Swamiji, My True Father

In 1966, Acyutananda dasa’s mother wrote a paper for a New York University psychology course describing the relationship of Prabhupada and his disciples.  Her theory was that the young boys who had joined the Hare Krishna movement were from broken families, and that is why they were taking to Krishna consciousness and seeing Prabhupada as their spiritual father.  When Acyutananda told this to the devotees we saw it as a joke.  His mother hadn’t done any interviewing, but based it all on knowledge of her own son.  Perhaps it was a fact that some devotees came from broken homes, yet others came from strong family units, as I did.  This was the first time I heard anyone theorizing that the relationship a devotee has with his material father has implications in his relationship with his spiritual father.

Atheist psychologists say that a belief in God is based on a person’s insecurity in his relationship with his seminal father.  This theory can also be used to explain why one is attracted to a spiritual father.

However, according to Vedic sastra, God is the Father and the spiritual master is also the father.  As stated in the Vedas, “In every species of life one is born with a mother and father, but only in the human life can one obtain a relationship with guru and Krishna.”

The theory put forward by Acyutananda’s mother, or by Freud and company, has nothing to do with the fact of God’s existence.  The Supreme Lord is independent.  He rules all creatures, regardless of our family situations.  If some persons seek God partly because of the unhappiness they find in family life, that unhappiness may turn out to be their good fortune.  Conversely, if one thinks that because he has a good family life he does not need to seek God, then he is in illusion.

God consciousness is the goal of human life.  If a person is born of a mother and father who can give the child love, as well as a God conscious education, then he is very blessed.  According to Bhagavad-gita, if one is born into a family of transcendentalists, that is the result of good karma.

Even one who has a pure devotee as a father still must approach a spiritual master for initiation.  It is not true that only someone who has an unhappy relationship with his material father seeks out God or guru.

In my case, I was very much under the domination of my father until about my eighteenth year, and then I gradually began to resent him.  I thought he misunderstood me and stifled my individual spirit.  I had already broken from my father’s influence as much as was possible, and was living alone when I met Srila Prabhupada.  I can recall a specific incident in which I transferred myself as the son of Stephen Guarino, Sr. to become the son of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.  I had informed my father and mother by phone calls and by sending them an ISKCON “Prospectus” of my interest in Krishna consciousness and the Swami.  To my surprise, my parents strongly rejected it.  My father said, “If you keep going to the Swami, we won’t have anything to do with you.”  After that phone call, I went and told Prabhupada what had happened, and that is when the feeling of transfer occurred.  Prabhupada saw my dilemma and assured me that he was my father.  Through him, I could connect with Lord Krishna.