The Twelfth Position

Our critics are hard at work trying to undermine our sincere attempt to serve the order of our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He ordered us, his disciples, in Los Angeles, California, USA on December 17, 1973:

"Just become perfect in the understanding of this science and become guru and deliver the whole world."

Our misguided critics claim that by our trying follow the above instruction we are usurping the position of our spiritual master. Nothing could be further away from the truth because the disciple is always meant to obey the order of his spiritual master. This is his duty. By his becoming a spiritual master on the order of his spiritual master, he is not taking over the position of his spiritual master. Rather, he is solidly situating himself as the eternal servant of his spiritual master by surrendering himself fully to serving his guru's order.

This point is reconfirmed by Srila Prabhupada as follows in a lecture he gave upon his arrival at our center in Los Angeles on 18 May 1972:

"So we have got this message from Krishna, from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, from the six Goswamis, later on, Bhaktivinode Thakur, Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur. And we are trying our bit also to distribute this knowledge. Now, tenth, eleventh, twelfth... My Guru Maharaja is tenth from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, I am eleventh, you are the twelfth. So distribute this knowledge. People are suffering."

So the disciples who serve Srila Prabhupada's order to become gurus are taking position #12 under him. They are not taking his position, position #11.

The disciplic line from Lord Caitanya is as follows:

1. Lord Caitanya
2. Rupa, (Svarupa, Sanatana)
3. Raghunatha, Jiva
4. Krishnadasa
5. Narottama
6. Visvanatha
7. (Baladeva) Jagannatha
8. Bhaktivinode Thakur
9. Gaurakisora das Babaji
10. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
11. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
12. Disciples of Srila Prabhupada

We can see clearly that on the order of Srila Prabhupada his disciples have taken the position under him. They are not taking his position as the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON or as the 11th spiritual master in disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya. They are simply humbly carrying out their duty

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Only Krishna as my Guru?

You are humbly requested with the folded hands, please quench my thirst of this disturbing question. This question comes again and again in my mind: Can't I just accept Krishna Himself as my guru by following His teachings in Bhagavad-gita? Why should I accept a human being as my guru, why not just Krishna Himself?

Yours Sincerely,

Surender Kumar

Answer: Krishna Says Accept His Devotee as Guru Also

Your question is not at all disturbing. In fact, it is a very nice question. Lord Sri Krishna certainly is our spiritual master. In fact, He is called Adi Guru, the original spiritual master. Because He is our spiritual master we are meant to fully surrender ourselves to Him. This is what He instructs us to do this in the Bhagavad-gita. Surrender means that whatever instructions He has given to us we must follow. It does not mean that we can pick and choose which instructions we would like to follow and which we would like to ignore. No. We must follow each and every one of His instructions if we actually accept Him as our spiritual master. So since Krishna has ordered us in the Bhagavad-gita that we must accept a spiritual master we therefore we must accept a spiritual master if indeed we are actually devotees of Krishna. If we refuse to accept a spiritual master, we are not devotees of Krishna. In that case, we are simply the devotees of our own mental concoctions. Therefore we should show Krishna that we are His real devotees by fully surrendering to His order that we should accept a spiritual master. Otherwise our so-called bhakti is simply a farce. Farcical bhakti should be avoided because it will not deliver us from the cycle of birth and death.

This point is further clarified by Lord Sri Krishna in the Adi Purana as follows:

ye me bhakta-janah partha
na me bhaktas ca te janah
mad-bhaktanam ca ye bhaktas
te me bhakta-tama matah

"Those who are My direct devotees are actually not My devotees, but those who are the devotees of My devotee are factually My devotees."

So in conclusion, we can understand that if refuse to accept a guru on the plea that only Krishna is our guru, our so-called bhakti will be rejected by Krishna. Therefore in addition to accepting Krishna as our guru we must also accept His devotee as our guru.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari