The bogus GBC want to play at being ACHARYA who gives Diksha: http://harekrsna.com/sun/news/03-13/news4734.htm So here is what they give as evidence to somehow or other try JUSTIFY their claim to be Diksha Guru: "This Krishna consciousness movement directly receives instructions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead via persons who are strictly following His instructions. Although a follower may not be a liberated person, if he follows the supreme, liberated Personality of Godhead, his actions are naturally liberated from the contamination of the material nature. Lord
Chaitanya therefore says: 'By My order you may become a spiritual master.' One can immediately become a spiritual master by having full faith in the transcendental words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and by following His instructions." Purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 4.18.5 And… "A person who is liberated acharya and guru cannot commit any mistake, but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession." Letter to Janardana, 26 April, 1968 And… "We may not be cent percent perfect, but as far as possible, if we follow the instruction as it is, that much perfect. In this way one will get perfection. So one has to follow. The same example, try to understand, that a perfect, expert technologist or technician or mechanic is working, and somebody is working under his instruction. So this somebody, because he is strictly working under the instruction of the expert, he's also expert. He may not be cent percent expert, but his work is expert. Is that clear? Because he is working under the expert. Do you follow? So if you follow pure devotee, then you are also pure devotee. It may not be one is cent per cent pure.
Because we are trying to raise our self from the conditional life. But if we strictly follow the pure devotee, then we are also pure devotee. So far we do, that is pure. So pure devotee does not mean one has to become immediately cent percent pure. But if he sticks to the principle that "We'll follow a pure devotee," then his actions are… He is as good as a pure devotee. It is not I am explaining in my own way. It is the explanation of Bhagavata. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah [Cc. Madhya 17.186]." Lecture, Los Angeles, November 25, 1968
Note: There is BIG DIFFERENCE between ACT AS ACHARYA and BEING AN ACHARYA.
ACT AS ACHARYA simply means OFFICIATING ACHARYA. Officiating Acharya IS Ritvik. So as per July 9th 1977 Order confirms that 1st and 2nd Initiations are to be conducted by OFFICAITING ACHARYA (RITVIK -REPRESENTATIVE OF ACHARYA Srila Prabhupada) Conversations, May 28, 1977, Vrindavana
Prabhupada: Yes. I shall recommend some of you. After this is settled up, I shall recommend some of you to act as OFFICIATING ACHARYAS.
Tamala Krishna: Is that called ritvik-acharya?
Prabhupada: RITVIK, YES.
Note: OR HIS REPRESENTATIVE. The DUTIES are as per July 9th 1977 Ritvik Representative (Officiating Acharya) are DEFINED: Madhya 24.330 The Sixty-One Explanations of the Atmarama Verse Similarly, a disciple's qualifications must be observed by the spiritual master before he is accepted as a disciple. In our Krishna consciousness movement, the requirement is that one must be prepared to give up the four pillars of sinful life – illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. In Western countries especially, we first observe whether a potential disciple is prepared to follow the regulative principles. Then he is given the name of a Vaishnava servant and initiated to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, at least sixteen rounds daily. In this way the disciple renders devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master or His Representative Forat least six months to a year. He is then recommended for a second initiation, during which a sacred thread is offered and the disciple is accepted as a bona fide brahmana.
Note: Srila Prabhupada states ACHARYA is NOT a Kanistha. And ACHARYA can NOT be appointed BY THE GBC:
Letter: Rupanuga, April 28, 1974 You are right about Sridhara Maharaja’s genuineness. But in my opinion he is the best of the lot.
He is my old friend; at least he executes the regulative principles of devotional service. I do not wish to discuss about activities of my God brothers but it is a fact they have no life for preaching work. All are satisfied with a place for residence in the name of a temple, they engage disciples to get foodstuff by transcendental devices and eat and sleep. They have no idea or brain how to broadcast the cult of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. My Guru Maharaja used to lament many times for this reason and he thought if one man at least had understood the principle of preaching then his mission would achieve success. In the latter days of my Guru Maharaja he was very disgusted. Actually, he left this world earlier; otherwise he would have continued to live for more
years.
Still he requested his disciples to form a strong Governing body for preaching the cult of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He never recommended anyone to be acharya 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 acharya. If guru maharaja could have seen someone who was qualified at that time to be acharya he would have mentioned. Because on the night before he passed away he talked of so many things, but never mentioned an acharya. His idea was acharya was not to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said openly you make a gbc and conduct the mission.
So his idea was amongst the members of gbc who would come out successful and self effulgent acharya would be automatically selected. So sridhara maharaja and his two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acharya and later it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be acharya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to preach. In some of the camps the acharya 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 acharya. So it is better not to mix with my god brothers very intimately because instead of inspiring our students and disciples they may sometimes pollute them.
Note: although one can act as officiating acharya in a non-liberated platform they can not give diksha. This is why 1st and 2nd initiations are done on behalf of srila prabhupada the liberated acharya. Throughout the process of diksha the initiator is one: srila prabhupada
Note: there may be many spiritual masters who instruct, but the initiator spiritual master is one.