Back To Prabhupada, Issue 66, Vol 2, 2020
In the article on page 7, we referred to the "Kirtan Standards" seminar given by GBC-elected guru HH Jayadvaita Swami ("JAS"). In this seminar he also documents and complains about how the IRM's position, that Srila Prabhupada is ISKCON's diksa guru, seems embedded in ISKCON even today. Statements in the shaded boxes below are from this seminar. Emphases added.
JAS states that in ISKCON the prayer sung to the guru during mangala-arati, Gurvastakam, is directed only at Srila Prabhupada:
"we chant gurvastakam in the morning, and then right after that, ‘Jaya Prabhupada', as if the gurvastakam is just chanted for Prabhupada. [...] it seems to say that Prabhupada is your guru, that this song applies to Prabhupada only [...] after like four verses of gurvastakam then we chant ‘Jaya Prabhupada', because this is the Prabhupada song."
And this prayer is clearly addressing the diksa guru:
"The spiritual master is always engaged in the temple worship of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. He also engages his disciples in such worship. [...] By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction of Krsna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement."
(Translation of verses from the Gurvastakam)
Later on in the morning program, the next song sung to the guru – the Sri Guru-vandana prayer – is also offered to Srila Prabhupada during guru-puja and he is exclusively worshipped, as JAS admits:
"the guru-puja kirtan, which as I said is not really guru-puja, it's Prabhupada puja. That's when our whole community comes together."
JAS admits that "guru-puja" in ISKCON is actually "Prabhupada puja". However, this Sri Guru-vandana prayer is offered to the diksa guru:
"cakhudana dilo yei, janme janme prabhu sei, divya-jnana hrde prokasito".
(Translation: "He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth.")
In an explanation of this verse, Srila Prabhupada states that this guru-puja means he is being worshipped as the diksa guru who gives this divya-jnana or transcendental knowledge:
"Divya jnana hrde prokasito. What is that divya jnana? [...] This is divya jnana. Diksa. Diksa means from this divya jnana."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 11/7/76)
JAS explains how initiation ceremonies in ISKCON are conducted:
"I've seen even, you know, like fire sacrifices performed where they're chanting the sampradaya mantras, nama om visnu-padaya, and they start with Prabhupada. You know, they're initiating a disciple, so the priest is, you know, performing the ceremony, initiating the disciple, and he skips over the mantra to the person who is the initiator of the, of that disciple, who is going to be initiated."
The above is akin to a rtvik ceremony, where the person conducting the initiation is merely an officiating priest, and the name of the diksa guru who is actually initiating will be chanted, and in this case that name is Srila Prabhupada.
As a result of pointing out the above, and also other points which highlight how Srila Prabhupada, and not the GBC gurus such as himself, is promoted as effectively being the diksa guru, JAS was prompted to bitterly complain about the situation:
"Are we crypto rtviks? We're really, you know, it doesn't really kind of matter, yeah, we know everyone is initiated by, but really everyone is Prabhupada's disciple? And no one else's?"
"Crypto" means secret, and "rtvik" is the term that ISKCON's leaders use to address the IRM's position (The Final Order is the IRM's position paper):
""The Final Order" (the "rtvik Bible")"
(JAS, 16/10/10)
Thus, JAS complains that in ISKCON, the behaviour is that Srila Prabhupada is the actual diksa guru, and others are at most just accepting disciples on behalf of Srila Prabhupada as "rtviks" or officiating priests.
JAS thus continues with his complaint:
"All I'm saying is don't cut out your diksa guru, as if he were just a, you know, an officiating priest. Because then you're doing violence to the philosophy. [...] You're skipping over. That's what Prabhupada called jumping over. Not that because Prabhupada's the Founder-Acarya, when you initiate a disciple you start with his mantra. Prabhupada, when he initiated disciples started with his own mantra. You know, cause he has to teach what you're supposed to do. Your guru is not to be excluded."
1) JAS thus makes a plea to the members of ISKCON to stop excluding their GBC gurus by treating them as "rtviks" or officiating priests, while Srila Prabhupada is actually treated as the diksa guru. However, as we shall see in the very next article, it is a plea that seems to have fallen on deaf ears, since his very own disciple defies this advice!
2) We also showed in the article on page 7 that accepting Srila Prabhupada as the diksa guru and Acarya of ISKCON is not against what Srila Prabhupada taught. Rather, the idea that Srila Prabhupada must cease to function in the way he always has for ISKCON, and instead be succeeded by persons such as JAS – that is what Srila Prabhupada did not teach. Thus, we are not "jumping over" to reach Srila Prabhupada, because as the Acarya and diksa guru of ISKCON, there is no one to jump over in order to reach him!
In his seminar, JAS attempts to dissuade followers from keeping Srila Prabhupada in the centre of worship, above the GBC-elected "gurus". But leaders such as JAS who seek to deny Srila Prabhupada's true position will continue to be stumped in trying to keep "pushing back Prabhupada", because instead of wanting to push back Prabhupada, many devotees naturally instead want to push to go back To Prabhupada! And thus the IRM's mission will continue to make inroads into the consciousness of all in ISKCON: the rank and file as they naturally gravitate back to Srila Prabhupada, and the leaders such as JAS as they keep trying to prevent it!
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