Truth: New names were to be sent to Srila Prabhupada’s address not to him personally, but to his secretary who was to include the names of new Srila Prabhupada’s disciples officially initiated via ritviks in the ‘Initiated Disciples’ book, which is confirmed by other evidence.
By Bhakta Alex (Russia)
There is an argument put forward by anti-ritviks regarding July 9th 1977, directive: at the end it says that names of new disciples should be sent by ritvik-representatives “to Srila Prabhupada”:
“The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the above eleven senior devotees acting as His representative. After the Temple President receives a letter from these representatives giving the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the fire yajna in the temple as was being done before. The name of a newly initiated disciple should be sent by the representative who has accepted him or her to Srila Prabhupada, to be included in His Divine Grace’s “Initiated Disciples” book.”
So, they say it means this whole initiation system was set just temporary until Srila Prabhupada’s physical departure. For example, BBTI officer Vijitatma das wrote:
“…the letter very clearly indicates the time limits to which Srila Prabhupada’s order to appoint “representatives” should be applied: as long as Srila Prabhupada remains on the planet, and letters can be sent to him. These are the words: ” The name of a newly initiated disciple should be sent by the representative who has accepted him or her to Srila Prabhupada”. Thus, the original argument of ritviks is completely baseless.” (New Ritviks, Old Delusions, 2009)
This interpretation was defeated many years ago. An excerpt from “The Final Order”:
“The July 9th letter states that the names of newly initiated disciples were to be sent “to Srila Prabhupada”. Could this indicate that the system was only to run while Srila Prabhupada was physically present? Some devotees have argued that since we can no longer send these names to Srila Prabhupada, the ritvik system must therefore be invalid.
The first point to note is the stated purpose behind the names being sent to Srila Prabhupada, i.e., so they could be included in his “Initiated Disciples” book. We know from the July 7th conversation (please see Appendices, p.128) * that Srila Prabhupada had nothing to do with entering the new names into this book; it was done by his secretary. Further evidence that the names should be sent for inclusion in the book, and not specifically to Srila Prabhupada, is given in the letter written to Hamsadutta, the very next day, where Tamal Krsna Goswami explains his new ritvik duties to him:
“… you should send their names to be included in Srila Prabhupada’s “Initiated Disciples” book.”
(Letter to Hamsadutta from Tamal Krsna Goswami, 10/7/1977)
There is no mention made here of needing to send the names to Srila Prabhupada. This procedure could easily have continued after Srila Prabhupada’s physical departure. Nowhere in the final order does it state that if the “Initiated Disciples” book becomes physically separated from Srila Prabhupada all initiations must be suspended.
The next point is that the procedure of sending the names of newly initiated disciples to Srila Prabhupada in any case relates to a post-initiation activity. The names could only be sent after the disciples had already been initiated. Thus, an instruction concerning what is to be done after initiation cannot be used to amend or in any way interrupt pre-initiation, or indeed initiation procedures (the ritvik’s role being already fulfilled well before the actual initiation ceremony takes place). Whether or not names can be sent to Srila Prabhupada has no bearing on the system for initiation, since at the point where new names are ready to be sent, the initiation has already occurred.
The last point is that if sending the names to Srila Prabhupada were a vital part of the ceremony, then even before Srila Prabhupada’s departure, the system would have been invalid, or at least run the constant risk of being so. It was generally understood that Srila Prabhupada was ready to leave at any time, thus the danger of not having anywhere to send the names was present from day one of the order being issued.
In other words, taking the possible scenario that Srila Prabhupada leaves the planet the day after a disciple has been initiated through the ritvik system, according to the above proposition the disciple would not actually have been initiated simply because of the speed by which mail is delivered. We find no mention in Srila Prabhupada’s books that the transcendental process of diksa, which may take many lifetimes to complete, can be obstructed by the vicissitudes of the postal service. Certainly, there would be nothing preventing the names of new initiates being entered into His Divine Grace’s “Initiated Disciples” book even now. This book could then be offered to Srila Prabhupada at a fitting time.” (End of excerpt from ‘The Final Order’ by Krishnakant, 1996)
* Here is the relevant quote from July 7th, 1977, conversation:
Tamala Krsna: You know that book I’m maintaining of all of your disciples’ names? Should I continue that?
Prabhupada: Hmm.
Tamala Krsna: So, if someone gives initiation, like Harikesa Maharaja, he should send the person’s name to us here, and I’ll enter it in the book. Okay. (Room Conversation — July 7th 1977, Vrndavana)
It was the system from early days of proxy initiations in ISKCON:
“Kirtanananda will chant on the beads for new devotees in America, Canada, like that, you can chant on the beads for the European continent new disciples. They shall, of course, still be considered as my disciples, not that they shall become your disciples, but you will be empowered by me to chant their beads and that is the same effect of binding master and disciple as if I were personally chanting. They may continue to send me their letters of request, along the President’s recommendation, and I shall give them name and it will be entered by my Secretary in our records, only I will send my letter of reply to you and you will purchase beads there and chant them and send, along with my letter to the new initiates.” (SP Letter to: Revatinandana — Bombay 4th January 1973)
In 1998, Tamal confirmed that “the secretary kept the book of initiated disciples”:
“So, I said to Prabhupada that we can list, because Prabhupada… we had kept… the secretary kept the book of initiated disciples, so I said that when someone does this initiating on your behalf, then the names can be kept in your book and Prabhupada said yes.” (Class given by Tamal Krishna Goswami on 6th August 1998, in Hong Kong)
Moreover, VedaBase 2019 release (the official collection of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, issued and updated by the Bhaktivedanta Archives) presented previously unknown letter from Tamala Krishna to Ramesvara dated July 22, 1977. It appeared in ‘230 New Secretary Letters 2019 [To be merged in future VedaBase releases]’ section. This letter hadn’t been published earlier, even in the previous VedaBase release dated May 12, 2018. It explains in detail how ritviks should conduct both first and second initiation ceremonies and then send the names of new Srila Prabhupada’s disciples to the “Initiated Disciples” book to the secretary (“to me for inclusion in Prabhupada’s Initiated Disciples Book)” which puts an end to the dispute whether the names were to be sent to Srila Prabhupada personally or just to his address, for his secretary. The text of the letter:
Letter to: Ramesvara
July 22nd, 1977
From: Tamal Krishna
My dear Ramesvara Maharaja,
Please accept my most humble obeisances at your feet. I thought it would be in order to give some instructions to the 11 disciples of His Divine Grace whom He chose to represent Him for giving first and second initiations. I thought you could photocopy this letter and send a copy to each of them.
The system that His Divine Grace has always followed in the case of initiations is that first of all He receives a recommending letter from the temple president. In the case of first initiation requests, His Divine Grace replies by saying: “As you have recommended him I accept as my initiated disciple. His spiritual name is. Now you should hold a fire ceremony, and he must vow to follow the four regulative principles and chant minimum 16 rounds daily. Teach him to be an ideal Vaisnava by your example.” His Divine Grace has authorized all of the GBC and senior sannyasis in the past to chant on beads for initiation, so this is already going on.
In the case of second initiation, Srila Prabhupada writes: “As you have recommended him, I accept [BLANK SPACE] for second initiation. His brahmana thread, duly chanted on, is enclosed herein along with the Gayatri mantra sheet. Now you should hold a fire ceremony after which he may be permitted to hear the Gayatri mantra tape in the right ear. Teach him to be Brahminical, always keeping clean internally by chanting Hare Krsna, and externally by regular bathing.” The process of chanting on the thread is that during one of the times when you are saying your normal Gayatri mantra, you hold the thread to be chanted on (which should remain twisted up, that is not open) in the right hand, and by chanting on your thread the Gayatri mantra, this new thread is considered chanted upon .I would suggest that His Holiness Ramesvara Maharaja may supply each of the 11 representatives sufficient copies of the Gayatri mantra sheet.
I think it would be appropriate in your letter to the president or the person who is being accepted for initiation, to remind him to send Guru-daksina to His Divine Grace. This is no longer being done very regularly, but actually it is the proper etiquette to be followed.
I hope this letter is helpful to you, and if there is any further clarification required, please do not hesitate to write. Hoping this meets you all well.
Your servant,
Tamal Krsna Gosvami
Secretary to Srila Prabhupada
P.S. Please remember to send the names of all new initiates (1st initiation only) to me for inclusion in Prabhupada’s Initiated Disciples Book.
Include former karmi name.
His Holiness Ramesvara Swami
c/o ISKCON Los Angeles
Copies to all rittiks [ritviks]
(End of quote from VedaBase)
Such a letter was published by the Bhaktivedanta Archives 42 years after Srila Prabhupada’s physical departure. Please note how detailed was the description of the formal initiation system via ritvik-representatives of the acarya. Where is similarly detailed description of the future system of multiple diksa gurus in ISKCON, their voting in by the GBC, etc? Such details as separation of powers between the GBC and new initiating gurus, etc., were simply not given, because Srila Prabhupada did not intend to create a system of many diksa gurus in ISKCON, but gave instructions that he himself would remain the initiating guru for his entire movement.
We hope that more documents and audio recordings of 1977 will become public and leave fewer opportunities for anti-ritvik false arguments.
In conclusion: Srila Prabhupada had nothing to do with writing down the names of new disciples, accepted by ritviks, in his “Initiated Disciples” book. This was done by the secretary, and now it can function in the same way by a secretary appointed by the GBC (ideally). The phrase about sending the names of new disciples means sending them to Srila Prabhupada’s address, to his secretary- this is what Srila Prabhupada really approved on July 7th 1977, and what Tamal Krishna wrote about on July 22nd 1977. July 9th 1977, directive describes the system of proxy initiations that should function in ISKCON “henceforward” and does not say anything that this was just a temporary measure for the period until Srila Prabhupada’s physical departure.
The beginning of the directive refers to Srila Prabhupada’s conversation with the GBC on May 28th 1977, where some issues related to the period after Srila Prabhupada’s departure were discussed. Thus, this directive became the fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada’s promise to appoint ritviks for the future, “particularly” when he “is no longer with us” (as per May 28th 1977, conversation). This is also confirmed (directly and indirectly) by Srila Prabhupada’s Last Will, personal letters to the first ritviks in 1977, Srila Prabhupada’s conversations of that period, various witness testimonies, etc. Total aggregate of available evidence clearly proves that ritvik initiations were established by Srila Prabhupada for the future, especially after his physical departure so that initiation ceremonies would continue, and he would remain the spiritual master for his movement.