Prabhupada – dependent on Krishna yet dynamic in service – 50th anniversary address

Sunday Feast Class at Rukmini Dwarkadhish Temple, Los Angeles, on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in America

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. Am I audible behind? No, you are good.
I am audible. Thank you. So, I feel humbled and Hare Krishna.
Am I audible now? Is it better behind? Can you hear me? Just bring it a little closer. Okay. Am I audible now? Thank you.
So, I am humbled and grateful to be here at the Lotus Feet of Indwarka Beach and all of you Vaishnavas. Today on this special and sacred occasion when we are commemorating the 50th anniversary of Shilpa Prabhupada’s coming to America. I seek the blessings of all of you that I can try to speak something about the oceanic glory of Shilpa Prabhupada.
I will speak on three main points based on Shilpa Prabhupada’s meditation when he was coming to America as it is revealed in his song, Malkini Bhagavad Gita. What Shilpa Prabhupada tried to achieve, not just tried, he succeeded but at that time when he was coming, he had no certainty that he would succeed. He had been trying to serve Krishna and share his message in India for nearly four decades and not many Indians had been interested.
So when Shilpa Prabhupada came to America, he had no guarantees of success. So he was doing something which had not even been attempted leave alone succeeded to transplant the bhakti culture that had been practised in India for millennia to a place where it had not even been heard about. So there is a in human history there are broadly two schools of thought.
There is the materialistic way of life and there is the spiritual way of life. Shilpa Prabhupada is bringing the spiritual wisdom of the bhakti culture to America which was largely materialistic as he said in his song that that these places are covered by their modes of passion and ignorance. So what he was trying to do was like a single spiritual warrior taking on an entire civilisation which was steep in materialism.
Whenever soldiers go on a war they know their most precious possession is their weapon be it a sword or a bow and arrow or a gun. You know if they are going to a new territory, going for war their survival and their success depends on their weapon. So they treasure their weapon.
They keep it in good condition. Make sure that it is always available for them for use whenever it is required. So when Shilpa Prabhupada was in Boston Park and he was observing the American skyline at that time he sings this song Amarkini Bhagwat Dharma and it reveals what he conceives will be his weapon for overcoming the materialism that is prevalent in the country that he was coming to.
So Shilpa Prabhupada was a spiritual warrior and what he came to remove was ignorance. The ignorance that causes misery. Avidya Kaamakaram the ignorance which leads to misery he had come to remove that.
And what was the weapon? What was Shilpa Prabhupada contemplating? Bhagwatera Katha Setavavatar Dheerahaya Shunnejyadi Kaane Barbar O Krishna! He is revealing the innermost thoughts of his heart to Krishna in this song and he says O Krishna! You have descended as Bhagwatera Katha as the narration of the pastimes of Krishna as the Bhagwata Setavavatar this is your avatar and Dheerahaya Shunnejyadi Kaane Barbar If somebody hears this Dheerahaya the person will become sober and Shilpa Prabhupada is conceiving what is his weapon going to be? It is going to be Bhagwata Katha and he has brought the Bhagwata the first canto he had translated and commented on and he had three volumes in his trunks and when he had those three volumes ready in 62, 63, 64 three years each year he had produced one volume and the first canto had been translated into volumes and now he felt this was his weapon. So Shilpa Prabhupada he is not thinking that I am such an eloquent speaker I am such a charismatic leader that by my eloquence and my charisma I will attract people and I will transform people He is simply saying that Krishna this Bhagwata Katha that is your manifestation and if people just hear Bhagwata Katha they will become purified and Dheerahaya Shilpa Prabhupada in his Bengali song in his Bengali song he quotes verbatim verses from the Bhagwata second chapter first canto verses around 16 to 19 he quotes wherein the process of how hearing leads to purification that is described. So this is Dheerahaya Shilpa Prabhupada here is following the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.
We see that Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami has Bengali verses in between he profusely quotes Sanskrit verses so similarly Prabhupada is here meditating that if he is going to help people come out of illusion and ignorance the means is the Bhagwata and there are in every situation there are external considerations and there are internal considerations just like we have Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance there are Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit explains external reasons for the appearance of Lord Chaitanya and then he describes internal reasons so externally speaking Shilpa Prabhupada was an old man he had practically no money whatever money he had at that time there were so few Indians in America that he had little currency not even having converted so he had no money he was old he had no contacts so materially we could not think of we could not think of a less likely person to succeed in sharing any message it was most unlikely so there was there is a scholar of religion he said that this Bhaktivedanta Swami’s achievement is so amazing that if somebody made a fiction story out of this an old man with no money no contacts just recovering from heart attacks he came to a distant land and he started an international movement most publishers would reject such a manuscript as being entirely unrealistic so he says this is an example of a fact that is stranger than fiction and not just stranger in being peculiar but stranger in being astonishing in being wonderful where in the history of all religions is there any example of this this is not I quoting this is this professor is quoted in his book Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna five scholars on the Hare Krishna movement so here so he says that where in the history of religion has there been anyone who has achieved anything like this that yes there is a history where Jesus came and called people he says come come and he called a fisherman and he said be a fisherman of men and people left him left everything and they came with him there are similarities but there are differences also Jesus was sharing his gospel with people who knew his language, people whose culture he knew, people with whom he had lived all the time Bhagavan Swami was sharing the message with people who had no knowledge of what he was speaking who were of a different generation who had a tremendous language barrier and he had come to a distant land where he had never been before so at such a time actually speaking to share a message not just share a message in terms of giving a message but share a message in such a way that people’s hearts and lives become transformed because there is no precedent for this in old history this is not a case of religious one upsmanship it is just a matter of objective analysis where is something so astonishing as what Sri Prabhupada achieved there and what he achieved is extraordinarily unprecedented but what makes it even more special is how he achieved it when he is praying to Krishna so I was talking about external reasons and internal reasons so externally speaking there is the likelihood of success was very very low but internally Sri Prabhupada is guided by Krishna and externally there is the obstacle that say people did not understand Prabhupada’s English accent but when Prabhupada is praying to Krishna you know I have just come from India so when Indians come to America one of their concerns is that maybe our accent is not understandable to Americans so if students come to America then they give a test of English as a foreign language and they try to master their English so Prabhupada was aware of these things that his English pronunciation was not understandable but when Prabhupada is praying to Krishna what is he praying? He says Oh Krishna you have the capacity to ornament my speech and what is the ornamentation that he is asking for? He is not asking for Americanised accent by which he can impress Americans No, the ornamentation that he is asking for is the potency of pure devotion Oh Krishna by your potency everything is possible He says by your desire, by your will the whole world has come under illusion, by your will the whole world can come out of illusion and therefore if you desire that these people come out of illusion then please ornament my speech with the purity and potency of devotion so it’s it’s amazing that Srila Prabhupada has worked tirelessly if we read Srila Prabhupada’s biography we find that he has struggled so much just to come to America first not just to struggle to share the message in India but after that he has come to America and it’s it’s a heroically courageous step for an old person at that age to alone venture on a distant land to go to a distant land and Satyoshila Prabhupada’s Krishna consciousness that in his diary now when Prabhupada went to America he did not even know whether he would have he was a vegetarian, strict vegetarian he did not even know whether he would have vegetarian food or not. What to speak of in America he did not even know whether there was vegetarian food on the ship and in this diary he is so Krishna conscious that he writes thanks to Lord Krishna for enlightening Sumti Moraji from within her heart to provide abundant vegetarian food on the ship so Sumti Moraji was the person who arranged for his ship passage so Prabhupada is not just saying oh she arranged for it. See Krishna is present in the hearts of everyone and Krishna from within the heart has guided them so I thank Krishna for guiding in this way so when eventually they initially there was lot of turbulence in the ship and Prabhupada was seasick and then he had heart attacks and then he had that amazing darshan of Krishna that Krishna told him, reassured him that I have made all arrangements Krishna told Arjuna that Krishna told Arjuna Arjuna therefore rise Krishna gave Arjuna the darshan of the Vishwaroopa in which he showed how all the opponents are going to be overcome and therefore he said Arjuna rise Arjuna Arjuna You will conquer all your enemies and you will enjoy a prosperous kingdom How? By my arrangement all the obstacles will be removed.
That has been already arranged well therefore what you have to do Just become an instrument Just as Krishna showed Arjuna in the war film become an instrument, similarly Krishna came in a mystical vision when Srila Prabhupada was in the ship. The first two nights he got heart attacks and that time he prayed to Krishna the next day that Krishna, I want to fulfil my spiritual master’s mission, please help me and on the third night instead of a heart attack came the lord of his heart. Krishna himself relieved in the mystical vision and told him I have made arrangements go ahead and eventually after that Captain Pandya who was navigating the ship, he said that in my 40 years as a captain I have never seen the ocean so calm and Srila Prabhupada smiled and Srila Prabhupada said Krishna had taken charge of the ship and Captain Pandya’s wife said Swamiji because you were present we had such a smooth journey, so you come back with us we will have another smooth journey.
So Prabhupada knew that Krishna had far bigger plans than just providing him a smooth journey. So Prabhupada when he actually came to America, he at a moment to moment basis he had no idea how things were going to unfold as I said when I landed I didn’t know whether to turn left or right but he had that confidence so he had laboured so much first to get permission from the American Embassy to get the funds to get the passage in the ship to get the sponsorship and after having done so much he is simply giving all credit to Krishna. He says Krishna you must have some purpose in having brought me here otherwise why would you have brought me here and here when he says how are people going to be transformed he is not thinking that I will transform people by my eloquence.
He says that Krishna you are the source of illusion, you are the source of enlightenment. Now what does this mean? How can we say that Krishna is the source of illusion? Now Krishna is as Prabhupada also said that Jagatguru that you are the Jagatguru. So when we say Krishna is the source of illusion then this life in this world is like a multiple choice exam.
Now in a multiple choice exam the right options and the wrong options all come from the teacher only. All the say there are five options all five options come from the teacher but the teacher also gives knowledge by which the student can choose the right option. So Prabhupada is saying that by your will you are the source of illusion, you are the source of enlightenment and if you desire that people be enlightened then you make my words ornamented in such a way that people will be able to understand it.
So he is not saying my words will enlighten, it is Krishna will enlighten and Krishna will enlighten by speaking through me. So such a level of, Prabhupada is doing so much and he is having such a level of non-doership. I am not doing anything Krishna, if you want you can make things happen.
So Prabhupada’s determination was such that normally when we are small we have big ambitions in life. Say when children are small they may think oh I will become the next president of America and then as you start growing up and then life starts beating us with adversities and reversals and failures then they may think that oh maybe I can’t become the president of America, maybe I just become a millionaire. Oh maybe I can’t become a millionaire.
Okay, I will become the wealthiest person in my social circle and sometimes you know life’s adversities become so troublesome that by the time a student is graduating, student thinks if I just get a job things will be good. So what happens we start with big ambitions and then as life’s adversities come slowly the ambitions start becoming smaller and smaller and smaller. It’s not that the nature of the world is that when there are reversals we tend to become discouraged.
Prabhupada writes that a devotee can be perplexed but a devotee is never discouraged. Perplexed means to not know what to do. Discouraged means to not want to do anything.
So a devotee can also be perplexed. How should I serve Krishna? Should I do this or should I do that? Should I go here or should I go here? But as far as the principle of serving Krishna is concerned a devotee is never discouraged. So Prabhupada was tireless no matter how big obstacles come.
Sometimes we may say that Prabhupada was empowered and because he was empowered by Krishna so he was able to achieve such phenomenal things. Now what empowerment means needs to be understood. If you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life he faced huge obstacles.
Right from a cow boring him in the streets of Delhi, fainting because of sun stroke, his business being ransacked, a creep driving him away from the very temple which was going to be his headquarters, he getting a heart attack. Obstacle after obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. Now any lesser soul would have just given up.
But Srila Prabhupada was empowered. That means empowerment does not mean absence of obstacles. Empowerment means perseverance even in the presence of obstacles.
It is not that because Bhaktisiddhanta Sridhar instructed Srila Prabhupada, because Prabhupada was fulfilling Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prophecy that meant that there are no obstacles. Prabhupada faced incredible obstacles. And the empowerment was in his perseverance even in the presence of obstacles.
So that empowerment was in terms of his inner unshakeable, unflinching determination no matter what happens. Srila Prabhupada, one Mataji disciple once wrote to him, she was very discouraged with the way things were in her temple. So Prabhupada wrote back and told her that we don’t get discouraged because we function on a platform beyond discouragement.
We function on a platform beyond discouragement. That means a devotee lives to serve Krishna and transcendental reciprocation between the devotee and Krishna that goes on irrespective of whether their success manifested at the material level or not. So Srila Prabhupada even when nobody was following him in India, even when he was alone sadhu wandering on the streets of Delhi, even then Srila Prabhupada was spiritually successful.
His spiritual success was that even then he was completely dedicated to following the instruction of his spiritual master. And by Krishna’s mercy later on Krishna gave empowerment. And Prabhupada achieved what as I said no other religious teacher has achieved.
Now again coming to the external, internal factors that contributed to Srila Prabhupada’s success. Now externally some people may say oh that was the time of the counterculture and that’s why people were open to something which is radically different. And that’s why when Prabhupada came and he chanted and he danced and he taught people to chant and dance etc.
Yes, there can be a specific socio-cultural setting which may have made that I am more receptive for Krishna Bhakti. But the socio-cultural setting is like a dance floor. Now if there is a performance to be done under the dance floor.
The dance floor is good that does not in and of itself ensure a high class dance performance. The high class dance performance depends on the expertise of the dance. So yes there was a socio-cultural setting that Krishna had arranged.
Prabhupada came just at the right time historically. But people were receptive to some extent. But when they came it was Srila Prabhupada’s expertise in presenting Krishna Bhakti.
The way he presented it. It is said that when we are sharing Krishna’s message the point is not to get it right. The point is to get it across.
Somebody may speak everything precisely but people don’t find it relevant. Somebody comes and speaks pure Sanskrit, gives an impressive seminar and nobody understands anything. The point is it may be right.
They got everything right but they got nothing across. So the point is not just to get it right. The point is to get it across.
So the way Srila Prabhupada got things across is inevitable. Here Srila Prabhupada is from living in Vrindavan. Right close to one of the most sacred temples in Vrindavan.
We could say he has come from the capital of devotion. And where has he come? From the Vedic Vaishnav perspective the western world itself is degraded. But Srila Prabhupada went to the place of the counterculture which was considered degraded even by the degraded.
So Srila Prabhupada went from the capital of devotion to the capital of degradation. And when he went there, there is practically speaking again historians of religion they say that when was there a time when there was such a cultural, linguistic, intellectual, educational, religious, conceptual gap between the teacher and the audience? It was never and yet Srila Prabhupada communicated. Once a hippy came to him and told him Swami, what is Vaikuntha like? Now there are times when Prabhupada quoted Brahma Samhita about describing Chintamani, Prakara, Saptamashika, Kalpavruksha.
There is time and place for that. But here what did Srila Prabhupada say? What is Vaikuntha like? Prabhupada said Vaikuntha is like an ocean of LSD. Like an ocean of LSD.
Now somebody with a sceptical, critical mind says in which scripture is Vaikuntha compared to an ocean of LSD? Where is it compared like that? The point is to get it across. So Srila Prabhupada was speaking to an audience whose conception of what happened was in terms of LSD. You get little bottles of LSD, little syringes of LSD, an ocean of LSD.
Wow, I want to go there. What a place it must be. So that was Srila Prabhupada’s expertise.
On another occasion he said no draft board. No transport. No draft board.
No draft board, yeah. That was the greatest fear at that time. Srila Prabhupada, so expertly translated.
Even Yajna, Srila Prabhupada translated as taxes. Yajna, what are we doing Yajna? We are actually paying taxes to the cosmic government. So this was Srila Prabhupada’s expertise.
That he got things across. And the way he got things across was not just by some verbal expertise. Yes, verbal expertise might be there, but what was important was his compassion.
A few years ago I had gone to Jagannath Puri and as I was going along, it started raining. So we went to the, there was a Gaudiya Mat along the way. So we had gone inside the Gaudiya Mat.
Some of the devotees were there with us. And at that time a Gaudiya Mat sanyasi came. And one devotee he went and asked, can I serve prasad to sanyasi? So then the sanyasi’s assistant asked him, are you initiated? He said no.
He said if you are not initiated, you cannot serve prasad to a sanyasi. That is the standard they follow. Now what was Srila Prabhupada’s standard? He was not just a sanyasi.
He was a Mahabhagavata Paramhamsa. And even on accepting sanyas, he was serving not just initiated people, people who had no conception of initiation, whose only regulative principle was to break all regulative principles. So for such people, Prabhupada was not only serving food, not only cooking food, he was even washing their plates.
The first time, those hippies when they came, they thought okay this is just like a hotel, free food is there, eat it. But when we go to a hotel, we never think I have to wash the plates in the hotel. Just eat the food and go away.
So like that, hippies they just would eat and go away. So one day, one hippie ate so much, Prabhupada would give him, take more, take more. He was personally lovingly serving.
He ate so much that he didn’t have the strength to get up after eating. Just sat there only. Just sat there.
And then Prabhupada was talking gently with him for a long time. And then finally, Prabhupada got up and he started himself taking the plates. And he started taking the plates, took them to the sink and started washing them.
Even he was a stupor of both drugs and food, drugs and prasad. Swamiji is an elderly gentleman, very learned, dignified. And he is washing our plates.
That was the time he jolted out. Then he told others, you should come, Swamiji has plates. And then they started coming and helping afterwards.
Shudra Upadhyay did not ask also for help. So such was his compassion. So there are standards of purity.
Yes, it’s a good standard that sannyasins not take food from those who are not initiated. But compassion goes beyond their standards. Shri Prabhupada’s compassion was such that he was ready to go to any length so that people would become attracted to Krishna.
And ultimately, what was Shri Prabhupada’s singular greatest qualification in sharing Krishna’s message was that desire, fervent desire to share Krishna’s message with others. Prabhupada would practically all day be talking about Krishna with people who came to meet him. And at night, he would be talking about Krishna to people who had not come to meet him by writing books for them.
Now that was his life, constantly talking about Krishna wherever he went. And this way, just by his desire to share Krishna. In Prabhupada’s memories, one of his disciples, Bhairav Prabhu says that what was Bhaktivinoda Swami’s speciality? He says that actually Prabhupada, he when I had only till now just read some magazines and Prabhupada told him, you become an editor of a magazine.
How can I become an editor? So, Prabhupada, he said just try it, Krishna will help you. So he said, Prabhupada, just by being with Prabhupada we felt that Krishna was real and that Krishna would really help us if we just tried to serve him. So you know, there are various ways in which we can understand the greatness of a person.
One way is by what are the great things that person has achieved. By that standard of search, Prabhupada achieved phenomenal things. You know, writing over 60 books, opening 108 temples, circumnavigating the globe and preaching to audience for 14 times and inspiring thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people to take to Krishna Bhakti.
So that itself is phenomenal. But another way we can understand the greatness of a person is that how a person inspires others to do great things. It’s one thing that I do great things.
Okay, that’s a sign of greatness. But if somebody can inspire others to do great things, that is even more amazing. So, the same Professor Thomas Hopkins, you might go to right link, so he says that actually, if someone came along and decided that I’m going to start an organisation with people who have no education, no training, no background, no organisational skills.
It’s not possible. How can you do it? Vishal Prabhupada did that. once Vishal Prabhupada gave a service to a devotee and he said that Prabhupada, I don’t have confidence that I can do it.
Prabhupada told him, I have confidence that like Krishna has been, you can do it. So, people talk about self-confidence. You should have confidence that you can do it.
Now, a devotee works at something. By becoming an association of great devotees like Vishal Prabhupada, the devotee gets empowered by something far greater than self-confidence. The devotee gets empowered by Krishna confidence.
But knowing that Krishna, if you are serving Krishna, Krishna is there to help. So, Guru Das Guru was once telling us that just as Krishna played the flute, the Gopis left everything. sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja Just gave up everything and just came running to Krishna.
So, similarly, we see that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave the instruction that prithviteyacharya nagaradhikram sarvatra pacharojya puranam Actually, He did not give the instruction. He made the prediction that my name will spread in every town and village. Now, a devotee some people might have said Okay, Krishna has made his prediction.
Okay, it’s his responsibility to fulfil his prediction. Prabhupada says in one lecture that Arjuna, after knowing that Krishna is God, Arjuna doesn’t say Krishna, you are God. So, you kill all the enemies.
I will sit and eat bhang. A devotee doesn’t think because Krishna is omnipotent, Krishna can do everything. A devotee thinks that because Krishna is omnipotent, Krishna is so wonderful that I should do something wonderful for Him.
So, Prabhupada, Krishna’s prophecy is a devotee’s responsibility. Now, Prabhupada saw that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has made the prophecy. So, it is my responsibility to fulfil it.
And he took that up and Krishna empowered him in extraordinary ways. So, in which Prabhupada started sharing the message of Krishna Bhakti with the world. What empowered him was his intense desire to fulfil Lord Chaitanya’s prophecy, to share Krishna’s message.
Prabhupada says in that same Markana Bhagavata that when people hear this Bhagavata Katha, If they hear it, then all their miseries will go away. All their miseries will go away. So, what this means is Prabhupada is like a very compassionate doctor.
Normally, when people are sick, they go to a doctor. But, the material illusion is such a sickness that it makes us sick and then it makes us forget that we are sick. So, it’s one thing to be sick.
It’s another thing to be sick and to think that we are healthy. It’s one thing, like sometimes some people are drunk. They drink too much and then they realise, oh, now I am very drunk.
I should not drive. Otherwise, you know, driving under intoxication, I get arrested. I might cause an accident.
So, they will tell, call someone and please take me home. So, when a person is a little drunk, that person understands that, oh, at least that awareness is there that I am drunk. But, when a person is very drunk, and somebody asks, you are drunk or not? Who says I am drunk? You can’t even say, I am not drunk.
I can’t even speak that clearly. And yet, so, when a person is very drunk, that person doesn’t even understand that I am drunk. So, like that, when we have some conditionings, when we are being pulled by Maya, at that time we understand, okay, now I may fall down.
I have to protect myself. I have to take shelter of Krishna. But, when we are completely captivated by Maya, we don’t even understand that we are in Maya.
We are in illusion, in so much illusion that we don’t even understand that we are in illusion. So, this material conditioning is such a sickness that we don’t even realise that we are sick. So, Srila Prabhupada is like a supremely compassionate doctor who took the medicine for curing these people’s sickness, not just from the hospital to the patient’s house, but across seven oceans where people who were not even aware of their sickness but were still suffering because of their sickness, Srila Prabhupada went and gave them that medicine.
And he gave this medicine. If we consider the obstacles that Srila Prabhupada went through to share Krishna Bhakti with everyone, then it was like he scaled mountain upon mountain. Suppose that sometimes there are some tribal people who are afflicted by an epidemic and they are all dying and there is no one who is there is no medicine available.
And some missionary doctor that valley is very remote where the tribals are living. So, that doctor scales over mountains, comes deep into that valley and then gives that medicine. And then those patients are saved.
Those sick people are saved. So, like that Prabhupada scaled mountain upon mountain. The mountain of a party in India, the mountain of his old age, the mountain of the heart attack, and it was not that when he came to America also things were alright.
The mountain of losing his typewriter. It was not just losing the typewriter. Srila Prabhupada lost the typewriter.
So, what happened was that was not just his only important position. That was the way he was serving Krishna. So, it could have been demoralising.
But Srila Prabhupada crossed all those obstacles. He scaled all those mountains and finally came and gave the medicine of Krishna, the holy names of Krishna to millions of people. So, when we are chanting, when we chant, when we try to practise bhakti, at that time we all face difficulties.
The nature of the world is that it creates difficulties in the practise of bhakti. And on top of that the nature of the mind is that it creates further difficulties. So, when we face difficulties, sometimes it’s easy to be discouraged.
It’s just too difficult. I can’t do it. Just forget it.
So, if we only look at our difficulties, we may think they are too many. But if we consider and meditate on the difficulties that Srila Prabhupada went through to give us the opportunity for practising Krishna bhakti, then we’ll see that our difficulties are so tiny. It’s like a doctor has scaled mountains to come and give the medicine.
And the patient just has to take the medicine. And the patient says, this medicine is so bitter. I cannot tolerate its bitter taste.
And that bitter taste is such an insignificant problem as compared to the problems that the doctor has gone through to make that medicine available. So, actually that’s one of the easiest ways. Just before I came here, I wrote a small book on Srila Prabhupada’s 50th anniversary.
I wrote a small book about Prabhupada, the movements that made the movement. So, it’s basically a chronological account of the defining movements of Srila Prabhupada’s life. So, how he met Sanskrit Dacoit, how he celebrated Kasyatra, how he started writing books, how he got his Bhagavad Gita.
So, the important movements in his life. So, when I was writing, because of wanting, having to write, I meditated quite deeply on Srila Prabhupada’s life. And then, it struck me that actually for one person in old age, it’s one thing to speak about it, it’s another thing to hear about it.
But, when we contemplate deeply, we just realise it. It’s incredible. Now, what Srila Prabhupada achieved in many times in movies and novels, when some hero is going to do something which is very difficult, they say, you are on a mission impossible.
A mission impossible. So, if there was ever any mission impossible, what Srila Prabhupada embarked on was a mission impossible. But, by Krishna’s omnipotence and by Srila Prabhupada’s intense desire to serve Krishna, in the 11 years when he spread Krishna Consciousness, mission impossible became mission unstoppable.
Mission impossible became mission unstoppable. Wherever he went, Srila Prabhupada went. He shared Krishna Consciousness in America.
And, old people say, oh, I achieved something great. I shared Krishna Consciousness in America. But then, Srila Prabhupada’s vision was so great, he fell sick.
Okay, now I am sick. But he took that sickness as an opportunity to open another front in India. And then he went to India, came back from India.
And then, he took his disciples to India and a whole new universe of sharing Krishna Bhakti, an opportunity opened in India. And Srila Prabhupada was not satisfied with that. He wanted to go to Russia.
Now, he was trying for years to enter into Russia. But he just, the Russian government was communist. And the communism was such at that time that, you know, religious people were just not allowed in there.
But systematic persecution was going on. And somehow, Srila Prabhupada got an invitation for going there. And he went there for just five days.
But even for those five days, one professor had invited him. And Prabhupada had hoped that the professor would arrange some lectures for him. But then, Professor Potowski said that, we cannot arrange any lecture for you.
Prabhupada was disappointed. But still, he went on. Then, he tried going around and he was not allowed to go around also much.
But, you know, a pure devotee’s pure desire is so strong that it can penetrate even through the iron curtain. And somehow, when Chandrashekhar was just walking along, an Indian man saw him and he was fascinated. Who is this American dressed in Indian robes in Russia? It’s quite a cultural shock.
Three different countries in one place together. Now, he was not very interested. But along with him, there was a Russian.
So, if you look at things from a purely point of view of coincidence, what is the chance that Shyam Sundar Prabhu might be walking along the street at a time when some Russian who is very interested in spiritual subject matters also walking on that same road at the same time? But this was all Krishna’s arrangement. And just for a few days, for some hours, Shila Prabhupada was with the devotee who later became Shanti Prabhu. And in that much time, Prabhupada injected Krishna consciousness into his heart and through his heart now to thousands of people.
And Shila Prabhupada, he had gone to America, he went to Russia, now he decided, let me go to the next continent, Australia. When he went to Australia, there were devotees there preaching. But they were all very young.
There were deities, there were temples, there were no deities. Shila Prabhupada, he took a risk in his own way. He had deities installed and with the same faith in Krishna that Krishna will take care of everything, Krishna will make my words understandable.
He said, Krishna, you please guide these devotees from within their heart to serve you properly. We, from our perspective, may say, oh going physically to America and old age requires courage. But for a spiritual master who knows about the standards of pure deity worship, to take that risk, to have untrained people worship the deity, that’s a great risk he took.
And that risk he took because he had faith in Krishna. When he went to Africa thereafter, at that time, the devotees there were preaching to Indians and Prabhupada said, this is country of Africans, you preach to Africans. So when he was in Nairobi, what he did is he has opened the Hindu temple and just performed loud kirtans.
And Africans started coming in. And here there were Americans leading kirtans and Africans and Indians dancing. If you know the history of Africa, these three groups, there was always a lot of animosity.
Blacks and whites and Indians were somewhere in between. So, but as Shila Prabhupada inspired devotees to do kirtan, what happened was that all those centuries of racial prejudices, it was dissolved in the flood of kirtan that came along. And Shila Prabhupada had taken Krishna consciousness to another continent.
And last human inhabited continent, Shila Prabhupada took Krishna consciousness to South America. When he came to South America, the devotees were already got small government IDTs. They had small government IDTs and devotees were doing kirtan.
And Shila Prabhupada was so ecstatic, so jubilant. When he saw those duties, he saw the devotees, he always had the mood that I am a messenger of Krishna’s message. And Krishna has already arranged so much.
Prabhupada would generally keep his personal devotional ecstasies private. But on this occasion, he broke down into tears. And he said, God, they are so merciful.
They are so merciful. Always stay under the shelter of their gods. Always stay.
He had taken Krishna consciousness far and wide. As far as it has ever been taken before, more than it has ever been taken before. And Prabhupada said more than what I had expected also.
Shila Prabhupada achieved what he had set out to achieve and more. And then, he achieved spiritual success in terms of what is the perfection of a devotee’s life. He came back to Vrindavan.
And when he was leaving his body in Vrindavan, one of the last purports that Shila Prabhupada dictated was that he said, in this world the modes of passion and exuberance are very strong. Therefore, we should stay in satsang, stay in beauty association, hear Krishna katha and by that we will become beautified. So, here what do we see? The same message that Shila Prabhupada had when he went on Jal Doodha, what he is meditating.
Yes, hear Krishna katha, you will become purified. That’s what Shila Prabhupada did throughout his life and that’s what Shila Prabhupada gave of his last message. Shila Prabhupada sometimes would say that my purports are my devotional ecstasies.
Sometimes you always think, oh, Prabhupada’s purports are just talking about some misconceptions. Remove those misconceptions. Where is the ecstasy? Where are the secret things about Krishna? You know, when you talk about ecstasy, now a pure devotee’s ecstasy is that which gives Krishna ecstasy.
Not which gives oneself ecstasy. And what gives Krishna ecstasy is to see conditioned souls coming to him. To see the obstacles that keep the conditioned souls away from him, the obstacles are removed.
So, Shila Prabhupada’s purports is remove those obstacles and help souls to come towards Krishna. So, his devotional ecstasy was in his consistency from beginning to end. The same message.
If you just share Krishna Kaka, stay in the association of devotees, you will become freed from the lower modes and you will attain purity. You will attain pure love for Krishna and you will attain Krishna. So, Prabhupada came to give us Krishna and it is to be external vision to say that he left Krishna, he left this world in 1977.
Yes, he left this world but he left for this world his legacy. And his legacy is in the form of his movement, in the form of his devotees, in the form of his books and most importantly his legacy. Once Shila Prabhupada was asked that Prabhupada said that what is the Sruti Master’s legacy? Prabhupada asked who will be your successor? And Prabhupada replied whoever wants to be.
Prabhupada did not appoint him. What does it mean whoever wants to be? In another interview, he says that sometimes Prabhupada was criticised that he took the same designation Prabhupada as a spiritual master. Prabhupada said I am carrying on his mission by his mercy.
So, he said that who has built as many temples as I have built? Who has written as many books as I have written? Who has made as many disciples as I have made? Now someone may think this is arrogance. Why do you say that you have achieved so much? But Prabhupada’s mood was something different. He said I have inherited the legacy of my spiritual master.
Now what is the legacy of the spiritual master? Prabhupada did not get any funds nor any temples nor any resources from the Gaudiya Maitreya. What Shila Prabhupada got from Bhakti Sadāshiva Thakur was an instruction. Share Krishna consciousness and energy in the western world.
So the spiritual master’s legacy is the desire to share Krishna. The desire to share Krishna was the legacy that came from Bhakti Sadāshiva Thakur to Shila Prabhupada and that desire to share Krishna manifested as so many books as so many temples and as so many devotees. So Shila Prabhupada is saying who has done this more than me.
He is not bragging about his own achievements. He is saying the legacy of the spiritual master, the desire to share Krishna was so vibrant in his heart that it manifested to all as all this. So Shila Prabhupada has left for us through his books and through his legacy that same desire.
If we take up the desire to share Krishna with others then we can also be by his mercy inspired and blessed to share Krishna’s message according to his capacity and the more we share Krishna’s message the more we savour Krishna’s message. The more we relish it ourselves. Because Krishna bestows his mercy on us.
And it’s like suppose I came from a flight from India to America. So normally I have to pay for the flight. But if I am on the air staff then I don’t have to pay for the flight.
The flight will automatically take me. In fact the flight will pay me for coming. So like that if we become a part of Krishna’s flight we become a part of Krishna’s mission sharing Krishna’s message then automatically we will be elevated by Prabhupada’s mercy, by Krishna’s mercy we will automatically be elevated towards him.
So Shila Prabhupada as Samaraj started by talking about Shila Prabhupada, his mission, his weapon which he took was the sharing of Krishna as he remains in the mark of Bhagavad Gita. And the empowerment that he had was that not absence of obstacles but perseverance even in the face of obstacles. Rather than obstacles causing his ambition to go down, his ambition went up.
And he went to share Krishna’s message in a country where no one had heard about Krishna practical before. And what he achieved has no parallel in world history. It is a story that is stranger than fiction but far more glorious than fiction.
And Shila Prabhupada achieved it because he had such an intense desire to share Krishna’s message with others. That’s what kept him speaking about Krishna all day, that’s what kept him speaking about Krishna all night. And he had pure standards but more than pure standards, he had pure compassion by which he was ready to even wash the plates of people who had no regard for principles.
It was by his potency and his brilliance in getting things across that he scaled the cultural and conceptual barriers and shared Krishna’s message. So he is like a doctor who has laboured tirelessly to take medicine to sick people. So whatever obstacles we face in our life, meditate what obstacles Prabhupada went through to give us Krishna bhakti, our obstacles in accepting Krishna bhakti will pale to insignificance.
And Shila Prabhupada, he got the legacy from his spiritual master in terms of the burning desire to share Krishna’s message which manifested as temples, books, devotees and that legacy to share Krishna’s message is available with us, all of us even today. So I consider it my great fortune to be here amongst all of you to appreciate one more dimension of Shila Prabhupada’s incredible legacy at the lotus feet of Rukmini Dwarkadheesh. I seek your blessings so that I can serve Shila Prabhupada in my own small way.
Thank you very much. Shila Prabhupada ki Gaur Bhakt Bindu ki Jai Gaur Rehman Thank you very much.