Idol Worship in Iskcon?
by
Narasimha das
These
pictures show a vyasasana in an Iskcon temple room. On this vyasasana
is mounted a large picture of an “Iskcon guru,” and it appears there is a ritvik
initiation ceremony going on – but without Srila Prabhupada. Apparently
the gbc accepts ritvik initiations as long as Srila Prabhupada is not
recognized as the guru. These photos indicate that the gbc is allowing idolatry
in Iskcon. Idol worship is condemned in
every scripture. Idolatry is defined as the unauthorized worship or adoration
of a material object or person as if it (or he) were super potent, super
cognizant, fully divine and capable of reciprocating with all devotional offerings.
“If one tries to mingle the worship
of yogamaya with mahamaya, considering them one and the same, he
does really show high intelligence.” (Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya
8.90, Purport)
“Intermingling the spiritual with the
material causes one to look on transcendence as material and the mundane as
spiritual. This is all due to a poor fund of knowledge.” (Cc.
Madhya 16.72, Purport)
One reason
idolatry is so sinful is because simple persons who are pious and naturally
attracted to offer worship to the Supreme Lord sometimes become diverted from
authorized devotional service to the Lord's Deity form by imitation ritutals,
or idolatrous rituals based on concocted traditions. In imitation of Deity
worship, tribals, fallen dvijas, misguided sudras and others offer
incense, flowers, fruits, ghee lamps, and prohibited items such as intoxicants
and meat to murtis of goddesses associated with Ma Kali, or to other
minor devatas, yaksas, raksasas, bogus “avatars,” bogus
“gurus,” and even political leaders. All such unauthorized ritual is useless.
“Presently people are so fallen that
they cannot distinguish between a liberated soul and a conditioned soul.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.18.5,
Purport)
Arcana-marga and sri
guru-puja are completely different from idol worship because both the
Deity and Sri Guru are fully divine, omniscient, omnipotent and fully
capable of reciprocating all devotional offerings. Furthermore, such worship
has been going on since time immemorial
and is authorized in the Vedic scriptures and by all Vedic acaryas. In
rare cases, great Vaisnavas, nitya-siddha parishadas of the Supreme
Lord, are worshiped in the same manner as Lord Krishna Himself, either as a
painting, picture or murti made of earth, stone or wood. Arcana-marga is
always meant exclusively for Krishna, His expansions and His eternally
liberated associates.
In Vedic
history it is generally seen that, apart from Sri Lakshmi Devi and other direct
expansions of the Supreme Lord, only a few great devotees like Sri Hanuman Ji
and Sri Garuda Ji are worshiped regularly in Vaisnava temples on the same level
as the Lord Himself. If a devotee follows the rules of arcana-marga with
devotion, the representational form of the Supreme Lord or great Vaisnava
becomes identical with the divine personality Himself, Who accepts all sincere
offerings and prayers and speaks to advanced worshipers. In true Vedic culture,
even Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva are not worshiped on the same level as the
Supreme Lord and His nitya-siddha parishadas.
Authorized
worship of the Supreme Lord and His empowered devotees is true spiritual
action. It is not a mere “festival of flowers.” It is not a Hindu custom,
demigod worship, or an ecclesiastical ritual. Rather, it is the essence of pure
spiritual activity, “the character of the living force in immortality”. Arcana-marga,
particularly the pancaratriki-vidhi enunciated by our param guru,
Sri Narada Muni, is sanatana-dharma.
Sanatana-dharma means that activity which is eternal, common to all living
beings and directly enunciated by the Supreme Lord Himself or His empowered expansions such as Narada Muni,
Asita, Vyasadeva, the Six Goswamis, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila
Bhaktiisiddhanta and Srila Prabhupada.
For the
first time in our Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, Srila Prabhupada introduced the
full practice of sri guru-vandana as described in the revealed
scriptures and by great acaryas like Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti
Thakura. Even Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada and great preachers like Srila
Narottama das Thakura never instituted daily guru-puja in their temples and perhaps never once accepted
guru-puja in a temple room. There is no such history found. Pure
Vaisnavas are always meek and humble and do not like to admit their exalted
status. They accept formal guru-puja, or vyasa-puja, for the
benefit of their disciples, usually only once a year, usually without a public show, not in the temple, and on behalf
of the sampradaya acarya. This is has been the tradition in our
Madhva-Gaudiya line for a long time.
Nonetheless,
for the benefit of us fallen souls of Kali Yuga, Srila Prabhupada instituted
elaborate sri guru-puja in His temples in front of the Deities,
in public, all over the world, and on a daily basis. He has made all necessary
arrangements to remain fully available for everyone through His books, His murtis,
His mission, His institutions, and His representatives. This is His causeless
mercy. He made it as easy as possible for conditioned souls of this age to
approach Him and accept Him as spiritual master. By His mercy, He has
prescribed an easy minimum sadhana to assist anyone's quick return back
to Godhead. Only an empowered maha-bhagavata can offer this supreme boon
to everyone in the world on behalf of Lord Krishna and Lord Chaitanya.
“The Lord empowers a special devotee
to teach people their constitutional position.”(Cc.
Madhya 19.114, Purport)
"Without being empowered by the direct potency of Lord Krishna
to fulfill His desire, and without being specifically favored by the Lord, no
human being can become spiritual master for the whole word... Only an empowered
personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen
souls to worship Krishna. By distributing the holy name of the Lord, He
cleanses the hearts of the most fallen people; therefore He extinguishes the
blazing fire of the material world. Not only that, He broadcasts the shining
brightness of Krishna's effulgence throughout the world... Such a person is...
guru or spiritual master for the entire world, a devotee of the topmost platform,
the maha-bhagavata stage." (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura's prediction, Cited in
Cc., Madhya 25.9, Purport.)
When
imperfect preachers imitate Srila Prabhupada by encouraging their followers to
offer worship to their own pictures or put their pictures on the altar with nitya-siddha
acaryas, such a farce is an offense. Such concocted rituals are never
authorized and should never be allowed in Srila Prabhupada's temples. It
betrays a paucity of real knowledge on the part of the so-called guru and his
followers, who never seem to consider:
“Who will accept offerings to this picture? How can this ritual offering to a
picture of an imperfect person be the same as our offerings to Srila
Prabhupada? Why do we need a so-called 'living guru' who is not self-realized
and seldom present?”
"But if everyone
simply imitates your exalted status, there will be only a contradictory result.
As long as this pretense continues, there will only be utter failure." (From Vaisistya-Astaka,
a peom by Srila Prabhupada, 1961)
"However, one
should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or mahā-bhāgavata
without being self-realized, for by such imitation one will eventually become
degraded." (Nectar
of Instruction, Text 5, Purport.)
Srila
Prabhupada, of course, is absolutely perfect and always fully present in His vani,
His installed murti, His worshiped picture, and His
mission. Devotees also have access to mercy and guidance from our great nitya-siddha
param gurus: Their songs, Their stories, Their examples, Their pranams,
Their prayers, Their murtis, Their pictures, Their poems, Their books
and Their instructions. We have all this association, sadhu-sanga of
the highest level, in Srila Prabhupada's books and mission. Why
should Srila Prabhupada's followers feel that they need an immature, upstart
“guru”? The reason is ignorance— both “a poor fund of knowledge” and wrong
information.
Regarding
our eternally living gurus, Srila Prabhupada comments as follows: “But in
this life, if we develop Krsna consciousness by association of devotees... As
Narottama dasa Thakura has sung, tandera carana-sevi-bhakta-sane vasa.
One's aim of life should be to serve the acaryas. Acarya upasanam. So
our acarya in the Gaudiya Vaisnava
Sampradaya, the sri-rupa sanatana bhatta-raghunatha, sri-jiva gopala-bhatta
dasa-raghunatha, the Six Gosvamins, and if we associate with them... this
book, Nectar of Devotion, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, if you read regularly,
try to understand, this means you are associating with Srila Rupa Gosvami
directly. And if you act accordingly, then you are serving their lotus feet. Tandera
carana-sevi-bhakta-sane vasa.”
I asked an
Iskcon official why the gbc allows ritvik initiations for iskurus and
their followers but condemns ritvik initiations for Srila Prabhupada and
His followers. Here's the answer I got: “Srila
Prabhupada cannot posthumously accept devotees for initiation. You can't write
to Him and get a reply. Therefore some of His disciples accept devotees joining
Iskcon as their own disciples. These new devotees cannot be Srila Prabhupada's
disciples directly because Prabhupada is not here to accept them. How will we
know if Prabhupada accepts them? They must first be accepted by an Iskcon guru.
To jump over all the present gurus in Iskcon is an offense.”
These
fallacious arguments were defeated by the questions of two matajis at a
gathering in 1998 when a gbc iskuru was answering questions after an istaghosti. They read the following: “What is the value of accepting an immature
or imperfect devotee as one's diksa-guru?
Don't Srila Prabhupada's books recommend that a student accept only an uttama-adhikari as guru? Shouldn't we
all accept Srila Prabhupada and His instructions and rely on His acceptance
alone? Didn't He say that He will live forever
in His vani? Didn't Srila Prabhupada repeatedly and
concisely describe the conditions for being accepted as His initiated disciple?
Did He ever reject anyone willing to follow His instructions? Didn't He ask
representatives to offer formal initiations on His behalf? Why did the gbc end
the system of ritvik
initiations instituted by Srila Prabhupada? When did Prabhupada authorize the
gbc to sanction diksa-gurus to
take His place? Why do you think Srila Prabhupada is dead?” This gbc man
could only stutter incoherently in response, so he quickly ended the meeting.
(Stonewalling is a typical gbc tactic.)
It is a
great credit to many second-generation disciples of Srila Prabhupada that they
have seen through the gbc's smoke screens and --in spite of the politics and
chaos generated by misguided clerics– have accepted Srila Prabhupada as their
eternal guru.
Responding to the same question clearly
repeated twice-- “Who will be your
successor?” --Srila Prabhupada replied, "My success is
always there. Yes. Just like the sun is there always. It may come before your
vision or not -- the sun is there. But if you are fortunate, you come before
the sun... The sun is open to everyone." (Interview, Mexico City,
1975.)
"So deputies… These initiations -- I have deputed my
disciples. Is it clear or not?" (Conversation, Oct. 18, 1977,
Vrindaban.)
Additional References:
“The spiritual master is not a question of ['living' or 'dead']... The
spiritual master is eternal. The spiritual master is eternal..." (Lecture,
Seattle, Oct. 2,1968.)
"Although the physical body in not present, the vibration should be
accepted as the presence of the spiritual master. Vibration -- what we have
heard from the spiritual master -- that is 'living'." (Lecture,
January 13, 1969, LA, CA.)
"When
one has attained the topmost position of maha-bhagavata, He is to be
accepted as guru and worshiped exactly like Hari, the Personality of Godhead.
Only such a person is eligible to occupy the post of guru." (Caitanya-caritamrta
Madhya, 24.330, Purport, citing Padma Purana.)
"Srila Jiva
Goswami advised that one not accept a spiritual master in terms of hereditary
or customary social and ecclesiastical conventions. One should simply try to
find a genuinely qualified spiritual master for actual advancement in spiritual
understanding." (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 1.35, Purport)
"As soon as a
foolish disciple tries to overtake his spiritual master and becomes ambitious
to occupy his post, he immediately falls down." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.12.14, Purport.)
"And as soon as
he learns that Guru Maharaja is dead, 'Now I am so advanced that I can kill my
guru and I become guru'... then he is finished." (Conversation,
August 16, 1976, Bombay)
“Intermingling the spiritual with the
material causes one to look on transcendence as material and the mundane as
spiritual. This is all due to a poor fund of knowledge.” (Cc.
Madhya 16.72, Purport)
“In my books the philosophy of
Krishna consciousness is explained fully, so if there is anything which you do
not understand, then you simply have to read again and again. By this process
your spiritual life will develop.” (Letter, November 22, 1974)
“Therefore a disciple should be
careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as spiritual master.” (NOI,
Text 5, Purport)