THERE IS NO “REGULAR VANILLA” [capitals in original]
. . . [T]he ‘regular vanilla parampara system’ . . . is itself another fiction created from your own imagination, with no basis in reality.
—letter to Jayadvaita Swami from Krishnakant Desai, author of “The Final Order,” etc., 1/4/96
In my paper “Where the Rtvik People Are Wrong,” I began with what I thought was clear and basic enough for all of us to agree on. I wrote:
This is what Srila Prabhupada taught to all of us, from 1966 through 1977. It’s what all of us learned and accepted and repeated to others. It’s “plain vanilla.”
For non-Americans, I explained that “plain vanilla” is an idiomatic term for anything that is simple, basic, unadorned, and standard.
I wrote this introduction:
Forget for a moment that Srila Prabhupada has physically disappeared. Put aside questions of what should happen in modern-day ISKCON. For the moment, let’s just look at the standard teaching Srila Prabhupada gave us about the disciplic succession.
I apologize for presenting a piece of my own writing from BACK TO GODHEAD, but I think it gives a reasonably concise summary that any ISKCON devotee would agree with.
But for some people, it seems, “plain vanilla” needs to be made plainer. So I here offer that BTG essay again, this time with footnotes indicating the authenticity of these basic teachings.
Hare Krsna.
From Master to Disciple
The parampara is the chain of spiritual masters and disciples through which Krsna consciousness is taught and received. In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna says, “I taught this ancient science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan. Vivasvan taught it to his son Manu. And Manu taught it to his son Iksvaku. In this way, through the system of parampara, disciplic succession, the science was understood by the saintly kings.”
In the parampara system, then, the original teacher, the original spiritual master, is Lord Krsna, God Himself. The Lord gives perfect knowledge, and that knowledge is handed down from master to disciple. It’s like a ripe fruit handed down from person to person, from the top of the tree to the ground.
In the chain of parampara, each spiritual master has the duty to transmit the knowledge of Krsna consciousness as it is. He is not to add anything, subtract anything, or change anything. He simply has to deliver the message, just as a postman delivers a letter, contents fully intact.
According to the Vedic scriptures, one who is serious about attaining self-realization or God realization or the ultimate goal in life must approach such a bona fide spiritual master. It is not optional; accepting a bona fide spiritual master is essential.
The method of accepting the spiritual master is explained in Bhagavad-gita: one must surrender to him, inquire from him, and serve him. Inquiry alone is not enough. One must humbly submit oneself before the spiritual master, accepting him as a representative of God.
The spiritual master is not God, and any so-called master who claims to be God should at once be rejected as bogus. But the spiritual master is honored as much as God because he intimately serves God through the disciplic chain. Because each spiritual master serves his own spiritual master, all the members of the chain are ultimately servants of God and therefore very dear to God. More precisely, the bona fide spiritual master is the servant of the servant of the servant of God, or Krsna.
This is one of the secrets of the parampara system: to be a genuine master, one must be a genuine servant. The student, therefore, surrenders to the spiritual master as a disciple and serves him, and the master responds by answering the disciple’s questions, enlightening him with transcendental knowledge. For the sincere disciple who has full faith in Krsna and equal faith in the bona fide spiritual master, all the truths of spiritual realization are factually revealed.
The genuine disciple feels everlastingly indebted to the spiritual master and continues to serve him forever. In this way, even when the spiritual master leaves this world, the master and disciple are connected. The disciple continues to serve the spiritual master by following what the master has taught him, and by teaching it to others. Thus the bona fide disciple becomes a bona fide spiritual master, and the chain of succession continues.
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