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EDITORIAL February 10, 1999 VNN2993 Servant By Teaching BY LOCANANANDA DAS EDITORIAL, Feb 10 (VNN) — It was in the fall of 1985, after the GBC meeting at New Vrindavan, that all new devotees were instructed that they had the right to approach any disciple of Srila Prabhupada to act as their spiritual master. Several devotees in the New York temple asked me to become their spiritual guide and I agreed to accept that service on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. From the beginning, I instructed them that it would not be proper to place a picture of me on an altar next to Srila Prabhupada because of my fallen condition, even on their home altar, if they were not living in the temple. They also knew that I was opposed to the idea of making changes in Srila Prabhupada's books. Because of the position I was taking, I did not receive the support of ISKCON leaders to continue as an initiator and I eventually had to refer these students to other "approved" gurus whose ideas were more in keeping with "the ISKCON way". Only one of the students actually took first initiation from me, but all of my students have since been twice initiated and are still active in Krishna consciousness. It is because of the experience I had in the guru/disciple relationship with these great souls that Krishna put in my care that I have my particular perspective on the issue of guru tattva today. What became most obvious was that there was no need to imitate the glorification offered to Srila Prabhupada for my students to make wonderful advancement in Krishna consciousness. Secondly, they were able to meditate on how to please Srila Prabhupada by serving within his mission. I was their guide, or instructor, and they were never advised to think of me as an absolute authority. I became their servant by teaching them what I had understood about devotional service from my spiritual master. We applied the principle from the Nectar of Devotion wherein it is stated that the spiritual master teaches the disciple how to follow in the footsteps of the great acharya. Our program was to chant together and study Srila Prabhupada's books exclusively, and to perform sankirtan. By emphasizing these basic activities, we all increased our eagerness to become purified representatives of the great acharya, Srila Prabhupada. Now, in retrospect, I say that ISKCON has never followed the system of initiations that our spiritual master wanted. His actual plan to have officiating acharyas perform initiations was hidden, not by malicious intent, but mainly because of the ambitious motivation of those he deputed, named in his July 9th letter to all ISKCON leaders. I was the TP in Amsterdam at the time and still have the original July 9th letter I received through the mail. The concept of officiating acharyas was never subsequently explained by the GBC to anyone, and even to this day, not a single guru has referred to himself as an officiating acharya. According to the desire of His Divine Grace, all of Srila Prabhupada's disciples were expected to become gurus, to preach our KC philosophy throughout the world. After the departure of our spiritual master from this world the formalities of initiation were to be performed by the most dedicated leaders of the movement who had been deputed by His Divine Grace. Others might be added, selected later by the GBC as the number of new devotees requesting initiation increased. The essential relationship was to be based on instruction, not the formalities of a ceremonial function. The example is right in the Bhagavad-gita: Krishna instructing Arjuna. That is the guru/ disciple relationship in action, based on siksa. As the founder acharya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada will always have a direct relationship with all of the members of this movement. But according to sistacara, or vaisnava tradition, the departed acharya is not named as the official initiator, although he is the most vital link for all of us to return back to Godhead. Srila Prabhupada is delivering us all, and the officiating acharya and other senior preachers (siksa gurus) should be delivering their disciples to Srila Prabhupada as an offering at his lotus feet. My relationship with my students has evolved over the years and today it appears to be a type of bosom friendship, and this is as it should be. They have all surpassed me in knowledge and detachment, and I can only pray that they will send me a little mercy when they reach Vaikuntha. They know that we will always be connected through our chanting of the maha-mantra and our service to Srila Prabhupada. Your servant, Locanananda Das Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9902/ET10-2993.html
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