Srila Prabhupada Quotes

"After me there will be no more Acharyas" Srila Prabhupada in New York in 1968

If a spiritual master is not properly authorized and only on his own initiative becomes a spiritual master, he may be carried away by an accumulation of wealth and large numbers of disciples. His is not a very high grade of devotional service. If a person is carried away by such achievements, then his devotional service becomes slackened. One should therefore strictly adhere to the principles of disciplic succession.
Nectar of Devotion 14

Srila Prabhupada: "Simply by his sannyasa dress he thought himself as cured of all material diseases and mistakes, but under the influence of Maya, he thought himself a liberated patient, just as a foolish patient thinks himself cured of the disease." (SPL October 17, 1967)

Prabhupada, Mayapur, March 9, 1974: “Suppose we are in a group, this, our International Society. If everyone becomes ruler or acarya, then how it can be managed? No. There must be some head. That is the principle in our practical life.”
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.7
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srila Prabhupada: "But the difficulty is that our GBC men are falling victim to MAYA. Today I trust this GBC [man] and tomorrow he will FALL DOWN. This is the difficulty. If the GBC men are so FLICKERING, then what to speak of others? Unless this problem is solved, whatever we may resolve, it will not be very useful..." (SPL December 4, 1974)

The whole situation has been spoiled by these so-called rascal gurus who gives his own opinion. This is our plain declaration: Let any rascal guru come. We can convince him that he is not guru, because he is speaking differently....So guru is one. Guru cannot be two. As soon as you find two opinions of guru, either both of them are rascals, or one is still at least rascal.- Srila Prabhupada:Lecture: What is a Guru? London, August 22, 1973

LETTER TO RUPANUGA! “… he never recommended anyone to be acarya of the Gaudiya Math. But Sridhara Maharaja is responsible for disobeying this order of Guru Maharaja, and he and others who are already dead unnecessarily thought that there must be one acarya . If Guru Maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acarya he would have mentioned…”
“…So Sridhara Maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acarya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acarya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acarya is being changed three times a year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp. Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya…”
“So Sridhar Maharaja was responsible for disobeying…
“We shall not make the same mistake in our ISKCON camp…
” They [Gaudiya matha] are very competent to harm our natural progress” SP to Rupanuga dasa, April 1974

Srila Prabhupada: We haven’t got to manufacture. To manufacture ideas is troublesome. Why should we take the trouble? And as soon as you want to manufacture something to my…., that is DANGEROUS. …That you are singing every day, “what our guru has said, that is our life and soul.” …As soon as this POISON will come-suppress guru and I become Brahman-everything FINISHED. Spiritual life is finished. Gaudiya Matha finished, …VIOLATED the orders of Guru Maharaja. …And as soon as you manufacture, fall down. This manufacturing idea is very, very dangerous in spiritual life. …Our mission is to serve bhakta visesa and live with devotees. NOT THAT YOU TAKE THE PLACE OF GURU.. THAT IS NONSENSE, VERY DANGEROUS. Then everything will be spoiled. As soon as you become AMBITIOUS to TAKE THE PLACE of GURU-gurusuh nara matih. That is MATERIAL DISEASE. 
April 1977 Bombay, India

July 19th 1977
Devotee: Upendra and I could see it for the last… [break]
Srila Prabhupāda: And nobody is going to disturb you there. Make your own field and continue to become rttvik and act on my charge. People are becoming sympathetic there. The place is very nice.
Devotee: Yeah. He says, “The introduction of Bhagavad-gītā has been translated into Tamil, and I will have the second chapter done next. Then publish a small booklet for immediate distribution.”
Srila Prabhupāda: Very good.

“That is the difficulty. Everyone sees that, “Some way or other, I become guru. Then so many persons will offer me respect. Somehow or other, create some situation. Then I become guru. [...] This is going on. Not bona fide guru. [...] Somehow or other become popular and become guru. This is going on.” (Srila Prabhupada Conversation, May 2nd, 1976)

"Unless one is initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, all his devotional activities are useless. A person who is not properly initiated can descend again into the animal species." Hari-bhakti-vilasa (2.10)

Srila Prabhupada:But if you, like a rascal, interpret in a different way, then you are not a guru. You are a goru, then you are animal.(Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.39-40 ,Bombay, December 8, 
1974)

So gurun ahatva. A devotee of Krsna, if need be, if he's unqualified guru... Unqualified guru means who does not know how to guide the disciple. Guru's duty is to guide. So such kind of guru can be at least rejected. That is Jiva Gosvami's... Karya-karyam ajanatah. A guru who does not know what to do and what not to do, but by mistake, by mistakenly I have accepted somebody as guru, he can be rejected. By rejecting him, you can accept an actual bona fide guru. So guru is not killed, but he can be rejected. That is the injunction of the sastra. 73/08/05 London, Bhagavad-gita 2.4-5

"These are not ordinary books. It is recorded chanting. Anyone who reads, he is hearing."
(Letter to Rupanuga Das, 19/10/74)

"Eternal bond between disciple and Spiritual Master begins from the day he hears."
(Letter to Jadurani, 4/9/72)

Every acarya has a specific means of propagating his spiritual movement with the aim of bringing men to Krsna consciousness. (C.c., 7:37, purport)

Prabhupada:"My disciples are my agents, my representatives, so by hearing it from them, you are receiving it from me.”Srila Prabhupada Letter, March 6th, 1968

"The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life. Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless."
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 12.8-10)

"When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation."
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 12.8-10, purport)

"The instructions received from the spiritual master must be followed immediately. One should not deviate from or surpass the instructions of the spiritual master."
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.14, purport)

‎"As soon as the disciple thinks independently, not caring for the instructions of the spiritual master, he is a failure ."
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.17.1, purport)

“If you want woman you get yourself married, live respectfully. We have no objection. But this hypocrisy should be stopped. There have been so many fallen down. First of all there will be no sannyasi anymore. I have got very bad experience. And at least, we are not going to create new sannyasis. And those who have fallen down, let them marry, live like respectable gentlemen. I have no objection.(January 7, 1977 Bombay)

“Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, Kali-cela. He indicates that there are other Vaishnavas, pseudo-Vaishnavas, with tilaka on their nose and kunti beads around their neck. Such a pseudo-Vaishnava associates with money and women and is jealous of successful Vaishnavas. Although passing for a Vaishnava, his only business is earning money in the dress of a Vaishnava”. (Srila Prabhupada: CC.Madhy.,Ch.1, Text 218 / 220, purport)
  
To honor the spiritual master means to carry out his instructions word for word. SB 3.24.12 Purport

‎"When our men will be sahajiya, oh, they'll be more dangerous." So our men are becoming, some of them, sahajiyas. This very word he said, that "When our men will be sahajiyas he'll be more dangerous."—Room Conversation, 24 January 1977 (770124r2.bhu)

Vaikunthanatha:Prabhupada, we’re distributing hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of books, but how will those people get initiated in the future? How will they get initiated?
"Srila Prabhupada:Just by reading my books they are initiated".Conversation 1972 Vrindavan.


Prabhupada: There is no question of why. It is the order of Krsna's
representative. You have to abide by that. You cannot say, "Why?" Then you are not fully surrendered, as soon as you say, "Why?" Surrender means there is no [surrender]"Why?" It is ordered; it has to be done. That's all.
As soon as there is "Why?", there is no surrender. The basic principle
is misguided. We have to follow. Just like we have got tilaka. If you
say, "Why this tilaka?" There is no question of "Why?" Mahajano yena
gatah sa pantha.
We have been instructed by the acaryas; we have to
follow that. That is surrender. You cannot say, "Why?" Is that clear? 
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(Srila Prabhupada's Last Will and Testament, which now comes into force for the lifetime of ISKCON)
Nov 1977 - "In the event of death or failure to act for any reason of any of the said directors, a successor director or directors may be appointed by the remaining directors, provided the new director is my initiated disciple ..."