Back to Home, Back to ISKCON Helsinki

Every time we return to ISKCON Helsinki we feel like we are returning to our home. The devotees here are so nicely absorbed in hearing, chanting, and remembering the Lord that as soon as one comes into their presence one feels as if he has re-entered his eternal home.

Such places as this where the Lord is always being glorified are described as follows in the Srimad Bhagavatam:

na yatra sravanadini
rakso-ghnani sva-karmasu
kurvanti satvatam bhartur
yatudhanyas ca tatra hi

"My dear King, wherever people in any position perform their occupational duties of devotional service by chanting and hearing, there cannot be any danger from bad elements. Therefore there was no need for anxiety about Gokula while the Supreme Personality of Godhead was personally present.

This same principle of auspiciousness can be expanded to cover the entire world. Therefore our mission is to absorb the entire world in hearing and chanting the Lord's sweet transcendental glories.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Name All Gurus from Caitanya Up to You...

I would like to know who is your guru and who is the guru of your guru.

If possible please name me all the gurus in disciplic succession since Caitanya Mahaprabhu up to you.

Are you a Member of the ISKCON´s Governing Body Commission?

Please receive my respects,

Mario E. Rodriguez

Answer: Twelfth from Lord Caitanya...

I am a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur.

Our disciplic succession up to myself and my Godbrothers is as follows:

1. Lord Caitanya
2. Rupa Goswami, Svarupa Damodar, Sanatana Goswami
3. Raghunatha Das Goswami, Jiva Goswami
4. Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami
5. Narottam Das Thakur
6. Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur
7. Baladeva Vidyabhusana, Jagannatha Das Babaji
8. Bhaktivinode Thakur
9. Gaurakisora das Babaji
10. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur
11. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
12. Disciples of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Some critics have complained that Srila Prabhupada wanted the disciplic succession to stop with him, that he did not want his disciples to continue the disciplic succession. But nothing could be further from the truth. He clearly told us, his disciples, during an arrival lecture on 18 May 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA:

"My Guru Maharaja is tenth from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, I am eleventh, you are the twelfth."

I am not a member of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission (GBC). I have been requested not to be a member of the GBC so that I can focus my energies 100% on counseling my students in the science of bhakti without having to divert my time and energy for managerial issues.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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