but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession
June 30, 2020 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa
Hare Krsna-below we have 3 items of interest. the first Srila Prabhupada explains who is Acarya and later on who can “act” as acarya when the founding acarya has passed away.
In the first quote..”A person who is liberated acharya and guru cannot commit any mistake, but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession
This letter written in April 26, 1968 by Srila Prabhupada laid the foundation for his later letter and last instruction on who would and could continue initiations in iskcon after his passing.
The second one Srila Prabhupada says…..”Anyone accepts the assistants of Lord Caitanya as ever liberated—he also becomes liberated, simply by accepting the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu who is helping Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission, simply by accepting this, the man who is accepting, he becomes liberated.” And the third and last letter tells us in plain english who is to initiate and who are these disciples after Prabhupada passes away. This is the recorded evidence and there are NO other statements along these lines ever given by Srila Prabhupada to the contrary after that, as far as who is the current Acarya of his Iskcon organization.So yes, sincere devotees today and into the future can become ritvik “acarya” or officiating acarya under the guidance of Srila Prabhupada. BUT-all those they initiate are Srila Prabhupadas disciples not the devotees performing the ceremony and name giving. This “order” to become official guru and act on their own was never given by Srila Prabhupada.. The only power he gave to any disciple was to become an officiating guru or ritvik-thats all. These people were also called monitor gurus-like when a teacher has to leave the classroom and he authorizes some leading student to continue what he was teaching. There is a vast difference in spiritual realization level between the two types of gurus. To take on the task as did Srila Prabhupada, he tells us one must be qualified and ordered by his own guru. These two very important elements (the order and qualifications) are missing in our own levels of spiritual achievement.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das——————————–
Recent Comments