Physical presence of guru not required

(unless it’s Srila Prabhupada!)

Back To Prabhupada, Issue 18, Winter 2007/8

"I explained to her that there are two different forms of the spiritual master. One is called his _vapuh_, his physical presence. And the other is called his _vani_, his vibrational presence. Although the physical presence is more easily experienced and appreciated, the vibrational presence, although more subtle and difficult to experience, is many, many times more important. \[...\] _Vani_, the vibrational presence is the instructions we receive from the spiritual master. This can be in the form of something he personally told us or it can be a general instruction that he has given to everyone. The instruction can be spoken. It can be on an audio or video recording. Or it can be written in a letter, book, or article. No matter in which way the instruction is given and received, it is fully active and potent. By comparative analysis it can be seen that _vani_ is more important than _vapuh_. \[...\] The spiritual master cannot be in every place at once."

The above sounds like an explanation from an IRM member as to why we do not need a physically present "living" guru, since Srila Prabhupada can still guide us. But actually it is an explanation by one of the GBC's unauthorised "living" gurus as to how someone can connect with HIM, when he is not physically present before them, since even ISKCON "living gurus" cannot be everywhere at once:

"Today in the last few minutes before we departed from the ISKCON center in Kaunas, Lithuania for the next stop of our 2006- 2007 World Lecture Series Tour, a young teenage girl who had been regularly attending my lectures in Kaunas asked me a very important question. She asked me how she could maintain in my absence the same enthusiasm for Krishna consciousness that she was feeling in my presence.''

Both quotes are from GBC voted-in-guru Sankarshan Das Adhikari, from a lecture dated September 9th, 2007. So a young teenage girl interested in Krishna consciousness can connect with Sankarshan anytime, even though Sankarshan may not be physically present before her, but the same teenage girl can NOT connect with Srila Prabhupada in exactly the same way, because Srila Prabhupada is not physically present before her, and that's why she needs Sankarshan in the first place! One continues to constantly be amazed at how ISKCON's unauthorised gurus will engage in such shameless hypocrisy, in their pursuit of acquiring followers and disciples. What makes it even worse is that Sankarshan then goes on to justify his standing as an ISKCON guru by stating: "Just as my spiritual master was blessed with the order to spread Krishna consciousness to the English-speaking world, he blessed me and his other disciples with the order to become gurus and deliver the whole world."

1) This "order" to Sankarshan (or anyone else for that matter) to replace Srila Prabhupada as the diksa, or initiating, Guru of ISKCON has never been produced.

2) Sankarshan believed in this phantom order from Srila Prabhupada to become a successor diksa guru so much, that rather than acting on it, he disobeyed it for a quarter of a century after Srila Prabhupada's departure, and instead waited for the "order to become guru" by receiving the necessary number of votes from the GBC to become one of their voted-in-gurus. Clearly, he must be so powerful that he can disobey the so-called order he received from Srila Prabhupada for such a long time, and still deliver the whole world!

Sankarshan Das Adhikari:
Displaying modesty as saviour of the whole world!

HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:
The real saviour of the
whole world

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