Approaching a Bona Fide Guru

Initiations After 1977 Position Paper

Initiations After 1977 Position Paper

The following link is a Position Paper PDF on “Initiations After 1977” that you can open or save to your computer. This is a short 54 page booklet which describes Srila Prabhupada’s final instructions on initiations after his departure based on his instructions with śāstric and historical references. I have only had a chance to briefly preview it, but it appears to be well put together and backed up with many quotes and references.

initiations-after-1977

Excerpted from “Initiations After 1977”

The instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda are the thread that holds the beautiful pearl necklace of our movement. If they are disobeyed, the thread would snap and the necklace would be lost. That is exactly what happened especially with regards to
initiations after Śrīla Prabhupāda’s departure.

The scope of this book is

1. To study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s final instructions on how initiations should takeplace after his departure;

2. To fortify the authenticity of his instructions with śāstric and historical references;

3. To present śāstric references that explain the root cause of all problems within our worldwide Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, its effects and how to solve it.

This book is entirely based on the official documents of Śrīla Prabhupāda and supported by scriptural quotations from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s translations of Bhagavadgītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other related literature. We have just attempted to compile it in order to serve his mission and the devotees who are true to his mission.

“The main business of human society is to think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead at all times, to become His devotees, to worship the Supreme Lord and to bow down before Him. The ācārya, the authorized representative of the Supreme Lord, establishes these principles, but when he disappears, things once again become disordered. The perfect disciples of the ācārya try to relieve the situation by sincerely following the instructions of the spiritual master.” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.28.48, Purport)

Approaching a Bona Fide Guru

The following is chapter four in our series on the Teaching of Lord Kapila entitled “Approaching a Bona Fide Guru”. This is a nice chapter for anyone who is serious about receiving spiritual knowledge, and interested to know the process. We are fortunate in this age to have the books of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to guide us. Human knowledge was originally preserved through oral tradition, but today we have this knowledge preserved in the books of His Divine Grace.

Any person who seriously desires to achieve real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master… (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.3.21)

…A bona fide guru does not impart some self-styled, concocted knowledge; his knowledge is standard and received from the paramparā system. He is also firmly fixed in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (brahma-niṣṭham). These are his two qualifications: he must have heard the Vedic knowledge through the disciplic succession, and he must be established in service to the Supreme Lord.

Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahūti
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter Four

Approaching a Bona Fide Guru