The June 2000 issue (Vol. 8, No. 1) of the ISKCON Communications Journal contained an article on 'The Role of the Guru in a Multi-Guru Society' by Dr. Howard J. Resnick (Hrdayananda Dasa Goswami); this contained observations on certain remarks of mine. These remarks were presented as a 'response' to an earlier article in the ICJ and were not necessarily for publication.

I seem to have unwittingly raised a very sensitive issue of especial importance, particularly in the present critical situation in which the issue of leadership within ISKCON is being hotly debated and contested. The personal and informal nature of my remarks explains why they are not bolstered with adequate references to primary and secondary textual material. Had I known that they would attain such importance, I would also have taken more care to highlight the differences that may exist between theoretical considerations in texts regarded as authoritative by religious groups, and the actual beliefs of members of such groups determined by empirical observation.

Rahul Peter Das