Is Prabhupada’s appearance and activities predicted in scriptures? If so please tell them

Edited By: Shyam p

Question: Is Prabhupada’s appearance and activities predicted in the scriptures? If so, please tell where?

Answer: Prabhupada did not claim that his authority for preaching came from any scriptural prediction. He primarily said that his authority came because he was coming from Parampara and he was repeating the message of his spiritual master. So in general, the way Srila Prabhupada presented Krishna Consciousness to us was that it was primarily based on Guru-Sadhu-Sastra; it is not based on some specific claims that would require some belief in some prophecy.

At the same time, the Vedic scriptures have a progressive message that is revealed progressively over the centuries. That means that the Vedic scriptures talk about Bhakti as being the highest -vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo (BG 15.15) – Krishna says that I am the ultimate goal of the Vedas and in 15.19,He says that one who knows this about Me, that I am the supreme, that I am the ultimate truth, that person becomes a pure devotee, whole heartedly worships Me:

yomām evam asammūḍha

jānāti puruṣottamam

sasarva-vid bhajatimāḿ

sarva-bhāvenabhārata

Now, the vivid description of Bhakti and how Bhakti to Krishna can be performed was revealed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is predicted in 24 different scriptures and He is the chann avatara, He is the hidden incarnation in the sense that He did not directly proclaim His divinity; He focused primarily on demonstrating how all of us can practice Bhakti.

And there are many eternal associates of Lord Caitanya who descended with Him. Caitanya Mahaprabhu came with a plan to teach the Yugadharma and sort of have a golden age within the dark age of Kali for 10,000 years after His appearance. Now Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes are described in various literatures that are written by his biographers.

So many of His biographers are also eternal associates, the liberated souls, Mahabhagavatas. One of the biographies is Caitanya mangala, which was written by Locandas Thakur and in this Caitanya mangala, there is the explicit description by Lord Caitanya when He is describing His plan of spreading Krishna Consciousness all over the world, of Bhakti. So He says that I will personally spread devotional service in the country, in India, and then later I will send my Senapati Bhakta to spread Bhakti to other parts of the world.

If people who flee away from Me, people who are not there where I am sharing Bhakti, then I will send my Senapati Bhakta who will spread Krishna Bhakti all over the world. So that specific reference is clearly indicative of Srila Prabhupada because after Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, for almost 500 years, this message was not spread all over the world. Bhaktivinoda Thakur envisioned this spreading of Krishna Consciousness all over the world.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur laid the foundation by sending some of his disciples to Europe; they opened the centers in London and in Berlin, but it was Srila Prabhupada who actually fulfilled the prophecy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu elsewhere prophesied also that He will be spreading Krishna Bhakti all over the world – prthivéte ache yata nagarädi gräma, sarvatra pracära haibe moranäma. Therefore, this is a very strong prediction, which is, as I said, in thehistorical successive revolution – Bhakti being revealed in Vedic scriptures as the highest knowledge and Bhagavan Sri Krishna is the highest Sadhana & Sadhya, Bhakti & Bhagavan Krishna.

That is demonstrated by Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is chann avatara and He gives the plan of flooding the world with Krishna consciousness and Srila Prabhupada fulfills that plan. So in this way, there is a progressive prophecy, which is fulfilled through the activities of Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you.