Back To Prabhupada, Issue 42, Winter 2013/14
n the preceding article, we demonstrated how Srila Prabhupada's position as ISKCON's diksa guru is so natural and self-evident, that even attempts to specifically deny this position end up actually accepting it! Below, we present another stunning example of this in action. The quotes in the shaded panels are the answers given by guru hoaxer HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") during a Q&A session on the "Guru-disciple relationship in ISKCON" held on 17/11/2013. All emphases have been added.
"The spiritual master is not just performing some kind of ritualistic function, namely giving diksa or initiation or fire sacrifice to be more exact, and a spiritual name and mantra. He has a responsibility that Krsna Himself elaborates on in the Bhagavad-gita. [...] And "tad viddhi pranipatena, upadeksyanti", when you've taken diksa then you should inquire from him submissively and what will he do? He will tell you who the Supreme Personality of Godhead is, what your relationship is with him, how you can cultivate devotional service, what are the stages of advancement".
SRS states here that the diksa guru is not supposed to just perform some initiation ritual, but actually impart transcendental knowledge to the disciple (the Sanskrit phrases which SRS quotes above are from Bhagavad-gita 4.34, and state that the spiritual master imparts knowledge to the disciple). However, SRS forgets that he had earlier conceded that the supposed "diksa" gurus in ISKCON do not actually perform this function:
"divyam jnanam yato dadyat kuryat papasya sanksayam. So Srila Prabhupada says initiate him with transcendental knowledge. [...] I usually call the siksa gurus the diksa guru because very often the diksa guru, it's like here two weeks a year is how much I spend in the U.K. So I'm not a resident here anymore. So diksa gurus, diksa gurus aren't there."
(SRS Lecture, 11/1/09)
"And in the same way that a father oversees a child, in that same way the spiritual master will oversee the natural progress of a devotee, back home, back to Godhead."
Continuing on immediately from the definition of a diksa guru given in the last section, SRS further explains that the diksa guru practically oversees the progress of a disciple back to Godhead. Again, SRS forgets that he had earlier conceded that the supposed "diksa" gurus in ISKCON do not actually perform this function:
"Senior devotees who are associating with you on a regular basis. And of course, not only is it that the spiritual master then hears from them, but actually the reality is that they're the ones who are daily giving, day-to-day advice, or guidance."
(SRS Podcast, 9/8/10)
We saw earlier that SRS had defined the diksa guru as a person who gives the disciple transcendental knowledge about Krsna:
"He will tell you who the Supreme Personality of Godhead is, what your relationship is with him, how you can cultivate devotional service, what are the stages of advancement".
SRS forgets that he had earlier already told us that the person who teaches us this is Srila Prabhupada:
"the first guru that, you know, one accepts is Srila Prabhupada because he's explaining the scripture for us and he's teaching us by his instructions and example".
(SRS Podcast, 7/8/09)
As SRS admits here, all of us in ISKCON learn about who the "Supreme Personality of Godhead is" and other similar matters, directly from Srila Prabhupada through his books.
"One should have built a personal relationship with a spiritual master prior to initiation. That's what it means to accept a spiritual master. That there is some level of personal interaction."
In an attempt to justify the position of ISKCON's gurus, SRS states that one must have some personal interaction with a spiritual master before one gets initiated by him. Such a condition, it is hoped, will automatically exclude Srila Prabhupada being one's spiritual master. But SRS forgets that he has told us earlier that such "personal interaction" with the spiritual master is not necessary, since he never even met Srila Prabhupada before receiving initiation from him, let alone having "built a personal relationship prior to initiation":
"For almost five years I had seen and known Prabhupada visually from photos [...] But I had never seen Prabhupada in person [...] That was the first personal contact with his Divine Grace, although I had been an initiated devotee for two years."
(SRS, "Meeting Srila Prabhupada")
Indeed, SRS admits in the same Q&A session, that actually disciples of ISKCON gurus may not even know who they are!:
"Whereas the person who's the guru perhaps we don't know them, and the faith that we have in them is not on the basis of knowing them, but it's on the basis of not knowing them."
SRS defines what a diksa guru is and the role he fulfils, having already told us that:
a) Neither he, nor the other gurus in ISKCON, fulfil this role.
b) Srila Prabhupada does fulfil this role.
Yet, SRS still insists on masquerading as a fake diksa guru in ISKCON, because, as he states, the position automatically entitles him to garner many benefits from disciples:
"So Sandipani Muni then tells Krsna that it's the responsibility of a disciple to give his life, his wealth, his entire possessions to the service of the spiritual master."
And SRS makes sure to fully accept the "life", "wealth" and "possessions" of his disciples to be used in his service!
Yet another attempt by ISKCON's leadership to justify ISKCON's guru system ends up only revealing that ISKCON's gurus are cheating. It's not just that ISKCON's leadership is unable to defeat the IRM. Rather, they cannot even avoid defeating themselves!
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