Documents
Primary sources cited in the site's articles: letters, conversations, purports and other documents. Each is kept here in full and word for word, with a link to the original and to an independent archived copy — so a citation survives even if the original page disappears.
Letters8
- Letter to Dayānanda, 12 April 1968On gaps in the line of succession: the paramparā lists the prominent ācāryas, not every link.
- Letter to Dinesh, 31 October 1969Disciplic succession means accepting the disciplic conclusion, not necessarily official initiation.
- Letter to Tuṣṭa Kṛṣṇa, 14 December 1972Carrying out the guru's teachings matters more than worshipping his form: vāṇī is more important than vapu.
- Letter to Kīrtanānanda, 18 October 1973Prabhupāda, troubled by quarrels among his disciples, compares them with the strife in the Gauḍīya Maṭha after his master's departure.
- Letter to Rūpānuga, 28 April 1974Prabhupāda on the Gauḍīya Maṭha: Bhaktisiddhānta asked for a governing body and appointed no ācārya; his disciples disobeyed. "We may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp."
- Letter to Suci, 4 November 1975Vāṇī and vapu: association through the teacher's words matters more than physical presence, because vāṇī exists eternally.
- Letter to Tuṣṭa Kṛṣṇa, 2 December 1975On what it means to become an ācārya: "one who knows the scriptural injunctions and follows them practically in life, and teaches them to his disciples"; one becomes a guru by being rigidly trained. And on etiquette: while the spiritual master lives, prospective disciples are brought to him. The two sides of the dispute read the letter differently.
- Letter to all GBC members and temple presidents, 9 July 1977A letter by Prabhupāda's secretary Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī, approved by Prabhupāda: eleven disciples will initiate as his ṛtvik representatives, and the new initiates are Prabhupāda's disciples. The ṛtvik position relies on this letter.
Conversations11
- Conversation in New York, 3 July 1972"Initiation is formality. If you are serious, that is real initiation… It is your determination that is initiation."
- Conversation in Bombay, 21 September 1973Prabhupāda recounts in detail what Bhaktisiddhānta asked before his departure — a governing body of twelve, with Kunja Babu as manager — and how the disciples began fighting over the post of ācārya.
- Conversation in Vṛndāvana, 31 October 1973Prabhupāda calls the strife in the Gauḍīya Maṭha after his master's departure a "fratricidal war".
- Press conference in San Francisco, 16 July 1975Asked what will happen to the movement when he dies, Prabhupāda answers: "I will never die… I shall live for my books."
- Interview in Chandigarh, 16 October 1976"Initiation is formality": knowledge comes first, as at school knowledge matters and admission is a formality.
- Conversation in Bombay, 7 January 1977After several sannyāsīs had fallen, Prabhupāda says that sannyāsa should no longer be given: "This should be strictly outlawed — no more sannyāsīs."
- Conversation with GBC members, Vṛndāvana, 28 May 1977GBC members ask how initiations will be conducted after Prabhupāda's departure. He speaks of ṛtviks and of a disciple becoming a "regular guru" on his order. Both sides of the dispute interpret this conversation differently.
- Conversation in Vṛndāvana on the "rascal editors", 22 June 1977Prabhupāda is shown changes made to his books without his knowledge. He orders the original text restored in the next printing: "The next printing should be again to the original way."
- Conversation in Vṛndāvana, 7 July 1977Discussion of initiations through representatives: "Anybody who gives initiation is doing so on your behalf." — "Yes."
- Conversation in Vṛndāvana, 14 July 1977"I shall remain your personal guidance, physically present or not physically."
- Conversation in Vṛndāvana, 18 October 1977A month before his departure Prabhupāda confirms that initiations are given not by himself but by those he has deputed.
Lectures4
- Lecture in Seattle, 2 October 1968Asked about a "living spiritual master", Prabhupāda answers: "Spiritual master is eternal."
- Lecture in Prayāga, 31 January 1971On the line of succession: from Madhvācārya to Mādhavendra Purī — "not directly; through many others".
- Lecture in Gorakhpur, 15 February 1971On Bhaktisiddhānta's appearance day Prabhupāda recalls: initiated in 1922, at their first meeting, officially in 1933.
- Lecture in Māyāpura, 6 April 1975"Don't become premature ācārya. First of all follow the orders of ācārya."
Purports7
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.34, purportWho the spiritual master is: anyone who instructs from the scriptures; the initiating and instructing teachers are equal.
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.35, purportOne initiating teacher, any number of instructing ones; one can serve the teacher through his instructions.
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 12.10, purportThe spiritual master's order is the active principle of spiritual life; one who disobeys becomes useless.
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 12.8, purportPrabhupāda's purport on the split among Advaita Ācārya's followers — and on the same split in the Gauḍīya Maṭha: the disciples disobeyed the order to form a governing body, and both factions were asāra, useless.
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 12.9, purportThe general rule: a schism begins where disciples depart from the order of their spiritual master.
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 1.220, purportA Vaiṣṇava ācārya is not elected by mundane votes: the ācārya is self-effulgent.
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 15.108, purportJīva Gosvāmī's definition of dīkṣā: initiation awakens transcendental knowledge and destroys the reactions of sin.