We Must Follow the Parampara System to Be Able to Properly Understand the Vedic Wisdom

Srila Prabhupada explains as follows in a lecture given on Bhagavad-gītā 13.8-12 in Mumbai, Bombay on September 30, 1973:

"So this is the paramparā system. And everything is described in the Brahma-sūtra by Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva happens to be the disciple of Nārada. Nārada happens to be disciple of Brahma. And from Vyāsadeva, Madhvācārya; then from Madhvācārya disciplic succession, Mādhavendra Purī. Mādhavendra Purī was the spiritual master of Īśvara Purī. Īśvara Purī was the spiritual master of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the spiritual master of the Six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana: rūpa sanātana bhaṭṭa raghunāth, śrī jīva gopāla bhaṭṭa dāsa raghunāth. So from the Gosvāmīs, then Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Viśvanāth Cakravārtī Ṭhākura, then Jagannāth dās Bābājī, then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Gaura-Kiśora dāsa Bābājī, Bhaktisiddhānta Sārasvatī. And we are servant of Bhaktisiddhānta. So there is a disciplic succession.

That paramparā should be followed. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg. 4.2]. If we want to understand really Vedic literature, then we must follow the paramparā system."

So we cannot understand the Vedic wisdom through our own interpretation or through mental speculation. We have to hear it presented as it is by the bona fideu spiritual master, the spiritual master who is purely representing the understanding of Vedic wisdom that is coming down to us through the line of disciplic succession.

This point is confirmed by Lord Sri Krishna Himself Who states in Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 4, Text 2:

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā
yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

"This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost."

So just as the saintly kings understood in that way we are also meant to understand it in that way.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Our Most Glorious Disciplic Succession

Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom

Question: Diksha or Siksha Line of Succession?

Is our disciplic succession a diksha line or siksha line?

Answer: Both

Sometimes in ISKCON we hear it said that our disciplic succession is a siksha disciplic succession, not a diksha disciplic succession, a disciplic succession based on instructions (siksha) not on initiation (diksha). But even though there is an exception of Gaura Kishore Das Babaji not being initiated by Bhaktivinode Thakur and only having a siksha relationship with him, this does change the fact that the majority of the guru/disciple relationships in our line of succession are based of diksha (initiation) which automatically includes (siksha) instructions.

One danger of minimizing the importance of diksa (initiation) is that a devotee may think that he does not have to strictly follow the instructions of his initiating guru, that he can choose to instead accept someone else as his instructing guru and follow his instructions instead of his initiating guru's instructions.

So what is the proper understanding? For this we will turn to the predominating siksha guru (instructing spiritual master) for all ISKCON devotees, ISKCON's Founder-Acharya: His Divine A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, to see what he has authoritatively taught us in this regard. He stated as follows while giving a Bhagavad-gita lecture in Honolulu, USA on 4 July 1974:

"A śikṣā-guru who instructs against the instruction of the spiritual master (dīkṣā-guru), is not a śikṣā guru. He is a demon. Śikṣā-guru, dīkṣā-guru means... Sometimes a dīkṣā-guru is not present always. Therefore one can take learning, instruction, from an advanced devotee. That is called the śikṣā-guru. Śikṣā-guru does not mean he is speaking something against the teachings of the dīkṣā-guru. He is not a śikṣā-guru. He is a rascal."

Srila Prabhupada has thus reconfirmed that one must always remain dedicated to carrying out the orders he has received from his initiating spiritual master. Any devotee whose instructions help him to follow his initiating guru's instructions can be be accepted as an instructing guru, not those who instruct him differently from the instructions of his initiating guru, who should be understood to be rascals.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

The Most Urgent World Deliverance Mission

ISKCON Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ordered his disciples to become gurus and deliver the world. Sankarshan Das Adhikari has taken this order very seriously and is thus accepting disciples all over the world and has dedicated himself fully to the mission of making the entire world Krishna conscious as soon as possible. He requests your help in this most urgent world deliverance mission to save the suffering humanity from gliding down to the animal kingdom in their next births.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari email: sd@worldleader.com