Surya writes George A. Smith

Dear George,
Please accept my humble obeisance’s.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I don’t know you personally but have read some of your writings in the past and always considered you thoughtful and quite articulate. I wanted to put a couple of things to you. In doing so I don’t mean any disrespect, am not trying to put you down, and no doubt about it, I have many shortcomings. But I think this issue is very important and although I hear conclusive statements from both sides of the argument I believe Srila Prabhupada would like us to continue to talk this ‘threadbare’ and from as many angles as possible.

So your writing got me wondering how you might categorize those devotees, (and I believe there were many) who were not initiated by Prabhupada ‘in person’ but rather on his behalf through a Ritvik priest, (and some who perhaps never actually met Prabhupada at all) even while he was here physically?

Is it because Srila Prabhupada was on the other side of the planet at the time of their initiation that they be considered bona fide disciples, but because Srila Prabhupada is now ‘further away’ that initiation process no longer has potency? This raises the question of how many kilometers the pure devotee must travel before he loses his effectiveness to reach other jiva souls? (Is there any Scriptural evidence of this?)

Are we to believe that that the soul we knew as His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is now imprisoned in the spiritual world, bound by time and space, and unable to reach the hundreds, maybe thousands, of jiva souls sincerely calling out for his guidance, shelter and love?

Most importantly; what if today someone wanted to take shelter of HDG as his guru -- having received instruction and guidance from him through his books and lectures -- and what if His Divine Grace was willing to accept them as his disciple? Do you, or Rocana Prabhu, (or the GBC for that matter) get to overrule that desire and instead instruct Srila Prabhupada that, according to your understanding of Scripture, he does not have the freewill to do so?

Kind regards, Surya Narayana das, (Christchurch, New Zealand)

Deities of Hare Krishna Movement (Jaipur) shows how our idea of the worship of the pure devotee Srila Prabhupada can make a successful program.