Back To Prabhupada, Issue 15, Spring 2007
HH Indradyumna Swami:
“But I would offer that there is a misconception here in guru-disciple relationship. Of course, it is certainly nice if one can have some personal instruction, a personal direction in one’s life from the spiritual master. But one’s success in Krishna consciousness is not necessarily based on that.”
(HH Indradyumna Swami, Text COM:1974636, 1999)
The Final Order (IRM):
“It would be extremely rare to be given personal guidance directly from Srila Prabhupada; in fact he constantly discouraged such interaction so that he could concentrate on his writing. […] The very fact that personal pariksa* was not always undertaken, even when it was possible to do so, proves that it can not be necessary to the process of diksa**.”
(The Final Order, Krishnakant, 1996, p. 86 [2006 reprint] )
*examination
** initiation
HH Indradyumna Swami:
“Srila Prabhupada personally interacted with his spiritual master maybe three or four occasions. I think, he wrote two letters to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, and received one reply. And if one’s advancement in Krishna Consciousness is dependent upon the personal association of the spiritual master, directing one in one’s daily activities, then what are the chances of me in perfecting my Krishna consciousness because my spiritual master passed away in 1977? I haven’t seen Srila Prabhupada almost twenty years.”
(HH Indradyumna Swami, Text COM:1974636, 1999)
The Final Order (IRM):
“Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and personal example prove categorically that the elements which constitute diksa can be utilised without the need for the guru’s physical involvement:
“Reception of spiritual knowledge is never checked by any material condition.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 7.7.1, purport)
“The potency of transcendental sound is never minimised because the vibrator is apparently absent.”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2.9.8, purport)
(The Final Order, Krishnakant, 1996, p. 28 [2006 reprint])
HH Indradyumna Swami:
“That’s the way I follow myself in my relationship with Prabhupada, my spiritual master. I had the liberty in one or two occasions to ask from Prabhupada for some personal instruction, but now, if I need to understand something, I read the books or I can solve it with my godbrothers. So then I ask the disciples to do the same.”
(HH Indradyumna Swami, Text COM:1974636, 1999)
The Final Order (IRM):
“As demonstrated, the need for personal pariksa is not a sastric*** requirement. Srila Prabhupada supports the use of representatives, such as his disciples and books, as a substitute for personal pariksa.”
(The Final Order, Krishnakant, 1996, p. 52 [2006 reprint] )
***scriptural
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