Podcast transcription:
“You Can Cheat But It Will Not be Effective”
by Kailäsa Candra däsa
HARIÙ OÀ NAMAÙ
Prabhupäda: You become guru, but be qualified. Little thing, strictly follower.
Leading Secretary: Not rubber stamp.
Prabhupäda: Then you’ll not be effective. You can cheat, but it will not be effective. 1
The zonal äcärya scam should have been readily seen by them for just what it was: A flawed effort by eleven unqualified men to imitate the mahä-bhägavat. Every disciple of Prabhupäda was duty-bound to have recognized it as bogus. When it became known two years later that he never appointed them as dékñä-gurus, everyone should have recognized that their imitating uttama-adhikäré (when Prabhupäda had said, “Regular guru, that’s all” 2) validated spiritual intuition.
You do not become a guru by pretending to be one, such as the flawed aphorism: “Just put on the uniform, and you become the soldier.” And then there was: “Mat guru si jagat guru,” another Bengali slogan from Navadvipa. A bad uncle is NOT better than no uncle at all. All of these slogans should have had no influence in the movement.
The Äcärya Board Opens Pandora’s Box
The G.B.C. is cent-per-cent responsible for the deviation that was imposed by the implementation of the zonal äcärya scheme. The creation of the “Äcärya Board” was in direct defiance as to how the G.B.C. was supposed to operate according to the Founder’s intention and its charter.
And what was one of the big evils that emerged from the Pandora’s Box opened by the G.B.C. and its Äcärya Board? That was Rittvik, of course. Although the Äcärya Board had been rendered inoperative before Rittvik emerged in the very late Eighties, that earlier takeover attempt prompted devotees to question anything and everything; this made them prone to mental speculation. Worse, they lost enthusiasm which led them to follow hot garbage in the name of it still being spiritual authority. We shall discuss this repercussion in some detail at the conclusion.
Rittvik is based upon mental speculation combined with “Christianity.” Like “ISKCON,” its leaders are bogus gurus. They are bogus backdoor gurus to be sure, but bogus gurus nevertheless. A bogus guru cannot transmit a bona fide initiation, and this includes the back door gurus, also known as post-modern rittviks.
The bad advice that the previously appointed rittvik becomes “as good as äcärya” after the disappearance of the Sampradäya Äcärya is neither Vedic nor Vaiñëava; in point of fact, rittvik becomes nothing at that time. A spiritual master is never obliged to imitate uttama-adhikäré from the non-spontaneous platform of rules and regulations (vidhi-bhakti) in order to “keep the faith of his disciples.” The leader of Goudiya Mutt said differently. He also wrote in his Will that Prabhupäda had devised a kind of rittvik scheme to be implemented after he left the scene.
You may think that the rittviks were entirely free from all of this bad advice from the late Seventies, but that is a wrong interpretation of the historical record. The rittviks have their roots in the initial pretension, but it is somewhat subtle how that is so. The leaders of today’s Rittvik scam are part of the Old Guard, which, fortunately for all of the rest of us, is steadily dying off. All three deviations are individually led by the Old Guard, but for our purposes, we must zero in on “ISKCON” and Rittvik.
“In order to deceive the disciples” is the opposite of how the real guru teaches his disciples to become brähmins: He first of all educates them by teaching them to be honest. The creation of the Äcärya Board was anything but honest. A real guru is never limited by territorial considerations, i.e., acquiescing to making disciples in zones. This is what the vitiated G.B.C. implemented also based upon bad advice from Navadvipa.
The G.B.C. in general—and the eleven great pretenders in particular—did the greatest disservice to the Kåñëa consciousness movement by their unauthorized implementation of the zonal äcärya scheme, along with all of the lies and rationalizations that accompanied it. The fabricated, so-called “ISKCON” confederation wielded a deathblow to Prabhupäda’s branch of the Hare Kåñëa movement in 1978.
Regular Guru Transcends a Governing Body
Throughout Eastern tradition, advancement is spiritual life is based upon revealed text combined with a physically manifest guru-disciple relationship. This is opposed to the Abrahamic tradition in which their varieties of initiation or baptism do not require a manifest spiritual master in order to surrender to him. Obviously, we are ultimately only concerned about the Vaiñëava tradition. Still, the Buddhists, the Jains, impersonalists, and most Hindu cults recognize the salience of a manifest spiritual master, as do the Vaiñëavas.
Eastern tradition is known as çiñöäcara. In all Vedic and Vaiñëava lines, help in spiritual life through initiation is required. This is the manifest way of a guru-disciple relationship in order for the disciple to attain a higher goal and/or achieve greater mystic powers, which culminates in him eventually becoming a siddha and perfected spiritual master himself.
This çiñöäcara is completed neglected by the Rittvik cults. There are many factors which conspired to create Rittvik after “ISKCON” opened Pandora’s Box for splinter groups to emerge by becoming the first one itself. One of these factors was the strongly held idea or belief—with no actual basis underlying it—that Prabhupäda must have made a foolproof arrangement for initiations to immediately proceed after he departed manifestation. A governing body has no authority to concoct a fabricated system of initiation in the name of initiations having to continue.
As far as that goes, no spiritual master can do that, either. No such guarantee can ever be made. There is no injunction that a Vaiñëava Founder must either name a Successor or, less than that, name a regular guru (or gurus) if and/or when there are none to so be recognized. If he does not see any, he does not name or appoint any.
Rittviks are Not Dékñä-Gurus in Waiting
Prabhupäda appointed eleven rittviks to initiate on his behalf in 1977. That he named rittviks (which was nothing new) is what has primed the Rittvik pump to come up with its concocted system after he departed. Both “ISKCON” and the rittviks believe that there must have been a specific, foolproof, guaranteed arrangement provided by Prabhupäda for immediate initiations after he departed.
There was not. They both believe that his movement had to go on, and he had guaranteed an arrangement that it would. It does not, and he didn’t. Spiritual branches are always subject to being scattered and lost:
evaà paramparä-präptam
imaà räjarñayo viduù
sa käleneha mahatä
yogo nañöaù parantapa
“O Subduer of the Enemy, thus received by disciplic succession, the great saintly kings understood the Supreme Science in that way. This great knowledge of yoga was, in due course of time, scattered and lost.” 3
All the evidence points to Prabhupäda’s branch of the disciplic succession now being in profound jeopardy. The Rittvik concoction is not continuing the branch nor is “ISKCON.” The Mother Ship points out how Rittvik is an anti-Vaiñëava creation. On this basis, it convinces its disciples that only it is bona fide. However, simply pointing out that another person’s kurta is dirty does not make its own kurta automatically clean.
Each Deviation Has Its Flashpoint
Various arguments are used to provide evidence that each of the deviant camps (“ISKCON,” Neo-Mutt, and Rittvik) are bona fide. One of them relies upon a handful of favorable comments (contradicted elsewhere) made by Prabhupäda in relation to an elder godbrother. Another one relies upon a statement in Prabhupäda’s Will in which he says his properties in India must have only trustees who are his initiated disciples.
We have discussed the real meaning of this clause (not even a full sentence) in detail previously in various posts. It is barely evidence at all. It is light years short of validating a concoction concerning initiation which, if accepted, would amount to a colossal change concerning the standard Vedic procedure of guru, disciple, and initiation conducted by all the bhakti sampradäyas from time immemorial.
Then we come to the bad logic pushed by “ISKCON” in order to validate its deviations. It is based upon the Deities and Their supposedly pre-ordained requirements. It claims that Prabhupäda arranged an ironclad system of guaranteed initiation after his departure, because the installed Deities would have to have bona fide brähmins worshiping them. If not, the movement would be implicated in unavoidable arcana-aparädha. It is somewhat similar to the Rittvik argument.
The installed Deities throughout the world will be worshiped according to who or what owns and controls those temples where They were installed. This will predominantly determine the protocols and the status of the pujärés conducting worship. There is no cause and effect relationship between installed Deity worship and whether or not a branch (or alleged branch) of a Vaiñëava line has remained bona fide after its Sampradäya Äcärya has left the scene.
The worship goes on independent of the viability (or lack thereof) of the branch to continue creating dékñä-gurus and their genuine disciples. The last Äcärya has NO RESPONSIBILITY to devise some kind of concoction in order to perpetually create initiated brähmins so that Deity worship remains free from any chance of being conducted offensively by the improperly initiated disciples of bogus gurus. No one can guarantee that this potential fallibility is impossible.
As already established, branches of disciplic lines are wiped out when there are no genuine gurus active in them. It is a LOGICAL FALLACY to link the alleged perpetuation of gurus (and brähmins produced by them) to many hundreds of installed Deities throughout the world. Rittvik blatantly uses similar BAD LOGIC in order to establish its unauthorized system. “ISKCON” does as well, but through a different application. Dull-headed people must be cheated by both of those cults.
Exposing Faulty Pre-suppositions
A madhyam is an advanced devotee. Concerning the July, 1977 appointment of rittviks, we can be confident that they were not madhyams at the time of that appointment. If they were, Prabhupäda would have recognized them as initiating spiritual masters. He would have empowered them to initiate, even while he was still physically manifest, as this was his expressed desire in 1969.
“ISKCON,” through G.B.C. imprimatur, converted the eleven rittviks into initiating spiritual masters during the Annual Mayapur conclave in the Spring of 1978. It was based upon the pre-supposition that they were gurus the whole time, gurus in waiting so to speak, and that initiations had to immediately be continued by them after he disappeared.
Rittvik opines that the eleven officiating äcäryas of 1977 were to remain rittviks and give rittvik initiation after Prabhupäda had left the scene. It was based on the illusion that Prabhupäda had to have already made a specific arrangement for gurus to initiate disciples after his departure. “ISKCON” appointed eleven rittviks as dékñä-gurus (which they weren’t), but Rittvik later demanded, through various proposals, that initiations must be continued only by rittviks.
Fanatical, dangerous, and deviant rittviks completely eschew all Vedic and Vaiñëava tradition. They want a cheap and loose initiation process in order to attract numbers. They do not at all emphasize following orders and engaging in tapasya. They share this proof-by-numbers bugaboo with “ISKCON,“ both believing that size proves legitimacy.
Rittviks also believe that Prabhupäda defied all tradition when he established his movement in the mid-Sixties. However, he did recognize the law of physical guru. Consider this conversation in Rome:
O’Grady: The problem is to find this friend. The problem is to find this spiritual master.
Prabhupäda : No, there is no problem. The problem is if you are sincere. So, if you are sincere, then God will give you spiritual master. If He knows that now you are sincere, then He will give you a spiritual master.
O’Grady: O.K. Thank you. That I know.
Prabhupäda : If God sees that you are sincere, He will give you a spiritual master who can give you protection. He will help you from within and without, without in the physical form of spiritual master, and within as the spiritual master within the heart. 4
He said “the PHYSICAL spiritual master.” Could it be because, possessing tri-käla-jïä, he knew that some of his leaders, frustrated in fulfilling their desires in “ISKCON,” would become foolish enough to break this law of disciplic succession? That’s exactly what went down.
Genuine Kåñëa consciousness is centripetal. Rittvik, on the other hand, is highly centrifugal, so much so that you have to speak of Rittvik movements (in the plural) when conversing about it. Indeed, it is assuredly the case that it has lost converts due to their inability to determine which of the Rittvik alternatives is the real one.
When the rittvik-äcärya is performing the ceremony, what is the status of that yajamäna after receiving the rittvik béja? Some so-called rittvik-äcäryas 5 have opined that he is an equal to them. In other words, that rittvik-äcärya has no responsibility to the yajamäna, because he and the new fellow are then equals and have the same dékñä-guru.
Can you see how ridiculous this is?
Where did Prabhupäda give ANY specifics as to how the Rittvik concoction was to be carried out? While here in manifest form, he simply appointed eleven rittviks to conduct the initiation ceremony on his behalf. If he wanted it to continue after he departed, he would have specifically said that in so many words. He didn’t.
Completely eschewing the tradition followed by all Vaiñëava sampradäyas for millennia (of a physical master accepting and then initiating a new disciple) would require both a distinct, irrefutable, and indisputable verification, along with an explanation and many specifics for conducting an unprecedented system. Where did he give this?
Nowhere, of course, because he never authorized it. He could have easily done so, however. For example, he could have said: “When I depart this world, I shall be the only dékñä-guru in my branch of this sampradäya for all my future new disciples.” In merely one sentence, he could have definitively established it.
However, we do not find such a statement anywhere. He didn’t give one, because the whole scheme is unauthorized according to all Vaiñëava tradition of disciplic succession. If he had established it, he could have—and would have—been asked questions as to how to carry it out. Such specific questions and answers would have made everything clear, and there would have only been one Rittvik way.
Aside from that, no genuine spiritual master could or would establish such an unauthorized method for carrying out initiations after he departed physical manifestation. Many who reject current Rittvik propaganda still falsely believe that Prabhupäda could have established such a system for future initiations if he had wanted to do so. No, he could not have done that. No genuine guru can claim that he is the last guru in any Vaiñëava line or branch. Any so-called guru who does anything like that can only be a narcissistic charlatan.
Rittvik came just in the nick of time in order to bail out “ISKCON,” which was floundering in the latter half of the Eighties. It was cratering. It also harmed “ISKCON” by stealing people from it in order for them to allegedly become re-initiated by Prabhupäda. However, it allowed “ISKCON” to get amped up against a new and needed foil, one which made outrageous claims about how to carry on the movement after Prabhupäda departed. It was a mixed blessing for “ISKCON.”
Rittvik has its own idea, of course, one which works against the “ISKCON” narrative. It is very flawed, and this is just what the vitiated G.B.C. required in order to circle the wagons and fight a new internecine war. Where the Rittvik narrative is accurate is easy for “ISKCON” to dismiss, because the root Rittvik assertion of initiation from a departed spiritual master allows “ISKCON” to preach against and reject everything else.
Not only is Rittvik an apostasy, but it is also heresy. As such, it is not capable of producing clarity but instead muddies the history, as does the “ISKCON” narrative . . . but in a different way. Rittvikcan produce no lasting sequence, because only its own fanatics and sentimentalists will believe the concoction despite the corruption it exposes.
The first echelon of Rittvik leaders consists almost entirely of men initiated by Prabhupäda while he was physically manifest. They have had the temerity to create something with so little evidence underlying it that it can hardly even be called evidence. Proof would be required, but rittviks cannot come close to providing that. They attract people who want to be cheated, having manufactured something out of thin air!
Those new people, all of whom wereand are improperly initiated, are incapable of seeing the truth of the real narrative, in no small part because they lack development in spiritual science. They possess a poor fund of knowledge. This dull-headedness is what makes them prone to swallow weak evidence, which only appears to back up the false premise that Prabhupäda wanted a post-modern Rittvik arrangement.
TATTVAMASI
Did Prabhupäda dictate a permanent Rittvik system in his Will? He did not. He was in very bad shape on the material plane when the rough draft of the Will was presented to him, although he did make one change. Aside from that, Prabhupäda made no further suggestions, and he signed off on what was presented to him by his leaders, as would be expected.
In his condition, was he supposed to make a granular analysis of the document? Of course not. Should he have been expected to get into nitty-gritty details because of some remote, future ramification (produced by mäyä) that could result if a tiny section of the Will wound up prone to illusory interpretation via obtuse logic? Of course not.
Yet, something which was just that—an extremely weak piece of Rittvik evidence used by them to establish their concoction–has been culled out of the Will. It has been done in order to create a ridiculous, post-modern apa-sampradäya. It is not even a full sentence but only a clause.
Was it Prabhupäda’s responsibility to make an in-depth analysis of the rough draft of the Will presented to him in his last days? Was he supposed to intuit how a handful of his post-facto leaders would misuse a clause in the Will? Specifically it was, “my initiated disciples”, allegedly establishing a Rittvik system into perpetuity.
It is absurd to believe that he would be obligated to point out this potential flaw and have it “corrected.” That was not at all the clause’s intent nor was it his intention when he read it and signed off on the Will, after having made only one minor correction (adding a G.B.C.) to it. Yet the rittviks falsely claim that Prabhupäda created a new order by planting something in his Will—very, very covertly—in order to establish an unprecedented Rittvik system into perpetuity.
These rittviks also claim that, since all of Prabhupäda’s trustees listed in the Will would be dead within fifty or sixty years, since there were no Successors appointed after he departed physical manifestation, rittvik initiations would have to continue to be conducted in order to keep the trustees of his properties legally viable in India.
Decades later, these rittviks, mis-leaders all, have created a simulation of Prabhupäda’s movement. Any sane and serious transcendentalist must consider their “evidence” as contrived, weak, and forced. Most devotees (those who have not got suckered into Rittvik, of course) would dismiss it as no solid evidence at all.
In the second week of July, 1977, His Divine Grace named eleven rittviks to conduct initiations on his behalf, to conduct the initiation ceremony for the yajamäna, who then became an initiated disciple of Prabhupäda. This was nothing new. It had been a system active since 1970. Due to Prabhupäda’s illness in the first half of 1977, all initiations had been curtailed.
The spiritual master has to take on the saïcitä-karma of his newly-initiated disciples, and this can lead to suffering for him. Even for the big fire that Prabhupäda was, he should not have been burdened by taking any of that during the period of his final illness. However, the stockpile of devotees requesting initiation was increasing.
Near the middle of 1977, out of his causeless mercy, he decided to once again initiate people. Obviously, the rittvik system would be re-instated in order to do that. A big deal, however, is made of the July 9th letter which reactivated it. As could only be expected, rittviks twist things in the letter in order to provide reasons for their attempt to establish an anti-Vedic, anti-Vaiñëava system after his departure.
Let us return to that statement in the Will that all of the ISKCON properties in India must only have trustees who are Prabhupäda’s initiated disciples. It was a time-sensitive sentence. When it was viable, there was the possibility that either one of his sons (none of whom were his disciples) or Gouòéya Mutt (which was almost entirely inimical to him) would make a legal play in order to own his India properties.
The rittviks ignore this reason of the clause in his Will in order to create an alleged “no change” simulation of the system operating while he was physically manifest, one which involved rittvik priests. That a Sampradäya Äcärya would make an attempt to overthrow the initiation system active in Vedic culture for millennia informs us not only how wacky the scheme was and is, but also how the rittviks live in their own bubble.
Let us return to the July 9th letter. As could only be expected, rittviks further twist things in it in order to provide evidence of their concoction, and the word which they highlight is “henceforward”:
“Now that Srila Prabhupäda has named these representatives, Temple Presidents may “henceforward” send recommendation for first and second second initiation to whichever of these eleven representatives are nearest their temple.” 6
This letter to all temple presidents is known as the rittvik appointment letter. Many rittviks make it out to be a revolutionary document, as if this rittvik re-installment was unprecedented. It was anything but. For these fools to allege that it is unprecedented is just as deceptive as “ISKCON” pushing its narrative connected to the rittvik appointment letter. i.e., both parties are spinning competing false narratives.
There is another salient point to be recognized and realized in the wording of the letter: It also will expire. The letter, in and of itself, only authorizes the eleven rittviks named to receive letters of recommendation. There is no authorization in it for other rittviks, younger than those eleven and outlasting them, to accept letters of recommendation. The contradiction here is quite blatant, but few rittviks have bothered to recognize it.
Eleven rittviks were named in the letter. Nothing astounding there. What is mind boggling is how the rittviks spin that one word—the word “henceforward”—in order to eke out a bizarre, monumental, and unprecedented change in the way that Vaiñëava initiations are performed, and who the non-manifest dékñä-guru must be for posterity.
The rittviks—and that is all of them—claim that, by this letter of appointment of rittviks in July, 1977, a new system of initiation was created for Prabhupäda’s branch of Lord Caitanya’s Hare Kåñëa movement. They marry that with the false pretense that even the appointment of rittviks in 1977 was new in how it was to be implemented.
In the Folio, there are forty-two mentions of “henceforward” in Prabhupäda’s letters. Most of these were involved in implementing some kind of improvement. All of those turned out to be temporary upgrades, which were either reversed or implemented in a different and/or better way as time wore on. Herein, you get but another hint of how the rittviks are incorrigible, fixed within blinders of their own making in order to push but another colossal hoax.
That one word was conveniently misinterpreted in order to establish a completely new system. Yet, it was from a letter His Divine Grace did not even dictate. One word in a one-page paper drawn up by T.K.G. (which was only meant to re-activate the previous system of rittviks performing fire sacrifices on his behalf), and Prabhupäda is said to have massively changed the process of his branch of the sampradäya!
Since When?
Since when are we required to believe that Prabhupäda’s appointment of eleven rittviks was an unacknowledged appointment of dékñä-gurus? We have no such obligation whatsoever. This is, inarguably, one of the pillars upon which rests the flawed and misleading “ISKCON” narrative, and it should be challenged by everyone.
Since when are we required to accept that Prabhupäda’s appointment of eleven rittviks was the covert appointment of eleven dékñä-gurus in waiting? There is no history of this kind of thing being done by a guru in any of the bona fide sampradäyas. Rittvik and “ISKCON” ignore the indisputable fact that Prabhupäda wanted his disciples to begin initiating their own disciples while he was still physically manifest:
“Maybe by 1975, all of my disciples will be allowed to initiate and increase the numbers of the generations. That is my program.” 7
“By 1975, all of those who have passed all of the above examinations will be specifically empowered to initiate and increase the number of the Kåñëa Consciousness population.” 8
He was still with us in 1975, and that was his program. If those eleven men were qualified gurus, he would have empowered them to initiate. He would not have made eleven rittviks as a covert appointment in the name of some nonsense etiquette, which he already rejected in 1969 as proven by the similar excerpts in those letters.
Since when are we required to believe that Back to Godhead means back to the brahmajyoti? This is wrongly claimed to be our origination by Neo-Mutt. When you go back to something, you were once there. Prabhupäda deprecated the idea of sayujya-mukti, stating that Vaiñëavas do not accept it. We were originally in the eternal land of form and activity, and that’s where we are meant to go back to–not back to being a mere spiritual spark floating forever in impersonal white light.
Since when does a rittvik automatically become a dékñä-guru when his spiritual masters leaves the scene? This is nowhere verified in revealed Vaiñëava text. It is a false pre-supposition, but all of the Old Guard believes it. They do so because it is a pillar of their scam.
Since when do frivolous assertions disguised as evidence (read, weak evidence) allow any of Prabhupäda’s leading men to concoct a whole new system of initiation? “Henceforward” in the July 9th letter, what is that? Exceptionally weak evidence, but does it establish anything whatsoever? “My initiated disciples” in the Will? Ditto.
These men should be embarrassed that they rely upon such fabrications, but they create a spider web of rationalizations based upon these fabricated assertions, which demonstrate their bad logic.
Since when does a cassette tape, hidden for years from all of Prabhupäda’s devotees (and having no appointment of anyone to anything on it), become the linchpin for eleven rittviks then appointing themselves, through G.B.C. imprimatur, to full-blown mahä-bhägavats?
By the time “the appointment tape” finally surfaced, the colossal hoax was not just blossoming but had become a full blown tree, with the improperly initiated disciples of the great pretenders dominating every center throughout the world. Pushing this tape as incontrovertible evidence of an appointment of gurus was mega-deception by “ISKCON.”
Since when do eleven men–all acknowledged (along with their godbrothers) by Prabhupäda in April, 1977 as not qualified to be guru—since when do they become mahä-bhägavats in waiting less than three months later? Even for one devotee to make that transition in such a short space of time would be incredible, almost impossible.
And eleven had done so by mid-summer, 1977? When they were non-gurus in the spring of that year? It is an incredulous assertion! Yet, this is what they pushed: Eleven rittviks became dékñä-gurus and then became mahä-bhägavats and then became Successors all in less than a year after Prabhupäda said that none of them were even madhyam-adhikärés:
Leading Secretary: Well, I have studied myself and all of your disciples, and it’s clear fact that we are all conditioned souls, so we cannot be guru. Maybe one day it may be possible. . .
Prabhupäda: Hmmmm.
Leading Secretary: . . . but not now.
Prabhupäda: Yes. I shall choose some guru. I shall say, “Now you become Äcärya. You become authorized.” I am waiting for that. You become all Äcärya. I retire completely. But the training must be complete.
Leading Secretary: The process of purification must be there.
Prabhupäda: Oh, yes, must be there. Caitanya Mahäprabhu wants that. Ämära äjïäya guru haïä: “You become guru.” But be qualified. Little thing, strictly follower.
Leading Secretary: Not rubber stamp.
Prabhupäda: Then you’ll not be effective. You can cheat, but it will not be effective. 9
First the Tapasya, Then the Bliss
“The Lord instructs that one has to become fully Kåñëa conscious to discharge duties, as if in military discipline.” 10
Becoming fully Krsna conscious automatically entails becoming absorbed in the bliss of eternal values, far beyond any and all temporary happiness. The goal is attained through seva. It is not that any genuine yoga system (of which bhakti-yoga or buddhi-yoga is the best) puts all the emphasis on happiness as the constant attraction and neglecting voluntary acceptance of pain for the purpose of self-realization preceding it.
When the movement was bona fide back in the day, enthusiasm was required in performing tapasya. Not only was it the wealth of the brähmins, but it produced even more enthusiasm, and that pleased the Äcärya in the true sense of the term. The sincere and serious devotees were always fired up, because they wanted spiritual authority, they secured spiritual authority, and from spiritual authority they received their seva. This connected them to the guru-paramparä.
The rewards were obvious to them as realized experience. They did not seek happiness separately. They engaged in the tapasya integrated into their services, and automatically, as a result, flowed the benedictions of knowledge, realization, protection, detachment, increased enthusiasm, and happiness or bliss to whatever extent it was merited.
This was the spirit present when everything was bona fide. Some small speed bumps in the movement during these years, before the movement started to careen off the tracks, did not matter much. You heard about them in some cases, but dismissed them in all cases. They did not affect your seva and could not do so–as long as you remained engaged in the program. Because all of the disciples were conditioned souls, they were required to be part of the spiritual hierarchy and receive their orders, receive their seva, and then carry it out as if in military discipline. That prevented a return to hippie life.
It meant constant engagement in spiritual values, which were validated under the principle of phalena-paricéyate. 11 You do not get these results when the so-called authority is functioning as a group of regents in a collegiate compromise. You do not get these when the Hindoo invades to such an extent that they become de facto leaders of the centers.
Everything connected to the Second Transformation of the collegiate compromise and The Third Transformation of the Hindoo Hodgepodge was not present when the Kåñëa consciousness movement was functioning in the right way under the real authority structure. Back then, every devotee was fully engaged in following bona fide orders coming from bona fide leaders, and this produced tangible spiritual results, which they did not lose but continued to increase.
It was because their enthusiasm was rooted in the principle of first the tapasya, then the bliss. It was because the hierarchy, the system, the protocols, and the process were effective, i.e., no one was cheating at any level. This is what has been completely lost: First as a result of the zonal Äcärya scam, then the colossal hoax of a massive bureaucracy, and after that, the infiltration of Hinduism. All the slew of evils which emanated from the opening of Pandora’s Box are the result of losing the basis of what actually constitutes genuine Kåñëa consciousness.
SAD EVA SAUMYA
ENDNOTES
1. Room conversation in Bombay, 4-22-77;
2. Room conversation with G.B.C. in Raman Reti, 5-28-77;
3. Bhagavad-géta, 4.2, translation by Kailäsa Candra däsa;
4. Room conversation in Rome with Irish poet, 5-23-74;
5. Post 1977 “rittvik-acaryas” are accurately referred to as so-called rittvik- acaryas, because the rittvik process ended in relation to Prabhupäda’s branch of Lord Caitanya’s movement on November 15, 1977;
6. Letter to all G.B.C. and temple presidents, 7-9-77;
7. Letter to leading secretary, 1-3-69;
8. Letter to leading secretary, 1-12-69;
9. Room conversation in Bombay, 4-22-77;
10. Bhagavad-géta, 3.30, purport;
11. It means judge by the results.