Back To Prabhupada, Issue 74, Vol. 3, 2022
In the previous article, we saw that the claim that one requires a diksa guru who is "living" in the sense of being physically present is not justified. One reason for this is that there is no spiritual purpose to having a diksa guru being physically present if it is also accepted that one actually never needs to have any physical contact with the diksa guru. Proving this point further, a GBC guru recently attempted to offer a reason for needing such a "living" guru, but then less than 2 months later, he was forced to contradict this claim and admit that this reason for needing a "living" guru is actually not required. Below, "living" will be used in the material sense that is used by the GBC gurus, meaning being "physically present".
In a lecture given by GBC voted-in guru HH Kadamba Kanana Swami ("KKS"), he claimed that having a "living" guru is "very helpful":
"to have a living guru is very helpful because it makes Krsna consciousness human, humanly possible, because otherwise it's sort of somewhere this ideal, right? Pure devotee is some abstract thing that you are supposed to be that you can never reach. How will you get there?"
(KKS, Vyasa-puja Lecture, 29/4/22)
It is claimed that the reason for needing a "living" guru is that the guru's physically present example in front of the disciple makes Krsna consciousness "human" and "humanly possible", rather than something "abstract".
However, just a couple of months after preaching this need for a "living guru", KKS was forced to completely overturn this previous claim and instead state the truth. All quotes in shaded boxes below are from an initiation lecture KKS gave on 23/6/22. All emphases added.
On 1/6/22, KKS announced he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, with very limited time remaining. Thus, with KKS imminently not able to be the very "living" guru that new initiates are supposed to be getting initiated by him for, KKS was forced to pose the following question:
"the thing is this, Kadamba Kanana Swami if he's not going to live a long time then what does that mean for the future and for association and how we're going to get instruction, inspiration and how is it all going to go on?"
Hence, given his claim just a couple of months earlier of the "human" need for a "living guru", one would have expected him to advise everyone to seek out someone else who could be that required "living" guru and provide such a "human" example for many years to come. However, KKS did the exact opposite. He insisted on trying to initiate as many new disciples as fast as he possibly could, thus skipping even following the usual protocols, admitting that instead they "did shortcuts".
"the foundation of everything that we do is taking shelter of the spiritual master. [...] and always consider him present. [...] The spiritual master is with us every moment. [...] how much time can we spend in the physical presence of our spiritual master? Limited. [...] I will always be there, your diksa guru."
Thus, to justify his desire to initiate as many new disciples as fast as he can, KKS refutes his earlier claim that a physically present "living" guru is required in order to provide a "human" example. He does so by admitting that this is not actually necessary since the diksa guru is always "present" even though he may not be physically present.
"I've been contemplating about the being in the presence of the spiritual master and being a disciple after the departure of the spiritual master [...] Srila Prabhupada stated that when we read The Nectar of Devotion, we are directly associating with Rupa Goswami. So even through writings we can directly associate or through hearing with our spiritual master."
Continuing with his refutation, KKS states that the spiritual master's "living" presence is not required since we are directly associating with him through his teachings.
"So, yes, initiation is about dedicating our life and our life is made up of a very long series of moments."
Thus, he explains that his imminent lack of physical presence for a new disciple is not relevant, since initiation is only about dedicating our life to the spiritual master, which would not require the guru's physical presence.
The justifications KKS gives for why one can and should take initiation from him, even though he will not imminently be providing a "living" guru "human" example, apply equally to accepting Srila Prabhupada as one's diksa guru. Indeed, KKS actually invokes the example of Srila Prabhupada to make his case about how not having the physical presence of the "living" guru is not relevant to being a disciple of the diksa guru:
"some disciples of Srila Prabhupada were initiated by letter and never even met him in person, not at all [...] But they were his disciple and they dedicated their life."
The GBC gurus are forced to try to give some sort of justification for the need of a "living" guru, like the one KKS had initially claimed at the outset, otherwise they would have nothing to offer, and thus would not be required. Because everything we require to practise Krsna consciousness is given by Srila Prabhupada. We need to read his books. We follow the rules and regulations and spiritual practices he gave. And this is why Srila Prabhupada's disciples, and ironically many of those who insist they are required as "living" gurus, have had the opportunity to practise Krsna consciousness without any "living" guru for the last 45 years. Indeed, by the time they die, most pre-1978 Srila Prabhupada disciples will have spent over 90% of theirs lives as Srila Prabhupada's disciples without any "living" guru, having had no or little physical contact with Srila Prabhupada. Thus, the example, "precedent", taught to us by Srila Prabhupada is that there is no spiritual reason for a "living" guru.
Having refuted his own reason for needing a "living" guru by offering justifications which also apply to accepting Srila Prabhupada as the diksa guru, KKS shows that there is no reason for why Srila Prabhupada needed to be replaced as the diksa guru with "living" GBC gurus in the first place. Nor, as we have shown elsewhere, was there any order from Srila Prabhupada for such a replacement. And, hence, there is no reason at all to accept KKS as a diksa guru.
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