Back To Prabhupada, Issue 79, 2024
GBC guru HH Hridayananda Dasa Goswami ("HD") was one of the original 11 rtviks appointed by Srila Prabhupada in the July 9th, 1977 Directive to perform initiations on his behalf. After Srila Prabhupada's physical departure, these 11 rtviks, including HD, disregarded this directive and instead usurped Srila Prabhupada's diksa guru position for themselves. In an interview published on 15/1/24, titled "Why the Zonal Acaryas Struggled", HD unwittingly proves that these 11 rtviks were not ordered to turn into diksa gurus. All quotes in the shaded boxes are from this interview.
"Prabhupada actually held two positions [...] he didn't differentiate [...] the two positions Prabhupada held were number one: of course he was our diksa guru, but number two: he was the Founder-Acarya [...] It was just one thing, undifferentiated [...] it was all merged"
In our book Srila Prabhupada - The Founder-Acarya of ISKCON: Presenting the Conclusions of the GBC Foundational Document, we established, using both the statements of Srila Prabhupada and the GBC, that:
1) Srila Prabhupada's position as "Founder-Acarya" meant that he would always be the Founder and Acarya of ISKCON.
2) This meant he would also be ISKCON's diksa guru, as there was no difference in his position as the Acarya and diksa guru of ISKCON.
In agreeing that Srila Prabhupada never differentiated between the two positions he held in ISKCON, HD is thus supporting the conclusions of the aforementioned book that Srila Prabhupada will always be ISKCON's Founder, Acarya and diksa guru.
"he didn't leave any special or specific instructions for how to be a guru. [...] Prabhupada never explained how to be a guru who's not the Founder-Acarya. [...] in terms of practical application, you know, rituals, ceremonies, not a word. Not one word."
HD emphatically admits *3* times that Srila Prabhupada left no instructions for how his disciples would become successor diksa gurus. And thus, they built their successor diksa guru system in the following way:
"you have to see what works [...] there was trial and error."
HD therefore claims that:
1) Srila Prabhupada gave no instructions to guide his disciples regarding the most crucial matter of how they would become and act as successor diksa gurus;
2) Thus, they were expected instead to use speculation and "trial and error"!
It is illogical and inconsistent to claim that Srila Prabhupada definitely wanted successor gurus but at the same time refused or "forgot" to say how they would actually function. Thus, if there is not even "one word" regarding how gurus would exist, then it means there was no order for gurus to exist, period.
HD claims Srila Prabhupada only chose "managers" to be diksa gurus:
"when Prabhupada chose new gurus [...] he didn't choose one person who was just a saintly brahmana. The only people he chose were devotees who also were big managers"
HD claims that, due to Srila Prabhupada not having studied the "sociology of religion", he made a mistake in appointing such persons as diksa gurus, as it would "cause trouble":
"Prabhupada, who, I don't think he studied the sociology of religion [...] The problem is [...] you need a division of authority. If the same person is the holy leader but also the manager it causes trouble"
And therefore they fell down:
"a lot of these people were more managers than philosophers, they were passionate [...] because managers aren't renounced most of the time [...] so therefore when they got into that position, their passionate nature overcame them and there were a lot of falldowns"
Thus, HD claims that:
1) Srila Prabhupada specifically chose unqualified persons to be diksa gurus because he chose passionate managers rather than renounced, philosophical brahmanas.
2) Thus, guru falldowns were effectively Srila Prabhupada's fault due to his mistake in appointing the wrong persons, and this was because of his lack of academic knowledge.
However, this would mean that either:
1) Srila Prabhupada did not even know the qualifications required to be a diksa guru and thus mistakenly chose managers instead; Or
2) Srila Prabhupada did not choose diksa gurus, but managers.
As Srila Prabhupada was not ignorant of the qualifications required to be a diksa guru, the only logical conclusion regarding HD's claims is that Srila Prabhupada actually chose managers because he only wanted managers rather than diksa gurus.
"Prabhupada's instruction that don't change anything, just do everything the way I'm doing it. So what does that mean in this case?"
HD states the above to argue that it was justified for the first 11 GBC successor diksa gurus such as himself to imitate how Srila Prabhupada behaved as a diksa guru, and thus themselves behave as diksa gurus in the way that Srila Prabhupada was "doing it". But "don't change anything" means don't change anything, which means you have to continue the situation whereby Srila Prabhupada remains the diksa guru of ISKCON, rather than change it!
HD admits that:
1) Srila Prabhupada did not differentiate between his role as the Founder-Acarya and diksa guru of ISKCON.
2) Srila Prabhupada did not state "one word" about the functioning of successor diksa gurus in ISKCON.
3) Srila Prabhupada instructed that don't change "anything".
4) Srila Prabhupada appointed managers rather than those who should be diksa gurus.
This is exactly what Srila Prabhupada would have done had he wanted to continue as ISKCON's diksa guru and not appointed successor diksa gurus!
Hence, the claim that Srila Prabhupada did "choose gurus" rests entirely on:
a) Taking snippets of a few phrases from the May 28th, 1977 conversation and applying mind reading (see "Mind Reading" article from the last issue);
b) Claiming "when I order" means "I am ordering right now" (see Interactive in this issue)
– such is the lack of evidence for those appointed rtviks to have turned into diksa gurus.
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