A Refusal to Accept Guru-Tattva

Back To Prabhupada, Issue 82, 2025

**_G_**_uru-tattva_ means the truth about the spiritual master. It is possible that a person may not know this truth. But worse is to actually _know_ the truth and still refuse to accept it. We present a case study of this below. (Emphases added.)

I know guru standard

GBC voted-in guru HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") states that Srila Prabhupada only ever gave one standard to be a spiritual master:

"the standard of what a spiritual master is meant to be. \[...\] So, Prabhupada had one standard. \[...\] see if the spiritual master meets up to that standard. But the standard is one." (SRS, Lecture, 25/5/24)

And what is that "one standard" to be guru given by Srila Prabhupada? SRS explains:

"Srila Prabhupada said that the spiritual master should be an eternal resident of the spiritual world. \[...\] Srila Prabhupada says that one should be very careful to accept an _uttama-adhikari_. Generally, that's what _uttama-adhikari_ means, someone who's from the spiritual world." (SRS, Lecture, 15/9/24)

SRS refers to Srila Prabhupada's statements, which we presented in the previous two articles. There, we quoted Srila Prabhupada stating that the guru must be liberated, and that such liberated gurus are "generally" nitya-siddhas or from the spiritual world:

"Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord"
(Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 26/4/68)

We also quoted Srila Prabhupada stating that as long as the spiritual master is liberated, it does not matter if he first becomes liberated in the material world. But he must be liberated. That is the minimum "one standard".

I don't accept guru standard

Having correctly stated that –

1) There is only one standard to be a guru;
2) That standard is to be an uttama-adhikari or liberated person

– SRS states the following:

"I'm talking about when the spiritual master's a conditioned soul." (SRS, Lecture, 15/9/24)

Thus, SRS claims that the spiritual master can be a "conditioned soul". Hence, SRS refuses to accept the teachings of Srila Prabhupada regarding the "one standard" to be a spiritual master, which he himself has stated! The one standard taught emphatically by Srila Prabhupada. As we quoted on page 5, Srila Prabhupada directly states the following:

"actually a bona fide Spiritual Master is never a conditioned soul."

Also quoted on page 5:

**"A Spiritual Master must be liberated."

"A Spiritual Master is always liberated."**

It does not get any clearer or more emphatic than that.

In the last issue, we documented SRS presenting himself as supposedly supremely spiritually advanced by writing about the intimate pastimes of Lord Krsna, which are only suitable for liberated persons. Yet, he will not even accept that a spiritual master himself must be liberated!

I minimise gurus

We just quoted SRS not accepting the very teachings from Srila Prabhupada that he himself clearly explained. Continuing in the same vein, SRS also states:

"So, this sort of a direction that is unfortunately there in the Krsna Conscious movement, which is to decrease the standard of what a spiritual master is meant to be." (SRS, Lecture, 25/5/24)

He complains about how, "unfortunately", in the Krsna consciousness movement, there is the tendency to "decrease the standard of what a spiritual master is meant to be". Yet, this is exactly what he is doing, by decreasing the standard of the spiritual master from needing to be liberated to being a conditioned soul. You can't decrease it any more than that.

Ignorant gurus are not gurus

SRS correctly states that the guru must be full of knowledge rather than ignorance:

"Guru, heavy with knowledge." (SRS, Lecture, 25/5/24)

Yet, SRS also states, referring to the GBC gurus in ISKCON, how:

"Because, over the years since Srila Prabhupada's disappearance \[...\] the gurus misunderstood what their position is." (SRS, Lecture, 15/9/24)

If a person claiming to be a guru does not even know what a guru is, then never mind anything else, that would be the height of ignorance. But SRS still accepts that such supremely ignorant GBC gurus are actually bona fide "gurus". Thus, as we saw in the previous sections, SRS again refuses to accept the correct understanding of guru-tattva, even though he knows what it is.

I downgrade the sacred

"So, please take this relationship of guru and disciple as a very sacred thing, very wonderful thing, but it is something that can't be downgraded, minimised, etc." (SRS, Lecture, 25/5/24)

SRS exhorts us to not downgrade the "very sacred" guru-disciple relationship. However, he then states:

"the service of being spiritual master in one sense is like the service of, I don't know, someone being a cook in the kitchen. \[...\] ‘You shouldn't go on _sankirtan_'. Not his business. Similarly, it's not the spiritual master's business to make those type of service decisions, managerial decisions, neither do they have any weight in that regard." (SRS, Lecture, 15/9/24)

He compares the service of a spiritual master to that of a cook, and states that service he could give his disciples would not have "any weight". Hardly a "sacred" relationship!

Conclusion

SRS correctly advises that:

"If Prabhupada didn't say it, don't believe it". (SRS, Lecture, 25/5/24)

But, we have shown that, in practice, SRS's policy is:

"If Prabhupada did say it, don't believe it."

Because he openly rejects what he himself accepts Srila Prabhupada did say. He further states that:

"for disciples, it's important to know _guru-tattva_ and see if the spiritual master meets up to that standard." (SRS, Lecture, 25/5/24)

But, never mind disciples needing to know guru-tattva. SRS, the so-called spiritual master, does not even accept it!

Subscribe for FREE to Back To Prabhupada Magazine - Click Here

Guru-Tattva

Sivarama Swami

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!