Back To Prabhupada, Issue 82, 2025
Welcome to Issue 82 of Back To Prabhupada (BTP).
Consider the principle: "You cannot give what you do not possess." This principle is so obvious that it can be established from every conceivable angle:
1) Srila Prabhupada:
"it is to be understood that the conditioned soul is tightly tied by the ropes of illusion. A man bound by the hands and feet cannot free himself – he must be helped by a person who is unbound. Because the bound cannot help the bound, the rescuer must be liberated. Therefore, only Lord Krsna, or His bona fide representative the spiritual master, can release the conditioned soul."
(Bg., 7.14, purport. All emphases in issue added.)
Thus, one who is bound cannot give freedom to another person, because he does not possess that freedom himself.
2) Practical application: In order to rescue a drowning man who cannot swim, the rescuer must be able to swim. Otherwise, the rescuer will also drown, rather than be able to rescue the other drowning person.
3) Science: Sadaputa Dasa, a scientist devotee, had made a presentation to Srila Prabhupada in 1976 which used Information Theory, a branch of mathematics, to prove that life cannot arise from matter. The basis of the proof was that a system cannot generate more specific information than has been put into it, i.e. it cannot give rise to something it does not possess.
Actually, only Srila Prabhupada's quote is required to establish the truth of any point, but the other evidences were added just to show how obvious the conclusion is. Thus, if there is one thing that is definitely true, which cannot be denied by anyone, it is this principle. However, GBC voted-in guru HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") explains the GBC guru system as follows:
"a risk how many disciples one takes. One's trying to become liberated oneself, and yet at the same time one's carrying the burden of others."
(SRS, Lecture, 15/9/24)
Thus, he claims that the GBC guru system is based on a conditioned soul – i.e. one who is not liberated but trying to "become liberated oneself" – trying to rescue other conditioned souls by taking the "risk" of accepting them as disciples. This system is therefore based on directly defying Srila Prabhupada's teachings which we just quoted, which state that the rescuer guru must be a liberated soul. As Srila Prabhupada explains, helping those who are bound can only be done by those who are unbound. Thus, in order for it to work, this GBC guru system would have to defy reality, since it is not possible to give that – liberation – which you do not possess – being liberated. Therefore, according to Srila Prabhupada's teachings, and the nature of reality, the GBC guru system needs to be scrapped due to it not being fit for purpose – it cannot release the conditioned souls from their bondage.
In regard to the qualifications required for GBC gurus, we can also note that one of the leaders of ISKCON India, Basu Ghosh Dasa ("BGD"), quoted Srila Prabhupada stating –
"Actually one who has attained the perfection, she can become guru."
(Srila Prabhupada, Interview, 18/6/76)
– to then argue that:
"Since none of us can fully guarantee who has "attained the perfection", why should FDGs [female diksa gurus - Ed.] be introduced?"
(BGD, Email, 1/1/22)
BGD bases his argument on the fact that Srila Prabhupada refers to females needing to attain "perfection" before becoming a diksa guru: "she can become guru". But, the very next words Srila Prabhupada states in the same quote are:
"But man or woman, unless one has attained the perfection."
Thus, by BGD's logic, actually no GBC gurus, men or women, "should be introduced"! Which reinforces the same conclusion that emerges from SRS's explanation of the GBC guru system quoted above.
Thank you and Hare Krsna.
In Srila Prabhupada's service,
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Female Diksa Gurus
Guru-Tattva
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