Atheism & ṛtvikism = sour grapes philosophy.

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"Godhead is light. Nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead there is no nescience."

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Krishna

Atheism is Sour Grapes Philosophy
18 May 2025

Those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious are blessed with the sweetest pleasure—the highest happiness—of directly experiencing God both within and without, in whatever they are thinking about or doing, 24 hours a day. The atheists cannot experience this bliss. They are like the fox who, after trying again and again—jumping higher and higher to reach the hanging grapes—finally failed. Unable to attain them despite his greatest efforts, he concluded that the grapes must be sour and walked away. Similarly, atheists are like that fox: because they are not able to experience God, they claim that there is no God.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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The Unsuccessful Fox Concluded that the Grapes Are Sour

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Transcendental Reply

My Dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my Humble obeisances at Your Lotus Feet
All Glories to You and Guru Mataji
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

I’m seeking to understand the ritvik system that one ISKCON temple is following. It appears that, under this system, one can become a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada even today. Is this based on a philosophical misunderstanding, or is it considered a bona fide process within the tradition? And they have so many followers.

Your Servant
Abhay Charan das

Answer

Why the Ritvik Philosophy Fails to Represent Śrīla Prabhupāda

From: Austin, Texas USA
My Dear Abhay Charan,

Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Any temple that deviates from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings is not an ISKCON temple, even if it falsely advertises itself as such to capitalize on the popularity of ISKCON.

When an ācārya departs from this world, one cannot take initiation from him. Therefore, to become formally connected with Śrīla Prabhupāda, one must take initiation from one of his disciples.

The propounders of the so-called ṛtvik philosophy claim that only Śrīla Prabhupāda can be an initiating guru and that none of his disciples can initiate their own disciples. In this way, they are guilty of “sour grapes” philosophy. Because they are not qualified to become initiating gurus, they say that nobody is qualified to be an initiating spiritual master.

In effect, they are declaring that the ancient tradition of disciplic succession—which has continued for many thousands of years, with one spiritual master enlightening a disciple who then becomes a spiritual master, who enlightens another, and so on—has now come to an end. They want to terminate the disciplic succession.

This is completely against Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings. On 28 May 1977, in Vṛndāvana, he met with members of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission. In that meeting, Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly stated that new devotees who would be initiated after his disappearance would become the disciples of his disciples. He did not say they would become his own disciples; he said they would become the disciples of his disciples.

Also in this connection, it should be noted that Śrīla Prabhupāda told me in writing that I could aspire to be the spiritual master of the entire world. What to speak of just a few disciples—he told me I could be the guru of the whole world.

Sometimes a child blabbers some foolish nonsense, and the adults have a good laugh. One time, a child said, “When I grow up, I’d like to be a dinosaur.” Everyone laughed when they heard this.

In the same way, I get a good chuckle when these immature devotees spout off their foolish ṛtvik nonsense. It reminds me of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s famous saying: “Just see the fun."

Popularity Is Not Proof of Purity

Regarding their having so many followers: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” That they have many followers does not prove their authenticity. It simply means they are very expert in cheating others. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had five million followers. Does that make him bona fide?

Dharma is not determined by popular vote. It is determined by who is faithfully following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas—which these ṛtviks are clearly not doing.

I hope this meets you in the best of health
and in a cheerful mood.

Your ever well-wisher,
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

My Spiritual Journey in a Nutshell

As an American youth I was taught to believe in the. "American dream": Study hard, get a good education and a good job to get a good wife some good kids in a good house to enjoy a good life. But when I got to college, I realized that this was not enough. I wanted to know what the meaning of life is, but no one could tell me. So, I took to the path of self-realization and was blessed in 1968 with the Hare Krishna mantra and the worship of Radha and Krishna. (I did not know about ISKCON.) This inspired me to drop out of college and renounce the world to become a holy beggar in India. But on the way to India, I realized that to renounce everything I had to ultimately renounce renunciation itself and accept something transcendental Thus I embraced the mission of delivering the world from chaos. For this purpose, I adopted the life a singer/songwriter who in 1969 became recognized and very much appreciated. In 1971, seeking spiritual perfection, I followed the example of Lord Jesus Christ and prayed to God how I could become His perfect servant. Then God revealed to me path of pure Krishna bhakti as taught by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. On the most auspicious day of 12 August 1971, he accepted me as his disciple. Now on his order and under his most expert guidance I have fully devoted my life for awakening pure love of God within my heart and for making the entire world Krishna conscious.

To read about my journey in detail get my memoir:

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