Thanks, I think I got Palaka's idea already: (A) We must distribute Srila Prabhupada's books because then, (B) People will naturally be attracted to Srila Prabhupada as their guru, and they will accept him as their guru, (C) Except according to Palaka dasa, anyone who reads the books and becomes inspired to accept Srila Prabhupada as their guru is "like a Christian who is part of the Catholic Church."
And those of us promoting Srila Prabhupada as the guru are also bogus Catholic Church types. Fine except (D) Rupanuga's GBC pals are voting in gurus, like the Vatican votes for the Pope?
I think people like Palaka are the number one reason people are not distributing and reading the books, because after they read, then Palaka types tell them to forget all about having Srila Prabhupada as their guru, its a waste of time to worship him because -- if they accept him as their guru they are bogus Catholic Church. No wonder you folks have no temples, no devotees, no programs, no nada, because you are countermanding and arguing with yourself! You cannot distribute the books of a guru, and then tell the people who read the books they cannot accept the guru who wrote the books -- as their guru? You are arguing with your own shadow, no wonder nobody hears about your program, its rudderless. ys pd
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ReplyDelete(Note: The following is split into 2 parts due to length)
DeleteIt is written by a very intelligent female devotee in response to Amala Bhakta das glorifying Radhanatha (Ravanatha) Swami.
Even though it is a reply to a different video it applies just as much here as it does there.
Thank you!
My new facebook friend Abhaya Charanaravinda Dasi writes the following Commenting on a brand new video by Amala Bhaka Dasa just recently recorded at ISKCON Sacramento, (or maybe it is Berkeley?)
ReplyDelete1:59:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcugT77iFAM&feature=plcp
A very nice and intelligent female devotee Abhaya Charanaravinda Dasi comments on this video.
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By Abhaya Charanaravinda Dasi:
Amala is speaking against sastra. Srila prabhupada says the "vani" is more important than the vapu and so we should take the "vani" so amala doesnt speak the same conclusions as srila prabhupada . At the very end of the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Srila Prabhupada gives his concluding wo
rds.In the first paragraph Srila Prabhupada says that we should take advantage of vani but NOT THE VAPU! The vapu feature of the spiritual master gives a very limited understanding of the spiritual master. If service to the vapu becomes the standard for serving and associating with the spiritual master, then the conception of eternal service and association does not exist and the spiritual master gets confined to a limited place in time and space. This goes against the teachings of the scripture that the real acharya is a transcendental person, who is not even of this world but is transcendentally situated in the spritual world. He only appears to be of this world, actually Prabhupada was manifesting himself from the spiritual dimension when we thought he was part of this world and nothing has changed for him. He was of the transcendental world then and he is still in the transcendental world. To think that he was with us then and not with us now is the vision of the spiritually blind.
Prabhupada’s concluding words of CC. Although, according to MATERIAL VISION His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarswati Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada passed away from this material world on the last day of December, 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be always present with me by his vani, his words. There are two ways of association – by vani and by vapu. Vani means words, and vapu means physical presence. Physicial presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vani continues to exist eternally. THEREFORE WE MUST TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE VANI, NOT THE PHYSICAL PRESENCE. Bhagavad-gita for example is the vani of Lord Krishna. Although Krishna was personally present five thousand years ago and is no longer physically present from the materialistic point of view, Bhagavad-gita continues.
This vani is not just a way for formally initiated disciples to associate with Srila Prabhupada, but it is a way for anybody and everybody to get initiated into transcendental knowledge directly by Srila Prabhupada. Nobody has any monopoly on being a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, though some would like to infer such. Anybody can be a disciple of Srila Prabhupada by taking his vani through his books, tapes and videos. If one can directly associate with Prabhupada directly even today by taking his vani then what need is there for so much formality of initiation from persons that we only have some marginal appreciation for?
If you can be intimately associated with Srila Prabhupada by taking his vani, then you have all the same benefits and advantages of those who had association with his vapu and even more. Vani is more important than vapu. This is the most intimate and important connection to Srila Prabhupada and the formalities of initiation are secondary to that.
ReplyDeleteIf initiated disciples can still associate with Prabhupada today through his vani then so can the whole world. If you have Prabhupada’s association then you have sufficient guidance to become Krishna consciosness and achieve the goal of life.
The current link is Srila Prabhupada and to say otherwise is to say that vani is not a real form of the spiritual master.
f there were no books of Srila Prabhupada, no tapes and no instructions available from him, then the current link would be any living disciples who could provide that knowledge. However, vani being more important and intimate than vapu, the current link is still Srila Prabhupada and his vani form of instructions and teachings through his books that are available all over the world. To say that Prabhupada is not the CURRENT LINK is to say that his vani does not exist and is not available to anyone.
To deny Prabhupada CURRENT LINK status because his vapu is not visible in an animated way, is to deny the legitimacy of vani as being a spiritual connection to Prabhupada.
The CURRENT LINK theory is very much alive and well through the vani of Srila Prabhupada. Anyone who says that Prabhupada is not the current link is a liar and a cheater out to take advantage of the innocent and vulnerable.
Prabhupada’s vani is the current link in the most pure and pristine form apart from all the foolish cheaters who have so many impurities and imperfections in their material conception of CURRENT LINK.
Prabhupada’s vani is the real initiation, even more so than any formal initiation performed by a ritvik or a successor disciple. The ritvik principle is only marginally referred to by Srila Prabhupada in the form of ISKCON administrative guidelines and is relative to ISKCON as an institution, but in no way is the exclusive and mandatory link with Srila Prabhupada. The vital living link with Srila Prabhupada is the link of vani. The ritvik system is a system of formal initiation into the ISKCON movement. It should not be equated with the importance and value of the vani link with Srila Prabhupada. The ritvik initiation is not the actual initiation by Srila Prabhupada – it is his vani. Through his vani Srila Prahbupada lives in his most wholesome and comprehensive feature that is beyond the scope of death. Ritvik is an ISKCON ritual meant for inducting members into the society. It is not spiritual initiation in it’s most vital and dynamic form. The most vital, dynamic and living form of initiation is receiving the vani of Srila Prabhupada. This is the teaching of Srila Prabhupada. Don’t settle for substitutes of the real thing.
Anyone can accept a spiritual name and the instructions of Srila Prabhupada. Formal diksha via ritvik or otherwise is optional, external and for the most part irrelevant when compared to the indispensible necessity of taking the vani of Srila Prabhupada.
Don’t let the cheaters get you!
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(NOTE: I had to split it in 2 parts due to the length)
Thank you,
love,
Bhakta peter