Ultimate Self realization course 27.04.15 (Q&A)..

Question: Is Srila Prabhupada the Only Spiritual Master?

All glories to you and Srila Prabhupada. I am new to Krishna Consciousness and your course. I only started in October 2014. I am confused about when and how one should accept a spiritual master. There are other websites saying that we shouldn't accept a spiritual master except for Srila Prabhupada because even though he has passed, he still lives on in his books. They say Srila Prabhupada never said for anyone else to be spiritual masters and only gave permission to eleven others to initiate on his behalf after he passed. Can you please explain the proper way of having a spiritual master?

Thank you for your time.

Hare Krishna.

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Prabhupada Ordered His Disciples to Become Gurus

Once upon a time there was a fox who spied some really wonderful looking grapes high on a grape vine. Eager to sample those grapes he jumped as high as he could to try to reach them but fell short of the mark. He tried again and again pushing himself to jump higher and higher, but no matter how high he jumped he was still not quite able to reach the grapes. Finally defeated in his attempt to taste the grapes he declared that the grapes are sour and walked away. Recently on this planet there was present the most influential and enlightened spiritual master in world history, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Through his books, his lectures, his letters, his conversations, and his example he revealed the highest truth of Krishna consciousness, which will take anyone who understands and implements it to the highest state of spiritual perfection. Not only did he act as a guru for delivering the fallen souls of this age. He also trained his disciples how they could become gurus as well to continue with the work of delivering the fallen souls of this age after his disappearance. He specifically instructed that after his departure from this world those of his disciples who are strictly following him should continue the disciplic succession by initiating their own disciples. Some neophyte devotees who were not qualified to become gurus due to their not strictly following Srila Prabhupada's teachings became envious of those devotees who were empowered to become gurus. So they concocted a false philosophy to declare that nobody could be a guru except for Srila Prabhupada. "If I can't taste the grapes, the grapes are sour. If I can't be a guru, nobody can be a guru."  Even though the number of these disobedient foxes is very small compared to the number of devotees who are obediently following Srila Prabhupada, through putting up many web pages on the internet they are giving the false impression that there is some substantiality to their concocted views. If you tell a lie long enough, foolish people will start believing it. But those who are wise take the time and trouble to find out what is actually true before they draw any conclusions. The eleven you mentioned were instructed by Srila Prabhupada to initiate devotees as his disciples between July and October of 1977 when Srila Prabhupada was too ill to be involved with the initiations of new disciples. On 18 October 1977 just days before his departure Srila Prabhupada stated that he would no longer accept disciples, and he authorized his disciples to begin accepting their own disciples. The proper way to have a spiritual master is to find someone who is a bona fide disciple of Srila Prabhupada, is  loyal to the ISKCON institution that Srila Prabhupada created, and who has been blessed by ISKCON's Governing Body Commission (GBC) to initiate disciples. You will know that he is bona fide by seeing that he is perfectly living and speaking the Absolute Truth which is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. You should then take shelter of that spiritual master, become his initiated disciple, and fully dedicate your life to following his instructions accepting them as your very life and soul. In this way you will become fully absorbed in pure devotional service to Lord Sri Krishna and fully qualified to enter into the spiritual world when you depart from your present material body. Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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