The Reality is That it's NOT Crystal Clear?

BY: PRAGHOSA DASA

Sep 6, CANADA (SUN) — Dear Rocana prabhu, upon reading your "latest" on the article of Hari Sauri's comments on Initiation - I am once again compelled to contact you. Your article - for those who have not read it yet is to be found here.

Your article is 23 paragraphs - with again no effort to provide the readers with either a clear explanation of EXACTLY what PRINCIPLES being promoted by Hari Sauri prabhu that you deem as misrepresenting the instructions of Srila Prabhupada OR exactly what PRINCIPLES were established by Srila Prabhupada that make everything very clear and straightforward in the matter of INITIATION within the LEGALLY ESTABLISHED - INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS.

You write that "The reality is NOT crystal clear".

I find this to be utterly devoid of logic and reason where it concerns Srila Prabhupada. The implications of your paper are distinctly out of touch with reality. You essentially say - without hint of remorse - that His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada - deliberately left us WITHOUT MAKING EVERYTHING PERFECTLY CRYSTAL CLEAR in every single area of importance pertaining to the management and spreading of HIS CAREFULLY ESTABLISHED MISSION.

Your statement "The reality IS - - that it IS NOT crystal clear" is an expression of YOUR OWN SUBJECTIVE STATE OF MIND - EXPRESSED AS AN "OBJECTIVE ABSOLUTE". Like a man - who personally cannot understand basic math - saying "Basic math - cannot be understood"...

You do not highlight exactly WHERE Hari Sauri prabhu replaces Srila Prabhupada's instructions with his own intellectual inventions - you merely protest his particular recounting of history. You do not offer your readers EXACTLY WHAT SRILA PRABHUPADA INSTRUCTED. You directly claim that Srila Prabhupada left everything vague subject to as many interpretations of the principles and their application WITHIN HIS MISSON NO LESS - as there are elbows and kneecaps amongst the faithful!!

You write - convinced of your own position - and likewise convinced by the fact that many "peers" seem to agree with you:

"In this brief presentation by Hari-sauri, he's essentially trying to gloss over some of the huge discrepancies in ISKCON's history so as to explain away the controversy that surrounds the whole initiation issue. Regardless of what he has to say, or what ISKCON has to say officially, there is no evidence whatsoever that Srila Prabhupada appointed anyone to be gurus. The July 9th letter doesn't say that. As I've mentioned in my previous writings, particularly in Church of Rtvik, I don't hold this letter to have anywhere near the weight it's given by either the Rtviks or ISKCON. I personally received one of these letters at the time because I was a Temple President. As far as I was concerned then and now, like so many of my peers, this letter was meant only to address the immediate situation. It had no authority after Srila Prabhupada departed. It wasn't even written by Srila Prabhupada. At the time, it was taken as a matter of fact by all the grassroots authorities, namely the Temple Presidents. In his article, Hari-sauri maps out the step-by-step events that lead up to the letter, but as far as it being some big legal document that's supposed to go down in history for 10,000 years, or have any weight whatsoever after Srila Prabhupada departed, this is simply the conclusion of people trying to use it as a means to justify their own personal agendas. There is no evidence to the contrary. If there was, you can be sure we'd have heard about it a long time ago."

As I have pointed out in my paper - THE ABOVE STATEMENT BY YOU - AND ALL OTHERS WHO HOLD THIS POSITION - are merely expressing the position of HH Sridhara Swami - who in the spring of 1978 - upon being questioned by the GBC - rejected Srila Prabhupada's simple arrangement for ISKCON'S local preaching by Local Temple Presidents - with the instruction "Send your letters of recommendation" TO ONE OF THE APPOINTED OFFICIATING ACHARYAS WHO IS NEAREST - to your temple".

Sridhara Swami - like yourself and EVERY SINGLE MAN who has expressed the same insolent disrespect for Srila Prabhupada's instruction as you do above "I don't hold this letter to have anywhere near the weight it's given by either the Rtviks or ISKCON." or " "As far as I was concerned then and now, like so many of my peers, this letter was meant only to address the immediate situation. It had no authority after Srila Prabhupada departed" FAIL TO UNDERSTAND - that all of you - are just some guy from Vancouver or Bengal or upper-somewhereia. You are insignificant - unless you repeat the instructions of Srila Prabhupada - if you are representing HIS MISSION. YOU are free to hold whatever opinion you like of course.

But to say that EXACTLY WHAT SRILA PRABHUPADA SAID - IS UNCLEAR - WHEN IT IS NOT UNCLEAR BUT SPELLED OUT IN BLACK AND WHITE is a severe disconnect from reality.

Srila Prabhupada's instructions are every bit as clear as the fine print on any contract you hold in this world. Imagine if the world's banks had to operate with people assigning as much interpretation and/or personal whimsy - to the contracts for mortgages or loans or whatever?

Why you or anyone assumes the right to broadcast that Srila Prabhupada's clear Directives - are in fact anything but clear - is beyond me.

What is so galling about your actions is that you profess to promote a clear understanding of all of this - all the while operating from the premise that it is in fact NOT CLEAR and - unfortunately - due to Srila Prabhupada's ABSENT MINDED NEGLECT OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ESSENTIALS - IT SIMPLY CANNOT EVER BE CLEAR.

The most serious hole in your entire position is - you profess that a man should be given the opportunity - to carefully read over Srila Prabhupada's books and letters and Directives and tapes etc - in order to come TO HIS OWN CONCLUSION ON THIS - BUT IF HE SO HAPPENS TO CONCLUDE THAT BOTH YOU - AND HARI SAURI and in fact all those WHO REJECT SRILA PRABHUPADA'S DIRECTIVES - have it wrong and he decides to simply follow the instructions as they read - and thereby DISAGREES with your rejection of the instructions - then and only then - is his exercising of his own "truly informed" volition to be condemned.

This one conclusion - you and Sridhara Swami and Narayana Swami and Tripurari Swami and all the rest completely condemn.

You constantly rant "Srila Prabhupada is the Sampradaya Acharya" - but in fact all of you - have rejected Srila Prabhupada as the Acharya for HIS MISSION.

When you openly admit "I don't hold this letter to have anywhere near the weight it's given by either the Rtviks or ISKCON. I personally received one of these letters at the time because I was a Temple President. As far as I was concerned then and now, like so many of my peers, this letter was meant only to address the immediate situation. It had no authority after Srila Prabhupada departed." you openly declare your defiance to be the new standard operating procedure. In my "Church of Rtvik" paper and again in my recent reply to Hari-sauri, I've stated that I don't accept that the July 9th Letter has the weight everyone wants to assign to it, nor do I accept it is a legally binding document for post-samadhi initiations in ISKCON.

This is the "original rabbit" that has spawned an unlimited number and variety of "rabbits" or men who now speak with absolute conviction - that THEIR EXPLANTION FOR WHAT SRILA PRABHUPADA MEANT when he said this or that - should be accepted as authoritative - AS opposed to the verbatim reading of the EXACT WORDS OF SRILA PRABHUPADA.

Now recently - in your latest attempt to "explain" what I have written to you upon your request - you stand fully exposed as proudly flaunting your defiance.

Again you brag to your following "In my "Church of Rtvik" paper and again in my recent reply to Hari-sauri, I've stated that I don't accept that the July 9th Letter has the weight everyone wants to assign to it, nor do I accept it is a legally binding document for post-samadhi initiations in ISKCON. and then this one as well - "He does not, however, acknowledge the fact that the sastric instructions on diksa initiation far, far outweigh the instruction in the July 9th Letter." Why do you come to this conclusion so blithely? This earlier statement reveals the the very heart of what I consider your diseased condition - "Aside from my use of the term "Sampradaya Acarya", the greatest problem devotees seem to have with my position is their difficulty in accepting the concept that Srila Prabhupada did not definitively spell out who the exact personalities are that he approved of as being qualified diksa gurus following his departure. I've given my reasons as to why I feel he didn't do that, and they can be summed up simply by the fact that he knew none of his disciples were qualified. Clearly he understood that they thought they were qualified, and he undoubtedly anticipated that they would quickly assume the title and position of diksa guru after his departure. From a sastric perspective, of course, this is authorized. Srila Prabhupada never went against sastric injunction and therefore he couldn't deny them their right to take disciples."

You are clearly here - estimating what YOUR SPIRITUAL MASTER - the very person you had previously sought to submit "body mind and intelligence" to completely - could or could not do - in light of your understanding of what the sastra ( and OTHER purported proponents of that sastra) would approve of!

This in fact is one of the reasons why I inserted the essay by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur on Initiation in my own essay. Srila Prabhupada's essay asserts the Absolute Necessity for fully surrendering to the Bonafide Spritual Master. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura's essay asserts precisely what the qualifications are - for one to be so selected as being fully deserving of our full surrender. (I apologise for mistakenly placing a duplicate of Srila Prabhupada's essay where the link to SBBST's article should have been in my essay. This essay by SBSST is most amazing and will help one to grasp the most important point I am making as to how we as initiated disciples are to hear Srila Prabhupada.)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta states:

"If we do not sincerely submit to be instructed in the alphabets of the life eternal but go on perversely asserting however unconsciously our present processes and so-called convictions against the instructions of the preceptor in the period of noviate we are bound to remain where we are. This also will amount to the practical rejection of all advise because the two worlds have nothing in common though at the same time we naturally fail to understand this believing all the time in accordance with our accustomed methods that we are at any rate partially, following the preceptor. But as a matter of fact when we reserve the right of choice we really follow ourselves, because even when we seem to agree to follow the preceptor it is because he appears to be in agreement with ourselves. But as the two worlds have absolutely nothing in common we are only under a delusion when we suppose that we really understand the method or the object of the preceptor or in other words reserve the right to assertion of the apparent self. Faith in the Scriptures can alone help us in this otherwise unpracticable endeavor. We believe in the preceptor with the help of the shastras when we understand neither. As soon as we are fully convinced of the necessity of submitting unambiguously to the good preceptor it is then and only then that he is enable to show us the way into the spiritual world in accordance with the method laid down in the shastras of that purpose which he can apply properly and without perpetrating fatal blunder in as much as he himself happens to belong to the realm of the spirit."

In essence Rocana prabhu - your assertion that you do not assign absolute value to the Directive of July 9th, nor that you recognize that Srila Prabhupada made any formal arrangement to handle this aspect of HIS specific ISKCON mission - because to do so would - according to you - be a violation of the very sastra HE delivered to you - which up till then you recognized as his authority as well as yours - and "therefore he couldn't deny them their right to take disciples." - is merely you "reserving the right to assertion of your apparent self." We can certainly do that - at any time - but if we do this after we have humbly asked the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, to accept us as his disciples - his eternal servant - it means we have rejected Srila Prabhupada as being unfit for our full surrender.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur explains this:

"But the good preceptor claims our sincere and complete allegiance. The good disciple makes a complete surrender of himself at the feet of the preceptor. But the submission of the disciple is neither irrational nor blind. It is complete on condition that the preceptor himself continues to be altogether good. The disciple retains the right of renouncing his allegiance to the preceptor the moment he is satisfied that the preceptor is a fallible creature like himself. Nor does a good preceptor accept any one as his disciple unless the later is prepared to submit to him freely. A good preceptor is duty bound to renounce a disciple who is not sincerely willing to follow his instructions fully. If a preceptor accepts as his disciple one who refused to be wholly guided by him, or if a disciple submits to a preceptor who is not wholly good, such a preceptor and such disciple are, both of them, doomed to fall from their spiritual state."

You have openly boasted now - in two recent papers, that "I do not accept the July 9th Letter as a Self Evident Directive from Srila Prabhupada and apparently Praghosa Das does".

You have captured the very essence of our positions on this - in a nutshell!

Now - how can we discuss this logically and reasonably when we do not recognize the same means of adjudication? As I told one of your readers - without a mutually agreed upon source of Final Adjudication - we have come to an intractable impasse.

The July 9th Letter - ordered sent out to every single temple president and GBC man - as well as every single devotee in the world - is a matter of public record. It follows on the heels of Srila Prabhupada's order to Tamal Krsna Goswami to see that the Oath of Allegiance was maintained and that every officer in ISKCON acknowledged it and signed it.

A. You confidently assert that "I retain or reserve the right to withhold my personal acceptance of this letter as anything other than a temporary arrangement for the last 4 months of Srila Prabhupada's manifest lila. After that - we were all instructed (by the sastra) to wait for the manifested Mahabhagavat - that was revealed AT THE VERY LEAST to the aspiring devotee who saw him or her as such and chose to accept that as such."

B. I confidently assert - that the July 9th Directive is a Self Evident Directive - ORDERED by Srila Prabhupada - to be sent out to every single temple president and GBC man and devotee in the world. It is the Directive proscribed by Srila Prabhupada for HIS mission and according to Srila Prabhupada on March 27th 1975 - he asserted that his Directives took precedent over the general instructions of his books. His directives - like the "prescription" of the doctor - provide those who no longer "reserve to themselves the right to reject him or his Directives as other than Absolute" the means to act upon the sastra correctly according to the time and circumstance.

I see no need to go over your entire paper; only its essential point - WHICH IS THE FOLLOWING:

1.You attach no importance to the Directives of Srila Prabhupad that I provided as primary or secondary evidence.

2. You boldly reject them AND as well - you assert that His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad made no arrangement whatsoever to ensure the healthy application of his mission in this respect - OTHER THAN to encourage and allow - any disciple, the sastrically supported "right" - to accept disciples and/or accept anyone of their "liking" as their spiritual master - all under the banner of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON.

In short - you assert - that upon the departure from this world - the 4800 initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada were now essentially commanded by scripture to do their utmost to preach Krsna Consciousness as far and as wide as possible; each of them initiating as many disciples as they were able according to their capacity with no need to refert to the GBC or Temple Presidents etc. They were each now "gurus in their own right" provided the were accepted as by whomever might approach them seeking their "shelter".

This is the only logically explicable depiction for your statement.

Of course - there would be those who would reject this as untenable for obvious reasons and would make some claim for WHY this would obviously not facilitate the mission's purpose - but they would be hard-pressed to provide a reasonable answer as to why any of their "objections" to your idea should be given any more authority than your idea itself. Once you claim that it is now "every man for himself" as you so confidently do in both of these papers - you cannot put that genie back in the bottle.

So Rocana Prabhu - as much as you protest against this - in the end - as I point out in the end of my essay - there are countless papers written by many men - all explaining WHY they have assigned less than absolute value to Srila Prabhupada's clear Directives. You all claim this or that - but in the end, it is all just simple rejection of Srila Prabhupada's authority; no matter how it is depicted. Your asserting your membership in this group is not considered by me to be something I would boast about. HH Narayana Maharaja, Sridhara Swami, Tripurari Swami, Narasimha Swami, Jnana Das, Kailasa Chandra and yourself and others - have all written comprehensive explanations for WHY Srila Prabhupada's clear, practical and simple arrangements for initiation within HIS ISKCON mission could never receive yours or their endorsement. All of you profess to understand the true import of the Sastra and its real intent and how to activate it - and it is the conclusion of this abovementioned august body - that I (or we) should listen to all of you and pay no heed to the Self evident words of Srila Prabhupada. According to all of you - I should exercise my good judgment and free will - to reject Srila Prabhupada's Self Evident Directives - and follow your directions - in order to make my life - and the lives of every one else - perfect. I should accept all of your "explanations" of Srila Prabhupada's words - rather than the words themselves! Free Will - is encouraged of course - PROVIDED of course I (or we) use it - to agree with all of your rejection of Srila Prabhupada's Directives! All these papers - written by so many - contain nothing more and nothing less - than all of your full explanation - for why you do not accept Srila Prabhupada as the Supreme Authority for the Krsna Consciousness Movement - under the banner of ISKCON" as he described himself in the Oath of Allegiance he requested we embrace.

Much could be said about the (mis)application of the above mentioned principles - within the main of what is presently called ISKCON. However that is another discussion entirely and we can deal with that later.

I do thank you for taking the time to indulge me in this effort. Our differences are clear and simple.

Now all that is left is for all of us each - to act upon our realizations or convictions and do our best to spread Krsna Consciousness as much as possible.

Let us embrace it like a wonderful competition to please Srila Prabhupada. You have your understanding. I have mine. You are in one lane and I am in the other! The whistle has blown - May the Best Man win!

With respect and encouragement always,
Your servant Praghosa Das NYC

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