Hoax Built on Self-Admitted Ignorance

Back To Prabhupada, Issue 70, Vol 3, 2021

In the Editorial, we saw the chairman of the GBC Strategic Planning Team (SPT) boasting about his ignorance of guru-tattva (the truth about guru). Two other members of the SPT, Vraj Vihari Dasa ("VVD") and Kaunteya Dasa ("KD"), have also admitted that the whole ISKCON leadership is basically ignorant regarding guru-tattva. The quotes in the shaded boxes are from a discussion between VVD and KD on 11/7/21. Emphases added.

Still not figured out guru issue

KD: "Balavanta _Prabhu_ mentioned that the guru understanding in ISKCON is still a work in progress." \[...\] VVD: "Yeah, well _guru-tattva_ is kind of like _tarko 'pratisthah srutayo vibhinna nasav rsir yasya matam na bhinnam_. You ask every person, and they have a different idea. I would agree with Balavanta _Prabhu_, it's still a work in progress"

1) VVD admits that, in ISKCON, there is still no conclusive understanding of the guru issue, and therefore it is a "work in progress", almost *45* years after Srila Prabhupada's physical disappearance.
2) VVD quotes a verse to explain how guru-tattva is not understood, which Srila Prabhupada explains as follows:

"Srutayo vibhinna nasav rsir ya... [...] they want to give his own interpretation of everything. That is their habit. They don't accept the interpretation of the higher authority. [...] So you cannot conclude what is real thing."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 23/10/66)

Srila Prabhupada describes this "tarko ‘pratisthah" verse as being relevant to when people do not accept the "higher authority" of the spiritual master. And, thus, VVD is implying that this is also the case for the understanding of guru-tattva by ISKCON's leaders regarding its GBC guru system, which is actually true, and that is why it is a guru hoax! It is also accepted that understanding of the siksa guru part of guru-tattva is "rather vague":

KD: "the role of _siksa_ guru as part of _guru-tattva_ is still rather vague" \[...\] VVD: "Well, certainly it's vague, yes, it's, yeah."

No understanding what is guru

KD admits that there is no "common understanding" of who can be a guru, or even what a guru is:

"it's a work in progress because there is no, what do you call, a common understanding of what a guru is, or who can be a guru, and so on"

But, to then still try to defend the guru hoax, KD contradictorily claims that ISKCON's guru system can still "function":

"but not in the sense a work in progress that it cannot function. I mean, we do have dozens of functioning gurus who do have thousands of functioning disciples, so the knowledge is being transmitted, the _sastras_, they have been, they are being imbibed, assimilated, realized."

This is a completely contradictory assertion for the following reasons:

1) If one does not know what the guru is, then one cannot assert for a fact that these GBC gurus are functioning correctly as diksa gurus, as that would require knowledge of what a guru is.
2) If one does not know who can be the guru, then one cannot assert for a fact that these GBC gurus are authorised, bona fide diksa gurus, as that would require knowledge of who could be a guru.

Conclusion

1) Any sane society would act in knowledge, not ignorance. That is, they would first be knowledgeable regarding what they are supposed to be doing, and then act based on that knowledge. Yet, it is admitted that, although the ISKCON guru program has been running for 45 years, it is based on ignorance, since it has not been established who can be a guru or even what a guru is.

2) This confusion and ignorance arises due to trying to construct a guru hoax, which has no teachings from Srila Prabhupada to support it. Whereas, the guru system Srila Prabhupada left us, with only him as the diksa guru, is perfectly substantiated by Srila Prabhupada's teachings – since it is the same one he already practised!

Return to "The Great Guru Hoax, Parts 1 & 2" Index

Return to Kaunteya Dasa Index

Return to IRM Homepage

Please chant: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare. And be Happy!