When Srila Prabhupada was present on the planet, he initiated about 5,000 disciples. At the time it was something unprecedented, not only because he accepted so many disciples (something that is discouraged by Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself, being very risky), but especially because he accepted disciples from amongst the sinful mlecchas and yavanas of the west. Considering that the guru has to assume the sinful reactions of his disciples, we can only imagine how dangerous it was.
Another problem Srila Prabhupada had to face was how to train his disciples. Traditionally, gurus would have personal contact with their disciples and train them day-to-day. The disciple would live with the spiritual master for at least one year before accepting initiation and would continue personally associating with him for a long time afterward. By this continuous contact, the guru could not only teach the disciple but correct any shortcomings he could display.
In the case of Srila Prabhupada, he was able to solve the first problem by being a Paramahansa. A Paramahansa can accept any number of disciples and just destroy all their previous karma, just like a big forest fire burns trees. He was able to solve the second problem by a combination of a sisya system (where the older disciples would tech the newer) and remote instructions through his books and letters.
Such a system worked for Srila Prabhupada due to his extraordinary purity and potency. Srila Prabhupada is possibly the most important acarya of the modern age, and many of his own godbrothers accepted that he was directly empowered by Krsna to fulfill his mission.
We can see also that a few disciples of Srila Prabhupada were also able to initiate thousands of disciples and create a personal impact in their lives, like Jayapataka Swami, Bhakti Thirta Swami, and others. It would be great with there would be a few thousand other powerful Vaishnavas like them to spread Krsna Consciousness around the world, but unfortunately, such powerful Vaishnavas don’t grow in trees.
Not only Srila Prabhupada already left the planet, but most of his direct disciples also left. We will very soon come to a day when an announcement on Dandavats will communicate the disheartening fact that the last disciple of Srila Prabhupada left this planet. The point is how we will continue this movement after that.
Our movement is supposed to spread on the whole planet. This means hundreds of millions of new devotees in need of finding a spiritual master. Currently, we have little over 50 initiating gurus in our movement who are still actively accepting disciples. If this small number of gurus would be forced to deal with hundreds of millions of disciples, each one would be forced to accept several million disciples! This would mean that every single initiating guru in our movement would have to exceed the already unprecedented feat of Srila Prabhupada hundreds of times over!! Certainly, this is not practical, therefore if our movement is going to ever take the world, something will have to change in our guru system.
The role of the spiritual master is something I believe we still don’t quite understand in ISKCON. There are so many ideas around that just don’t seem very correct.
It’s a fact that the scriptures mention that the guru should be liberated, but one could also point out that this is also the qualification for a father, a mather and even an ordinary husband: “One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod.” (SB 5.5.18)
How can we understand that? It helps if we can examine how Srila Prabhupada explains it. He used to explain the role of the spiritual master in a very simple way: The spiritual master is the representative of Krsna, someone who repeats the same massage Krsna spoke. A spiritual master is like a postman, who delivers the message without adulteration.
If we understand the role of the spiritual master in this light it’s actually quite simple. A qualified spiritual master is not necessarily someone who can walk over water, but someone who can repeat the message he received from his own spiritual master (who received from his own spiritual master, all the way to Krsna Himself) without adulteration. If we accept things in this way, any humble, sincere Vaishnava, who has a good grasp on the philosophy and its practical application could become a spiritual master.
The second point is that the role of the spiritual master is actually a collective role. Just like a healthy child is grown not just by the father, but by the combined effort of the father, mother, grandparents, uncles, cousins, as well as other relatives and well-wishers, a devotee is nourished in his spiritual life not only by the diksa-guru but by the combined effort of many other Vaishnavas in the society, including god-grandparents, god-uncles, god-cousins and so on. It takes a whole village to raise a child, Similarly, it takes a whole society to raise a disciple.
Another point is the role of the diksa-guru and the siksa-gurus. We are a siksa-sampradaya. Actually, the role of the siksa-guru is more prominent in our line than the mere ceremony of initiation. Srila Prabhupada explains that one may take instructions from many siksa-gurus, and the one who becomes more prominent in his life usually becomes the diksa-guru. Again, if we see in this light, things become very simple: Any bonafide Vaishnava can give instructions and help others on the spiritual path, and when someone develops a relationship of deep trust with a senior Vaishnava, he may accept him as diksa-guru. The diksa-guru would then take responsibility for helping this soul to go back to godhead and would instruct him with the help of all the other siksa-gurus in our society. In this scenario, the diksa-guru doesn’t necessarily need to know everything: he just needs to be humble enough to direct the disciple to other Vaishnavas who can help him in each situation. Even in the hypothetical situation of a disciple becoming more elevated than the guru, it would also not be a problem, since the guru could just forward him to another senior Vaishnava who could instruct him further.
I believe if we could collectively understand this point it could help enormously in improving our relationship not only with our diksa-guru but also with all the siksa-gurus we have during our lifetimes. I believe many of the problems we have in our society connected with the role of the spiritual master comes not from the scriptures, but from our own minds and false ego. We think we are very great, and we want the spiritual master to be able to walk over water in order to be able to accept his guidance.
Due to our false ego, we think we can accept only a direct incarnation of Vishnu as a guide, and therefore we project an unrealistic set of mystical expectations on the guru and we lose our faith in his guidance as soon as the smallest crack in this idealized image is detected. As a result, very few Vaishnavas want to take the risk of accepting such unruly and puffed-up disciples.
If we can tune down our false ego, we can appreciate better the qualities not only of the spiritual master, but of all Vaishnavas, and understand that a Vaishnava is something very rare in this world. When we acquire this consciousness, we can love and respect our spiritual master regardless of being he able to walk over water or not. If the prospective disciples become somehow more humble, then more humble and qualified Vaishnavas may step and accept the responsibility of raising some spiritual children.
If this happens, many of the problems we have in the current guru-system in ISKCON (such as the small number of initiating gurus) would be solved. We would have more spiritual masters, each one with a smaller number of disciples, and would thus be able to personally guide each one of them. It would be less risky for the gurus (who would not have to take the risk of accepting the karma of so many disciples) and better for the disciples, who would have the opportunity of having more personal contact with the guru. At the same time, everyone could hear from exalted Paramahansas walking on the planet through online lectures and big festivals, like we already do today.