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Parampara means to hear the truth from the spiritual master


Autumn 2005

�I am confused. If Prabhupada is the sole diksa guru, then how will the parampara go on? If I want to get initiated, whom should I approach? I find this mudslinging very �unvaisnava�. Can�t we simply try to serve Krsna, instead of getting involved in petty politics?� -
Dr. Anoop Sudevan, Kottayam, India

IRM�s reply:

1) The parampara is defined by Srila Prabhupada as follows:

�Parampara means to hear the truth from the spiritual master�.
(Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 20/12/76)

�Parampara means they do not change the word of Krishna. That is parampara�.
(Srila Prabhupada Srimad-Bhagavatam Lecture, 11/8/74)

Since there is no instruction from Srila Prabhupada that such truth and the word of Krishna can only be delivered by someone who is physically present before us, then the parampara continues with Srila Prabhupada. There is no time limit to how long a Guru can remain as the current link in the parampara before another one emerges. Srila Prabhupada shall remain the current link in the parampara for the duration of Lord Caitanya�s sankirtana movement, i.e. the lifetime of ISKCON, which is scheduled to last for up to another 9500 years.

2) Regarding initiation, please note that the IRM does not offer a formal initiation ceremony at present, since it is trying to adhere to Srila Prabhupada�s wishes in this matter, and form a real bona fide GBC first, which can authorise ritviks in line with Srila Prabhupada�s July 9th, 1977 directive to all GBCs and Temple Presidents. Furthermore, Srila Prabhupada has made it clear on many occasions that real initiation has already taken place as long as one is strictly following his instructions.
It is not dependent on a ceremony as the following statements prove:

�So anyway, from 1922 to 1933 practically I was not initiated, but I got the impression impression of preaching Caitanya Mahaprabhu�s cult. That I was thinking. And that was the initiation by my Guru Maharaja.�
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Hyderabad,10/12/76)

�You�ll be initiated. Any one of you�when you agree to follow the regulative principles and you are recommended by our men, then you can also be initiated. Initiation is a formality. First of all you have to decide whether you will abide by the rules and regulations and become Krsna conscious. That is your consideration. You have to decide for yourself whether you are going to take this Krsna consciousness seriously.
That is your decision. Initiation is a formality. If you are serious, that is real initiation. If you have understood this Krsna philosophy and if you have decided that you will take Krsna consciousness seriously and preach the philosophy to others, that is your initiation. My touch is simply a formality. It is your determination.
That is initiation.�
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, recorded in Back To Godhead #49, �The Search for the Divine� )

�...disciplic succession does not always mean that one has to be initiated officially. Disciplic succession means to accept the disciplic conclusion.�
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Dinesh, 31/10/69)

�The chanting of Hare Krsna is our main business, that is real initiation. And as you are all following my instruction, in that matter, the initiator is already there.�
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Tamal Krsna, 19/8/68)

�Well, initiation or no initiation, first thing is knowledge...knowledge. Initiation is formality. Just like you go to a school for knowledge, and admission is formality. That is not very important thing.�
(Srila Prabhupada Interview, Chandigarh,16/10/76)

So the IRM is waiting to formalise this initiation later on - once it has set up the real, bona fide GBC.

3) To serve Krishna one must do it through the bona fide Guru. Hence unless one knows who the genuine Guru is, one cannot serve Krishna:

�By the Grace of Guru one gets Krishna and by the Grace of Krishna one gets a bona fide Guru. Therefore Krishna consciousness means staunch faith both in Guru and Krishna. One minus the other is no good for the devotee [...]
Do not ever try to approach Krishna directly. Anyone who talks of Krishna without service to Guru will not be successful.�
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, 27 September 1967)

Therefore as Srila Prabhupada states:

�Our business is to point out who is not a saint.�
(Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk, April 10th, 1974)

Thus the process of establishing who is the bona fide Guru and who is NOT the bona-fide Guru is essential to being able to serve Krishna in the first place.
What is �unvaisnava� is trying to serve Krishna while bypassing the bona fide Guru Srila Prabhupada. The �mudslinging� you refer to is us simply reporting the bogus activities of bogus Gurus:

�Our business is to point out who is not a saint.�