February 8, 1999   VNN2974  

"Ritvikism" Rejects Vani In Favour Of Vapu

BY MADAN MOHAN DASA

EDITORIAL, Feb 8 (VNN) — Dear VNN readers, please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga!

My understanding of Srila Prabhupada's mission and instructions was put to the test when I went to live in an ISKCON temple in Leicester, England in 1990.

After a year or so of serving there and studying Srila Prabhupada's books it became very apparent to me that I needed pure guidance. Srila Prabhupada recommends:

"...Such a Vaishnava should be accepted as an uttama-adhikari, a highly advanced devotee, and his association should always be sought." (Nectar of Instruction, Text Five, Purport)

I asked other devotees where any uttama-adhikari Vaishnava - whose association should always be sought - could be found, but they couldn't answer. I met many initiating gurus who spoke eloquently and impressively but, instinctively, I just didn't trust any of them with something as precious as my eternal soul.

I asked several of Srila Prabhupada's disciples from whom they would seek initiation if they were in my position. They either shrugged their shoulders or just gave the honest answer: "Nobody in Iskcon". Not one gave me a positive recommendation for any initiating guru within the Iskcon institution, from all their numerous years of combined experience. Later I found out why.

I prayed hard to Srila Prabhupada to "Please send me a guru like you" and within a matter of days the only 3 disciples of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Maharaja outside India came to visit the Iskcon temple where I was living.

Six months later in Mathura I was accepted by Srila Maharaja for initiation, but only after some considerable testing of my actual desire and determination.

A cynic might say that Srila Prabhupada neither hears nor answers our prayers. But I have faith in Srila Prabhupada and he answered my prayers fully.

So then I was faced with an ultimatum. I was forced to choose between obeying Srila Prabhupada's perfect advice - summarised in Nectar of Instruction - or staying under the control of an administration that could not offer me full shelter and seemed more concerned with my material input than my spiritual progress.

I followed Srila Prabhupada's internal vani through his books, not his external vapu in the form of the Iskcon institution. I was heartbroken when I was forced to leave the Iskcon institution in order to stay loyal to Srila Prabhupada.

What would you have chosen to do? (Please respond)

If we are to accept the "ritvik alternative" to Gaudiya Vaishnavism, then we effectively reject Srila Prabhupada's absolute, eternal, spiritual instructions in favour of his relative directions relating to institutional management.

Ideally Srila Prabhupada's instructions and Srila Prabhupada's preaching institution should be non-different. But they are clearly poles apart, a state of affairs not disputed by any honest person.

The choice that faces all of us is:

Do we accept Srila Prabhupada's perfect vani (instructions) and thereby always seek out and accept the shelter and guidance of pure sadhus at every step, or do we ignore his instructions to follow his external vapu (in the form of the Iskcon institution)?

Basically, we must decide what we really want from life.

If we want to serve Sri Guru and attain Krishna-prema - selfless devotional love in the mood of the Vrajavasis - then we have no choice other than to adhere strictly to Srila Prabhupada's crystal-clear instructions regarding the precise science of progressing in Krishna-bhakti, which at every step and at all times means accepting the direct, pure shelter and personal guidance of maha-bhagavata Vaishnavas, those eternal residents of Vraja who actually possess Krishna-prema. This is Gaudiya Vaishnavism. There is no viable or credible "alternative" means of attaining Krishna-prema.

If we want to become guru, attain some recognition as an authority, manager or leader of some kind or to run impressive projects - motivated by the selfish desire for name, fame, wealth and followers - then opportuniy for those pursuits abound within the Iskcon institution, within the sanga-starved "ritvik" community or indeed within numerous other religious hierarchies where mundane politics is given precedence over pure spiritual instructions.

Srila Prabhupada's instructions on attaining Krishna-prema are unequivocal.

We must always seek out the sanga of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, approach them submissively with respect, make inquiries relevant to our spiritual progress and offer our full energy in service at the lotus feet of such exalted personalities. This actually constitutes true service to Srila Prabhupada by following his higher, spiritual instructions, even if that means abandoning the institution he founded - which no longer represents him anyway - as an impediment on the path of Krishna-bhakti.

There is no other known or approved method of practising Gaudiya Vaishnavism and achieving success on the path of Krishna-bhakti. All doubts in this matter can be removed by reading Nectar of Instruction, which summarises all of Sri Rupa Gosvami's most essential instructions, which are naturally confirmed by Srila Prabhupada in his purports, as he is a rupanuga Vaishnava par excellence.

When we see reams and reams of letters, "position papers" and propaganda criticising pure Vaishnavas, criticising all of Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers, implicitly inferring that Srila Prabhupada himself was a "bogus Gaudiya Math sannyasi" (who could not have properly received sannyasa mantras if none of his godbrothers were qualified), then we must consider what are the actual desires of the authors of these malicious and misguided missives.

Following the teachings of Srila Narayan Maharaja, whatever anyone says or does, I should always presume that their intentions are invariably good, that no jiva soul is intrinsically bad or evil.

Srila Gurudeva praises the guru-nistha of Srila Prabhupada's disciples, many of whom have endured 21 years separated from pure sadhu-sanga, and some of whom never even met Srila Prabhupada in person.

Accepting the good motivation of loyalty to Srila Prabhupada's instructions on the part of both the present GBC Iskcon administration and their "ritvik" counterparts, what must be examined is where the emphasis in following Srila Prabhupada's instructions is actually focused.

"...we must stick to the specific instructions we have got from our guru about how he wanted his society --specifically-- to be managed after his departure. And that is real simple. He said that in the future, when he is no longer with us, there would be ritviks, and he confirmed that in writing on July 9th and in at least five other conversations where he mentions representatives, ritviks, deputies and so on." (A leading "ritvik" proponent, 2nd February 1999)

Certainly Srila Prabhupada's instructions in the matter of institutional mangement are not be taken lightly. But nor are those instructions to be taken in the context of nullifying Srila Prabhupada's explicit instructions to always seek out the sanga of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, which are re-confirmed throughout the verses and his purports in Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta, Nectar of Instruction and throughout all of his other transcendental literatures.

Certainly Srila Prabhupada says "Become guru". Whether in the context of diksa-guru or ritvik representative, it must be noted that Srila Prabhupada always emphasises "First become pure!" This is not something to be ignored or sidestepped in the consideration of who can actually perform the real function of sad-guru.

If we refer to Nectar of Instruction, we can very quickly understand that Srila Prabhupada acknowledges that even kanistha-adhikari and madhyama-adhikari Vaishnavas can be accepted as bonafide gurus - who may indeed fall from grace - but he urges us to always seek out uttama-adhikari Vaishnava gurus who never fall, who alone can impart divya-jnana into the hearts of conditioned jivas by means of both diksa mantra and Hari-katha, which must always be heard directly from such pure sadhus if we desire to actually make advancement in bhakti.

Diksa is to be properly understood, not as one formal event, but as an ongoing process of hearing Hari-katha from the lotus mouths of pure Vaishnavas, essential to facilitate the gradual development of a fully interactive relationship between the individual sadhaka and the Istadevas of those diksa mantras which can only fully enter the heart through direct aural reception.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada on guru-tattva:

"We have to hear about the Lord from His own agent. When we hear those things then all material experience and the inclination to make false arguments have to be locked up. When we hear about the Supreme Lord from a living sadhu who can deliver these talks in a bold, lively, inspiring way, then all weakness will disappear from our hearts, we will feel a kind of courage that was never there before and the soul's natural tendency to surrender to the Lord will fully manifest itself. In that surrendered heart the eternally manifested truth of the transcendental world will spontaneously reveal itself.

"Only by getting the favour of the most favoured is it possible to cultivate Krsna consciousness. When one is not under the guidance of the most favoured, one will not find anything favourable for the cultivation of Krsna consciousness, or for the pursuit of Krsna's happiness. Instead one will find that one's heart is dominated by the demoniac desire for one's own happiness. One has to give up such tendencies, which are unfavourable for devotion, and one has to give up all pride and arrogance. A devotee can find all opportunity to serve Krsna only when he wants to serve Krsna under the guidance of Gurudeva. But unfortunately we have forgotten to make any effort to make Krsna happy; instead we have become busy in pursuit of our own happiness."

(From 'Sarasvati Thakura, The Life and Precepts of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati', published by Mandala Media)

a) Has Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada come to give something different from what his beloved Gurudeva taught him?

b) Did Srila Prabhupada come to implement a system by which aspiring sadhakas NEVER seek out the sanga of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas and NEVER hear the sacred diska mantras or sweet Hari-katha directly from their lotus mouths?

c) Is it really Srila Prabhupada's wish that the Gaudiya Vaishnava bhagavata-guru parampara - unbroken in 500 years - be not only terminated by him but also supplanted by an unauthorised "ritvik" parampara of unguided and unsheltered conditioned souls whose prime interest appears to be mundane managerial reform?

d) Does Srila Prabhupada truly want the transmission of divya-jnana over the next 400 generations (10,000 years) to depend on the ever-degrading "ritvik" system, which has already deviated within one generation into an obsessive emphasis on institutional management at the expense of individual spiritual advancement, a system which has zero supporting evidence from the infallible guru/sadhu/sastra system of establishing eternal, absolute truth and completely shuns and avoids essential direct, pure sadhu-sanga at all times?

e) Is Srila Prabhupada properly understood and served when it is apparent that the entire Gaudiya Vaishnava guru-parampara is continuously blasphemed by his self-proclaimed "ritvik representatives", and his revered godbrothers and even the Gaudiya institution he co-founded (of which ISKCON is a daughter branch) are all continously vilified in his name, supposedly as a bonafide method of inspiring suffering jivas to become attracted to Krishna consciousness?

"Ritvik" proponents consistently answer "yes" to the above 5 questions.

All Gaudiya Vaishnavas say no, no, no, no and no!!!!! to these absurd notions.

There has been no response to the polite request for the "ritvik" proponents to provide infallible guru/sadhu/sastra evidence to support the case for the "ritvik alternative" method of practising Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Why? Because there is no evidence and there is no alternative. "Ritvik" proponents merely display the inclination to make false arguments by constantly avoiding higher truths and sniping at pure Vaishnavas from the sidelines with spurious accusations and irrelevant diversions concerning mundane subject matters.

The simple fact is that any philosophy which differs one iota from Srila Prabhupada's teachings (i.e. pure, rupanuga Gaudiya Vaishnavism) is something to be rejected on that basis alone as being totally unfavourable for the cultivation of Krishna consciousness.

However, the rights and wrongs of the current situation are not the only issues.

Mass delusion, communal dysfunctionality, paranoia, neurosis and even full-blown pyschosis all figure as symptoms of the massive pyschological damage inflicted on thousands of individual jiva souls worldwide over the past 21 years of transition and adjustment within the mebership of an Iskcon institution whose caretaker managers remain stubbornly unwilling to accept pure guidance at every step. My own apathy also played a part in that.

However, cutting down apasiddhantic philosophies, countering Vaishnava aparadha with simple truth, exposing nonsensical apasampradayas and highlighting bogus activities is not particularly difficult.

Helping abuse-damaged children to make the transition into emotional and spiritual adulthood is very difficult. Difficult because the hard work has to be done by the individual. Guidance is always there, but facing the truth and resolving our personal problems (anartha-nivritti) is a painful process. We need to stop blaming others for own shortcomings.

No-one involved in making criticisms of Vaishnavas or hearing those criticisms without immediately silencing the critics by strong argument - in defense of both the accused Vaishnava and the bhakti-latas of both critic and hearer - can possibly make one step of advancement in bhakti.

Insistent Vaishnava aparadhis exceed even the sins of Jagai and Madhai and will never receive the mercy of Lord Nityananda, without which Gaura-prema is totally unobtainable.

Even non-offensive Vaishnava aspirants who avoid the sanga of pure sadhus will certainly fall down, because no-one stands still on the path of bhakti. If we are not making forward progress under direct, pure shelter and guidance, we are guaranteed to fall down, as baddha-jivas simply do not possess the strength and potency to make progress independently of direct, pure guidance.

There has been a recent epidemic of totally unwarranted accusations against Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Maharaja for allegedly "validating" the current GBC Iskcon diska gurus as bonafide. Similar accusations were directed against Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Srila Sridhara Dev Gosvami Maharaja in past years. All his accusers fell from devotional life, one by one.

When a master architect father sees his children building sandcastles and little wooden-block houses, what will he do? Will he make a public announcement that they are not properly qualified builders, that nobody should take them seriously or allow them to construct real houses?

Or will he - as a good father - simply encourage them to gradually learn the art of building better and better constructions as they grow up to eventually become skilled and functional housebuilders in the real world?

The simple fact is that Srila Narayan Maharaja encourages evryone that comes to him to increase their bhakti activities and to develop their love for Sri Krishna as best they can, according to their own level of advancement.

If anyone can see where the GBC Iskcon gurus are at, it's Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Maharaja. He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent guru-tattva. They are baddha-jivas, acting the role of guru in an attempt to serve Srila Prabhupada, according to each individual's capacity to function as guru at the level of kanistha-adhikari, or maybe possibly even madhyama-adhikari.

Anyone involved in criticising Vaishnavas has not, by definition, even entered into the level of kanistha-adhikari. Even if adhikara was there in the past, it is immediately nullified by the desperately ill-advised practise of sadhu-ninda.

Uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas are free from the tendency to criticise others, yet Srila Narayan Maharaja - recognised by all honest sadhakas as a self-effulgent, uttama-adhikari Vaishnava - is criticised by "ritvik" proponents for not being critical of the GBC Iskcon gurus to whom he gives the same affectionate encouragement and guidance that he gives to all who approach him. He is also honour-bound by his promise to his beloved friend and siksa-guru "Swamiji" to look after these young disciples.

The only thing happening in the heart of any uttama-adhikari Vaishnava in the Gaudiya line is the constant flow of pure Krishna-prema. What else can Srila Narayan Maharaja give to anyone other than the pure love and affection which characterises his every thought, word and action? He is utterly incapable of thinking or practising any imperfect idea, speech or deed. He is nitya-siddha, eternally perfect. He doesn't know how to hurt or criticise anyone.

It is a tragically mundane perspective that presents Srila Narayan Maharaja as a threat to anyone's spiritual progress. Yet exactly this allegation is repeatedly made throughout GBC Iskcon and "ritvik" proclamations posted all over the Internet in the current, unprecedented torrent of Vaishnava-aparadha that serves only to advertise the offending accusers as conditioned souls deviated and fallen from the path of bhakti.

The unpalatable but totally unavoidable truth is that the faults projected onto any pure Vaishnava exist only in the hearts and minds of the accusing conditioned souls whose vision is invariably impaired by lust, anger, greed, pride, envy and self-destructive violence.

A further accusation has been levelled that Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Maharaja somehow supports the claimed position of Ananta Vasudeva, the supposed "successor" to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada.

Srila Narayan Maharaja never criticises anyone, but he made his personal perspective on Ananta Vasudeva and the events of the late 1930s very clear in this historic observation made to an open audience during Karttika 1996:

"He is the man who has single-handedly destroyed the whole Gaudiya Math".

Hardly a glowing character reference, or indeed a message of support.

So, back to addressing the primary issue of facing the problems of the worldwide Gaudiya Vaishnava community today.

How do we tackle any problem?

1) We acknowledge that a problem exists,

2) We identify the problem,

3) We address the problem and then

4) We take steps to solve the problem.

Following the above problem-solving process:

1) As conditioned souls, we are suffering in this material world.

2) We don't possess prema for Sri Sri Radha Krishna Yugala Kishora.

3) We need the direct shelter and guidance of pure devotees who do possess Krishna-prema in the highest degree.

4) We approach those sadhus submissively, make relevant enquiries and offer our lives in service to them in order to receive their mercy, which must come in the form of Krishna-prema, as they know nothing else and have nothing else to give.

When we have Krishna-prema, we have everything.

When this problem is solved, all our other problems are automatically solved.

If "ritvik heaven" were established, whereby millions of baddha-jivas become members of a perfectly-administrated religious institution, where everybody is fully obedient to Srila Prabhupada's managerial guidelines for ISKCON, but nobody actually follows his primary spiritual instructions to seek out and accept pure, direct sadhu-sanga at every step, then what use will ISKCON be in actually helping any conditioned souls to attain Krishna-prema, the ultimate goal of human life?

Any intelligent person can understand that such an institution might be of some value for establishing mundane religious principles of dharma, artha, kama and moksha, but ISKCON would be of zero value if it's primary function of connecting suffering baddha-jivas with nitya-siddha Vrajavasi gurus in order to achieve Krishna-prema was not actually fulfilled.

Following managerial guidelines whilst ignoring unequivocal spiritual instructions is an overtly self-centred act of rejecting Srila Prabhupada's vani in preference to the perceived material security and career opportunities offered within his institutional vapu.

I dare any "ritvik" speculator to argue this point. (Please respond)

Making the transition from emotionally damaged, dysfunctional childhood to spiritually functional adulthood is a process that can only take place successfully by following the eternally-established procedure of surrendering fully at the lotus feet of Sri Guru, in whatever physical manifestation the omnipresent, one and only adi-guru Sri Krishna may have chosen to appear in this world - at any time - in the form of any uttama-adhikari Vaishnava.

Immense damage to any child occurs when the parents are fully present, but cause emotional abandonment and abuse to take place due to their inability to facilitate and nurture the child's emotional development and spiritual growth, thus perpetuating dysfunctionality from one generation to the next as a result of their own unresolved emotional problems from their own unhappy childhoods.

The "ritviks" feel that they have been emotionally abandoned by Srila Prabhupada - who as guru-tattva is omnipresent - because they are quite incapable of fully communing with him heart to heart.

Like all dysfunctional, co-dependent children the '"ritviks" remain fiercely loyal to their (unconsciously-percieved) "abusive" parent and can only express their intense anger towards him in outbursts of self-hatred that find their their most extreme manifestations in blaspheming pure Vaishnavas and starving themselves of pure sanga when they know - in theory at least - that these actions are spiritually suicidal.

Of course, Srila Prabhupada is guru-tattva and thereby a supremely functional parent par excellence, in all respects, completely free from fault.

Srila Prabhupada's perfect, exemplary physical manifestation was followed by his perfect, exemplary departure into nitya-lila, preceded by his cast-iron 100% guarantee of spiritual success to any of his followers who demonstrate sufficient wherewithal to actually seek out and accept the direct, pure guidance needed to grasp his perfect, exemplary instructions in all matters physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, with proper discernment.

It really is not the fault of the GBC Iskcon men or their "ritvik" counterparts that they never recovered from Srila Prabhupada's physical departure.

It would be almost as wrong to condemn these undoubtedly well-intentioned disciples for some uncharacteristically wayward behaviour after the departure of their beloved Gurudeva, as it would be to criticise the residents of Vraja for becoming paralysed with grief after the apparent departure of their irreplaceable Sri Krishna on Akrura's chariot.

But the fact is Sri Krishna never leaves Vrndavan and Srila Prabhupada never left this world.

The Vrajavasis - in spite of all their very real and apparent pain - meditate on Sri Krishna in separation with such an intensity of love that they feel the highest possible joy at every moment, in paradoxical contrast to their externally withered and forlorn appearances.

Srila Prabhupada's GBC Iskcon and "ritvik" disciples are not yet functioning on the level of the eternal residents of Vraja to be able to call Sri Krishna or indeed Srila Prabhupada so close to their hearts that they can interact fully with their departed beloveds without interruption.

To be a conditioned soul is to be spiritually dysfunctional, i.e. to be separated from serving Sri Krishna fully in our eternal, individual spiritual bodies.

The first step in overcoming our conditioned natures is to acknowledge that we are weak and helpless conditioned souls, not the masters of all that we survey in this world.

Secondly, it is incumbent upon us to identify the sum total of all our problems, which is unarguably the conspicuous lack of Krishna-prema in our hearts.

Thirdly, if we are to be honest, we must address this shortcoming by seeking out the mercy of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, who alone are the physically-present possessors and givers of the ultimate treasure of Krishna-prema in this world.

Lastly, we must resolve our primary problem by serving such maha-bhagavata, paramahamsa Vaishnavas fully with our hearts, souls, bodies and minds, always ready to hear their sweet Hari-katha and to make the fulfillment of their perfect instructions and desires our very life. We must develop true spiritual greed to hear from such exalted souls and to carry out their orders if we are to actually reap the very fruits of spontaneous devotional service in the mood of the Vrajavasis that our Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to freely give.

The position of guru carries with it an awesome respo nsibility.

If we are to make best use of our limited human intelligence, it is better to always strive to become the servant of the servant of the servant of the pure Vaishnava devotees of the Lord.

"I am nobody's master. I am everbody's servant".

(Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

It is truly foolish to aspire to become guru, to take the responsibility to direct and save the lives of conditioned souls while we are still in the conditioned state. Calamity upon calamity is bound to follow such lofty ambition, which will always end in failiure.

In a recent polite conversation with some young Iskcon bhaktas in Birmingham, England I referred to Srila Prabhupada's repeated instructions to always seek out the direct sanga of pure, uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, who are to be heard carefully and served at every step if we want to attain Krishna-prema.

"We have discussed this threadbare" (the subject of pure guidance) was the spokesman's reply, in clear rejection of such a perceived heresy.

I said my friendly farewells and departed, not wishing to proselytise any further on behalf of Srila Prabhupada, lest it be mistaken for some sort of "wicked Gaudiya Math" kidnapping attempt.

I reflected as I walked away that "discussion" does not actually constitute any of the 64 limbs of bhakti. In the context of loving exchanges we can indeed become enlightened in the company of senior, more advanced devotees.

In spite of over 7 years of the continuous sanga of pure Vaishnava devotees of the very highest calibre, I really didn't want to assert seniority of any kind to emphasise the validity of the point I was making to these shiny young bhaktas.

But it did occur to me that "discussion" of spiritual topics between unsheltered individuals - who had never met a pure devotee and would probably never be allowed to meet a pure devotee due to institutional politics - were certain to end in erroneous conclusions.

Srila Prabhupada never discussed spiritual instructions. He simply gave them, in his capacity as topmost authority in a very clear chain of command over all his western disciples.

If Srila Prabhupada states an instruction categorically in one of his purports it is to be understood that his order is to be carried out without question. For me, Srila Prabhupada commands that level of respect.

Personally, I cannot conceive of daring to challenge Srila Prabhupada's authority on any spiritual matters.

What to speak of asserting that upon my own subjective interpretation of one of his thousands of letters addressing relative, personal and managerial affairs I might have somehow attained the absolute, divine authority to proclaim the eternal Gaudiya Vaishnava bhagavata-guru parampara terminated, to be supplanted and directed by my own speculative interpretation of how to transmit divya-jnana into the world for the next 10,000 years.

At that stage, I might just want to sit back and reconsider.

"OK, maybe I am still just a teeny bit unhinged since discovering my child has been ritually abused through the gurukula sytem Srila Prabhupada himself inaugurated to raise fully Krishna-conscious children, which instead turned into a paedophiles' playground. Maybe I'm still a little disturbed by that and I'm not thinking straight. Maybe I feel angry at Srila Prabhupada, but because he's my guru and he's perfect I have to direct my anger at someone else who's just like him, but isn't formally my guru, because I just can't face the pain."

Just maybe.

Of course, I cannot put myself fully into the mind of any aspiring "ritvik" guru, proponent or follower (nor would I want to), but I can very easily detect the classic symptoms of pyschological damage brought about by prolonged institutional abuse, which manifests as anything from mild neurosis (narrow, institutional thinking) to full-blown pyschosis (PADA), whereby the individual loses all contact with reality.

Q) What is ultimate reality? A) Radha-Krishna lila.

Q) Who can connect us fully with that reality? A) Sri Guru.

Q) What does Srila Prabhupada repeatedly, explicitly and unequivocally tell us to ALWAYS do, if we actually want to attain Krishna-prema? A) Seek out the association of Sri Guru, Who is eternally physically manifest in this world in the form of uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas.

Is there anything to discuss?

Srila Prabhupada's actual disciples are busy following his instructions.

The "Jai Srila Prabhupada" and "Prabhupada said" flag-wavers have chosen to occupy their precious time in discussing the finer points of institutional management, while Srila Prabhupada's transcendental boat sails away over the horizon towards Goloka Vraja with all his true followers on board.

No harm. We all have a choice. Srila Prabhupada is eternal. We can ignore his vani in this life and maybe get a human birth in the next life. Maybe.

There remains several highly significant unanswered questions (which do pertain to truth and spiritual progress), previously addressed to my "ritvik" godbrothers and godsisters:

1) Where is the evidence, established by guru/sadhu/sastra (as opposed to guru/letter/tenuous interpretation) to establish "ritvik philosophy" as a viable or credible replacement for Srila Prabhupada's legacy of perfect spiritual instructions which repeatedly and unequivocally emphasise worship of the entire, eternal, continuous Gaudiya Vaishnava bhagavata-guru parampara and pure, direct sadhu-sanga at every step?

2) "Ritvik" propaganda constantly asserts that none of Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers were or are in any way qualified, which implicitly infers that Srila Prabhupada did not actually receive his sannyasa mantras in a bonafide ceremony and that the institution within which that ceremony was performed was also not bonafide, in spite of the fact that Srila Prabhupada himself was the co-founder of that institution in 1943, along with his future sannyasa-guru.

If the "ritvik" proponents assert that Srila Prabhupada is to be accepted as a bonafide sannyasi (which is the conclusion of all sane people), then can they please make a public announcement that they accept the Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti and Srila Prabhupada's sannyasa-guru Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja (who co-founded the GVS in 1943 with Srila Prabhupada) as being completely bonafide and properly authorised to fully represent the mission of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada?

3) Can the "ritvik" proponents please acknowledge that the philosophy they have concocted:

a) Is the result of abuse damage perpetrated within the Iskcon institution,

b) Does not actually represent Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Srila Prabhupada's higher spiritual teachings or any kind of practical method for helping conditioned souls to make spiritual advancement, and

c) Poses a very real danger of destroying any jiva's highest spiritual prospects by inviting complicity in Vaishnavas aparadha.

Just 5 honest answers to these questions could make a world of difference to the thousands of aspiring sadhakas suffering under the illusion that they are able to become fully connected with Srila Prabhupada through a "ritvik" system concocted by conditioned souls who claim to be their "protectors and guides".

The "ritvik" people are perfectly entitled to speculate, avoid the association of pure Vaishnavas at every step and take deadly risks with their own spiritual futures, for sure.

But they have no business dragging down other innocent souls who are particularly vulnerable targets for their unconscious abuse-driven emotional manipulation, when those other devotees' loyalties are torn between Srila Prabhupada's vani and the vapu of his now wayward institution.

The "ritvik option" must be discarded by all honest sadhakas, before the "ritvik" pseudo-gurus are allowed to perpetuate all their unresolved emotional abuse from their bitter Iskcon experiences into the lives of generation after generation of vulnerable and unsheltered jivas, to whom "ritvikism" promises life but delivers at best a series of confusing and time-wasting obstacles and at worst certain spiritual death.

I see a natural progression occuring at this time:

1) "Ritvikism" has been proven to be utterly without sastric foundation,

2) Moderate, intelligent "ritvik" followers are denying all connection with the most extreme and ever-increasingly blasphemous outpourings of PADA,

3) All the lies and spurious allegations against pure maha-bhagavata devotees are being exposed for the mundane power-politics they represent,

4) The worldwide Gaudiya Vaishnava community is pulling together as never before to establish "Truth, Justice and the Gaudiya Way", while exposing and rejecting all apasiddhantic variations of mayavada impersonalism, sahajiyism, "ritvikism" and all other atheistic philosophies,

5) More and more devotees worldwide are increasingly demonstrating their mature understanding of Srila Prabhupada's absolute, eternal instructions regarding advancement on the path of Krishna-bhakti by seeking out (and finding) pure sadhu-sanga at every step,

6) The importance of developing some genuine love for Sri Krishna - through continuous Vaishnava-seva and guru-seva in a genuine mood of humility - has overtaken the neophyte tendency to disturb the minds of everybody by screaming "Jaya Srila Prabhupada" in the faces of senior devotees who do actually understand Srila Prabhupada's mission and what he came to give,

7) Srila Prabhupada's victory will be celebrated when hypocritical, sectarian squabbles between devotees are abandoned and all other bogus philosophies are thoroughly defeated and discarded by a worldwide Gaudiya Vaishnava community fully united under the banner of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to represent the one and only correct path of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and

8) True Vaishnava aspirants will simply focus on developing Krishna-prema under direct, pure guidance and shelter as the single only aim and object of their lives and will thereby defeat all other possible problems.

In the meantime, the struggle to re-establish common sense obedience to Srila Prabhupada's perfect spiritual instructions goes on.

Your servant aspiring for the service of Sri Guru & Gauranga,

Madan Mohan dasa.


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