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EDITORIAL February 4, 2000 VNN5404 Related VNN Stories Rtvik On Your Collar BY TARUN KRSNA DAS EDITORIAL, Feb 4 (VNN) — Two godbrothers requested something be written thereby constituting reentrance into that late great rtvik debate. The very word rtvik at once brings to mind that famous 1959 charttop golden oldy chanted by Yani Kani Francis (with lyrics ever so slightly altered) When you left me all alone, at the ashram shop, Told me you were going out, for a limka pop.
You were gone for quite a while, a half muhurta or more, Then you came back and oh prabhu, this is what I saw... (darshan) Rtvik on your collar told a tale on you. Rtvik on your collar said you were untrue. Bet your bottom rupi false gurus will be through, Cuz rtvik on your collar told a tale on you. 'Rtvik' aka 'Officiating Acharya' is a particular partial conception which can be practiced and preached by those who temporarily (for the time being) cannot put their faith in anyone else except a Founder-Acharya, such as ISKCON's, His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupad. Who can blame them? After so many mishaps and deficiencies in the guru-tattva conception found within ISKCON today! Better safe than sorry is their general approach. Not bad. Not bad at all. It's something like chanting: "saksaddhari tvena samasta sastrair" over and over again without ever getting to the second line! Not bad, but not complete. Not complete as in 'incomplete.' That first line refers to the well-focused kanisthas. That second line refers to madhyamas, those who can recognize sadbhih, the plurality of guru. That third line... is too high for this discussion. If the intention of our predecessor acharyas was to eventually set up a worldwide rtvik aka officiating acharya system, Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur could, would and should have saved himself the trouble of composing lines 2 and 3 of verse 7. In other words, if IRG, PADA and the like take over, they can rtvikize or rtvikate Sri Gurvastakam's 7th stanza to go like this: saksaddhari tvena samasta sastrair saksaddhari tvena samasta sastrair saksaddhari tvena samasta sastrair vande guroh sri caranaravindam Such a Visvanath might calculate: "To heck with the madhyamas and uttamas!! Let's all stay on and stick to the kanistha platform till our last dying breath! (It's so much simpler for those who haven't memorized it yet) And along with or instead of chanting "GauraHari, GauraHari" we can chant "Saksaddhari, Saksaddhari." And for Vyas-puja and Guru-puja celebrations (both avirbhav and tirobhav) they (kanisthas) can maintain their one guru focus NOT by chanting 'Sri Guru Carana Padma' (because Lokanath Gosvami's name is there) (God forbid they should glorify or even mention anyone except one) but instead: Happy Birthday to You Sukhinavirbhav bhavantu Happy Birthday Dear Guruji... Happy Birthday to You. Up until 1997, one famous godbrother who religiously attended ISKCON Brooklyn's Sunday Feast used to go so far as weekly saying, "As long as Prabhupad murti's garland is fresh, I'm satisfied." But in 1998, Mahaprabhu's Internet caught him by his kaupins and hoisted him to a higher ideal. Srila Bhaktipramoda Puri Gosai recently said that rtvik means the "death of our sampradaya." Yes, if everyone, every single devotee was to become a rtvik all at once, then like the sikhs and other closed circuit groups, we would be left to inbreeding only. And we all know what that causes. But this is not the case. Free will, minute independence, that inner voice dictates some of us to hear from other gurus and sadhus besides our own diksa-guru, Srila Prabhupad. As my Kew Gardens, Queens neighbors, Simon and Garfunkel sang 35 yrs ago in their hit 'The Boxer': "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." Some will get hung up on the words 'saksaddhari.' Some of those will proceed to 'sastrair.' Some of those will go further, deeper, attracted by 'sadbhih.' While yet others... once again, too high for this talk. In 1937-8, just after the disappearance of out grand spiritual master Srila Sarasvati Thakur, there was also a rtvik group. Like some of us, they believed and rightly so that there was no one equal to or greater than their guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and that therefore everyone should continue to initiate on his behalf. There were 3 groups. Some followed Kunja Babu, seeing his expertise in serving their guru and managing all 64 Gaudiya Maths. But being that he was paid and still a grhastha, 11 of the 20 sannyasis prefered to support a lifelong brahmacari, Bhaktipradipa Tirtha Mhrj's kidbrother, Ananta Vasudev. One instruction was also there from their Srila Sarasvati Thakur: "Do bhajan under Vasudev's guidance." Srila Bhaktiraksaka Sridhar Mhrj was present at one meeting of these 3 groups seated next to Kunja Babu. The 3rd group, the Sarasvati rtviks stepped up to the plate first. Their speaker went on to glorify their guru so nicely, so sweetly, so succinctly and so conclusively, trying to convince everyone that rtvik aka officiating acharya was the way to go, that after he finally stopped, Kunja Babu, a bit perplexed, turned to Srila Sridhar Mhrj and asked, "What do we do now?" Srila Sridhar Mhrj got up to speak next. He proceeded to thank that first speaker godbrother for his wonderful praise of their extremely exalted gurudev. Hmm, yes. But then he went on to say, "Nevertheless, where you draw the line is insufficient for our preaching mission. We are not sikhs." The sikh parampara stopped over 100 yrs ago after just 10 gurus. The Roman Catholic example is also there. This is also what Srila Puri Gosai may have been indirectly refering to. Srila Sridhar Mhrj proceeded to convince some to take up the responsibility of continuing the sampradaya even though they may not be (or may never be) as exalted as their recently departed gurudev. Some, not all. No one can convince everyone of anything, not even Krsna! Not even God in person! Reread Mahabharata for further details. Some say God gives us too much free will. Others complain that God doesn't allow us more freedom. In either case, some minute independence is always afforded. Bhagavad-gita (7.3) confirms that within this mundane world, the higher the conception, the fewer the customers. manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye yatatam api siddhanam kascin mam vetti tattvatah Keeping this in mind, advertisers and politicians keep us in ignorance as far and as long as possible; otherwise, who will buy their products? Who will vote for them? Ignorance is extremely important to keep the tamogun running smoothly. Thakur Bhaktivinod has listed 3 types of vaisnavas: kanistha, madhyama, uttama = good, better, best. In this way, the late great Bhaktyabhaya Narayan Mhrj, whose samadhi tomb may be visited in Hungary, assessed ISKCON vaisnavas to be "good." There's no such thing as a bad vaisnava. During an interview with a British female newsreporter 30 yrs ago, our Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad strongly reacted when she asked: "How can you detect a bad guru?" SP: "Bad guru? You cannot say 'bad guru.' It is a contradiction of terms. If he's guru, how he can be bad? You can say instead 'false guru.'" So the rtvik reform restore officiating acharya group is filled with vaisnavas. So far, they only see guru in one form, 'saksaddhari', but gradually (as gradual as they like), they all will learn to see and hear guru in other forms. It's inevitable. Who can check spiritual growth? ps Both lipstick and rtvik stains may be difficult to remove, especially from white collars. No harm. No dearth. So many cleansing agents are available. Adi (1.1), ceto darpana marjanam... See you there. pps ISKCON is serving many good purposes, no doubt, but when it comes time for you to choose a sadguru, you may be better off searching another branch of that same Chaitanya Tree. Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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