"All my disciples will take the legacy. If you want, you can also take it. Sacrifice everything. I, one, may soon pass away. But they are hundreds, and this movement will increase. It is not that I give an order, 'Here is the next leader.' Anyone who follows the previous leadership is the leader.... All of my disciples are leaders, as much as they follow purely. If you want to follow, you can also lead. But you don't want to follow. Leader means one who is a first class disciple. Evam param parapraptam. One who is following is perfect."
(Srila Prabhupada, Back to Godhead magazine, Vol. 13, No. 1-2)
verse located courtesy Rasa Manjari dd
video located c/o Basu Gopal v. Prabhu
video located c/o Tamohara dasa
Comments
Part 2;
Question: Why were you not on the list of eleven?
Answer: Because it did not matter. Srila Prabhupada said whoever was closest. I was already doing and Srila Prabhupada never told me or anyone else not on the list to stop. For myself, it was not very relevant because I was working in Japan and did not have any new devotees to initiate.
Tamal Krsna Swami, made these list of names himself and SP signed the letter. But they were only priests to act on behalf of SP. Tamal asked about Bhavananda who was not a TP or a GBC at that time. And everyone new well of his homosexual tendencies. But, Tamal pushed his name, because he was already planning how to take over when Srila Prabhupada was gone.
Question: How did Tamal Krsna Swami become so influential at this time?
Gurukrpa: Tamal's original service was as GBC in India. He left that service without permission and arrived in America. Within one year the temple presidents made a huge complaint to SP that he was disrupting the temples by taking important men. I was in the room when SP told Tamal to go to China. Hari Sauri's memory of this incident is not accurate. Either way that is another story.
Tamal went to New York to prepare to go to China. And in May 1976, he showed up in a suit in Honolulu, a broken man. He could not get a visa to China, he had no service to do in India, and he could not go back to America, so he was quite depressed. Approximately a day or two later, SP called for Tamal and me at about 12:30 AM. He said, "My feet are swelling, my teeth are getting loose, I am passing urine too frequently. These are the first signs that death is coming." Then he sent us back to bed. The next day TKG volunteered to be SP's secretary, as the service was vacant at that time. From this position he could control and manipulate the environment around Srila Prabhupada. I can write many more stories that will shock people about TKG's ambitious nature and his desire to take SP's seat..
After SP left, in November 1977, I stayed in Vrindaban till Gour Purnima 1978 and there was no discussion of guru during these three or four months, because SP's last instruction, or as the ritvics call it, "The final order", was that "Now we have build a framework. There is no need to try and expand more. If we can just maintain our men and increase the chanting and hearing that is sufficient. We should sit down now and chant and hear."
There was NO TALK about initiations that I heard either in Vrindaban or in Mumbai during these months. If SP has appointed these eleven as spiritual masters, why did they not start initiating at once? Because they all knew very well they were never appointed! We knew the philosophy what is tattva darshi and what is Saksad Hari...but behind closed doors there was a plot simmering. In the GBC meeting of 1978 the initiation issue was brought up and it appeared they had already concluded that they were going to go ahead and say that they were appointed. I asked Harikesh sitting next to me, 'how are you going to let people call you a paramahansa? You are not a realized soul, you are a piece of shit. He turned to me with a smrik on his face, and said "What are you going to do about it?" That is basically what happened, none of us could do anything after that.
In 1978, Janmastami, TKG came to Vrindavan to give Sannyasa diskha to Bhagavan. I was the GBC at the time in Vrindavan. (see part 3)
Gurukrpa Swami's Letter
From: Bhakta dasa Date: 2/3/2009 7:45:43 PM To: Prabhupada Disciples
Subject: Another point of view from Gurukrpa Prabhu
Dear Prabhus:
Gurukrpa is here with me and on his behalf I am writing here.
Question to GK: What happened the final months of SP's appearance in connection with the process of initiating new devotees?
Answer: Nothing happened. In the beginning SP did the disksa, the yajna and the name giving. As the numbers increased, he authorized GBC, and senior sanyassis to pick names and chant on the beads, etc. In 1977 during the months of May, June, July 1977 I was in Vrindaban with Srila Prabhupada, giving him his massage in his bed between 1 AM and mangala aratik. During the day, many letters would arrive. Satsvarupa Swami was the secretary and we decided that only letters that would give joy to Srila Prabhupada would be read. Like numbers of books sold, etc. A maximum of five letters daily were read to SP.
After some weeks like this, there were stacks and stacks of letters, all relating to initiation. Hundreds of people were panicking that SP would leave the planet before they were given initiation. At this time, this situation was brought before SP in his room by Satsvarupa, Tamal, myself, and maybe some others.
Up until this time it was a very simple matter that we were doing the initiations, but we first had to ask permission. SP NEVER refused any recommendation from his senior men. And personally, I would sometimes argue with some GBC that they were giving it too easily.
At this meeting, SP basically said, "From here on, if you feel they are ready, then you may give the initiation on my behalf." I understood this for what it was, simply extending the authority a little further than it had been. Tamal Krsna Swami, began to say, "But who will do it?. Which devotees will do this?" Srila Prabhupada said, "The nearest one will do it. Whoever is closest." Tamal said, "Can Bhavananda do? Can Jayapataka do?" Thus these eleven names came out. (see Pt 2)
Prabhupada: “This is parampara system. You cannot jump over. You must go through the parampara system. You have to approach through your spiritual master to the Gosvamis, and through the Gosvamis you will have to approach Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu you have to approach Krsna. This is the way.
Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura said, ei chay gosai jar—tar mui das. We are servant of servant. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s instruction, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah. The more you become servant of the servant, the more you are perfect.
And if you all of a sudden want to become master, then you go to hell. That’s all. Don’t do that. This is the teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If you go through the servant, servant, servant, then you are advanced. And if you think that you have now become master, then you are going to hell. This is the process. Dasa-dasanudasah.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu said. So servant, servant, servant, a hundred times servant now, that means he is advanced. He is advanced. And one who is becoming directly master, then he is in the hell.
So anarpita-carim cirat. So we should always remember the instruction of Srila Rupa Gosvami. Therefore we pray, sri-caitanya-mano-’bhistam sthapitam yena bhu-tale. Our mission is to establish the desire of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.4
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Mayapur, March 28, 1975