Back To Prabhupada, Issue 76, Vol. 1, 2023
As our readers will be aware, we have repeatedly documented in BTP and our other literature that Srila Prabhupada is the present or current link in the parampara (disciplic succession) for all members of his ISKCON Society, regardless of his physical presence. See for example BTP 12 "Continuing or ending the parampara?", BTP 24 "Srila Prabhupada: The current link of the parampara" and BTP 30 "The real parampara". And in the IRM's foundational document, The Final Order, we stated that the duration of ISKCON is:
"the time period during which Srila Prabhupada shall remain the "current link" within ISKCON [...] Previous acaryas have remained current for long periods of time; [...] We see no reason why the duration of Srila Prabhupada's reign as "current link", even if it extends right till the end of the Sankirtana Movement, should pose any particular problem."
However, since Srila Prabhupada's physical departure, the GBC has been vigorously opposed to this conclusion, claiming that Srila Prabhupada is no longer the present link for ISKCON, but that instead –
"each disciple must approach and take diksa from a living link in the parampara system"
(Prabhupada's Order, GBC, August, 1998)
– with "living" here meaning one of the GBC's physically present voted-in gurus. Indeed, the text on the dust jacket of the Bhagavad-gita was specifically edited by the BBT to change the reference from Srila Prabhupada being the "current representative" to only being a "recent representative" of an: "unbroken chain of fully self-realized spiritual masters beginning with Lord Krishna Himself." Which again made it clear that the ISKCON leaders did not accept Srila Prabhupada as the current or present link in the parampara after 1977.
The above is not merely a question of words or semantics but is actually pivotal to the GBC's whole guru hoax program. Because, if Srila Prabhupada is the present link in the parampara, it means he must also be the diksa guru from whom we receive initiation:
"the message of Srimad-Bhagavatam is coming down by disciplic succession, and in order to receive the real message of Srimad-Bhagavatam one should approach the current link, or spiritual master in the chain of disciplic succession. After being initiated by the proper spiritual master in that chain of succession, one should engage himself in the discharge of tapasya in the execution of devotional service."
(SB, 2.9.7, purport. Emphases, and in rest of issue, added.)
Thus, if Srila Prabhupada is still the present or current link to the parampara, then it would mean that only he could be the diksa guru in ISKCON, and the GBC gurus would be guilty of masquerading as unauthorised gurus, having usurped Srila Prabhupada's position.
However, GBC voted-in guru HH Candramauli Swami ("CMS") has recently admitted the truth about Srila Prabhupada and the GBC gurus such as himself. In a lecture titled "Following the Instruction of Guru", he stated:
"we have to execute the process very carefully, according to the rules and regulations given by the spiritual master, which is the foundation by which all success in devotional service goes. [...] the spiritual master, in this case, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, who is not only a spiritual master, he's the Founder-Acarya of the Hare Krsna movement, which means that whatever he delineates or designates or tells us to do, if we follow that, we are actually connecting ourselves with the entire parampara, because Srila Prabhupada is the present link in the parampara"
(CMS Lecture, 6/1/23. All quotes in shaded boxes from this lecture)
CMS explains how devotional service depends on following the rules and regulations given by the spiritual master, and that this spiritual master is Srila Prabhupada, and thus he concludes that Srila Prabhupada is the spiritual master who is the present or current link who connects all of us to the parampara. Hence, as explained above, this means that he must accept that Srila Prabhupada alone is ISKCON's diksa guru, and all the GBC gurus, such as CMS himself, have usurped Srila Prabhupada's position by acting as successor diksa gurus.
CMS's reasoning for reaching this conclusion is irrefutable, since it is a fact, not denied even by the GBC, that in ISKCON, it is Srila Prabhupada who gives us all the rules and regulations that we must execute in order to practise devotional service. And since this practice of his teachings alone connects us to the parampara, this makes Srila Prabhupada the present or current link in the parampara for all ISKCON members.
CMS also states two more facts which support his conclusion that Srila Prabhupada is the present link to the parampara:
1) All the knowledge we need for spiritual advancement has already all been directly given to us by Srila Prabhupada:
"He said, "I've put everything in my books." [...] Srila Prabhupada took so much time [...] to make clear all of the principles that he wanted to teach, so we would have everything. [...] There's no need to go anywhere else to get any kind of knowledge that you might need in order to execute devotional service. [...] Even whatever Prabhupada gave us, we can't even exhaust in many lifetimes."
2) Physical presence is not needed for Srila Prabhupada to act as the spiritual master:
"sometimes a devotee will get an instruction from their spiritual master directly [...] But then again, many of us don't get that specific instruction from our spiritual master. [...] it takes some study, it takes some continuous contact with those instructions to clarify and to understand and learn how to apply in each and every circumstance. And when we do that, then that is perfection in devotional service."
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