Don't Forget Me!
Back To Prabhupada, Issue 69, Vol 2, 2021
Despite the fact that his "Founder-Acarya" course mentioned in the previous article is supposedly about Srila Prabhupada, GBC voted-in guru Suresvara Dasa ("SUD") also makes sure to teach about the supposed importance of GBC voted-in gurus, such as himself. All SUD quotes in this article are taken from the same source as in the previous article and highlighted in yellow. Emphases added.
SUD expresses his vehement opposition to Srila Prabhupada displacing his own position as a GBC voted-in guru by calling it "illegal" for Srila Prabhupada to do this:
Further, SUD claims that the idea that Srila Prabhupada is everyone's diksa guru is "sentimental fiction" and betrays "ignorance of Prabhupada's consistent teachings":
1) The IRM's foundational document, The Final Order (TFO), is accepted by SUD's fellow GBC voted-in gurus HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami and HH Jayadvaita Swami as the "Bible" for those who accept Srila Prabhupada as everyone's diksa guru. And the contents of TFO show that the conclusion that Srila Prabhupada is ISKCON's diksa guru "arose" only from Srila Prabhupada's statements.
2) We quoted SUD giving various evidences in the previous article that Srila Prabhupada's teachings show that Srila Prabhupada continues to act as everyone's diksa guru, and thus it is actually SUD who betrays ignorance of his own teachings!
SUD quotes the following letter from Srila Prabhupada to Tusta Krsna Dasa, dated 2/12/75:
And SUD states that this means:
Thus, SUD bases his claim – that it is "illegal" for Srila Prabhupada to continue to act as diksa guru for everyone – on this "law" mentioned by Srila Prabhupada in the above letter. However:
1) SUD's authority, the GBC, who are the only reason SUD is a GBC voted-in diksa guru himself in the first place, themselves do not believe in this "law", since they have allowed multiple people to become ISKCON gurus in their own ISKCON gurus' physical presence.
2) In any case, Srila Prabhupada only states that the "law" is the time period in which it is theoretically possible for one to become a successor diksa guru to Srila Prabhupada – i.e., after Srila Prabhupada's physical disappearance. That is, it states when this act can be done. However, by definition, Srila Prabhupada would still need to first renounce his position as ISKCON's diksa guru, otherwise there can be no application of this law of disciplic "succession" as there would be nothing to succeed. And Srila Prabhupada never did this. In addition, even if the "law" could be invoked after Srila Prabhupada's physical disappearance because Srila Prabhupada had renounced his position as ISKCON's diksa guru, possible successors would still need to both be qualified and authorised by Srila Prabhupada to take up such a role. And such authorisation never occurred because, as noted, Srila Prabhupada continued to remain ISKCON's diksa guru, rendering such authorisation unnecessary.
SUD also quotes Tamala Krsna Goswami ("TKG")'s diary as proof that Srila Prabhupada wanted diksa guru successors:
And SUD comments on the underlined statement that Srila Prabhupada did order such "acaryas" of "zones":
But TKG himself contradicted such a zonal acarya appointment, stating that:
"Myself and the other GBC have done the greatest disservice to this movement the last three years because we interpreted the appointment of ritviks as the appointment of gurus."
(TKG, Topanga Canyon Confessions, 3/12/80)
SUD claims intermediary GBC voted-in gurus such as himself are needed to "deepen" our relationship with Srila Prabhupada:
1) But we already quoted SUD proving in the previous article that there is no need for this, because we can have a ‘deeply intimate' relationship directly with Srila Prabhupada through reading his books.
2) And these GBC "diksa gurus" are simply telling us to read Srila Prabhupada's books, and one does not require to succeed Srila Prabhupada as a diksa guru in order to do this!
Thus, SUD tries to ensure that his position as a GBC voted-in successor to Srila Prabhupada is not threatened by Srila Prabhupada's position as ISKCON's Founder-Acarya.
As we mentioned in the last issue, BTP features two types of articles on ISKCON's leaders:
1) They accurately quote Srila Prabhupada's teachings, as in the previous article, and thus can't help but promote him as ISKCON's diksa guru, even if their goal is the opposite!
2) Or they misrepresent Srila Prabhupada's teachings.
So here we have one of each from the same GBC voted-in guru!
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Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare. And be Happy!