Acharya Controversy Resolved

The other day someone sent me an email indicating that because I am acting as an acharya I am most sinful and that at the time of death I will go to hell to be punished by Yamaraja for my heinous crime of acting as an acharya. So am I guilty as charged or am I innocent?

That I am acting as an acharya is a fact. So this is not the issue. The issue is this: Is my acting as an acharya authorized by my spiritual master, or I am doing it without my spiritual master's authorization? If one acts as an acharya without his spiritual master's authorization, it is a great offense. But if one acts as an acharya with his spiritual master's authorization, it is the most auspicious and glorious activity.

So am I am authorized by Srila Prabhupada to act as an acharya or am I not authorized by Srila Prabhupada to act as an acharya? This is the question.

In a lecture delivered in Mayapur, West Bengal, India on April 6, 1975 Srila Prabhupada instructed us, his disciples, that he wanted and indeed preferred for us to become acharyas. The duty of the disciple is to always please his spiritual master. So when the guru instructs, "This is what I what, this I what I prefer." the loyal disciple surrenders himself unto pleasing his spiritual master by doing what his spiritual master wants him to do. This means that his disciples should in fact become acharyas. He also cautioned us not to become premature acharyas that we only should act as acharyas when we become mature.

So what does it mean to become mature? Srila Prabhupada has perfectly and precisely answered this question by giving us this wonderful definition of spiritual maturity from Srila Rupa Goswami:

vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ
jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ
sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt

"A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world."
Nectar of Instruction 1

For the last 37 years since I surrendered at the lotus feet of my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I have engaged my mind, words, anger, tongue, belly, and genitals only in the Lord's service. Thus according to his divine instructions I am qualified to act as an acharya and am duty bound to do so. Therefore I am not going to hell to be judged by Yamaraja. I am returning to the eternal abode of Lord Sri Krishna to serve Him forever in ever-increasing transcendental bliss and my disciples are coming with me.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Developing Yogic Powers

Dear Sankarshan Das Adhikari

It was very nice to meet you again in Riga city on May 19. I have some question for you. I have heard about deep conditions of sub-consciousness when it is possible to walk on the water. Also I have heard that meditation masters in far East can sleep in the air above 0.5 meters from ground. Is it possible in really deep meditation?

Yours faithfully
Lauris

Answer: I Teach the Supreme Yogic Power

I was also very happy to meet you in Riga on 19 May. And I very pleased that you have written me with your questions. Now I shall try to answer them in a manner that will be most beneficial for your spiritual awakening.

What you are describing are yogic powers. They can be developed by anybody who studies them under a qualified yogi. But they are not very important. They are not important because even if you develop them you will still remain entangled in the cycle of birth and death. The most important yogic power you can learn is how to elevate yourself beyond this material existence. That yogic power I can teach you.

What good is sleeping 0.5 meters above the ground? I can sleep thousands of meters above the ground by flying on an airplane.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari