were also partof the Vedic knowledge, but they were more confidential and could be sentor understood only through such a pure devotee as Uddhava. Since suchconfidential knowledge was known only to the Lord and Uddhava, it is saidthat Uddhava was as good as the Lord Himself. Every living entity can, likeUddhava, also become a confidential messenger on the same level as theLord, provided he becomes confidential himself by dint of loving devotionalservice. Such confidential knowledge is entrusted, as confirmed inBhagavad-gita only to pure devotees like Uddhava and Arjuna, and one has tolearn the mystery through them, and not otherwise. One cannot understandBhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam without the help of such confidentialdevotees of the Lord. According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura,that confidential message must have concerned the mystery of His departureand the annihilation of His dynasty after the end of His appearance in themundane world for one hundred years. Everyone must have been very anxiousto know about the mystery of the annihilation of the Yadu dynasty, and thatmessage must have been explained by the Lord to Uddhava and dispatched toBadarikasrama for the information of Nara-Narayana and other pure devoteesof the Lord.

SB 3.7.38 P Further Inquires by Vidura
 The living entities are constitutionally servitors of the Lord, who canaccept all kinds of service from everyone. It is clearly declared (Bg.5.29) that the Lord is the supreme enjoyer of the benefits of allsacrifices and penances, the proprietor of all that is manifested and thefriend of all living entities. That is His real identity. Therefore, whenthe living entity accepts this supreme proprietorship of the Lord and actsin that attitude, he resumes his real identity. In order to elevate theliving entity to this standard of knowledge, there is the necessity ofspiritual association. The bona fide spiritual master desires that hisdisciples know the process of rendering transcendental service to the Lord,and the disciples also know that they have to learn about the eternalrelationship between God and the living entity from a self-realized soul.To disseminate transcendental knowledge one must retire from mundaneactivities on the strength of enlightenment in knowledge in terms of Vedicwisdom. That is the sum and substance of all the questions in this verse.

SB 4.26.20 P King Puranjana Goes to the Forest to Hunt, and His QueenBecomes Angry
 One cannot come to the precincts of Krsna consciousness unless hetouches the dust of the lotus feet of a person who has become a mahatma, agreat devotee. This is the beginning of the surrendering process. LordKrsna wants everyone to surrender unto Him, and this surrendering processbegins when one touches the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master. Bysincerely rendering service to a bona fide spiritual master, one begins hisspiritual life in Krsna consciousness. Touching the lotus feet of aspiritual master means giving up one's false prestige and unnecessarilypuffed-up position in the material world. Those who remain in the darknessof material existence due to their falsely prestigious positions--so-calledscientists and philosophers--are actually atheists. They do not know theultimate cause of everything. Although bewildered, they are not ready tosurrender themselves to the lotus feet of a person who knows things intheir proper perspective. In other words, one cannot arouse Krsnaconsciousness simply by his own mental speculation. One must surrender to abona fide spiritual master. Only this process will help one.

SB 4.29.51 P Talks Between Narada and King Pracinabarhi
 "Even if a brahmana is very learned in Vedic scriptures and knows thesix occupational duties of a brahmana, he cannot become a guru, orspiritual master, unless he is a devotee of the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. However, if one is born in a family of dog-eaters but is a puredevotee of the Lord, he can become a spiritual master." The conclusion isthat one cannot become a spiritual master unless he is a pure devotee ofthe Lord. One who is a spiritual master in accordance with the abovedescriptions of devotional service is to be understood as the SupremePersonality of Godhead personally present. According to the words mentionedhere (gurur harih), consulting a bona fide spiritual master meansconsulting the Supreme Personality of Godhead personally. One shouldtherefore take shelter of such a bona fide spiritual master. Success inlife means accepting a spiritual master who knows Krsna as the only supremebeloved personality. One should worship such a confidential devotee of theLord.

SB 5.14.41 P The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment
 Even if one wanders for many millions of years, from the time ofcreation until the time of annihilation, one cannot get free from the pathof material existence unless one receives shelter at the lotus feet of apure devotee. As a monkey takes shelter of the branch of a banyan tree andthinks he is enjoying, the conditioned soul, not knowing the real interestof his life, takes shelter of the path of karma-kanda, fruitive activities.Sometimes he is elevated to the heavenly planets by such activities, andsometimes he again descends to earth. This is described by Sri CaitanyaMahaprabhu as brahmanda bhramite. However, if by Krsna's grace one isfortunate enough to come under the shelter of the guru, by the mercy ofKrsna he receives lessons on how to execute devotional service to theSupreme Lord. In this way he receives a clue of how to get out of hiscontinuous struggle up and down within the material world. Therefore theVedic injunction is that one should approach a spiritual master. The Vedasdeclare: tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet (Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12).Similarly in Bhagavad-gita (4.34) the Supreme Personality of Godhead advises:

SB 5.14.41 P The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment
 "Any person who seriously desires to achieve real happiness must seekout a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. Thequalification of his spiritual master is that he must have realized theconclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and be able to convince othersof these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter ofthe Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to beunderstood as bona fide spiritual masters." Similarly, VisvanathaCakravarti, a great Vaisnava, also advises, yasya prasadadbhagavat-prasadah:"By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives themercy of Krsna." This is the same advice given by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu(guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija). This is essential. One mustcome to Krsna consciousness, and therefore one must take shelter of a puredevotee. Thus one can become free from the clutches of matter.

SB 5.15.4 P The Glories of the Descendants of King Priyavrata
 The word anusasmara is very significant. God consciousness is notimaginary or concocted. The devotee who is pure and advanced realizes Godas He is. Maharaja Pratiha did so, and due to his direct realization ofLord Visnu, he propagated self-realization and became a preacher. A realpreacher cannot be bogus; he must first of all realize Lord Visnu as He is.As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (4.34), upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas theSupreme personality of Godhead. Such a person can become a guru andpropound Vaisnava philosophy all over the world. The paragon of bona fidepreachers and guru is King Pratiha.

SB 7.7.29 P What Prahlada Learned in the Womb
 "Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and thespiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automaticallyrevealed." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23) One must accept the pure devotee,the representative of God, as one's guru and then offer him all therespects one would offer the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is thesecret of success. For one who adopts this method, the perfect process isrevealed. In this verse, the words yair anjasa ratih indicate that byoffering service and surrendering to the spiritual master, one is elevatedto devotional service, and by performing devotional service one graduallybecomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because of thisattachment to the Lord, one can understand the Lord. In other words, onecan understand what the Lord's position is, what our position is and whatour relationship is. All this can be understood very easily by the simplemethod of bhakti-yoga. As soon as one is situated on the platform ofbhakti-yoga, the root cause of one's suffering and material bondage isdestroyed. This is clearly explained in the next verse, which gives thesecret of success.

SB 10.2.37 P Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krsna in the Womb
 We should strictly follow this injunction and never try to hear fromMayavadis, impersonalists, voidists, politicians or so-called scholars.Strictly avoiding such inauspicious association, we should simply hear frompure devotees. Srila Rupa Gosvami therefore recommends,sri-guru-padasrayah: one must seek shelter at the lotus feet of a puredevotee who can be one's guru. Caitanya Mahaprabhu advises that a guru isone who strictly follows the instructions of Bhagavad-gita: yare dekha,tare kaha, 'krsna'--upadesa (Cc. Madhya 7.128). A juggler, a magician orone who speaks nonsense as an academic career is not a guru. Rather, a guruis one who presents Bhagavad-gita, Krsna's instructions, as it is. Sravanais very important; one must hear from the Vaisnava sadhu, guru and sastra.

Adi 8.17 The Author Receives the Orders of Krsna and Guru
 These slokas are to be discussed. Their purport is that one cannotobtain krsna-bhakti, or the devotional service of the Lord, by officialexecution of the Vedic rituals. One has to approach a pure devotee.Narottama dasa Thakura sings, chadiya vaisnava-seva nistara payeche keba:"Who has been elevated without rendering service to a pure Vaisnava?" It isthe statement of Prahlada Maharaja that unless one is able to accept thedust from the lotus feet of a pure Vaisnava there is no possibility ofachieving the platform of devotional service. That is the secret. Theabove-mentioned tantra-vacana, quoted from the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu(1.1.36), is our perfect guidance in this connection.

NoI 5
 In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami advises the devotee to be intelligentenough to distinguish between the kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari anduttama-adhikari. The devotee should also know his own position and shouldnot try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. SrilaBhaktivinoda Thakura has given some practical hints to the effect that anuttama-adhikari Vaisnava can be recognized by his ability to convert manyfallen souls to Vaisnavism. One should not become a spiritual master unlesshe has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari. A neophyte Vaisnava or aVaisnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples,but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should beunderstood that they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal oflife under his insufficient guidance. Therefore a disciple should becareful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master.

TYS 7 How Bhakti-yoga Works
 The teacher must be a representative of Krsna, a devotee, and thestudent must be like Arjuna. Then this Krsna consciousness study isperfect. Otherwise it is a waste of time. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it isstated: "If anyone wants to understand the science of Krsna, he shouldassociate with pure devotees. When discussions take place among puredevotees, the potency of spiritual language is revealed." Scholarlydiscussion of the Gita is futile. In the Upanisads it is stated: "To onewho has firm faith in God, and similar faith in God's representative, allthe import of Vedic language will be revealed." We must have thequalification of being a devotee. Become dear to God. My spiritual masterused to say, "Don't try to see God. Act in such a way that God will seeyou." We have to qualify ourselves. By your qualification God Himself willcome and see you.

TYS 9 The Real Peace Formula
 If by chance during this training he meets a teacher who is a saintlyperson and a pure devotee of the Lord, then by such a contact he becomespure. Therefore, Lord Caitanya said that the fortunate person who has hadsome spiritual asset in his past dealings will seek the association of apure devotee. The seed of Krsna consciousness is received by the mercy ofguru, the spiritual master, and by the mercy of Krsna. When the spiritualmaster and Lord Krsna will that a person must have Krsna consciousness,then the seed very nicely fructifies. That spiritual asset makes onefortunate, and thus he becomes spiritually enlivened, and then he meets abona fide spiritual master, and, by the grace of the spiritual master, hecan receive the seed of Krsna consciousness. That is his inner urge: "Wherecan I get this association? Where can I get this awareness?"

SSR 8 Attaining Perfection
 The spark of love for Krsna is struck by the spiritual master, the puredevotee. As for myself, my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Om VisnupadaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada, ordered me to take up theresponsibility of spreading Krsna consciousness in the Western world. HisDivine Grace had a great desire to preach Lord Caitanya's message in theWest, and my success is both his grace and pleasure. When I first met myspiritual master, I was a very young man in India, a nationalist, engagedin a very responsible office. But although I did not want to go, one of myfriends, who is still living in Calcutta, forcibly took me to His DivineGrace. I was reluctant to see him because in our home our father used toreceive many sannyasis and I was not very satisfied with their dealings. Ithought that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja might be a similarman, and if he were, what business would I have in seeing him? But myfriend took me forcibly. "Why not see him?" he asked. I finally relentedand went with him, and I profited.

NBS 2 P Narada-bhakti-sutra
 The next stage in the process of elevation to love of God issadhu-sanga, association with persons already in the highest stage of loveof God. One who avoids such association and simply engages in mentalspeculation or so-called meditation cannot be raised to the perfectionalplatform. But one who associates with pure devotees or an elevateddevotional society goes to the next stage--bhajana-kriya, or acceptance ofthe regulative principles of worshiping the Supreme Lord. One whoassociates with a pure devotee of the Lord naturally accepts that person ashis spiritual master, and when the neophyte devotee accepts a pure devoteeas his spiritual master, the duty of the spiritual master is to train theneophyte in the principles of regulated devotional service, orvaidhi-bhakti. At this stage the devotee's service is based on his capacityto serve the Lord. The expert spiritual master engages his followers inwork that will gradually develop their consciousness of service to theLord. Therefore the preliminary stage of understanding prema, love of God,is to approach a proper pure devotee, accept him as one's spiritual master,and execute regulated devotional service under his guidance.

NBS 8 P Narada-bhakti-sutra
 Only by the combined mercy of the pure devotee--the bona fide spiritualmaster--and the Supreme Lord Himself can one attain pure devotional serviceto the Lord. If someone is fortunate enough to find a pure devotee andaccept him as his spiritual master, then this spiritual master, out of hiscauseless mercy, will impart the knowledge of pure devotional service. Andit is the Lord, out of His causeless mercy, who sends His most confidentialservitor to this world to instruct pure devotional service.

740815BG.VRN Lectures
 So guru is helping from inside and from outside. Antar-bahih. So Krsnais so kind. Therefore Krsna manifests Himself as spiritual master.Therefore Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says, saksad-dhari,saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih. Manifestation of empowered. One who ispure devotee, he's empowered by Krsna to act as spiritual master. Thereforespiritual master should be accepted: saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrairuktah. It is described there. Tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih. Those who arelearned scholars, actual devotees, they accept. But that does not mean guruis Krsna. Kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya. Now, that, if you accept,you... Accept means you honor spiritual master as good as Krsna, becausehe's representative. But not that Mayavada philosophy that guru and Krsnais the same. This is simultaneously one and different. Kintu prabhor yahpriya eva tasya. He is as good as Krsna because he is very, very dear toKrsna. Why dear? Because he's preaching on behalf of Krsna. What Krsnawants, he's doing that. Therefore he's very dear.

721018SB.VRN Lectures
So Krsna says, "To My devotees," tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatampriti-purvakam, "those who are engaged twenty-four hours in unadulterateddevotional service to the Lord," buddhi-yogam dadami tam, "I give themintelligence how he can go back to home, back to Godhead." Why this is? Nowtesam evanukampartham. Special favor for these persons who are twenty-fourhours engaged in devotional service under the direction of bona fidespiritual master. You cannot become a pure, perfect devotee unless you aredirected by another pure, unadulterated devotee. Evam parampara-praptam. Sotherefore Rupa Gosvami has mentioned in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, adaugurvasrayam. You have to find out, you have to take shelter, not find out.You have to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. That is thebeginning, adau gurvasrayam sad-dharma-prccha. Then you'll have to inquire,inquiry, sad-dharma, about pure devotional service. That is sad-dharma.Sad-dharma-prccha. Sadhu-vartmanuvartanam. Sad-dharma-prccha. You learnsomething about devotional service, but the devotional service should beexecuted by following mahajana. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah. Thereforewe are Rupanugas. We follow the footsteps of Sri Rupa Gosvami, SanatanaGosvami.

750629SB.DEN Lectures
 So how it is possible? Yatha krsnarpita-pranah. Pranah, pranair arthairdhiya vaca. Prana, prana means life. One who has dedicated his life to theservice of Krsna, such person. How this dedication of life to Krsna'sservice can be made possible? That is also stated here:tat-purusa-nisevaya. You have to take shelter of a person who is a devoteeof Krsna, and you have to serve. That means you have to accept a devotee, atrue devotee, a pure devotee, as your guide. That is our process. The RupaGosvami says in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, "The first process is, firststep is adau gurvasrayam to accept guru." Accept guru Guru means Krsna'srepresentative. One who is not Krsna's representative, he cannot becomeguru. Guru does not mean any nonsense can become guru. No. Only tat-purusa.Tat-purusa means a person who has accepted the Supreme Personality ofGodhead as everything. Tat-purusa-nisevaya. That means Vaisnava, puredevotee. So it is not very difficult. By the grace of Krsna there are puredevotees, so one has to take shelter of him. Adau gurvasrayam. Thensad-dharma-prcchat: after accepting a bona fide spiritual master, oneshould be inquisitive to learn what is the science of Krsna.Sad-dharma-prcchat sadhu-marga-anugamanam. And this Krsna consciousnessmeans one has to follow the footsteps of the devotees, sadhu-marga-anugamanam.

721110ND.VRN Lectures
 Devotional service is not dependent on subhasubha-karma. It is simplydependent on the mercy of Krsna and His devotees. Krsna de... Sadhu.Guru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija. Guru-krsna-krpaya. Naisam matistavad urukramanghrim, mahiyasam pada-rajo-'bhisekam niskincananam na vrnitaya... Unless we surrender to the lotus feet of a pure devotee, it is notpossible to come to the platform of devotional service. That is the way. Wecannot taste the honey within the bottle. The bottle must be opened by theexpert. If you simply lick up the bottle, if we think, "Now we are tastinghoney," that is not the proper way. We should get the bottle opened by theexpert, and when we taste within the bottle, then actually... Similarly,devotional service, without being opened by the..., open, without the doorbeing opened by the devotee, we cannot enter into the region.Guru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija. Therefore the process is, asrecommended by Srila Rupa Gosvami, adau gurvasrayam. You must select, youmust accept the guru who's coming in parampara system. Evamparampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh. Sampradaya. That is recommended. Wehave got Vaisnava-sampradaya, four sampradaya: Ramanuja-sampradaya,Madhva-sampradaya, Nimbarka-sampradaya. So intelligent persons shouldselect guru from these sampradayas and follow his instruction. Then thepath of devotional service will be very easily opened. This is the way.Yes? Go on.

69-06-10.Muk Letter: Mukunda
 The answer to your Istagosthi questions are as follows: Unless one is aresident of Krishna Loka, one cannot be a Spiritual Master. That is thefirst proposition. A layman cannot be a Spiritual Master, and if he becomesso then he will simply create disturbance. And who is a liberated person?One who knows Krishna. It is stated in BG, fourth chapter, anyone who knowsKrishna in truth is immediately liberated, and after quitting the presentbody, he immediately goes to Krishna. That means he becomes a resident ofKrishna Loka. As soon as one is liberated he is immediately a resident ofKrishna Loka, and anyone who knows the truth of Krishna can becomeSpiritual Master. That is the version of Lord Caitanya. So to summarize thewhole thing, it is to be understood that a bonafide Spiritual Master is aresident of Krishna Loka.

72-12-14.Tus Letter: Tusta Krsna
 As for your next question, can only a few pure devotees deliver others,anyone, if he is a pure devotee he can deliver others, he can becomespiritual master. But unless he on that platform he should not attempt it.Then both of them will to go to hell, like blind men leading the blind.

760812ed.teh Conversations
Prabhupada: The subject matter itself is difficult. Therefore ordinarypersons or a little advanced person cannot understand. And unless one isfully aware of Krsna, one cannot become spiritual master. The subjectmatter itself is difficult. Therefore you don't find many spiritualmasters. Go on.

Of course as all these direct quotes from Srila Prabhupada and hundreds ofothers as well completely contradict the current ISKCON "guru tattva." Ifyou mention any of them in an ISKCON temple you risk being bashed, bannedand called a "dirty stinking ritvik"...

No doubt our friends at the BBT are working to cleverly "correct" SrilaPrabhupada's "errors" in this matter... Look for some "newly-discovered"tapes carefully reconstructed by the Bhaktivedanta Archives by extractingwords, sentences and paragraphs from various places in Srila Prabhupada'steachings and carefully assembled by the BBT team on the BA'sstate-of-the-art digital editing equipment producing classes that SrilaPrabhupada didn't actually ever give supporting the current GBC's bogusguru system... They have the technology... Also look for "new improvedenlarged and revised" versions of Srila Prabhupada's books from the BBTreflecting the changing face of the absolute truth... Jayadvaita Swami'svision is every reprint should be a "new version" of the book with lots ofchanges and "improvements." I have personally heard him describe thisvision at Mayapur some years ago and now we see it is becoming a fact... Ofcourse every time you upgrade your BBT folio program be prepared to adjustto a "new version" of the absolute truth... Everything will be "just alittle different" from the previous version... Of course in a few years theoriginal ideas presented by Srila Prabhupada will be completely lostaltogether...

Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! Please accept my humble obeisances at yourlotus feet, thank you so much for reading this and please give me yourblessings so I can somehow become a serious follower of Srila Prabhupada.

Your servant

Madhudvisa dasa