10/30/1998 - 2436

Response to HH Bhaktitirtha Swami

USA (VNN) - By Deepak Vohra

Dear Umapati Maharaja and CHAKRA


Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to SrilaPrabhupada.


I read with great interest the transcript of the class given byH.H. Bhaktitirtha Swami as appeared recently on CHAKRA and describedon VNN. There are a couple of statements, however, made by Maharajathat I personally feel extremely uncomfortable with and thereforefeel compelled to respond to:


Firstly, Maharaja stated:


"Or, often there is a tendency, the third tendency to acceptdisembodied authorities or accept authorities that have passedon because with such, there can be a lack of accountability oryou move away from getting your butt kicked or you move away frombeing chastised or criticized and so, often, people prefer thatkind of a system."


Obviously, the "tendency" Maharaja is referring to hereis the ritvik "tendency". I would like to make a fewpoints about this particular statement from Maharaja:


1) With all due respect to His Holiness Bhaktitirtha Swami, Ifind his terminology to describe departed acaryas as"disembodied" somewhat distasteful. "Disembodied"= ghost. I am sure Maharaja does not really mean that Srila Prabhupadais a ghost. Perhaps a different turn of phrase such as "authoritiesin samadhi" would have been more appropriate.


2) Again, I find Maharaja's description of accepting "authoritiesthat have passed on" rather unpalatable. Acaryasdo not "pass on", at least from the spiritual perspective. "Pass on" is a materialistic euphemism for "died". And we all know what Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has to say aboutthat:


"He reasons ill who tells that Vaisnavas die, when thouart living still in sound."


Furthermore, I do not believe Srila Prabhupada would agree withthis idea of the guru "passing on":


"Although according to material vision HisDivine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupadapassed away from this material world on the last day ofDecember 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be alwayspresent with me by His vani, His words...Physical presenceis sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vani continuesto exist eternally. Therefore, one must take advantage ofthe vani_not the physical presence." (C.c. Antya-lila,concluding words).


"...it is not that He [Srila BhaktisiddhantaSaraswati Thakura] is dead and gone. That is not spiritualunderstanding...He is seeing. I never feel that I am alone." (SP Lecture, 2/3/75)


3) The use of the term "disembodied authorities" israther perplexing when our entire philosophy is based on the principlethat we are not the body. Therefore, whether the currentacarya is "embodied" or "disembodied"has to be irrelevant. Indeed, Srila Prabhupada very much emphasisesthis point with specific reference to the Spiritual Master:


"Krsna and His representative is the same. Just like Krsnacan be present simultaneously in million of places. Similarly,the Spiritual Master also can be present wherever the disciplewants. A Spiritual Master is the principle, not the body." (SP Letter to Malati, 28/5/68)


4) If the "tendency to accept disembodied authorities orauthorities that have passed on" is bogus , then maybe we have all had the wrong sort of tendencies over the past21 years in accepting the authority of Srila Prabhupada.



Secondly, Maharaja stated: "Bhagavad Gita, 11.54,Prabhupada explains in the purport that without personal guidance,personal guidance from a personal spiritual master it becomesimpossible to understand Krishna. "


The actual purport reads thus: "For one who does not takepersonal training under the guidance of a bona fide spiritualmaster, it is impossible to even to begin to understand Krsna."(Bg 11.54, purport)


My understanding of this sentence is that the words "personaltraining" and "under the guidance of a bona fide spiritualmaster" do not necessarily mean that the personal traininghas to be conducted by the bona fide guru; rather, thetraining has to be conducted under the guidance or spiritualauthority of the bona fide guru. We know for a fact thatthe vast majority of Srila Prabhupada's thousands of disciplesdid not receive this personal training from Srila Prabhupada himself. Only a small handful of fortunate disciples did. The rest weretrained up by their Temple Presidents and senior devotees. Yetthe training was going on "under the guidance" of SrilaPrabhupada as the ultimate spiritual authority. Indeed, evenin current day ISKCON, most disciples do not receive this personaltraining from their guru - that responsibility lies with bhaktaleaders, Tps, senior devotees etc.


Now, before I am accused of word jugglery in my interpretation,I believe my understanding of this purport is justified by otherstatements from Srila Prabhupada:


"I shall remain your personal guidance, physicallypresent, or not physically, as I am getting personalguidance from my Guru Maharaja." (SP Room Conversation,14/7/77, Vrindavan)


"(To answer this argument,) it is described here that onehas to associate with liberated persons not directly, physically,but by understanding, through philosophy and logic, the problemsof life." (S.B. 3.31.48, purport)


I would be interested to hear other views on these topics. Ibeg forgiveness for any offences caused.


I remain with respect


Your humble servant,

Deepak Vohra.