Back To Prabhupada, Issue 55, Spring 2017
elow we present how the intense desire to usurp Srila Prabhupada's position as ISKCON's diksa guru forces one to deny the very reality that one has himself put forward! Such behaviour is the hallmark of those who are simply cheating, rather than those who are supposedly as ‘good as God' diksa gurus.
In the November/December 2016 issue of ISKCON's official magazine, Back To Godhead, GBC-elected diksa guru Suresvara Dasa ("SUD") presents the following quote from Srila Prabhupada:
"Because people are in darkness, we require many millions of gurus to enlighten them. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission is, He said, that ‘Every one of you become guru. [If you say] But I have no qualification. How can I become guru?' There is no need of qualification. ‘Still I can become guru?' Yes. ‘How?' Whomever you meet, you simply instruct what Krsna has said. That's all. You become guru."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 21/5/76)
Thus, SUD quotes a statement which answers the question of "How can I become guru?", with the answer:
"There is no need of qualification".
However, SUD claims this statement is evidence that Srila Prabhupada cannot be ISKCON's "perpetual diksa guru". This is because SUD claims that in this statement Lord Caitanya wants:
"everyone to qualify themselves as spiritual masters".
Therefore, SUD claims that "no qualification", means the exact opposite, and that it is actually a call for people to qualify themselves as spiritual masters. He may as well add that "no" means "yes", "black" means "white", and "up" means "down"!
SUD is forced to make such a mind-bending assertion, because a diksa guru does need to first become qualified. Thus, SUD needs to hide the fact that by saying "no qualification", Srila Prabhupada is not speaking about successor diksa gurus.
The GBC, whom SUD represents as one of its elected diksa gurus, itself agrees that the "no need of qualification" standard does not refer to diksa gurus. For it insists that, in order to become a diksa guru in ISKCON, a whole raft of at least 19 "mandatory qualifications" are first satisfied. These include everything from freedom from "attachment to kamini-kancana" (sex objects and wealth), to "knowledge and understanding of sastra" (GBC Resolutions, 2010). Hence, although SUD claims the "no qualification" statement from Srila Prabhupada presented in the previous section speaks of "everyone" becoming a diksa guru, after 40 years the GBC has only allowed a restricted group of around ten dozen men to become diksa gurus in ISKCON.
Thus, in addition to proposing the exact opposite of what he himself has quoted, SUD is also proposing something which, as someone working under the GBC, he does not even believe himself!
SUD also presents the following quote as evidence that Srila Prabhupada cannot be ISKCON's "perpetual diksa guru":
"Keep trained up very rigidly and then you are bona fide Guru, and you can accept disciples on the same principle. But as a matter of etiquette it is the custom that during the lifetime of your spiritual master you bring the prospective disciples to him, and in his absence or disappearance you can accept disciples without any limitation. This is the law of disciplic succession. I want to see my disciples become bona fide Spiritual Master and spread Krishna consciousness very widely, that will make me and Krishna very happy."
(Letter to Tusta Krsna Dasa, 2/12/75)
However, again we find the same pattern as with the "evidence" presented by SUD that we just covered:
a) Srila Prabhupada does not state here what SUD claims. Yes, Srila Prabhupada states the possible time-period when one can become a diksa guru, i.e. only after he physically departs. However, he does not state that at this time he will stop acting as ISKCON's diksa guru, and instead be succeeded by "everyone" as successor diksa gurus. Rather, to answer the question of what should happen at that time, we need to see what Srila Prabhupada actually ordered before his physical departure. Did he state he would no longer be ISKCON's diksa guru, or did he instead give an initiation system whereby he would remain as ISKCON's diksa guru? History shows it was the latter, as evidenced by the July 9th, 1977, initiation directive issued to all ISKCON temples and GBC members.
b) SUD does not even believe the "evidence" he himself is presenting. For the GBC, whom he represents, does not believe in the "law of disciplic succession" that the above letter mentions – they allow disciples to become diksa gurus in their own "spiritual master's" physical presence, and indeed a number of such individuals have done this in ISKCON with the GBC's blessing.
Another GBC-elected diksa guru, HH Bhakti Charu Swami ("BCS"), declares that:
"Therefore, with Srila Prabhupada in the center, let us all become truly united as brothers and sisters to fulfill the prediction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's."
(BCS, Gaura-purnima Lecture, 11/3/17)
If one becomes "brothers and sisters" with Srila Prabhupada in the "centre", this means that Srila Prabhupada is the "father". This is the definition of becoming brothers and sisters due to having the same person in the centre. BCS himself confirms this obvious fact:
"Like for example in the family the father is the center. And with the father in the center we become related to each other as brothers and sisters. [...] If we come closer then we can also see that Prabhupada is the center of our family."
(BCS Seminar, 19/5/09)
Yet, in practice, BCS is a supporter of the GBC guru system, being a GBC-elected diksa guru himself. This guru system ensures that Srila Prabhupada must actually be the "grandfather" for BCS's disciples and the disciples of the other 70-odd GBC diksa gurus. And that they are (God)-brothers and sisters only due to having BCS and the other gurus in the centre as their fathers. Indeed, if they were to actually attempt to unite as brothers and sisters with Srila Prabhupada in the centre as their father, they would face serious disciplinary action by the GBC! So, as with SUD, BCS presents a mind-bending version of reality, due to his intense desire to usurp Srila Prabhupada's position as ISKCON's diksa guru.
Thus, proponents of the guru hoax are denying the very facts they themselves put forward. Hence, this is not a dispute over philosophy. Rather, faced with the same reality regarding Srila Prabhupada – the IRM accepts it, whilst ISKCON's leadership simply live in denial.
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