Is the system of appointing the gurus beneficial and effective?
A male devotee asked like this:
“Hare Krishna Prabhu, Read your post on selection and acceptance of guru post in telegram yesterday. It was similar to one of the old posts, but was quite relevant to some of the questions going on in my mind.
I agree that Guru(s) is/are required to reach Lord Shri Krishna, and also a living Guru is required, because he has to understand the nature and status of the student and accordingly prescribe certain engagement and practices , according to students’ level and nature. Otherwise the student may pick up irrelevant parts of scripture and apply, or may think one is doing yukta vairagya etc.. wrongly. So yes a living Guru is required. But there are a lot of cons in accepting a living guru in these days.
1. Most of the gurus are not appointed by Lord or their guru, but by a political system of an organization. Not all of them actually self realized yet.
2. Usually gurus have 1000’s of students, so it is impossible to know the students nature and level and to give personal guidance on their progress.
In such cases how does this acceptance of a living Guru help the student?”
REPLY:
The system of appointing the gurus by a body of QUALIFIED administrators & Supervisors is not wrong.
See, we are living in kaliyuga. Kaliyuga has more negatives as all of us are feeling.
Finding the right persons to guide others is a difficult process because people have pretending nature.
(Will accepting a Guru alone elevate a devotee to attain perfection? READ HERE!)
If there are no regulations and authorities, the people won’t fear for violations.
In spite of the negatives of kaliyuga, some spiritual organizations like ISKCON are reviving the vedic culture and devotional life.
Imagine what will happen if there is no policemen in a country?
Imagine a country without a consistent government. The people will lose fear because there is no strong government to monitor them.
Even within the families, what will happen to a child if there are no parents?
Why these examples?
Selecting and appointing gurus is not wrong.
The world population is increasing.
The awareness of spirituality is also increasing.
Thousands of devotees like to follow an organized spiritual life.
(Why our problems continue even after initiation if guru accepts our karma? READ HERE!)
Thousands of devotees like to get a guru and take diksha to advance in devotion.
Of course flaws are there in any system. If you don’t prefer apponting the gurus, but allow the gurus to come on their own, there too many bogus gurus will come.
Even now, we can see many self made gurus cheating the people.
Rarely one or two self made gurus may come, but the devotees may not have lifetime to evaluate them personally.
So, if there is a well organized system to approve an aspirant to guru position and to monitor the guru – disciple system, it is good because atleast there will be monitoring system and strict regulations.
It is natural that in any choice of ten, a few may go wrong, but, we can’t find fault in the system.
For example, in ISKCON, GBC is the ultimate authority and everything is going on under the leadership of GBC.
(Courses and Exams for initiations (Diksha) in ISKCON for different levels! READ HERE!)
Even the gurus in ISKCON are under the GBC only.
Gurus have been given a set of regulations to follow.
If there is any complaint against any guru, GBC enquires them and take corrective steps.
In this kaliyuga, there can’t be better system than that is followed by the GBC.
Since thousands of devotees are there, such a system is necessary.
So, it is good to choose the best among the available systems and follow them.
In the midst of the spiritual personalities who claim themselves as Gods, ISKCON is rightly promoting the gurus as the representatives of Krishna.
No Guru in ISKCON can claim that he is Krishna.
There are strict rules even for accepting gurus and accepting the disciples.
Exams, personal evaluation, a set of rules, etc are part of diksha process.
In this kaliyuga, this seems to be better arrangement.
So, it is good to make use of such a well regulated system.
You have asked what is the status of disciples if a guru falls.
The disciples are always safe. They can get further dikshas from another approved guru and follow him.
(How should the followers take if their Godman is found a violator? READ HERE!)
Because all the gurus are under the GBC in ISKCON.
Krishna will show His direct mercy upon those disciples.
As far as guiding 1000s of disciples are concerned, Srila Prabhupada guided through letters and phone. In the current technological development, the gurus regularly visit the centers and also communicate with the disciples through mail or Video calls, etc.
We are in a position to accept and follow the best of available systems in this kaliyuga. The system of appointing the gurus is also like that.
If we keep on finding faults in every system just because of some exceptional case of deviations, we can’t get any system to follow.
Gurus are shown by Krishna. So, if we accept a guru, it is because of the mercy of Krishna.
So, Krishna will never leave us in any situation.
I find the effect of the blessings of my guru and the whole Guru parampara after getting initiated by my guru. I find differences in me before and after diksha.
Why?
Diksha means getting connected to the powerful Guru parampara. For example, taking diksha with a guru in ISKCON means connecting with our guru and acharyas such as Srila prabhupada, Srila Bhakti sidhanta Sarasvati, Srila Bhakti Vinoda Takkur, etc. The spiritual effects of whole Parampara (lineage) will cause impact in our devotional standing.
So, my advice is to accept the best among the available systems and leave everything to Guru and Krishna. Then, keep following the diksha rules. Whatever happens, you are safe because you are connected to Krishna thru Parampara.
Hope you are clear about the system of appointing the gurus.
(10 REASONS WHY ISKCON IS ABLE TO CREATE PURE DEVOTEES MORE! READ HERE!)