Worshiping the guru as God

Gurus make also mistakes ▪︎ Paramatma is not eternal ▪︎ Self-censorship▪︎ Ritvik and guru. 

Looking back after so long since Prabhupada disappearance, it is clear that some of his instructions did not turn out to be the right thing to do, and others remain confusing. They nevertheless serve as essential references to the institution, and leaders with their followers cannot help themselves from grooming devotees. Many complain about this consequences, but they are prisoners of this formatting structure which they take for a positive spiritual dynamic. They blow on the boil to relieve the pain, instead of cutting it by a chirurgical operation, a famous Prabhupada's example.

When morality forbids criticizing or making any reproaches to the guru, the society where this occurs experiences great difficulties; individual and social progress are not possible. A guru is a man like any other, unless for an exception, as the rule wants it.

Devotees don't give their opinion, they repeat Krishna's words, as it is. You cannot see God directly, only the pure devotee can. Therefore, he manifest himself through the guru. He is the external manifestation of Paramatma. That is the verdict of the Scriptures. Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita that you must have faith in Scriptures.

Therefore, the disciple is certainly not qualified to criticize the guru. No one is. This "policy" (or politics) comes from the Vaishnava tradition and was transmitted to us by Srila Prabhupada. Although the Ritviks realized more than others the difficulties generated by this transmission of knowledge, by a spiritual authority whose behavior and psychology can leave us skeptical, they did not understand that the problem is inherent to the vaishnava "theology". It is natural for disciples having worshiped their gurus for decades to see them as an external manifestation of Paramatma. Traditional guru worship is not an institutional or political affair, it is personal and subjective; it provokes emotions that will ultimately guide the disciples beyond any moral and rational considerations.

Listen to Srila Prabhupada giving us a glimpse of the science of Krishna consciousness while commenting a verse of the Bhagavad-gita: "The Paramātmā manifestation is also a temporary all-pervasive aspect of the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. The Paramātmā manifestation is not eternal in the spiritual world. Therefore the factual Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. He is the complete energetic person, and He possesses different separated and internal energies." (7.4.-1972)

It is a mask. Therefore the guru is not eternal; so is our relation with this body representing a person. At the theater, the actor or the purusa plays a role temporally, after the performance he takes the mask off. 

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More on Paramatma or the possibility to see God More on Paramatma or the possibility to see God.

An internal war in ISKCON over the guru issue 

Mayesvara ACBSP: "Yes Uttama Adhikara is best, but if there is some doubt about who that may be or if one is NOT currently available then what?"

You do like in India; traditional gurus. Everyone has his personal guru. They may be not that pure, but at least they follow some bona-fide standards, for the time being. (History will just repeats itsel.)

Guttama dasa gives his opinion: "Disciples go back to Godhead by the krpa of Prabhupada, the disciplic succession and the whole institution, which represents the disciplic succession. This is the train anology. You just connect to the train and the front engine is Lord Chaitanya, Prabhupada etc".

It is automatic. Like in the logic of Descartes; animals follow a mechanical pattern. In our case, it is a spiritual one.

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