Living Guru
BY: ANANDA DEVI DASI
Feb 05, UK (SUN) — Dhira Govinda Prabhu seems to have got the right end of the stick in his recent article, "32". I agree with him concerning the Disciplic Succession. The Disciplic Succession is inherently powerful to be able to maintain itself with huge gaps and the example cited is excellent. Questions that have never been answered or even addressed are:
1. What constitutes a relinquishing of "current link" status to the Disciplic Succession and how do you know when to apply that relinquishing of the current link?
2. The period of time that a "Current link" is available for association, initiation, is dependant on what criteria?
3. What are the criteria to apply the next link?
4. How long does a "current link " remain current?
5. Why have ISKCON "assumed" they are the next link?
The point about the phrase "living guru" and Srila Prabhupada's useage of that phrase is thus:
"So although a physical body is not present,the vibration should be accepted as the presence of the Spiritual Master,vibration.What we have heard from the Spiritual Master,that is living."
(Lecture, January 13, 1969)
I see that the phrase "living guru" itself is not used in this example but the inference and implication referring to the Spiritual Master is that what we have heard is "living" from the Spiritual master.
The conceptualised ISKCON definition of "living", refers to a Spiritual Master as a person with a corporal body, but this is not supported by Srila Prabhupada's instructions.
When we talk about the Spiritual Master as "physical" and "living" this does not refer in the ordinary sense that it would to a conditioned soul. The Spiritual Master is in the same category as Lord Krsna and therefore is always Spiritual in every sense. The Spiritual Master's body is always considered Spiritual in every way and when we talk about a "living" Spiritual Master we can only refer to Srila Prabhupada's definition to understand it correctly, otherwise we risk misunderstanding.
The GBC/Gurus have misapplied the "living" guru definition to try to enhance their claim as the "next link diksa gurus".
