Back To Prabhupada, Issue 81, 2024
Though the IRM and the GBC may disagree on what Srila Prabhupada's orders are, they do at least theoretically agree that these orders should always be followed. However, it is another phenomenon entirely when, though there is no disagreement over what Srila Prabhupada ordered, an argument is made that the order can still be disobeyed! We present a shocking example of this below.
In the following conversation, which occurred on 24th December, 1969, Srila Prabhupada gives the policy for capitalisation:
Hayagriva: "Well, I think, when referring to Krsna, we should always have a capital "H.""
Srila Prabhupada: "Especially. Yes. Especially for Krsna, you can."
Hayagriva: "And if we want to, for Radha, capital "S.""
Srila Prabhupada: "But Balarama is not different from Krsna."
Satsvarupa: "So He is capital "H.""
Hayagriva: "So He is capital "H." But then here we go." [Laughter.]
Srila Prabhupada: "No, no. You limit to these three. That will do."
Hayagriva: "Limit to those three."
Srila Prabhupada: "Or Visnu. Yes. Visnu."
Thus, Srila Prabhupada gives a clear policy regarding which pronouns of the Lord should be capitalised, and restricts it to four personalities: Krsna, Balarama, Radha and Visnu.
Before Srila Prabhupada gave the above order, the following exchange took place:
Satsvarupa: "So sometimes your Nectar of Devotion has got very few capitals. When Balarama is referred to as "he," there is no capital. But the other policy is to always put... Krsna's Hands, capital H, Krsna's Feet, capital F, Krsna Who, capital W. Which is..."
Srila Prabhupada: "No, no, no. Don't follow that policy. That will not be very... Then..."
Satsvarupa: "The less capitals, the better?"
Srila Prabhupada: "Yes. I think."
In the Preface to his book Krsna-sangati, excerpts from which will be given in shaded boxes below, GBC voted-in guru HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") uses this exchange to argue that the actual capitalisation policy Srila Prabhupada goes on to give, as quoted in the previous section, does not need to be obeyed by him. SRS claims Srila Prabhupada's agreement with "the less capitals, the better" means that Srila Prabhupada was initially agreeing to having no capitalisation at all:
"Srila Prabhupada seemed to be initially inclined to the standard of lower case pronouns [...] is inclined to "the less capitals, the better""
And, thus, though Srila Prabhupada did order that pronouns should be capitalised, we do not need to take this order as being "rigid":
"Although it did not take much arguing to establish the present standard, still, it does not appear that Srila Prabhupada was rigid about the current system"
Hence, SRS states he does not need to follow this order in his books:
"Considering that this is not a BBT publication, I found even less reason to think that Srila Prabhupada would object to the principle of "the less capitals, the better.""
Indeed, in his recent books, SRS disobeys the policy of capitalising the pronouns for Krsna, Radha, Balarama and Visnu as ordered by Srila Prabhupada in the conversation given in the first section, and rather uses lower case throughout.
SRS is thus arguing that:
1) If Srila Prabhupada is "initially inclined" to one course of action, but later orders another, we can reject his actual order because it means that Srila Prabhupada was not "rigid".
2) Therefore, if Srila Prabhupada "seemed to be initially inclined" to a different policy, he would not object if we followed that policy rather than the one he actually gave!
3) Even if Srila Prabhupada says something should "especially" be followed, not once but twice, this still does not mean he actually wants us to follow it!:
"Especially. Yes. Especially for Krsna, you can."
Thus, according to SRS, we could reject any order Srila Prabhupada gave, if Srila Prabhupada may have supposedly said something different earlier. But, it is the duty of the disciple to follow what the guru orders - not try to find reasons to reject such orders:
"I may say many things to you, but when I say something directly, "Do it," your first duty is to do that. You cannot argue, "Sir, you said me like this before." No, that is not your duty. What I say now, you do it. That is obedience. You cannot argue."
(Srila Prabhupada, Lecture, 15/4/75)
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However, in any case, it is not even correct that Srila Prabhupada was "initially inclined" to having no capitalisation of pronouns:
1) Srila Prabhupada initially objects to Satsvarupa proposing the policy of extending capitalisation to Krsna's body parts and His "Who" pronoun. And it is Srila Prabhupada's rejection of this extension policy that Satsvarupa refers to as "The less capitals, the better", which Srila Prabhupada agrees with.
2) Thus, Srila Prabhupada then goes on to give a policy of limiting capitalisation of pronouns to only four personalities, which is consistent with him initially agreeing with "the less capitals, the better".
3) Srila Prabhupada agrees with "less capitals", not "no capitals" as SRS argues. The word "less" by definition means a reduced quantity - it cannot mean no quantity, otherwise there would not be anything that there would be "less" of!
But, even if SRS is correct regarding what Srila Prabhupada may have initially thought, it still gives him no right to reject the order Srila Prabhupada actually gave, as we just showed.
1) SRS has invented a brand new "guru-tattva", which states that if Srila Prabhupada may have discussed something different earlier, we do not need to follow the orders he actually gave. But, as supposedly a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, he must accept that:
"the process is that you cannot change the order of spiritual master."
(Srila Prabhupada, Lecture, 2/2/67)
2) ISKCON leaders usually dispute what Srila Prabhupada has ordered. But, if one is unable to dispute exactly what Srila Prabhupada has ordered, the deviant mentality is so strong that it will still try to concoct some way to not follow his orders.
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