Back To Prabhupada, Issue 68, Vol 1, 2021, Quotes, Notes & News
In the first article on page 3, we saw GBC voted-in guru Ravindra Svarupa Dasa correctly explain that in ISKCON:
a) Everyone must worship Srila Prabhupada every morning as the diksa guru during guru-puja.
b) That part of that worship is a desire to only have Srila Prabhupada's words in our hearts and minds.
However, GBC voted-in guru, HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS"), states:
"'in what quantity should a devotee listen to Srila Prabhupada, his spiritual master and other devotees?' Now I can't give you a sastric answer for this in terms of quantity, I'll give you a reasonable speculation [...] I suggested 40% Srila Prabhupada, 40% guru, 20% other."
(SRS podcast, 20/10/20)
Thus, according to SRS, in terms of the words one listens to, Srila Prabhupada's words should occupy only 40% of the space in our hearts and minds, while the majority of the words listened to should be from others.
Hence, SRS is effectively proposing that in the morning everyone in ISKCON must declare during guru-puja to Srila Prabhupada that they promise to only let his words reside in their hearts and minds, and then spend the rest of the day deviating from that instruction!
This also shows how in practice the ISKCON guru system is leading to a minimisation of Srila Prabhupada, with GBC gurus pushing for him to be relegated to being a minority figure even in terms of whom the devotees listen to. This supports an important point made in the article on pages 4-5, wherein GBC member Praghosa Dasa complains that the GBC gurus are blocking Srila Prabhupada from being much more prominent in the lives of the disciples of the GBC gurus. And that Srila Prabhupada therefore needs to be the "moon" while the GBC diksa gurus must just be little stars. We can see here how Praghosa's point has been proven by SRS. Never mind being a moon compared to the GBC guru "stars", SRS is proposing that Srila Prabhupada is not even a star to match all the other GBC gurus and other "stars" in ISKCON who in total will be 20% greater than Srila Prabhupada.
Thus, as we stated in that article, there can be no solution other than eliminating these rival GBC diksa gurus to Srila Prabhupada. Only then will Srila Prabhupada truly be able to shine as the only "moon" in ISKCON. As long as the GBC diksa gurus exist in ISKCON, not only will the philosophy demand that they be treated by their disciples "as good as God" and therefore be the "be all and end all" in disciples' lives, but as we see here from the preaching of SRS: the GBC diksa gurus will themselves keep preaching to keep themselves at the very least on a "par" with Srila Prabhupada.
Return to "Minimising Srila Prabhupada" Index
Return to Sivarama Swami Index
Return to IRM Homepage
