Is Gaudiya Vaishnavism Authentic? Answering The Critics.
Hare Krishna
All Glories To Sri Guru And Sri Gauranga!
Many people often claim that ISKCON is not a part of gaudiya vaishnavism, many also claim that gaudiya vaishnavism itself is not authentic.
Garuda Purana, verses 112-113 state—
शार्ङ्गपाणिश्च कृष्णश्च ज्ञानमूर्त्तिः परन्तपः ॥
तपस्वी ज्ञानगम्यो हि ज्ञानी ज्ञानविदेव च ॥ ॥
ज्ञेयश्च ज्ञेयहीनश्च ज्ञप्तिश्चैतन्यरूपकः ॥
भावो भाव्यो भवकरो भावनो भवनाशनः ॥ ॥"He holds a conch, he holds bow, he is Krishna, the embodiment of knowledge and slayer of enemies. He is a tapasvin (saint), realizable, endowed, knower and object of knowledge. He is in the form of Chaitanya. He is the purport, he is to be conceived, the origin of all, the destroyer of rebirth."
This verse alone is enough for the critics, but for the sake of refutation, an amazing post is already made by a devotee, on Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Divinity.
Objection: The gaudiyas have no connection to the Madhva's.
Refutation: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's grand guru, i.e., Madhavendra Puri was an acharya in Madhva lineage, who was a disciple of Lakshmipati Thirtha. Hence we have the direct linkage to the madhva sampradaya.
Objection: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sanyāsa from keshava bharati, a kēvalādvaiṭavādi sanyāsi, so he belongs to the advaita sampradaya, and hence has no lineage connected with to madhvacahrya.
Refutation: Though Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu received his sanyāsa from a kēvalādvaiṭavādi sanyāsi, he took his initiation from Ishvar Puri, however this doesn't prove that he himself was an advaitin, as Madhvacharya also took sanyasa from Acyuta Preksha, an advaitin but he does not belong to the advaitin lineage, the same way Lord Chaitanya does not belong to the mayavadi lineage.
One of the main reasons why Lord Caitanya decided to take sannyasa was because the non-devotees were offending Him, mistaking Him to be an ordinary person. He took sannyasa for showing compassion to such offenders, so that at least on account of His position as a sannyasi, they would offer Him respect and thereby derive spiritual benefit.
Srila Prabhupada explains in Caitanya Caritamrta how during the time of Lord Caitanya, the influence of Sankaracarya in society was very strong, and consequently people in general thought that one could accept sannyasa only in the Sankaracarya sampradaya. Since His acceptance of sannyasa was also designed to invoke the respect of the common members of the public as well as the brahminical community, if only due to social convention (and in this way receive spiritual benefit by respecting him, rather that faulting Him for His ecstatic moods of prema), Lord Caitanya, not wishing to disturb the current social convention of His time, took the renounced order of life from Keshava Bharati who was in the Sankaracarya sampradaya, although sannyasa order was also sanctioned in the Vaishnava sampradaya.
Objection:
The parampara which is seen in BG as it is not a diksha parampara but actually shiksha-parampara.
Diksha Parampara in Gaudiya is coming down as 64 branches, not sure if all are existing today. These are coming down from Nityanand Prabhu, Advait Prabhu, Loknaath Swami etc. The associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are called Prabhu and their successors are called Prabhupad. Each 64 branch has slight differences in the tilak. The followers of Radharaman temple keeps a straight black line between their Tilak.
ISKCON doesn’t belong to any of these parampara. It mainly starts from Bhakti Vinod Thakur, who founded “Gaudiya Mutt”. He formed his own disciple succession by taking various glorious Acharyas of various 64 branches.
Purvapaksha's source: https://qr.ae/pvo9xq
Refutation: First of all, ISKCON is Connected by both Diksha as well as Siksha. Srila Prabhupad' Guru was Srila Bhaktisiddhant Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad and Srila Bhaktisiddhant Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad's Diksha guru was Srila Gaur Kishore Das Babaji Maharaj. It is a well known fact that Srila Gaur Kishore Das Babaji Maharaj took Diksha in Advait Parivaar (One of the 64 Branches) from Sri Nanda Kishore Dev Goswami Maharaj and he took Traditional initiation from Nityananda Vamsha from Bhagvat Das Babaji Maharaj.
Here 11th is Bhagavat Das Babaji who is the Sanyasa Guru of Srila Gaur Kishore Das Babaji Maharaj.
So your claim that ISKCON doesn't belong to any Parivaar is absolutely Wrong. Now coming to the Parampara in BG, it is called Bhagavat Parampara that Srila Bhaktisiddhant Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad framed to emphasise on Siksha Connection, this doesn't mean We don't have Diksha Connection.
Secondly Gaudiya Math was established by Srila Bhaktisiddhant Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was his Father.
Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur took Diksha from Sri Bipin Bihari Goswami of Nityanand Parivaar. There is Absolutely No mention whatsoever anywhere that Bipin Bihari Goswami ever rejected Bhaktivinod Thakur in his lifetime. There is none I repeat. And definitely not for Navadip Dham Mahatmaya. Moreover it is said That Bipin Bihari Goswami had started taking paan (prohibited in Gaudiya Sampradaya) and Started becoming Castiest because of which Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur started Maintaining some distance although there was no formal rejection. Later Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur took Siksha from Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj.
Secondly Navadip Dham Mahatmaya is personal Revealations of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur where he has mentioned that Acharyas of all Sampradayas had got Darshan of Sriman Caitanya Mahaprabhu. There is no insult. Moreover Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur had published books of Acharyas of Other Sampradaya in Bengali hence he never insulted anybody.
All credits go to Madhav Singh Sodhi Prabhu for the answer to the objection in the purvapaksha.
CONCLUSION:
ISKCON is indeed an authentic spiritual organization having roots in the Bramha-Madhva-Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya, both through the siksha and the diksha linkage.
Hare krishna
ṣri kṛṣnārpaṇamasṭu
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