Challenging the Zonal Acarya System, Part 17

BY: SUN EDITORS - 31.5 2023

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RECTIFICATION PROCEDURES

We request that the GBC please adopt all of the resolutions we are now proposing. We further request that this be done during this spring festival. These rectification proposals should not be promised verbally only, but should be put into written form for distribution to all the devotees in our movement.

1) Each newly-appointed initiating guru must specifically state whether he is on the paramahamsa, full-realization platform or whether he is a madhyama-guru. (as authority for this, we cite that Srila Prabhupada even informed karmi media representatives as to what his topmost platform of realization was).

2) It should be stated that a number (the word minority should not be used) of Srila Prabhupada's initiated disciples are dissatisfied with the current process of new guru worship and it's philosophy, feeling that there are deviations in it from sastric and sampradaya standards.

3) Pressure tactics of any sort used against initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada who wish to question any newly adopted procedures according to guru, sastra, and sadhu, must be condemned and forbidden by the GBC. Analysis should instead be encouraged, not discouraged.

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4) All of Srila Prabhupada's initiated disciples who are not definitely known (suspicion is inadequate) to be breaking either the four rules and regulations or their vow of chanting 16 rounds, and who do not conduct themselves in any abominable manner while on temple grounds, must be given full facility to visit any of ISKCON's temples for attendance at any regular functions.

5) Any concept that Srila Prabhupada is dwindling within ISKCON as the sampradaya acarya, and therefore the center, must be disowned, and action must be immediately taken to stop such offensive misconceptions.

6) The process of public guru-puja in the temples must be written on paper, and it should be noted that guru-puja must always be wholeheartedly performed by Prabhupada's disciples for him at that time.

7) It must be clearly stated that Srila Prabhupada is the sampradaya acarya for ISKCON eternally, and that no disciple should ever attempt to usurp his title of "Srila Prabhupada".

8) The temples which Srila Prabhupada left to ISKCON when he departed this planet should be considered to be Prabhupada's temples, meant for his primary worship, along with the Deity.

9) It should be clearly stated that an initiate of Srila Prabhupada does not necessarily require any instructions from any source other than Srila Prabhupada and the sastra in order to perform devotional service to his spiritual master and advance in Krsna consciousness. Cooperation in service with appointed Godbrothers is to be brought out not by any forceful means, but by encouraging voluntary desire to cooperate via the ISKCON appointed authorities in their example.

10) Any initiated Vaisnava of Srila Prabhupada who is leading a saintly life in Krsna consciousness and is giving bonafide instructions should be understood to be a guru, and, as such, a representative of Prabhupada and Krsna.

11) Any vindictive insults hurled at any initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada by authorities in a position to curtail or hamper the aforementioned disciple's devotional service should be immediately condemned by the GBC body and rectified. There can also be no unwarranted blacklists published and circulated within ISKCON.

12) All studies of the Vedic sciences should never be discouraged but instead encouraged. This includes jyotisa upaveda (vedic astronomy and astrology), hasta and sariraka samudrika (palmistry), etc. A standard system of authorized and truthful research should be established and consulted in order to gain practical benefits from these great sciences. (It should be noted that there is a double-standard in last year's GBC resolutions which "do not condone" astrology, since virtually every GBC has at least one astrological

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consultant. This kind of duplicity must be abandoned. Also, it may be noted that nowhere in Srila Prabhupada's books will one find any statements against these Vedic sciences, but instead those infallible books contain many praises of these studies.

13) A guru should never instruct an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada that the disciple must preach about this new guru in preference to Srila Prabhupada.

14) There should be no mandatory form of worship that an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada is obliged to pay to a new guru, save and except the respect required to all dandi gosvamis. All other respect must be voluntary only.

15) Srila Prabhupada's claim to fame should not be misconstrued to be the creation of the eleven rttvik acaryas. They are not the only servants and representatives of Srila Prabhupada.

16) The infallibility or absolute concept is not applicable to an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada when the new guru speaks.

17) It should be declared that no individual successor to or a group of successors to Srila Prabhupada was appointed by His Divine Grace.

18) The specific applications of the term "acarya" in relation to the new gurus are to be properly and authoritatively specified according to sastra.

19) His Grace Sridhar Swami Should be again consulted for further specific clarifications on all these new guru matters. Narayan Maharaj may also be consulted.

20) Preaching endeavors are mutually exclusive from the management authority, given to the GBC. There should be an air of cooperation, of course, but never one of interference.

21) A Vaisnava Rajya Sabha consisting of objective, impartial, sastric authority should be established. This sabha should have specific qualifications in it so that any initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada may become qualified to enter it. It should not be an exclusive, elitist organization, and it should not be who you know but what you know which entitles entrance into it's ranks. It should have a specific relationship of authority with other ISKCON authorities.

22) Prabhupada's maha-samadhi fund should immediately be filled with all required funds in order to start opulent and efficient construction on his samadhi promptly.

23) All illicit means of procuring money for the operation of the ISKCON movement must be curtailed completely and immediately.

Commentary on Part 17
by Sun Editors

As we approach the conclusion of our serial presentation, "Challenging the Zonal Acarya System", there are several statements in Part 17 that we would like to comment on.

As we mentioned in Part Two of this presentation, the twenty-one devotees who signed the paper and delivered it to the GBC were promptly driven out of ISKCON by the Zonal Acaryas. The Rectification Procedures they asked the GBC to implement were also rejected.

Even today, hardly any of these points of remediation have been accomplished in ISKCON. Recommendation #12, on acceptance of the Vedic sciences, seems to no longer be a contentious issue. If anything, the GBC pendulum has now swung to the opposite extreme, and they condone all sorts of non-Vedic, New Age nonsense that is presented as having some distant connection to Vedic sciences.

Recommendation #15, that Srila Prabhupada's fame should not be eclipsed by the so-called "rttvik acaryas", has now simply shifted to his being eclipsed by the GBC and big gurus. Although no longer referred to as Zonal Acaryas, some of them still effectively operate as just that.

Recommendation #16 has also seen a reversal, given that the Zonal Acaryas quickly demonstrated their non-absoluteness by falling down in various ways. Today, the GBC/Gurus prefer to emphasize that they are not absolute, and therefore cannot be held to too high a standard. After all, it is Srila Prabhupada that has the full potency, not them. Nonetheless, even in their non-absoluteness, they are still to be revered as good-as-absolute, because they are now the deputed Ultimate Managing Authorities (rather than the Zonal Acaryas).

Recommendation #19 is interesting, in hindsight. Whoever the twenty-one signers of this document were, we assume that nearly all of them would today admit that the notion of going back for more advice from Srila Sridhar, what to speak of B.V. Narayan, was an error of judgment and a lack of understanding of Srila Prabhupada's overall instructions on sadhu-sanga. The notable exception would be B.G. Narasingha. Initiated in 1970 by Srila Prabhupada as Jaga-guru dasa Brahmacari, after being ejected by the Zonal Acaryas, he went to Srila Sridhara for shelter, and accepted the name Bhakti Gaurava Narasingha. Undoubtedly one of the twenty-one signers of this document, he would no doubt continue to advocate taking shelter of Srila Sridhara.

There are several requests for rectification in the Zonal Acarya challenge paper for which comparable principles are found in the Constitution for ISKCON As It Is. This is not surprising, given that the Constitution addresses a great many ongoing problems in the society that should have been rectified by the GBC long ago, but were not. The seeds of many, if not most of these problems fructified during the Zonal Acarya era. If and when they ever release a constitution for GBC/ISKCON, we think it very unlikely that their document will address these problems even today.

In the paper, Recommendation #1 asks that diksa gurus make a disclosure on their perceived level of self-realization:

1) Each newly-appointed initiating guru must specifically state whether he is on the paramahamsa, full-realization platform or whether he is a madhyama-guru."

In §8.6.3.6.3 of the Constitution, we read:

"Members of the Society who understand themselves to be non- liberated madhyama-adhikaris, but nonetheless take upon themselves the service of diksa-guru, shall make clear in their preaching to prospective initiates that they are not liberated souls. They should make clear to potential disciples what their level of realization is, and the fact that they are not in direct association with Sri Krsna, as an uttama-adhikari is. Potential disciples must be made aware of the distinction between a liberated guru on the highest platform of adhikara and a madhyama-guru who is not on that platform."

Recommendation #3 asks that:

"Pressure tactics of any sort used against initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada who wish to question any newly adopted procedures according to guru, sastra, and sadhu, must be condemned and forbidden by the GBC. Analysis should instead be encouraged, not discouraged."

In the Constitution, this dynamic is addressed more broadly, not only in terms of encouragement to question procedures, but also proper oversight of leaders, gurus and sannyasis. For example:

§8.5.6.1 "As public figures and spiritual leaders within the Society, siksa-gurus operating within the Society shall be held to the highest scrutiny of the Members, who shall not be intimidated or discouraged from pointing out what appear to be indiscretions in the way siksa-gurus conduct themselves. [And the same for diksa gurus, in §8.6.5.3.1]

§5.10.1 "The proper conclusions of Vaisnavism and the practical application of siddhanta based on guru, sadhu and sastra may be freely discussed in the atmosphere of istagosthi, which is conducive to exploration of spiritual doubts, discussing controversial philosophical positions, or whatever else limits the devotees from engaging peacefully in their pursuit of Krsna consciousness."

The often misused pressure tactic of claiming one is committing vaisnava-aparadha is addressed in §3.3.4.3:

"Given the tendency for gross misuse in applying the label vaisnava-aparadha as a means to squelch free speech and expression, leaders of the Society may not take restrictive action against a Member on the basis of a complaint of vaisnava-aparadha without having brought the matter before the Judicial Panel."

Recommendation #6:

"The process of public guru-puja in the temples must be written on paper, and it should be noted that guru-puja must always be wholeheartedly performed by Prabhupada's disciples for him at that time."

is addressed in the Constitution, §5.8.4.1:

"The program of worship shall include authorized activities, following as closely as possible the full program of daily worship established by His Divine Grace: mangala-arati, tulasi-arati, chanting japa, guru-puja, Srimad Bhagavatam class…"

Recommendation #21 calls for a Vaisnava Rajya Sabha, which is comparable to the Brahminical Council described in Article 4 of the Constitution. As the suggestion for rectification of the Zonal Acarya System describes it, the Brahminical Council comprises a body of senior Vaisnavas offering objective, impartial sastric authority and guidance.

Recommendation #18, on the use of the term "acarya", will be discussed at more length at the conclusion of this series.

Finally, a comment on Recommendations #5 and #7:

"5) Any concept that Srila Prabhupada is dwindling within ISKCON as the sampradaya acarya, and therefore the center, must be disowned, and action must be immediately taken to stop such offensive misconceptions.

7) It must be clearly stated that Srila Prabhupada is the sampradaya acarya for ISKCON eternally, and that no disciple should ever attempt to usurp his title of "Srila Prabhupada".

Upon discovering this document in our archives and reading this section of the paper, we were quite astonished to find these references to the term, "sampradaya acarya". As most Sun readers will know, our philosophical position on Srila Prabhupada's status as the Sampradaya Acarya is the most fundamental position underlying our preaching, including publication of the Sampradaya Sun and HareKrsna.com. Over many years we have written on this topic, and an archive of these documents is found at the top of the page, Recent Articles by Rocana dasa.

One of these papers, "Credit Where Credit's Due" (2007), talks about the origin, in ISKCON, of the terminology, "sampradaya acarya". We are now happy to be able to add this historical footprint from the Zonal Acarya challenge paper to our standing record of how and when the term has been used to describe His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, Sampradaya Acarya.

Aside from the somewhat ambiguous use of the honorific in a few early Ritvik papers, and our own detailed commentaries over the last 13 years on meaning and application of the term to describe Srila Prabhupada's exalted position, the only example of its official usage by GBC/ISKCON that we're aware of is found in the 2013 paper by Ravindra Svarupa dasa, "Srila Prabhupada, The Founder-Acarya of ISKCON" (p. 37-38). In it, he equates the term 'Founder-Acarya' with the title, 'sampradaya-acarya', as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati has done. We were therefore pleased to find the two references to the honorific, "sampradaya acarya", in this historically important 1979 document.