The Final Order

THE BOOK THAT HAS THE GURUS ON THE RUN!

«The Final Order by Krishnakant Desai has been perhaps the most influential post-1977 publication in the Vaisnava world.»
— HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami, ISKCON guru

Who should initiate disciples in the Hare Krishna Movement?
The spiritual purity and general prestige of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON, or the Hare Krishna Movement) has undergone a serious meltdown since the physical departure on November 14th, 1977 of its pure and saintly founder, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Most of the scandals that have rocked the Movement can be traced back to fairly blatant deviations from the instructions and pure standards given by Srila Prabhupada, the chief of which being his unauthorised displacement as the sole initiating (diksa) guru for ISKCON.

This particular deviation was highlighted in 1996 in the first edition of The Final Order which was sent to all ISKCON's leaders in a bid to help solve the Movement’s problems. No ISKCON leader could now credibly claim to be oblivious to the legal documents, personally signed by Srila Prabhupada, that clearly set out his intention to remain the sole initiating guru for the global spiritual movement he founded. It is these legal documents that constitute the core of The Final Order.
Far from accepting the conclusions of The Final Order, ISKCON's Governing Body Commission (GBC) embarked on a systematic and sometimes brutal campaign of harassment, suppression and evasion. Surely it is no coincidence that most, if not all, of the members of the GBC are also initiating gurus?
This book will help the reader get to grips with the plain facts underlying one of the most fascinating and serious religious controversies of the modern age.

«The GBC should all be the instructor gurus. I am the initiator guru, and you should be the instructor guru by teaching what I am teaching and doing what I am doing.»
— Srila Prabhupada Letter to Madhudvisa, 4/8/1975

“Yes, I am the spiritual master of this institution, and all the members of the Society, they're supposed to be my disciples. They follow the rules and regulations which I ask them to follow, and they are initiated by me spiritually.”
— Srila Prabhupada Radio Interview, 12/3/1968