A
new devotee told us he could not understand why there was a dispute over Srila Prabhupada’s position since every ISKCON temple had a big “statue” of Srila Prabhupada, and every morning they offered “Guru-puja”, or worship of the Guru, to him.
We explained that this was the “bait-and-switch” approach. Having no potency of their own, the GBC guru hoaxers all hide behind Srila Prabhupada, except when it’s their “payday”, known in ISKCON as “initiation”, when Srila Prabhupada is suddenly summarily shoved out of the way. Even then, to appease the disciple, sometimes weasel words are offered claiming the initiation is being done “on behalf of Srila Prabhupada”, but the guru-dakshina cheque and worship, however, remain firmly with the impostor “guru”.
But the fact that ISKCON is offering “Guru-puja” every morning to Srila Prabhupada is indeed instructive.
Guru-puja: the worship of the diksa Guru
Every morning in every ISKCON temple in the world, devotees perform this ceremony of “Guru-puja" - the worship of ISKCON Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This ceremony is compulsory for all members of ISKCON, from the seniormost GBC member to the newest bhakta (devotee). It is also a ceremony that is meant to be observed daily for the lifetime of ISKCON for thousands of years to come. Even though Srila Prabhupada is not physically present, every day all the members of the GBC and their followers stand in front of Srila Prabhupada in his murti (sacred effigy) form and, as part of the Guru-puja ceremony, sing the following verse to him:
“cakhu-dan dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei, Divya-jnana hrde prokasito.”
The ISKCON song book translation of this verse is:
“He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth.”
And in an explanation of this verse, Srila Prabhupada categorically states that it means he is giving diksa, or initiation:
“Divya-jnana hrde prokasito. What is that divya-jnana? […] This is divya-jnana. Diksa. Diksa means from this divyajnana.”
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 11/7/1976)
Srila Prabhupada says to approach him for diksa
The standard scriptural evidence for the need to take initiation from a diksa Guru is given in Bhagavad-gita, 4:34:
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from himsubmissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.”
(Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 4:34, [1972 ed.])
1) The word “upadeksyanti” which appears in the Sanskrit transliteration of this verse is translated by Srila Prabhupada as “initiate” and “impart knowledge”. And we have just seen that every morning we must recite that it is Srila Prabhupada who imparts this knowledge by which one is initiated – “divya-jnana.”
2) The GBC argue that this verse can only apply to them and not Srila Prabhupada, as one cannot “approach” Srila Prabhupada for initiation as “he is not physically present”. But again, we sing something else every morning to Srila Prabhupada during Guru-puja. The very first line of Guru-puja, sung every morning by every member of ISKCON, is:
“Sri -guru- carana-padma, kevala-bhakti-sadma, vando mui savadhana mate.”
While quoting this first verse from his Guru-puja ceremony, Srila Prabhupada categorically states that this verse means approaching “the spiritual master who has got the power” – which of course must be himself since the verse is sung to him:
“So this is the beginning, that if you want to be devotee, then you must approach the spiritual master who has got the power. Sri-guru-caranapadma, kevala-bhakti-sadma, vando mui savadhana mate.”
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 11/7/1976)
And we saw earlier that this power he possesses is to deliver divya-jnana, or diksa (initiation).
GBC state everyone receiving diksa from Srila Prabhupada
The GBC agree that whoever is giving divya-jnana would indeed be our diksa Guru:
“This divya jnana is the principal active ingredient of diksa.”
(No. 404, GBC Resolutions 1999)
And we have just seen that every ISKCON member is supposed to sing to and glorify Srila Prabhupada every morning, as the Guru who is giving us this divya-jnana! Therefore, the GBC are unwittingly accepting that Srila Prabhupada must be, as the giver of divya-jnana, our diksa Guru.
GBC cheat to fix their goof-up
Having realised that in 1999 they had unwittingly effectively declared Srila Prabhupada as the diksa Guru for ISKCON, and that they are singing this fact every morning, the GBC then tried to get out of this by accepting the recommendation of its “Sastric Advisory Council”, its so-called “brahmanas”, to simply re-define the word “diksa” and claim that it has no connection to “divyajnana”!:
“The syllable di in diksa is not actually derived from the same root as divyam, nor is it necessarily connected with the noun jnanam. Nor does the bare syllable ksa necessarily mean ksapayati, nor is the object of that verb necessarily “ignorance.””
(GBC Sastric Advisory Council paper, 2003)
Srila Prabhupada says the exact opposite, of course:
“Diksa, diksa. Di... divya. There are two words, divyajnana. Divya-jnana means transcendental, spiritual knowledge. So divya is di, and jnanam, ksapayati, explaining, that is ksa, di-ksa. This is called diksa, diksa, the combination. So diksa means the initiation to begin transcendental activities. That is called initiation.”
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture 22/2/1973)
This is like a person caught admitting he was stealing later trying to claim that “stealing does not mean to steal!”
Conclusion
The very fact that we were supposed to sing Guru-puja to Srila Prabhupada every morning for the lifetime of ISKCON is itself the simplest and most compelling evidence that he established himself as the diksa Guru of ISKCON for ISKCON’s lifetime. And the GBC have also unwittingly ended up admitting this fact, an admission made blatantly obvious via their attempts to retract and reinvent Srila Prabhupada’s and their own teachings about divya-jnana and diksa.
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