Date: 4/8/21

Subject: Ritvik initiations.

Dear David,

What was the opinion of Srila Sridhar Maharaja and Govinda Maharaja regarding ritvik initiation in Iskcon?

Whether ISKCON or any other place, rtvik initiation is rtvik initiation.

Rtvik means “one who acts on behalf of another.” A rtvik guru in our sampradaya is a devotee who is designated and authorized by a guru to perform initiations on his behalf. Those whom he initiates are disciples of the guru that designated the rtvik to act on his behalf for the purpose of initiating disciples. Usually this is done when the initiating guru is unable to be personally present to perform the initiation. For example: a guru in India may designate one or more devotees in the USA to initiate disciples on his behalf as a matter of convenience so that the prospective disciple does not have to travel to India or the guru travel to the USA.

I acted as rtvik for both Srila Sridhara Maharaja and Srila Govinda Maharaja during their lifetimes to facilitate the initiation of sincere seekers of Krishna Consciousness who desired initiation from these two Acharyas. Those whom I initiated at those times did not become my disciples, they are disciples of the gurus just mentioned.… Read More...

L-R, Siddhartha, Srimati Malini Devi, Lily Ann

Date: 3/18/21

Subject: A credit to our mission.

Dear Sriman Gokulananda dasa.

Please accept my humble obeisances.

The post you just made live on our website (“Vyasa-puja at Sri Gaura Vinoda Saraswata Seva Ashram“) is very nice and a credit to our mission.

I feel so much joy when I see devotees so nicely dressed and their bodies decorated with tilaka and Tulasi mala. At those times I am reminded of statements like these:

TILAKA AND TULASĪ BEADS

In the Padma Purāṇa there is a statement describing how a Vaiṣṇava should decorate his body with tilaka and beads: “Persons who put tulasī beads on the neck, who mark twelve places of their bodies as Viṣṇu temples with Viṣṇu’s symbolic representations [the four items held in the four hands of Lord Viṣṇu – conch, mace, disc and lotus], and who have viṣṇu-tilaka on their foreheads, are to be understood as the devotees of Lord Viṣṇu in this world. Their presence makes the world purified, and anywhere they remain, they make that place as good as Vaikuṇṭha.”

A similar statement is in the Skanda Purāṇa, which says, “Persons who are decorated with tilaka or gopī-candana[a kind of clay resembling fuller’s earth that is produced in certain quarters of Vṛndāvana], and who mark their bodies all over with the holy names of the Lord, and on whose necks and breasts there are tulasī beads, are never approached by the Yama-dūtas.”

Date: 3/13/17

Subject: Abandonment

My dandavats Sriman Uddharan Prabhu,

I know he [Gaura Krishna/Bhakti Chaitanya Giri Maharaja] didn’t accept Srila Govinda Maharaja but was he really a sworn enemy?

My immediate reaction to your question was: what’s the difference. That was my “heart’s feeling.”

More objectively: It seems to me you are asking about a distinction without a difference.

And from there I will try to put myself in a neutral position and answer the question with a view to the history (itihasa) and siddhanta of the line of Srila Saraswati Thakura.

Just a few days ago I was thinking about the position of Prabhu Gaura Krishna when I read this:

And you know this Sripada Gaura Krsna Brahmacari, he was the very close servant of Srila Guru Maharja than me. I can say. Everybody knows I am the very intimate servant of Guru Maharaja, but I think so intimate than me, he was the servant of Guru Maharaja. And he is tirelessly, he is not sleeping day and night, and always trying to serve Guru Maharaja and happy, very happy with all the vaisnavas. But sometimes he cannot keep his temper with others when he is making some wrong going there.