Whose Final Order? Discussions with IRM By Bhima das On November 14, 1977, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ISKCON Founder-Acharya, passed away, leaving the Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON) in the hands of his young disciples. Five months prior to his departure, he dictated the following letter, addressed to the ISKCON leadership. This letter of July 9, 1977 has come to be called “The Final Order” because it is the last written directive on the matter of initiating disciples. In the letter, Srila Prabhupada named 11 persons and authorized them to act as “rittvik’-representative of the acharya”. The letter is reproduced below. Whose Final Order 2 Whose Final Order 3 Here is the letter, retyped. This letter was written by Tamal Krsna Goswami as dictated by Srila Prabhupada, dated July 9th, 1977. The original bears Srila Prabhupada’s signature at the bottom left corner. To All G.B.C. and Temple Presidents July 9th, 1977 Dear Maharajas and Prabhus: Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. Recently, when all of the GBC members were with His Divine Grace in Vrindavana, Srila Prabhupada indicated that soon He would appoint some of His senior disciples to act as "rittvik"-representative of the acharya, for the purpose of performing initiations, both first initiation and second initiation. HisDivine Grace has so far given a list of eleven disciples who will act in that capacity: His Holiness Kirtanananda Swami His Holiness Satsvarupa das Goswami His Holiness Jayapataka Swami His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami His Holiness Hrdayananda Goswami His Holiness Bhavananda Goswami His Holiness Hamsadutta Swami His Holiness Ramesvara Swami His Holiness Harikesa Swami His Grace Bhagavan das Adhikari His Grace Jayatirtha das Adhikari In the past Temple Presidents have written to Srila Prabhupada recommending a particular devotee's initiation. Now that Srila Prabhupada has named these representatives, Temple Presidents may henceforward send recommendation for first and second initiation to whichever of these eleven representatives are nearest their temple. After considering the recommendation, these representatives may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada by giving a spiritual name, or in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the Gayatri thread, just as Srila Prabhupada has done. The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the above eleven senior devotees acting as His representative. After the Temple President receives a letter from these representatives giving the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the fire yajna in the temple as was being done before. The name of a newly initiated disciple should be sent by the representative who has accepted him or her to Srila Prabhupada, to be included in His Divine Grace's "Initiated Disciples" book. Hoping this finds you all well. Your servant, Tamal Krishna Goswami Secretary to Srila Prabhupada Approved: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Whose Final Order 4 This letter of July 9th, 1977 is at the center of a controversy, because ISKCON has said that Srila Prabhupada must have meant for the rittvik initiations to go on only up until the date of his departure on November 14th the same year, and that any and all new initiates from that time are not the disciples of Prabhupada, but of ISKCON gurus or ISKCON the society; whereas a large contingent of devotees note that Prabhupada did not indicate that the initiation process was to be any different after he was gone, and that this is the final written instruction on the matter of initiations and must be accepted as his Final Order. The proponents of “rittvik” initiations call for the new initiates to be recognized as disciples of Srila Prabhupada. At the heart of the “rittvik” supporters is the understanding that Srila Prabhupada is the spiritual master, and the new initiates are his disciples, but there are differences in ideology amongst the “rittviks”, and they have not been able to pull together to form a unified movement or society. In 1993, Hansadutta das published a collection of letters and papers under the title Srila Prabhupada, His Movement and You. This was circulated amongst ISKCON and “greater ISKCON” devotees who follow Srila Prabhupada but do not accept current ISKCON leadership. The publication is now out of print, but can be found online at Hansadutta’s website “The Bhaktivedantas”: http://www.bhaktivedantas.com. The letter of July 9th, 1977 was included in this publication, and for many devotees it was the first time they had laid eyes on it. At the same time, Hansadutta instructed all those disciples whom he had initiated previously to regard Srila Prabhupada as their spiritual master, and he began to initiate new disciples on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. Thus Hansadutta has understood the order of Srila Prabhupada, as given to him personally in the letter of July 9th, 1977 and in two subsequent letters addressed to him personally on July 10th, 1977 and July 31st, 1977 and is demonstrating it practically. Lately a devotee in Seremban, Mr. Gunalan Krishnan, forwarded to us an email exchange between himself and IRM (ISKCON Reform Movement), in which Krishna Kant Desai of IRM claimed that Hansadutta was not qualified to act as rittvik representative of Srila Prabhupada. This is the discussion that followed. My purpose in publishing it is not to perpetuate a quarrel, but to clarify the IRM’s position and especially to bring to the attention of the devotees that Srila Prabhupada’s letter of July 9th, 1977 is clear and leaves no room for interpretation or second-guessing. Hansadutta is initiating disciples of Srila Prabhupada on that authority. Other “rittviks” have taken it on their own heads to go ahead and initiate. It’s not my intention to pick a quarrel with any one of them. Let everyone do as he likes. But Hansadutta was named by Prabhupada personally and authorized to initiate on his behalf, and he is doing so. I hope IRM will acknowledge Hansadutta is authorized to act as rittvik representative, but the main thing is that Prabhupada recognized him as such and gave him the order. It is not IRM’s Final Order, but Prabhupada’s Final Order for all of us. Readers can write to KRSNA World or give me a call for more information: KRSNA WORLD 602 Taman Sentosa Off Jalan Payamas 84900 Tangkak, Johor Malaysia Tel: 06-9787878 Email: [email protected] Please visit Hare Krishna Malaysia at www.harekrishnamalaysia.com and The Bhaktivedantas at www.bhaktivedantas.com. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Bhima das 13 January 2008 Whose Final Order 5 IRM rejects Hansadutta The email from IRM forwarded to us by Mr. Gunalan Krishnan From: “IRM” <[email protected]> To: “Gunalan Krishnan” Subject: RE: Hansdutta Dasa the only bonafide Rittvik and BBT Trustee currently………….. Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 13:25:41 +0530 You are correct that originally Hamsaduta was authorized by Srila Prabhupada to be a GBC, a sannyasi and Ritvik. However he renounced all of these positions by first perpetrating the guru hoax and then falling down. I notice that you do not claim he is still a sannyasi, since he abandoned this position. Similarly he is no longer a ritvik, since he also abandoned this position as well. If it is possible for a person to retain any position regardless of gross misconduct, then we may as well accept him as a sannyasi, and also accept temple presidents who run off with the temple’s money as still being temple presidents etc. What you are actually proposing is a brand new principle with wide ranging implications for the whole world, that: A person once appointed to a position, will always retain that position regardless of what he may do. Obviously we cannot only apply this new principle to the position of ritvik, and only for Hamsaduta, just because you say so; we must apply it across the board for all positions and all people. So you need to: first establish that this new principle of yours is indeed in true; and if so, (1) why we cannot apply it to all positions and all people. (2) I look forward to receiving your evidence for (1) and (2). Thank you. Note: This email (above) was received by Mr. Gunalan, who had already exchanged emails as follows: — From: Gunalan Krishnan Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 2:45 PM To: IRM Subject: issue 16 received……………… This is a confirmation that issue 16 had been received. If ISKCON is represented by unbonafide gurus, the IRM is represented by unbonafide rittviks. Hansadutta Dasa is the only bonafide Rittvik and BBT Trustee currently. Please visit Bhaktivedantas web site and read Srila Prabhupada,His Movement and You. Then: IRM <[email protected]> wrote: Since you claim that Hamsaduta is the ONLY bonafide disciple of Srila Prabhupada, you will obviously know WHEN he became this ONLY bona-fide disciple – otherwise you could not Whose Final Order 6 make this claim. So pray tell us, on what DATE, did Hamsaduta suddenly become the ONLY bona fide disciple of Srila Prabhupada? Thank you. Finally: From: Gunalan Krishnan Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 1:44 PM To: IRM Subject: Hansdutta Dasa the only bonafide Rittvik and BBT Trustee currently………….. According to the July 9Th 1977 letter 11 of the senior disciples supposed to act as Rittvik but after Srila Prabhupadas departure they became full blown gurus, they self title themselves His Divine Grace Jayapataka Swami Acaryapada, His Divine Grace Hirdyananda Dasa Gosawami , His Divine Grace Hansadutta swami and the list goes on.In 1980’s ISKCON underwent dark history, gurus began to fall, you should know all these.