Back To Prabhupada, Issue 76, Vol. 1, 2023
We have seen that, from time to time, an ISKCON leader will bravely try to directly challenge the IRM's position, which they call "rtvik". A recent attempt was made by GBC voted-in guru HH Trivikrama Swami ("TKS") in a lecture dated 18/12/22, from which the statements in the shaded boxes are taken. All emphases added.
"We see that rtviks are here in India. [...] Prabhupada wanted disciples, you know, he said often like that, ‘disciple of my – when my disciples have disciples'"
1) Srila Prabhupada did not state "when my disciples have disciples" even once, never mind "often".
2) The closest would be:
"When I order you become guru, he becomes regular guru. That's all. He becomes disciple of my disciple."
(Srila Prabhupada, Conversation, 28/5/77)
Srila Prabhupada states that when he gives an order to become a diksa guru, a "disciple of my disciple", or "grand-disciple", would manifest. But there is no record of such a diksa guru order being given.
3) Neither is there an order from Srila Prabhupada which states that the rtviks he appointed in his July 9th, 1977, final directive on initiations for ISKCON should transmogrify into diksa guru successors on his departure. Otherwise, TKS would have produced it, rather than a made-up quote.
"and so it's ["rtvik"] a reactionary philosophy, and the reaction was that some of the gurus fell down, and so they say, ‘Prabhupada couldn't have made these people guru'. So he, they decided there's no gurus in ISKCON and only Prabhupada."
The Final Order (TFO), the position paper of the IRM, is based on orders given by Srila Prabhupada to keep him as the diksa guru of ISKCON. Thus, it was on these orders, and not due to gurus who fell down, that our mission to restore Srila Prabhupada's diksa guru position in ISKCON was based. A study of TFO will prove this. Hence, we were not the ones who "decided there's no gurus in ISKCON and only Prabhupada". Srila Prabhupada decided that due to these orders. TKS has fabricated that our position is "reactionary", rather than based on Srila Prabhupada's orders, as a means to avoid dealing with these orders.
"they're [rtviks] saying, ‘Now the parampara is stopped. Prabhupada's the last person.'"
TKS fabricates the arguments we present. We do not say "the parampara is stopped", nor is it stopped if Srila Prabhupada remains as ISKCON's diksa guru. Here is the proof:
1) The parampara is eternal:
"the disciplic succession from time eternal" (Bg., 4.42, purport)
Hence, the only way we could be saying that the parampara is "stopped" is if we claimed that Srila Prabhupada must be the diksa guru eternally. But we do not say that. We only say that Srila Prabhupada is the diksa guru for ISKCON, which will only last for a few thousand years.
2) Thus, by Srila Prabhupada remaining ISKCON's diksa guru, the parampara does not stop, but it continues with Srila Prabhupada as the bona fide "current link" of the parampara (see the article on page 3). And Srila Prabhupada acting as the current link for ISKCON is not restricted or prohibited, unless:
a) There is a mandatory "time limit" for how long a spiritual master can remain as the current link in the parampara.
b) There is a prohibition against a spiritual master acting as the current link if he does not possess a physical body.
But neither of these things exist.
3) TKS himself accepts that Srila Prabhupada will remain the current link for ISKCON:
"This secret of success is no longer a secret, it is open to all for the next 10,000 years. Anyone, following in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada, who accepts his words, his orders, and executes them with 100% sincerity will also become a perfectly pure devotee."
(TKS, "On Srila Prabhupada's Unique Position")
TKS says Srila Prabhupada alone is the person whose orders we need to follow for the next 10,000 years to practise Krsna consciousness. But that means Srila Prabhupada is the current link, since the need for any other diksa gurus would automatically be precluded, as they would serve no function!
Contradicting his current claims against the IRM's position, previously TKS had not stated that our position was incorrect:
"I think that Prabhupada may be able to initiate people."
(TKS Lecture, 14/6/08)
"And so we'll go along with their system rather than attack it. So that's my main complaint with the rtviks is that they are political."
(TKS Lecture, 14/6/08)
"But still, what is the harm of getting a formal initiation in ISKCON? You can explain to your spiritual master that you think Srila Prabhupada is your main link to Krsna."
(TKS Lecture, 14/6/08)
"So if you're able to remember Prabhupada at the time of death, then he'll take you to Krsna."
(TKS Lecture, 27/6/10)
In the last two quotes, TKS is explaining that Srila Prabhupada is the diksa guru:
"And if you get a bona fide spiritual master, then he will take you to Krsna."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 16/5/70)
Thus, all the arguments TKS is presenting now, or that he may present in the future, attacking the IRM's position, can easily be defeated by...TKS himself. We just need to quote TKS back to TKS! The previous 4 articles in this issue demonstrate how ISKCON leaders' own words support our position. And here is yet another example! In one of the quotes above, TKS states that he is happy to go along with us because he does not disagree with us philosophically, but rather his complaint is that we are supposedly "political". However, it is TKS who is clearly political, having done a 180 degree flip-flop in regard to his previous position.
Thus, yet another ISKCON leader, while trying to rebut our position, is easily defeated simply by us pointing out that he does not even know how to read, as TKS has not read:
a) What we actually state.
b) What Srila Prabhupada actually states.
c) What he himself has stated.
Is there any ISKCON leader who can even accurately read what we state – never mind defeat it? Because without doing the former, you have zero chance of achieving the latter.
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