"One should never submit to another to an extent that may furnish a rascal with an opportunity of really doing harm. It is inexplicable how those gurus who live in open sin contrive nevertheless to retain the unquestioning allegiance of the cultured portion of their disciples. Such being the case, can we blame any person who hesitates to submit unconditionally to a preceptor, whether he is good or bad? It is of course necessary to be quite sure of the bona fides of a person before we accept him even tentatively as our spiritual guide. A preceptor should be a person who appears likely to possess those qualities that will enable him to improve our spiritual condition.
But the good preceptor claims our sincere and complete allegiance. The good disciple makes a complete surrender of himself at the feet of the preceptor. But the submission of the disciple is neither irrational nor blind. It is complete on condition that the preceptor Himself continues to be altogether good. The disciple retains the right of renouncing his allegiance to the preceptor the moment he is satisfied that the preceptor is a fallible creature like himself. Nor does a good preceptor accept anyone as his disciple unless the latter is prepared to submit to him freely.
A good preceptor is duty bound to renounce a disciple who is not sincerely willing to follow his instructions fully. "
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada
But the good preceptor claims our sincere and complete allegiance. The good disciple makes a complete surrender of himself at the feet of the preceptor. But the submission of the disciple is neither irrational nor blind. It is complete on condition that the preceptor Himself continues to be altogether good. The disciple retains the right of renouncing his allegiance to the preceptor the moment he is satisfied that the preceptor is a fallible creature like himself. Nor does a good preceptor accept anyone as his disciple unless the latter is prepared to submit to him freely.
A good preceptor is duty bound to renounce a disciple who is not sincerely willing to follow his instructions fully. "
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada
THERE IS NO ONE LIKE MY GURU - from a class on Srimad Bhagavatam 2.4.92 Bhubaneswar Srila Gour Govinda Swami
"The Gaudiya sampradaya, the parampara of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is a bona fide Vaisnava sampradaya. One should accept the instructions with a simple heart, which are coming from the acaryas in this parampara as it is, and practice them in one's life. Then you will get the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu.
We are not speaking anything pseudo-sampradayist. We should not hear the words of pseudo-sampradayists. When Mahaprabhu ordered, "You become guru and deliver this world," that instruction has come unto my guru, Srila Prabhupada, and my guru gave me this same order. So I will never develop any duplicity or crookedness in executing this order. That means I will never come in murkha-sampradaya or kapatya-sampradaya or phalgu-sampradaya, the schools of fools, hypocrites and pretenders. I will never teach duplicity or crookedness to anybody. Those who are visayis, materialistic persons, are duplicitous, crooked and envious; they come under pseudo-sampradaya. They are selfish persons.
Those who are under the bona fide sampradaya coming from Sriman Gauranga Mahaprabhu, they are so powerful that they kick all such sampradaya. They are always, twenty-four hours, day and night, engaged in loving service to the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna, executing the order of their guru. They never desist from rendering pure service without duplicity (niskapata seva.) An Acarya is natural, not pretending, he is not pretentious. He is not pretending as acarya. He is a natural acarya, not artificial. He is more humble than a blade of grass lying on the street and as tolerant as a tree. He gives respect to one and all, seeing Krsna in everybody and never demands respect for himself.
Our teachings, which are coming through our parampara are true, coming from Mahaprabhu. They are our sadacara, our regulative principle. They are law for all humanity. And this law, this sadacara, has come down to us through parampara. If we disrespect it, if we don't execute in our life, if we add any deliberation, if we twist it, then we will become offenders. We will commit offence by not obeying the orders of guru. Yes, namaparadha. Then we will be far away from the lotus feet of our guru. Guru will never keep us at his lotus feet. If, in order to execute, to obey the order of my guru, it is needed to become very proud, I will never hesitate to become very proud. If it is needed to become an animal, I will never hesitate to become an animal. If it is needed to go to hell for my guru, I will never hesitate to do it. Do you follow me? That is how to execute the order of the guru. That is how to become a true follower of guru.
I will never hesitate to do it. I will never hear from anyone but my guru. Those who are saying something different from this teaching coming through bona fide parampara, coming from Sriman Mahaprabhu - we will never listen to them. If somebody says something different, then like Bhimasena, with my fist, I will crush it. I will destroy it. I will defeat it. I am so proud. With just one speck of dust from the lotus feet of my guru, crores and crores of people of this world will be delivered. You should understand how powerful one little speck of dust of my guru's lotus feet is. There is no such a scholar as my guru. I will never accept anyone else as a scholar. There are no such teachings as those that my guru has imparted, to be found in any human being, or in any demigod, I know it very well. No one else can give such teachings. There is nothing in this world that is as heavy as a tiny speck of dust from the lotus feet of my guru. This is the follower of true parampara. I am following such parampara. This is the teaching; one should understand it very well.
…He (Srila Prabhupada) is empowered! Can't you understand this thing? Why couldn't they (Srila Prabhupada's god brothers) do this thing? Why do they come at this time and do now, when the atmosphere is created, the platform is there, foundations are already laid, some construction is there? Now they are coming. Now you are going there, leaving ISKCON camp. Such foolishness! You are such a fool! Can't you understand this thing? Thereby they are committing such offense. [Srila Prabhupada's god brothers say] He has given only elementary knowledge ABC, nothing higher. You can't understand what he (Srila Prabhupada) has said. When a tiny seed is there, it contains, like the seed of a banyan tree, so tiny, but it contains a great banyan tree inside. You, fool, cannot understand this thing. So intolerable. As a disciple of my Guru Maharaja and as a member of his founded society ISKCON, it is our duty to keep up the prestige. Yes, it is our duty now.
"The Gaudiya sampradaya, the parampara of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is a bona fide Vaisnava sampradaya. One should accept the instructions with a simple heart, which are coming from the acaryas in this parampara as it is, and practice them in one's life. Then you will get the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu.
We are not speaking anything pseudo-sampradayist. We should not hear the words of pseudo-sampradayists. When Mahaprabhu ordered, "You become guru and deliver this world," that instruction has come unto my guru, Srila Prabhupada, and my guru gave me this same order. So I will never develop any duplicity or crookedness in executing this order. That means I will never come in murkha-sampradaya or kapatya-sampradaya or phalgu-sampradaya, the schools of fools, hypocrites and pretenders. I will never teach duplicity or crookedness to anybody. Those who are visayis, materialistic persons, are duplicitous, crooked and envious; they come under pseudo-sampradaya. They are selfish persons.
Those who are under the bona fide sampradaya coming from Sriman Gauranga Mahaprabhu, they are so powerful that they kick all such sampradaya. They are always, twenty-four hours, day and night, engaged in loving service to the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna, executing the order of their guru. They never desist from rendering pure service without duplicity (niskapata seva.) An Acarya is natural, not pretending, he is not pretentious. He is not pretending as acarya. He is a natural acarya, not artificial. He is more humble than a blade of grass lying on the street and as tolerant as a tree. He gives respect to one and all, seeing Krsna in everybody and never demands respect for himself.
Our teachings, which are coming through our parampara are true, coming from Mahaprabhu. They are our sadacara, our regulative principle. They are law for all humanity. And this law, this sadacara, has come down to us through parampara. If we disrespect it, if we don't execute in our life, if we add any deliberation, if we twist it, then we will become offenders. We will commit offence by not obeying the orders of guru. Yes, namaparadha. Then we will be far away from the lotus feet of our guru. Guru will never keep us at his lotus feet. If, in order to execute, to obey the order of my guru, it is needed to become very proud, I will never hesitate to become very proud. If it is needed to become an animal, I will never hesitate to become an animal. If it is needed to go to hell for my guru, I will never hesitate to do it. Do you follow me? That is how to execute the order of the guru. That is how to become a true follower of guru.
I will never hesitate to do it. I will never hear from anyone but my guru. Those who are saying something different from this teaching coming through bona fide parampara, coming from Sriman Mahaprabhu - we will never listen to them. If somebody says something different, then like Bhimasena, with my fist, I will crush it. I will destroy it. I will defeat it. I am so proud. With just one speck of dust from the lotus feet of my guru, crores and crores of people of this world will be delivered. You should understand how powerful one little speck of dust of my guru's lotus feet is. There is no such a scholar as my guru. I will never accept anyone else as a scholar. There are no such teachings as those that my guru has imparted, to be found in any human being, or in any demigod, I know it very well. No one else can give such teachings. There is nothing in this world that is as heavy as a tiny speck of dust from the lotus feet of my guru. This is the follower of true parampara. I am following such parampara. This is the teaching; one should understand it very well.
…He (Srila Prabhupada) is empowered! Can't you understand this thing? Why couldn't they (Srila Prabhupada's god brothers) do this thing? Why do they come at this time and do now, when the atmosphere is created, the platform is there, foundations are already laid, some construction is there? Now they are coming. Now you are going there, leaving ISKCON camp. Such foolishness! You are such a fool! Can't you understand this thing? Thereby they are committing such offense. [Srila Prabhupada's god brothers say] He has given only elementary knowledge ABC, nothing higher. You can't understand what he (Srila Prabhupada) has said. When a tiny seed is there, it contains, like the seed of a banyan tree, so tiny, but it contains a great banyan tree inside. You, fool, cannot understand this thing. So intolerable. As a disciple of my Guru Maharaja and as a member of his founded society ISKCON, it is our duty to keep up the prestige. Yes, it is our duty now.
Comments
From Trino G. Carrera
For sure. There is a duality there that the disciple sees guru as God, but the guru only sees himself as the humble servant of his own spiritual master. . so it is fitting that this quote comes from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta.
To go back to Kirtanananda that is what was wrong from the beginning. He and Hayagriva defected because they wanted to "mainstream" Hare Krishna and also to be gurus. Of course, Srila Prabhupada took them back, demonstrating also the infinite mercy of a true guru.
The interfaith leanings of Kirtanananda also explain a lot about Radhanath, who is now trying to mainstream ISKCON and go interfaith in a similar way. . . that may be OK to an extent. . but it's the trying to be guru unworthily that remains an issue.
Could we find anyone better than Srila Prabhupada? I think that is also mentioned by Gour Govinda Swami, that who else did so much? We are supposed to go hunting some guru in a cave. . but Srila Prabhupada comes to us. . .begging his way onto a ship in fact as an elderly man just to offer us his mantra.
From rudrapanditdas
PAMHO, yes there are many bad gurus, if they do not fallow the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and iskcon we must avoid them. I have heard of fallen devotees (so called gurus) who have started their own temples, ashrams,or any spritual guide not teaching the 4 regulative principles and chanting the maha mantra .
PAMHO , just a note as i was initiated 1st and 2nd by his Grace Srila Prabhupada ,in detroit iskcon 1972- 1979 ,never wanted to leave the temple but things started to change in 1978 as you well know gbc , ect. . was very well respected by all devotees can name at least 12 even my temple president sent a letter to Srila Prabhupada you can read it in Prabhupadas letters online. went back once but it was not the same , sure wish every day i never left but still fallow the 4 regs. and chant, . your servant rudra pandit das. All Glory to Srila Prabhupada !!!!!
your servant rudra pandit das
Prabhu, SBSSs lecture above makes it clear that one wh clearly notes imebrieties and significant flaws in the preceptor, e is not obliged to saty or accept diections from such persons. most of our -godbrothers and sister similarla could not tolerate the abuses and deviations of the usurpers and poisonners parties, and so we have regouped outside the infleucnes of Kali. This was rightly donem as confirmed by SBSS. Srila Prabhupada also left the association of the godbrothers of his in the times after departure of SBSS, as they also deviated severyl forming parties to seize properties and wealth for themselves and relatives evenm using lawyers and power politics. some were invovled in attemtps on SBSS life, such that at the end, when they brought him poisonned food, he would throw the plates on the floor.
There is an ugly tradition in India of killing by poison in order to seize the wealth of even the greatest holy men by demons posing as followers. Srila Narayana Maharajah, who has close association with many Vasinavas in his time, according to one of his disciples, personally told her that Srila Prbhupada had been poisonned to deat by his own disciples...Our own godisster Radha Govinda Swami, the only female sannyasi approved for such by Srila Prabhupada, told me that she is aware that every GBCX curent of the phony Iskcon is well aware of this murder, and is conspiring to hide the truth from the devotees in order to shore up their stolen empire.
The real ISKCON is not among such liars, it is here and wherever the sincere humble disciples of Srila Prabhupada do his service with honesty and real devotion.
Devotees who are pure, and there are and were such rare beings as Srila Gour Govinda, the actual next acarya, are ignored and abusedto this very day by this party of murderers. We should avoid them and fight against their Kamsa-like rascaldom, otherwise we are allowing such crimes to go unexposed and unpunished, which will not be good for the future generations. Our best revenge is to expand and increase the devotees in knowledge, who vow to follow the pure teachings with the service of Godhead in mind, not the service of maya and demons. In course of time, if we do this, all rascaldom will become exposed and their schsmes will become but the bitter ashes of history.