Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura app day: His 6 instructions for those going to the West to preach

Podcast:

Thank you very much. So today we are discussing on the appearance day of Bhaktsiddhanta Saraswatha Thakur. There are huge celebrations in Mayapur, in Vrindavan and especially in Odisha.
The President of India in fact has gone to one of the original Gaudiya mats in Odisha to actually honour Bhakti Sanskrit Thakur on this Appearance Day. So we have heard the biography of Bhakti Sanskrit Thakur many times. Today I will focus on one aspect of Bhakti Sanskrit Thakur’s legacy which I have personally found very inspiring, that is the instructions that he gave to his disciples when they were about to travel abroad.
So it’s an elaborate instruction that was published in the Harmonist and I have taken six instructions because it’s a very long passage. So I have taken six excerpts from that and we’ll be discussing, all of us can read out one of those instructions from here on the projector and then we can discuss each of them gradually. So the historical context is, this is 1932, this is basically in March that his disciples were about to depart and that time he gave this talk.
So technically this is called as a valedictory talk. Normally we take valedictory talks when somebody is graduating from a college or university. It’s a valedictory talk.
But valedictory means basically you are seeing someone off, giving them counsel and best wishes for their future journey. That’s exactly what was happening over here. So Bhakti Sanath Sri Thakur basically started preaching seriously from 1990-1920 onwards.
1920 was when he made Mayapur his base, 1920 was when he started getting the temple in Kolkata. So basically he had these two centres and from there, the next decade was an explosion of outreach. And just as we had one decade of phenomenal outreach under Prabhupada, 1966-77.
So 1932-1932 there was extraordinary outreach that happened. There were 64 centres established all over the country and at that time also they had a centre outside India, there was a Rangoon in Burma. So the outreach expanded and never before Gaudiya Vaishnavism had spread so far after the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And then Bhakti Sanath Sri Thakur decided that now is the right time for us to spread beyond not just the boundaries of India but to that part of the world which has most influenced the rest of the world, that is the West. And because India was at that time ruled by Britain and America had not yet risen so much in its prowess. Although America had played a significant role in the First World War but it was not a huge role.
It was after the Second World War that America emerged as a major world power, as one of the two major world powers. So it was natural at that time going to the West meant going to basically Britain. Almost all Indians at that time, if you see many of India’s political leaders, prominent leaders, they were all educated in the West but that means they were educated in Britain.
And at that time the profession of choice was becoming a barrister, getting into law. So things were different at that time. So he begins by pointing out that ours is a historic mission and this is a historic moment in this historic mission.
So would anyone like to read this? Do we have a second mike by any chance? The spiritual service that we are dedicated to has passed the birth stage and is now a full-blown flower, whose aroma we must carry across the seas with the same wittingness that characterised Shri Hanuman when he leaped over the wide ocean with Shri Ram’s message. Yes, thank you. So here he is in just one sentence but he is condensing two metaphors and such a breadth of vision.
The first metaphor is of a flower. So, the flower has gone beyond the bud stage, it has blossomed. What does he mean by that? That today when we have Krishna Consciousness movement spread all over the world, what is the fully blossomed flower at that time? But actually considering what Bhakti Sahasranath Thakur got, the legacy that he inherited, see Bhakti Sahasranath Thakur had a very grand vision and he also talked about the Bhakti Viksha model for far-reaching outreach.
At the same time, he was not, he was a grahastha, he had a lot of responsibilities. He didn’t have an army of dedicated disciples to carry out his mission. He was an intellectual and he influenced other intellectuals quite significantly.
But being an intellectual is quite different from being, you could say, a mission leader. So in one sense, what he is saying is he had got a bud, a beautiful, fragrant bud from his father and his grand spiritual master. And he had taken that bud and under his, he is not saying, we will see his vision of what he is doing, but he has observed it happening.
What has happened is that it has blossomed, it has blossomed into a fully, as he says, fully blown flower. And now that it has blossomed into a flower, what he is saying is, so the spreading of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, now I will not use the word Krishna Consciousness because that is the word Prabhupada coined. We don’t see the word Krishna Consciousness anywhere in the writings of Bhakti Sahasranath Thakur.
He primarily talked about, in his message he talks about, beautifully says, Gauranam, Gaura, he says Gauranam, Gauradham and Gaurakam. That is what we want to spread. We want to spread the glories of the name of Lord Chaitanya, the glories of his dham and kama, kama in Sanskrit means desire, his aspiration.
His aspiration was Prithvite Asiyata Nagaradi Gramme. So let it spread all over the world. So, we have Gaurabhau here, Gauradham, Gauradham, Gaurakam, so all this is Gaurabhau.
So that’s one metaphor he is using. And then the second metaphor is that he is comparing, it’s ambitious, in fact it is so ambitious that has to be almost outrageous for Hanuman to have single-handedly leapt across to Lanka. As we have spoken a lot of times on Hanuman’s leap to Lanka, there are three aspects to what he was doing.
First was that no one else could do it and he himself had never done anything like that before. So that itself is a challenge. Second is that even if he could do it, whether he would be able to survive all the opposition that would be there.
Single-handedly surviving that opposition is the second difficulty. And the third is he doesn’t just have to survive, he has to thrive. He has to actually find Sita over there and then come back.
So similarly, after his valedictory talk, there was a prominent Vaishnav professor in a college in Kolkata who was there, he also spoke. And he said that this will be the first time that the message of Bhakti will go beyond the coast of India. Of course, there was one Krishna Prem Babaji who had gone before, but he had not got much following.
He is also a Gaudiya Vaishnav, but he had just gone to America for some time, given some talks, written some books, influenced a few people and come back. But the attempt for systematic outreach was for the first time. So there had been Advaithic teachers who had gone, but so it was the first time a Vaishnav was attempting itself, only attempting it to go abroad and to survive in a land where there is so much opportunity for temptation, distraction and possibly degradation.
That was a challenge. And then on top of that, to actually fulfil one’s purpose, to transform people and to make them, to help them take up to Krishna Bhakti, that was an even greater challenge. So it’s interesting, the way he is putting it over here is, Hanuman went across the ocean with Shriram’s message.
See, with the same metaphor or same pastime, different things can be analysed. So it is not just that Ram had sent Hanuman to find Sita, to locate Sita. Yes, all the Vanaras had gone on a mission to locate Sita.
But Lord Ram had already been confident that it would be Hanuman who would locate Sita. And therefore, he had given Hanuman a message. So Bhakti Sanskrit Aghor is focussing on that message part.
All of you have to go and deliver the message of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So it’s as impossible a task as what Hanuman has been doing. But just as Hanuman’s task was possible, was successful, so similarly yours will be.
So in one quote, there are two powerful metaphors included over here. Let’s look at it a little further. In general, if we are going to do something big, it is vital for us to see the big picture.
So what happens is, we are often caught in our challenges, oh, you know, I’ve got this service to do and this person is not cooperating and this resource is not here and this problem is there. And so we get caught in our issues and now the issues are real, they’re definitely real. But actually speaking, when we see the big picture, we understand how important it is.
Say if somebody calls us and tells us, you know, okay, you know, can you go from here to Kolkata? And you have to take this pack over there. Okay, just to deliver one pack, I have to go all the way, you know, I have to go catch up, I have to travel from here and go through the crowds and do this and do that. And so many inconveniences, maybe the pandemic is there and there are also restrictions.
Hey, why do I have to do this? The inconveniences are real. But suppose then we come to know that actually this pack, it contains the medicines that are vital for a very senior Vaishnava. And we know that devotee, we respect that devotee, then our whole frame changes.
The inconveniences are still there. But what happens is, when we see why we are doing it, when we see how important what we are doing is, then the inconveniences pale into insignificance. Although they are there, they become insignificant.
So similarly for us, when we are trying to do our seva, and especially when we are trying to do outreach, there will be problems. So we need to periodically pause and look at the big picture. What am I doing? And why am I doing this? So actually, these are not just three people, three people from the renounced order, going to a different foreign country.
Bhakti Sanskrit Akhada is giving them that big picture. That when we are serving Krishna, we are actually a part of something far bigger than ourselves. Not just bigger than ourselves, but the biggest reality.
That is Krishna. And when we are actually sharing Krishna’s message, it’s just serving Krishna, there can be many ways in which you can serve Krishna. But one way is by sharing Krishna’s message, then actually we are a part of the highest beneficial work for anyone.
Because Krishna is surudham sarva-bhutanam. So we are a part of the biggest cause. Sharing Krishna’s message and doing Krishna’s will means that we are doing the highest good for everyone.
So whenever we feel discouraged or irritated or resentful, when we are faced with something difficult to do, trying to expand our vision of what we are doing is very helpful. It’s very helpful in motivating us to move onwards. So now what it also implies is that when we are trying to serve Krishna, we are not alone.
We are not alone. And especially in today’s world, in the contemporary situation, we may feel like a tiny minority. Especially as the world has become more and more interconnected, in one sense we can connect with all the people we want to connect, but we can also see how small we are.
So as compared to other spiritual paths, other religious paths, other organisations, other teachers, we may feel that we are very small, we are a tiny minority. You can say, actually in the West, I was talking with one devotee author, he was telling me that it’s very difficult to sustain oneself as an author. Why? Because in America, Hinduism itself is a minority religion and ISKCON is a minority within Hinduism.
So if we write direct Krishna conscious books, what is the audience for that? So in one sense we may feel we are such a tiny minority. And yes, to some extent that is true. But if we feel today that we are a tiny minority, imagine what must have been the feeling, say 100 years ago, or this was about 80 years ago, when there was no centre of Krishna consciousness across the world, anywhere in the world.
So at that time, the feeling that we are so insignificant could have been so much greater. But that’s why the idea is look behind, look behind, this is not just what we are trying to do. And this is not just about what the current situation is, we are having a glorious tradition behind us.
And there are all these great acharyas who have carried forward the legacy. And now it is for us to carry forward that legacy. So there are empowered acharyas, and they were empowered, and it is not just that they were empowered, if we take up the gauntlet, if we try to serve, then they are waiting to empower us.
Not only waiting, they are actually working to empower us. We just want instruments who will carry forward the mission. So this is, the vision is giving that.
Just as Hanuman was there, even later on in this talk, he will quote Rupa Goswami, he will quote Sanatana Goswami, he will quote Krishnadas Goswami, he will talk about Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s vision. The idea is that these are all great acharyas, and of course the Supreme Lord is with us. So that feeling that we are alone in battling challenges, that goes away when we get the big picture.
Now big picture is not just what we are doing, but who is behind us, who is there working for us. Now in science, or in modern education system, they often say that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants. What it means is, the people in the past have studied, have learned, and they are giants, we are standing on top of them, and we are seeing, based on the height that they have already ascended.
Now we don’t talk in those terms, because we can never imagine standing on our acharyas, but the mood is similar, that there is a big legacy behind us, and that is what will empower us. So that this is a historic moment, that the Gaudiya mission under Bhaktivinoda Thakur had spread so far, and that was hugely encouraging for him. So generally how it works is that, we do something small, if it works, then we do something bigger.
If that works, we do something bigger still. So optimism about our mission is vital for outreach. If you are pessimistic, if you think, oh this is all Kali Yuga, and nobody is going to take up Bhakti, then it will be impossible for us to share Krishna Bhakti too much.
If you see that actually, ok, it may be Kali Yuga, but that doesn’t mean the Atma’s potential for Bhakti is lost. Every soul has a longing for transcendence. It is to the extent we are positive, we are optimistic, that there is an audience for Krishna’s message.
To that extent we will be able to reach out enthusiastically. Then he says, and he says this is the Mahavakya for outreach. So let’s look at that.
Who would like to read this? Someone else? The constant chanting of Hari Kirtana by being far more humble than a blade of grass and as forbearing as a tree by seeking no honour for oneself and by offering due honour to all entities is the highest natural function of unalloyed Jivas. The lotus feet of my Shri Gurudeva attracted me to his service. He being the manifest form of these four great aspects, my friends will be in a position to attract all souls of the world to the footstool of real truth by reaching and purchasing the same unfailing method.
His English is quite articulate. Thank you. So many points in this.
I’ll discuss them one by one. But first is what struck me the most is that he uses the word, my friends will be in a position. Now who is he referring to as my friends? He’s actually referring to his disciples who are going abroad and he’s saying that actually because my Gurudev, he’s referring to Gaurakshetra Babaji Maharaj, that he embodied these principles, these precepts and that’s what attracted me to him.
And this is going to be very significant, we’ll come to this later that actually in one sense, Gaurakshetra Babaji was not very educated. He was in his own way very realised, but he was not very educated. And Bhakti Sahasrat Thakur was highly intellectual, quite well educated, although he left college because he did not pursue an academic degree to a high level because that was not his interest.
He could easily have got PhD, many PhDs, but he did not, that was not his interest. But he was very learned, he was called a living encyclopaedia. Even in his old age, he could remember entire passages from books he had quoted earlier.
So he’s saying here that it was not the intellect of my Gurudev that attracted me. It was that my Gurudev embodied these qualities and that’s what attracted me and therefore he’s saying, my friends, if you embody these qualities, then you will be able to attract others also. And then he’s quoting, it is, so before this, before quoting this Trunadapi verse, he says, this is the Mahavakya for outreach.
So let’s try to understand what we mean by Mahavakya now. So the concept of Mahavakya was originally, or at least to our historical memory as much as we know, it was first used by Shankaracharya. And the idea is that this is a statement around which all other statements are to be centred and to which all other statements are to be subordinated.
So it’s like the pinnacle. So for example, the Puranas say that, sarva-viddhi-nisheda-asur etayor eva kinkaram smartavyasatatam vishnu vismartavyam najatuchit that all rules and regulations are meant for, are servants of this principle, always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna. So like that, he has this Mahavakya.
So for example, aham brahmasmi tattvam asi, prajnanam brahma, sarvam kalmamidam brahma, like that, they have all the statements from the Upanishads which emphasise Advaita Vada. That’s what he has called the Mahavakyas. But since then, that term Mahavakya has been used by others also.
So he says the Mahavakya is that Trunadapi sunichena. And we know that Krishnadas Kuruji Goswami also, when he quotes this in the 20th chapter of the Antalila of the Chaitanya Charitamrta, stresses how important this is. That it is, the more we should wear it like a neck bead and the more we contemplate or the more wisdom we will realise from it, the more it will become, its potency will be revealed for us.
So first he says this is the Mahavakya. And then there are some variants. He says that this is the highest natural function of the unalloyed jivas.
So that is not actually, it’s not there in the translation. In Trunadapi sunichena, literally in the verse, it is not there. But what is he doing is, he’s applying that verse to the current context.
He’s saying that this verse actually applies for everyone. He’s adopting the Shikshashtakam verse to show the universality of that message. So it is, people who are going to the West, they may not even, people in the West basically, they may not even know about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they may not even know about Krishna for that matter.
But irrespective of their current state of unawareness, they are still souls who are parts of Krishna. And to them also it applies, that their soul also longs to glorify the Lord. So rather than looking at the cultural, religious or philosophical differences that they may have from us, all these are external.
Sarvopadi vinirmuktvam. So what is their culture, what is their philosophy, what is their religion, all these are upadis ultimately. And he’s saying that beyond all these upadis, the soul longs to glorify the Lord.
And that’s what you should focus on. So at one level he’s talking about the highest function of the analoid jivas. And then he doesn’t use Harinam, he uses Harikirtan over here.
The constant glorification of Hari, the constant chanting of Harikirtan. So kirtaniya sadahari, it is not japaniya sadahari. So kirtan, now does it mean singing musical instruments, certainly.
But doesn’t mean only that. Any form of glorification of Krishna is actually kirtan. So when we are doing katha also, it’s kirtan.
Now during the last days of Sri Prabhupada, in 1976 and 77, so the devotees of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, they were planning a big science conference. And at that time, Bhaktiswara Uddhavandhar Maharaj, he was Bhaktiswara Uddhavandhar Prabhu at that time. So he was discussing with Prabhupada.
And at that time, one of Prabhupada’s audience came, Prabhupada, what would you like to do? Would you like to have some kirtan now? I thought they were talking for a long time. Prabhupada was quite animated when talking about outreach, especially at that intellectual scientific level. And Prabhupada got practically angry.
What do you think we are doing now? Have we gone to a brothel to do illicit sex? We are doing kirtan now, Prabhupada said. So Prabhupada considered even talking about how to counter atheistic science also as Hari Kirtan. It’s an expansive definition of Hari Kirtan.
So glorification can be in many forms. And everybody in one sense longs to glorify someone. And if somebody is glorifying some sports player, some movie star, some politician, what are they doing actually? It is the soul’s natural desire to glorify Krishna that has been unfortunately directed towards something other than Krishna, toward a part of Krishna.
Because whoever they are glorifying, that is actually a vibhuti of Krishna that they glorify. But they will not get much fulfilment by that. It is when they glorify Krishna that they will get the supreme fulfilment.
So then, now in this Mahavakya, primarily it is talking about humility and tolerance. It will talk about honouring others also a little later, which we will discuss in the next instruction. But why are humility and tolerance important? Because especially when we want to share Krishna Bhakti, there are two things that will come, disrespect and difficulty.
That sometimes we share the message. See if you are sharing it among people who already know it, they respect the message to some extent. But when you go to new people, they just don’t care.
They do not respect us at all. So humility enables us to persist in spite of disrespect. And there will be difficulty.
Disrespect means it comes from particular people, from particular people. And difficulty means it just comes by the nature of the world. It just comes by the nature of the world.
And we need to be able to endure both of them. And when we have humility and tolerance, we can persist through disrespect and difficulty without letting them disconnect us from Krishna. The important thing is that we stay connected with Krishna and we keep focussing on sharing the message.
Vishal Prabhupada experienced so much disrespect and difficulty. Bhakti Sanskrit Akhara himself experienced that at different times. We know that it’s difficult when materialistic people, atheistic people oppose us, it’s actually any kind of opposition is difficult, but it’s expected.
It’s like if somebody is in a boxing ring, they expect to be punched by the opponent and they are defensive and they’re prepared for it. But if somebody is in home and is meeting a close friend, a close relative, a close family member, and at that time they get a punch, that is much, much more difficult to bear. So for Bhakti Sanskrit Akhara, when he took a parikrama of Vrindavan, and at that time it was that because many of the Vrindavan leaders at that time, they closed down the temples.
They said that Bhakti Sankrit Akhara had included people from all castes, that he had opened himself up and that even non-Brahmanas were teachers in his tradition. They opposed him very strongly and when they opposed, what happened was that they closed the temples and they had gone there to have darshan of the deities. So it’s in one sense, these are our own people.
It’s like, suppose, just to imagine how painful it will be, suppose somebody brings some devotees from some part of India, some part of the world, devotees, they bring a group of people to go to the Niko village, and the temple is closed when they come for darshan, and the temple is not going to open, what is going on over here? It will be very painful. Not only that, there were stones thrown at them at that time, and then the local police officer, he told Bhakti Sankrit Akhara, actually, we have been told that there will be attempts to assassinate you, and normally we would just turn a blind eye and let people, criminals do something like that, but because you are a saintly person, I felt it my duty to inform you. So can you imagine assassination? What happens is that these people, now these are not Rakshasas, they are also priests in temples, they are born in very devotional families, or at least religious, pious families, their lineages are quite illustrious.
So what happens is that good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but when one becomes self-righteous, self-righteous means I am right and you are wrong, when we become convinced of that, self-righteousness makes good people do bad things. That’s why being self-righteous can be very dangerous, because what happens is, it makes us justify our own wrong or even heinous actions to ourselves. So what happened was, at that time, Bhakti Sankrit Akhara was still with humility, he did not go on a tirade against these religious leaders, yes of course he spoke against them, but it’s not that he was condemning them, he spoke against their stance of restricting Bhakti, of trying to monopolise Bhakti, but he did not attack them personally and he tolerated, he continued on the pilgrimage, okay if we cannot go to the darshan over here, we’ll go elsewhere.
So it is actually very difficult to face such situations when they come in our life. So Bhakti Sankrit Akhara himself had embodied humility and tolerance on many occasions. Sometimes we talk about him as Simha Guru and he would not tolerate misconceptions, that is true no doubt, but that does not mean that he was not humble and tolerant.
Many occasions in his life when he persisted even amidst difficulties. So when we are steady amidst disrespect and difficulty, then the Lord empowers us to share his message, to take his message into the heads and hearts of others, and even amid there may be difficulty or disrespect. So he talks about Trunadapi.
Now so humility and tolerance is talked about, Manadena. So Amani and Manadena. So let’s look at how he explains Manadena.
These four means, Trunadapi Sankrit Akhara, Trunadapi Sankrit Akhara, Amani and Manadena. Four recipes. Thank you.
So who would like to read? Rest as worthiest recipients of the Bhakti message. Those nations that you are going to for propagating the chant of Hari are mounted on the summit of proficiency in all affairs of this world. They are practised in exercising rational judgement, endowed with good manners and superior and glorious in many respects.
Therefore, we should maintain our hope unshaken that they will prove to be the worthiest recipients of transcendental sound if we simply unlock for them the gates of the natural exhibition of abiding argument and enduring judgement. Thank you. So again, in very articulate language, what he is saying is using one other metaphor.
Metaphor is that we just have to unlock the door for them. This is a great treasure. This is a great treasure and if you just unlock the door and show them what the treasure is, they will appreciate it, they will cherish it.
So in general, there is, when we talk about going out preaching, he said, oh, you’re going out to deliver the fallen souls. See most fallen souls don’t like to be considered fallen, isn’t it? And it’s not just that their ego speaking, but it’s just that they don’t even know the standards by which we are considering them fallen. So if somebody has been born and brought up in a culture where somebody, they habitually eat meat, for them, eating meat is just normal.
So we deem them fallen. It just seems to them arrogant and self-congratulatory. That’s one thing.
Another point is that if a speaker is talking down to an audience, then few things turn off an intelligent audience. Especially that, you know, sometimes when adults talk with children, they sometimes adopt a very soft voice and like a poetic tone. And, okay, actually, even children don’t like to be talked with as if they’re children, unless they’re very small babies, small, small, we could say toddlers or something like that.
But if somebody talks down to audience, like it treats the adults like children. Now somebody, if there’s somebody like a grandfather’s age, like Shila Prabhupada, then occasionally they do that. That is okay.
But in general, it is important that we have respect for the audience. Without respecting the audience, it’s very difficult to actually speak in a persuasive way. So otherwise, that superciliousness will come and what will happen is that our attitude itself will rub off on people in a negative way.
So I’ve talked with many Prabhupada disciples. Now even among Prabhupada disciples, for all of us, they are Prabhupada disciples. But among them, say those who came in 1966, 67, 68, they are very senior as compared to those who came in 70, 73, 74, 75, 76.
So they all tell us, whoever I had talked with, they told me that we had all kinds of bad habits. But not once did Prabhupada ever make us feel disrespected. Sometimes because they used to take so much drugs and other stuff, they would be reeking with odours.
But Prabhupada would never turn his nose up at them. Prabhupada would not express any, not even show any disdain about it. So he respected that they were interested in spirituality.
So that respect is important. Now let’s try to look at this a little bit more. So the focus is to see others’ potentials, not their problems.
They are too materialistic, they are too attached, they are too arrogant, therefore they will not take a bhakti. If that’s what we are going to see, then that’s seeing their problems, we have to see their potentials. So his approach to the West is remarkably positive and affirmative.
So this is quite different from, say, the approach of some other teachers. Gandhi was asked, what do you think about the Western culture? He said, it’s a good idea. Now, what he meant by that was, there are different interpretations of that.
Some people say, that means there is no Western culture, it is just an imagination. But others, what they mean is that, in terms of idea, it is good. But in terms of implementation, it has never happened.
There have been many lofty thoughts, even by Western thinkers and Western philosophers. But it has not been translated into reality. But whatever it may be, but Bhakti Sahaja Thakur’s approach was, you could say, very, in one sense, affirmative about the West.
He doesn’t even mention once that, oh, these people have bad habits. He says, no, no, they have good custom and good culture. So this is not, this is a mundane infatuation.
Indians quite often are infatuated with the West, with the white skin and Western America. And is it like that? Well, not at all. It is spiritual appreciation of their potential.
So first thing he says is, they are at the summit of proficiency in all affairs of the world. So it’s not a small statement to say, summit of proficiency in all affairs. Now, at that time, if you see the technology that they had, even the political arrangement, the economic arrangement, as compared to what existed in India, it was much better.
So to some extent, Bhakti Sahaja Thakur was following the mood of Bhaktivinod Thakur. It was during the time of Bhaktivinod Thakur that the Indian National Congress was formed in 1885. Bhaktivinod Thakur established the temple at Yogyapet in 1895.
So he was quite active in 1885. And that was the time when the Indian nationalist movement had started. But Bhaktivinod Thakur, to some extent, distanced himself from it.
And he had this metaphor, he used, which irritated many of his contemporaries, like Banky Chandra Chatterjee and others, no end. What was the metaphor? He said that, actually, at that time, the Aryan invasion theory was also there. And the idea that Indians and Europeans have all come from the same original race called the Aryan race.
So Bhaktivinod Thakur also adopted that. Prabhupada also has quoted it sometimes, that the Aryans came from so and so place and they spread across the world. In one or two purports, he says that.
This is knowledge acquired from mundane sources. And it may not be according to Shastra, it may historically be proven to be wrong. But the point he made was that suppose, we are all brothers.
So Indians and British people are brothers. And suppose there are two brothers in a family, and they’ve got to run their father’s estate. So the older brother is more interested in spirituality, and the younger brother is more adept at the management of the estate and family affairs.
So he says, let there be a division of labour. Let there be a division of labour. And what we can do is, he says, let the British manage the country, and we will focus on sharing the spiritual message of India.
This was outrageous for Indian nationalist leaders at that time. But his point was that the Indian activist energy was limited. And rather than letting that activist energy go in the political direction, let it go in the spiritual direction.
So that was also Bhaktivinod Thakur’s mood. And that’s what Bhaktivinod Thakur told Prabhupada. Now it is not that suppose India became independent and India had a government which is more conducive for its spirituality, then definitely it’s helpful.
But when we have limited energy, where do we focus that energy? So here he is saying that they are good at material affairs, so we respect them for that. So he says that what we do is, it’s not that we are in a game of one-upsmanship with them. It’s not that we are in a game of one-upsmanship, that means we are better than you in material affairs also.
We can prove that if required. But that’s not the focus at that time. He says, okay, you are good at material things, we respect them for that, but there is something missing for you.
And that is what we are going to give you. So that was the second point, he says, they are they are adept in the exercise of rational judgement. The third point, which is again an interesting point, that rationality was a part of the Indian tradition also.
Rationality means logical reasoning faculty, systematic analysis, rationality is a part of the Indian tradition also. Now, it is not that if you see in the Indian tradition, this is what Shastra says, this is what you have to accept. Okay, Shastra says this, but Shastra also says this, how do we reconcile the two? For that, rationality is required.
Like the famous example that is given, if somebody says this, this person has a house on the river Ganga. Now, does that mean because Shastra says this person has a house on the river Ganga, that person has some mystic yogic ability or has got some blessing by his house is floating on the Ganga? No, house on the Ganga simply means it’s on the banks of the Ganga. So this is rational ability being used.
So the rationality was a part of the Indian tradition, but over the centuries, that rationality was sidelined and the focus was more on sentimentality and superstition. So by the time of Bhaktivedanta Thakur itself, any Godman would be accepted as God. So that was there.
So that’s why the educated people in India also, they felt that the Western approach is more rational and much of Indian religion, as it is practised at that time, was sentimental, was not rational. So he’s saying that their rational faculty, they’re well exercised, adept in using the rational faculty. Now this has a history also.
In the West, there was a scientific revolution and there was widespread scientific education, the scientific spirit of enquiry was there, because of which people were trained in reasoning faculty, people were trained in critical enquiry. So he says that because they have that rational capacity, rational ability, they will appreciate our message more. So what happens is that the Vedantic approach is Jijnasa, Athato Brahma Jijnasa, it’s enquire.
If you look at the Abrahamic approaches, that it is thou shalt not, thou shalt not, have faith, obey. So there’s an atheistic gag which says that about Christianity, in the Bible it is said, in the beginning was the word and the word was God. They also talk about how something like Shabda Brahma, they have the concept in that.
But these atheists, in the beginning was the word and the word was no. You can’t do this, you can’t do this, you can’t do this, you can’t do this. So that approach of handing down commandments, that doesn’t seem to be like a very rational approach.
Now, of course, rationality is there in the Christian tradition also. But that is, there are some intellectuals who are there, most of the Christianity was based on do’s and don’ts primarily. So Bhaktsan Swakop said that, you respect that these people are rational and because of their rationality, they can appreciate our message.
Just open the door and they will see what profound wisdom we have. Then another thing he says is, they are having good manners. Now we may say that their habits are bad, we often joke about how the people in the West, their only regularity principle is breaking all the regularity principles.
That’s true, it’s true, but Bhaktsan Swakop’s focus is not on that. He says bad habits might be commonplace, but when he was talking about good manners, he was talking about basic courtesies. Basic courtesies, they are quite common in the West.
So to the extent that whenever I have travelled abroad, I’ve seen that people are very courteous. If you ask them a question, they will politely answer. And if you are going through a revolving door at the airport, and I’ve seen it hundreds of times, not just for me, but for anyone else, if somebody goes ahead of that, goes ahead and the door is open for them, and somebody is coming behind, they’ll keep the door open, hold the door open for the next person to come through.
Even if the next person is a complete stranger. Now in India, hardly anyone does that. Now I’m not saying Indians are bad, it’s just that their culture is expressed in different ways.
Respect is expressed in different ways. See in India, if we touch somebody by our feet accidentally, immediately we will touch them and touch our head. Nobody in the West will do that.
So there is a way of respecting. But what happens is, this way of respecting, it just seems strange to people. For people in the West, okay, you know, what happened, you’re touching yourself, touching your head, what, are these some kind of strange gestures? So that doesn’t make sense to them.
But like, okay, you hold the door open for me, that’s a common courtesy. That seems to make sense. So the Western culture was that, especially if in an assembly, if there are all men sitting and if a woman comes in, then as soon as a woman comes in, all the men get up.
And if the woman leaves, all the men once again get up to see her off. They may not go to the door, but there are good, in terms of manners, there’s a culture of respect. That was always there.
So that is, Bhakti Sanath Thakur is again appreciating that. So the point is, that his attitude towards the West is not dismissive. Because what happens is, people are complex.
There are many different attributes in every person. We can look at the negative attributes, oh, these people have so many bad habits. But we can also look at the positives.
So Bhakti Sanath Thakur is guiding his disciples. Look at their potentials, not at their problems. Now everybody was aware that the West people have bad habits, what we would consider as bad habits, at least.
And there is this potential for degradation, to consider them degraded. But he’s saying that, no, they are having good manners. That means we also should behave properly with them.
So to some extent, what has happened is, these courtesies, it is not that they were not a part of the Vedic culture, but Indians have been hardened by a millennia of subservience. So that’s why what happens is, in some cases, not all cases, if somebody is an authority, there’s a lot of respect to that person who is an authority. But if somebody is not an authority, I don’t care for you.
It becomes like that. So it’s circumstantial. Now he’s saying, respect them, but don’t be overpowered by their material impressiveness.
Who would like to read that? Okay, sure. You said, to start with, our culture was more about enquiry and not about dictums. Then over time, it became superstitious and rituals.
So can you share more how it was encouraging enquiry and open to thought and discussion? Okay, good question. So how was our culture more of enquiry? If you look at the Upanishads, they’re all centred on enquiry. So yes, the rituals were all there.
No doubt. For example, the Vedas are filled with rituals. Then the Upanishads are all about enquiry.
Now if you consider the Puranas, Puranas have both. At one level, there is a description of people performing rituals. We have the Pumsavan Ratha and others described in the Bhagavatam.
But then we also have enquiry in the Bhagavatam. So the idea is that there is systematic philosophical questioning and it is not discouraged. Now generally the questions are not disrespectful, but still they are serious questions.
It’s not just, oh, even when Krishna himself and Krishna is known to be God, it is the tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, when Krishna is performing the Raas Leela, Parishad Maharaj is asking, isn’t this immoral? So won’t this be seen as immoral? So it is not that because somebody is a venerable personality, there can be no questions raised about that person. So that attitude is not there. So rational enquiry is given a lot of importance.
The beginning of spirituality is enquiry. The Bhagavata begins with an enquiry, Prachami Tvam, I ask you. So in that sense, the enquiry part was quite high.
Now how did it go down? Well, in general, by the power of time, there are things which are, we could say, exoteric or external, and there are things which are esoteric or internal. So it is to some extent natural for people to focus more on externals than on internals. So just sticking to the externals without understanding the internals, that makes it ritualistic.
And sometimes if some externals are adopted which don’t even make much sense, which somehow came into the tradition, these are called accretions. Accretions means those which are like additions that are not really a part of the spiritual tradition. So then they may become superstitions.
So in the mediaeval times, there was a bhakti resurgence. We see in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavatam, the culture of yajnas is very prominent. But as Islamic rules are taking over India, yajnas require paraphernalia.
Even in one’s home if one is to do yajnas, it requires a significant amount of paraphernalia. So generally the spiritual inclination, the spiritual longing is very resilient. But it expresses itself in different ways.
So when the Islamic rule came and the Indian rulers were not followers of Vedic dharma, they were not interested in doing yajna or sponsoring yajna, and even people themselves could not openly so much profess their religion. Then the spirituality shifted primarily to bhakti. So bhakti was always there.
But the mass spread of bhakti happened during the mediaeval times when the external resources for practising bhakti were not there so much. So kirtan is something which anyone can do anywhere. So even now if we consider the Islamic part of the world, the Middle East, we can’t have temples there.
Maybe exceptionally in one or two places we might have temples. But kirtan goes on. So what happens is it’s resilient.
But one point was that as bhakti became widespread, so bhakti is something which people can practise very easily. But it’s also possible when bhakti is being practised that there is some amount of sentimentality comes in. Because what happens is to some extent bhakti makes one feel good immediately.
Not permanently, unless one purifies oneself, that good feeling may not stay for a long time. But relatively speaking, coming to a kirtan is much easier than coming to a katha. And coming to a katha is much easier than coming to a tattva class.
So what happens is the number of people who were interested in tattva, they became lesser and lesser. Although they were there, they became lesser and lesser. That’s how sentimentality and superstition started increasing.
Thank you. Don’t be overawed by others’ material impressiveness. We must not view the world with a mentality depressed by a sense of deficiency, poverty or otherwise, or by any person’s display of worldly erudition, rank or so on.
That is the state of forgetfulness of our real selves. In the context of this world, all persons of it are actually in every way superior to us. So, thank you.
What is he saying over here? He’s telling his disciples that when you’ll be going to the West, you may see that actually that these people are better than me. They may be wealthier than us, they may have greater ranks than us. So actually, Bhagat Sahib’s mission was in many ways, he had got letters of recommendation from the Governor of India, the British leaders of various parts of India.
And with that reference, they met the Dukes and Lords of Britain. So these people, they were quite wealthy and aristocratic and influential. He said, in material terms, we may see that, oh, actually they’re all better than me.
But that should not lead us to feel deficient. Because somebody is wealthier than us, somebody has more academic degrees than us, somebody has more followers than us, we should not feel deficient because of that. So he says why? That is the state of forgetfulness of our real selves.
Our real selves means we are Atma and they’re also Atma. Now and he’s saying that actually, as far as the affairs of the world are concerned, people will often be superior to us. Whatever we may be good at, sometimes somebody may be a great Kirtanier.
Now the best Kirtanier in our movement. But with all due respects, if we compare the best Kirtanier in our movement with the best musicians in the world, we may say that because they are glorifying Krishna, they are the best. That is true.
That is definitely true. But in terms of musical talent, it is unlikely that those who are singing for Krishna will have the same level of musical talent as those who are professional musicians. Same with writers, same with architects, same with other things.
If there are devotees who are that great, that’s wonderful. But that’s, he says that as far as the affairs of the world are concerned, we don’t have to be worried by the fact that people in the world may be superior to us. Just accept it, they will be.
But we are not competing with them with respect to superiority in affairs of the world. So it is not infatuation with the West, because we are not in a game of material one-upsmanship. Material one-upsmanship means that, oh, you have this, we have this better than you.
So we have something which you don’t have, which is lacking in the world right now, which is needed in the world. And that is spiritual wisdom, not just spiritual wisdom, but transformative spiritual wisdom in the form of tangible spiritual practises. So, there are different devotees who have different approaches to outreach.
Some devotees talk about how in India, ancient India, the math was so good, Pythagoras theorem was there in India, Newton’s laws were discovered in India long before, and then this was there, that was there. Now, in terms of theory, it’s good to, it’s okay to quote that. But at the end of it, what people will ask is, okay, if all this was there, why did Indian society not develop science? Why was science developed in the West? So what happens is that, yes, if those insights from the past, especially with respect to environment and sustainability, much of the traditional wisdom that we have, we can use it and demonstrate it today.
And that way we can make a tangible difference. But otherwise, you’re saying, oh, all that you are talking about is already there. Actually, internet is there in the Vedas also.
Okay. Where is it? Oh, the sages could communicate by mystical means, you know, that when they asked, they needed it. Immediately, he was able to transmit a message to Narabuni, Narabuni came over there.
That is internet. Well, maybe, maybe not, you know. So, we don’t have to claim, generally what happens is, they say in a chain, a chain is as strong as its weakest link.
If you have a chain pulling something heavy, and one link is weak, and the whole chain breaks apart. And so similarly, when we are making some arguments, or we’re making a talk, the talk is as strong as its weakest argument. And if people are thoughtful, if people are a little sceptical, if one argument sounds weak to them, they will take that and they will use that to reject the whole talk.
So, that’s why, why do we need to make weak arguments? So, there are some people among them, you know, they’ll just make claps, claps, oh, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. But that is like talking to, talking to insiders. You want to reach out to new people? And here, Bhakti Sahaja Thakur is reaching out.
He’s telling his disciples to reach out to new people. He says, don’t worry if they are materially superior to you. We have something different to offer.
We can offer spirituality. Now, of course, now there are many things, yoga, Ayurveda, even materially our tradition has things to offer. But at this point, when his followers are going there, they are focussing on what? Primarily on the spiritual message of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.
Suhotra Maharaj told me once that he asked, there was a book, what was that? By Graham Hancock, The Chariot of the Gods. So, something like that. So, he said that there was an ancient civilisation that was there all over the world.
And that had advanced technology. And that book had become a bestseller at those times. And so, Prabhupada asked, Prabhupada, did all this technology come from India? Was this ancient technology across the world? Was that from India? Was that Vedic technology? And Prabhupada replied, Vedic technology means Guru-Shishya Parampara.
Now, we say, Vedic technology, so many things, why Guru-Shishya Parampara? Yes, there are many things in Vedic technology, but Prabhupada’s focus was singular. Focus on, right now, what can we do? Focus on the spiritual message. So, here, Bhaktivedanta Thakur follows this quote by quoting Rupa Goswami’s definitions of Yukta Vairagya and Phalga Vairagya.
So, he says, there is a temporary domain and there is an eternal domain. And what is valuable in the temporary domain, we can respect that it is valuable. For use in the temporary domain.
So, we don’t have to compete, what you consider valuable is actually valueless. Or, we have more valuable things there, no? We can appreciate what is valuable in the temporary domain to the extent it can be used to take us towards the eternal. But if we get so infatuated with it, that it takes us away from the eternal, then that is unhealthy.
That is something which is undesirable. So, what is the balanced approach towards material progress? So, one would be to have Asakti, attachment, infatuation. Thinking that, oh, all these new technologies, new progress, new items, new gadgets that come up, they will solve all our life’s problems.
They will lead to life’s supreme success. So, that is Asakti, and that is definitely something to be avoided. But, the other is, what we call as Phalgu Vairagya, dismissing all material things as mundane and useless.
Saying that, they are just material, mundane. Just not seeing the potential to use them in Krishna’s service. Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur himself was a radical in that regard.
Generally, we won’t use the word radical for an Acharya. We say that they are just following the tradition and they are conservative and they are faithful. Well, yes and no.
They are completely following the tradition, but they were adopting new ways of fulfilling the purpose of the tradition. He was radical in the use of… He would wear clothes that were considered respectable at that time. So, all these sannyasis, sometimes he would wear in what were considered civil clothes at that time.
He even had a Rolls Royce at one time, and he was among the few people who had the Rolls Royce at that time. And the idea was, there were some traditionalists who frowned. What kind of sannyasi wears these kinds of things and comes? But, they were not the target audience of Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur.
The audience was people who were contemporary. So, those who criticised him for using this, he called it the Phalgu Vairagya. So, his disciples, with Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur’s approval, they adopted a western dress and they adopted certain facets of western culture.
He says, that is the way we can connect with people. So, we don’t have to have disdain and dismissal of material things. The balanced approach is Yukta Vairagya.
Yukta Vairagya means what? We see material things as valuable. To the extent, they help us in serving the supremely valuable reality. They help us in fulfilling the supremely valuable purpose of glorifying Krishna and attracting others towards Krishna.
So, it was so much that he put a printing press in the insignia of the Gaudiya Math. The printing press is a relatively modern machine. But, he put it over there.
So, he adopted that same approach of Yukta Vairagya. Don’t get impressed by those things so much that you get distracted from Krishna. Yes, they are materially impressive things.
Use them in Krishna’s service. Use them in Krishna’s service, if they can be used. Sally Agarwal, Gopal and Sally Agarwal were the people who hosted Prabhupada in Butler, Pennsylvania.
And, when they were there, she says, that Swamiji was the easiest guest I ever had. And, he was interested in everything western. He wanted to know how a vacuum cleaner worked.
And, he would, okay, when I would do it, he would follow and he would say, how are you, what are you doing with it? Now, Prabhupada did not go to America to learn how a vacuum cleaner worked. But, he wanted to understand how the American mind works. How these American people work.
So, that he could share the bhakti message to them. So, a devotee has to see this potential. Now, we will conclude with this.
There are two more, but we will take this as the last. Who would like to read? We must always bear in mind that we are not the operators of instruments, but merely instruments. The triple staff bhikshus are Shri Chaitanya’s living Mridangas.
We must constantly offer our music at the lotus feet of Shri Guru. Beautiful. Thank you.
So, the triple staff bhikshus, that’s three dandi sannyasis. So, triple staff is using that word, that might sound a little odd for us. But, staff is like a stick.
So, triple staff is three sticks tied together. The triple staff bhikshus, using the word for sannyasis, are Shri Chaitanya’s living Mridangas. Beautiful metaphor here.
That there are Mridangas which are, of course, we consider everything to be chit, which is used in Krishna’s service. But, from a material perspective, the Mridangas, they don’t speak and they don’t, they are instruments to be operated. But, he is saying that, we are also, the living bhikshus, the bhikshus are also living Mridangas.
That means, our purpose is to spread Gaurakirtan, to spread the glories of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. And, we must constantly offer our music. So, the Mridangas produce music.
So, what is the purpose of the music? That is not one’s own titillation. That is not the pleasure of the public. It is, we offer our music at the lotus feet of Shri Guru.
Now, when he uses the word Shri Guru, it is not that he is referring to himself. He is saying about the principle that the Guru represents the tradition, Guru represents Krishna. So, we offer it to our Guru.
And, so I will focus on this point of instruments. So, we are instruments, not operators of the instruments. So, which is the famous verse which talks about instrument? Yes.
1133 in the Gita. Krishna is telling Arjuna that arise and attain victory. By my arrangement, your enemies have been killed.
Just be an instrument in my hands. So now, this idea of instruments. So, I was once giving a talk in the west and I mentioned about this instrument.
And, a couple of people in the audience were so angry. Instrument? I am a conscious person. I don’t want to be an instrument of anyone.
I am an individual in my own right. And, what happens is, in different parts of the world, there are different cultural sensitivities. So, in India, for most people, their biggest nightmare is probably poverty, or joblessness, or starvation, or something like that.
But, in the west, for most people, their biggest nightmare is loss of liberty, loss of freedom, slavery. They are very, very conscious that there should not be any very conscious, almost paranoid, that there should not be an autocratic ruler who will take over and take away our freedoms. So, the idea of an instrument, this term was often used, at least in America, that the blacks were instruments of the white master’s will.
And, this is what you should do, this is what you should do, this is what you should do. And, you just have to do it, just obey that the blacks were treated as if having no no individuality at all. So, sometimes that that term evokes a lot of negativity.
So, then I told them that, isn’t that the famous song of St. Augustine that, oh God, make me an instrument of your compassion. Oh, you are an instrument in that sense, that’s okay then. So, what happens is it is there, but how we, what memory something evokes in people’s mind, that’s different.
So, what does being an instrument mean? So, it doesn’t mean two things. It doesn’t mean that we are depersonalising or trivialising an individual. It actually is best to contextualise and to harmonise.
Let’s see what I mean by this. What being an instrument means and doesn’t mean. So, depersonalise doesn’t mean that our free will, our aspirations, our conceptions, they are simply to be neglected.
That’s not like that. That there is a purpose to be fulfilled and we assist in fulfilling that purpose. But that does not mean that a person’s individuality is rejected.
We see Krishna tells Arjuna to be an instrument. But at the same time, when Arjuna makes some plan in the Kurukshetra war, say for example, when Arjuna says that, okay, by tomorrow night, by tomorrow evening, I will bring down Jaidrath or I will enter into fire. Then Krishna doesn’t say, hey, you are being whimsical.
You should just be obeying me. No, Krishna does caution Arjuna. He says that, you know, you made a rash promise without consulting me.
The point was not that you disobeyed me. The point is, at that time, this will be an extremely difficult promise to fulfil. And it is an extremely difficult promise to fulfil that I don’t want to lose you.
I don’t want you to die. That was the primary concern. It was safety of Arjuna, not Arjuna’s, you could say, rebellion.
So instrument doesn’t mean that individuality is not included. So Tamal Krishna Maharaj at one time got completely exhausted with trying to do management in India. He was in charge of Juhu temple.
And he said, I have to go to west and preach. Prabhupada said, you can preach here. He said, there is no opportunity for preaching here.
He said, what happened at that time was that in India, Prabhupada’s western disciples were seen more as cultural exhibits than spiritual teachers. Cultural exhibits means just see, these western people also followed our culture. And they were also young.
So it was very difficult for Indians to see them as spiritual teachers. So Prabhupada was doing preaching in India. When Prabhupada would be there, people would respectfully listen to him.
But his disciples, they were mostly caught in doing managerial activities, take care of this logistics, go here, do this, raise funds. So Tamal Krishna Maharaj said, I can’t take it anymore. Prabhupada said, I need you over here.
It was almost like an argument. But Tamal Krishna Maharaj insisted. And then finally Prabhupada allowed and he went to the west and he started the Radha Damodar bus party.
And he was hugely successful in his own way. So was that whimsicality? No, that is an expression of he felt authentically, I can’t do this. And Prabhupada accepted that.
And because he still had the dedicated desire to serve Krishna, eventually he was also successful. So being an instrument doesn’t mean depersonalising. If you can’t serve in this way, there’s some other way you can serve.
And he accepted that. And it also doesn’t mean trivialising. Trivialising means that we and our contributions don’t matter at all.
It’s just an instrument. No, the instrument is extremely important. Generally, without an instrument, suppose even if you have to cut something and if you don’t have an instrument, it becomes very difficult.
Say, we get a package from Amazon and we don’t have anything to cut. You know, we try to use our nails, we try to use our teeth. It’s quite embarrassing to use those things.
It’s not easy also. Just a knife makes things so easy. Sometimes the instruments are not only desirable, but they are essential also.
So it’s not to trivialise. It is… I had asked Bhaktiinkash Mahadev this question. What was his understanding that why did Bhakti Sahasra Thakur himself not go to the West? Like Prabhupada himself went to the West.
So why did Bhakti Sahasra Thakur not go to the West himself? Right in the beginning. Because if you see, many of the other spiritual teachers, prominent preachers were there, Advaithic teachers. The Gurus themselves went to the West.
So he said… I have talked with this other devotee also who has studied Bhakti Sahasra Thakur’s life quite elaborately. So they give different reasons. But there are two, three that I’ve understood from different sources.
I won’t say this is a conclusive understanding, but this is a broad inference. So first is that that Bhakti Sahasra Thakur at that time had a flourishing Indian mission. And that he was also in charge of the mission in India.
And he wanted to be there for Indians also. Because once he goes abroad, it’s like he’s gone. At that time, there was no… Phones were also not there.
Internet was also… Phones had just come basically. There was no internet. So he would not be there for guiding the Indian mission.
And if you contrast that with most of the other spiritual teachers, they didn’t have much of a following in India before they went to the West. For Prabhupada also, he had nothing in India. He could very easily go to the West.
And once Prabhupada had a substantial following in India, then Prabhupada couldn’t spend so much time in the West. Prabhupada said that at least two occasions in Prabhupada cut down his travel in the West because there was something urgent in India. One was to meet Indira Gandhi.
And the other was, I think, because there was some issue with the Juhu land. So that was a practical reason that he wanted to take care of the Indian mission also. So the second reason that happened was that at that time, Bhaktivedanta Thakur’s health was also not very good.
Although he was not very aged, but his health was not that great. So that was also one factor he felt that his disciples could be younger, they are younger and they would have more energy, they would go. And he certainly planned to go.
But his plan was, let them go there, let them lay the foundations, let them make some arrangement and then he will go. That’s what Prabhupada did in later years. The devotees were in different parts of the world.
Prabhupada was the first person who went to America. But Prabhupada was not the first person to go to Canada or even to other parts of America for that matter. Then what to speak of UK and Germany and others.
His disciples went and set something up. And then he went after that. So that was another reason that his health was not good and his energy would be best utilised if somebody else had set things up.
And another reason was that he at that time what had happened was that we know that famous incident when there was this famine in Kolkata and the devotees had Gaudiya Math had got a lot of funds for the theistic exhibition. And the theistic exhibition at that time they had got the funds and it was going to be a revolutionary approach for presenting bhakti wisdom and bhakti culture. But at that time there was several political leaders who had said that, you know, why are you keeping all these funds for something like this? Release the funds for for this humanitarian work.
And Bhakti Sansthakur had said absolutely no. He had refused to come and even talk with the political leaders. So he was quite clear that Lakshmi which is meant for the Lord’s service should be directly for the Lord’s service.
Now this does not mean he was heartless, not at all. When he would go on pilgrimages and there would be beggars near the temples he would tell his disciples specifically give some alms to them, give some food to them give something to them. If you say no you will become hard hearted.
So it was not that he was hard hearted just that at that point he felt that he felt that this was not the way he wanted to use the Lakshmi which had been earmarked for a very special project. So at that time eventually when the theistic exhibition came about it was remarkable, it attracted a lot of attention. See now theistic, okay you suggest you have got some dolls which show Krishna’s passing what is so big deal? It’s like in today’s world if you have animatronics when our Delhi temple had animatronics it was cutting edge technology.
So in those times the theistic exhibition the not the theistic exhibition which is a big exhibition but the display the display of Gaurila and all that, that was quite radical at that time. But what had happened because of all this was because of the Gaudiya Mahat’s refusal to support humanitarian work they had got a lot of bad press a lot of bad press and in one way Bhaktsan Satakur he always had a vision to send his disciples abroad but when to do it that was something to be decided and he in some ways to counter the bad publicity which had come because of this whole incident with respect to the feminine he in a sort of emergency mode he told you should go so at that time because it was in some ways the overall vision was long standing but the implementation was quite rapid so because of that it was practically for him to go would be difficult so he told his disciples to go. Of course those disciples who went also were very well trained they were quite quite good speakers and other things the point I am making is that he felt that at that time his going would not be appropriate but somebody had to go so without adequate arrangements rather than he himself going let his disciples go they will make arrangements and he will go after that so so what instrument does mean is it is not depersonalise or trivialise it means to contextualise contextualise means if I have an instrument then that means there is something bigger I am a part of that what we are doing we see the broader situation and broader implications that what I am doing is not just about me it is not just going to affect only me it has many broader implications to it and then we have harmonise harmonise means say the instrument can do certain things but if the instrument is in the hands of an expert person the instrument can do so much more so if we understand that we are instruments in the hands of Krishna who is supremely expert he is the most expert leader then if we aid him that will not only increase our contribution what we will be able to do externally but that will also elevate our consciousness because Krishna will not only use us for engage us in service Krishna will also purify us so in that sense becoming an instrument for Krishna is actually glorious and remembering that we are instruments it is not demeaning it is actually encouraging and empowering we are a part of something bigger than ourselves so that’s how he concludes the Mridanga metaphor is also very beautiful for understanding this instrument part that Kirtan is understood in many different ways within the Gaudiya tradition in ISKCON we say Sankirtan also means book distribution often the book distribution centre is called Sankirtan stall that’s because the books are being distributed so to understand this role this metaphor of the instrument if there is a musical performance going on, there is one person singing there are 2-3 people playing Mridanga, there are 6-7 people playing Kartal now all of them are in sync all of them are playing their part but each of them playing their part, each of them sticking to the overall tune and the mood of the Kirtan that does not decrease their contribution rather it improves the combined offering so being an instrument in something bigger than ourselves it is like being a part of a concert or orchestra there we actually it’s like in managerial terms it’s called synergy 1 plus 1 becomes not 2 but 3 or even 11 that’s how it happens when we become an instrument of Krishna so by remembering that we are an instrument of Krishna we become empowered so it is we often say that Bhakti Sanskrit mission was not successful well that’s a strong statement to make his mission was not successful at that time Prabhupada’s mission was not separate from Bhakti Sanskrit mission because Prabhupada carried on Bhakti Sanskrit mission at that time when his disciples went they didn’t get too much success they also, they had some success some people became appreciative so now why they didn’t succeed that could be a whole different class in itself but in many ways Prabhupada embodied this mood and Prabhupada went to the west to America and Prabhupada carried on and fulfilled Bhakti Sanskrit mission Prabhupada embodied all these instructions I don’t have time now but how Prabhupada actually saw he had all this mood in what he was doing Prabhupada saw himself as an instrument he said that actually I am not preaching actually my Guru Maharaj is preaching and my Guru Maharaj has sent all of you to assist me in his preaching and in one of his yajna puja offerings Prabhupada was giving a class we have a very short class and at the end of the class he had asked the local GBC to get the list of all initiated disciples and at the end of the yajna puja talk Prabhupada read the names of all his disciples why? because his mood was all those disciples are his offering to his Guru Maharaj he did not see that I am the master and you are the servant he says we are all serving Bhakti Sannyasi Thakur and these are my assistants that you have sent to assist in your mission so Bhakti Sannyasi Thakur’s instructions they are given at a particular time but they are timeless and wisdom that is there within them we all can apply actually Prabhupada internalised it and he was phenomenally successful and we can pray to Bhakti Sannyasi Thakur that we can also internalise at least some small part of this depth of wisdom that he has given through his potent instructions and thus we can also become an instrument in the hands of the glorious Gaudiya Acharyas to play our part in this tradition whatever be our part small or big we can carry on this mission internally in our heart and externally in our small corner of the world our Guru Datta Desh our domain of service given by our spiritual master Bhakti Sannyasi Thakur Ki Jai quickly summarise I spoke about five main points today talking about instructions of Bhakti Sannyasi Thakur to his disciples when they were about to go abroad first we started by how he said the flower has blossomed now carry the aroma abroad like Hanuman carried Ram’s message so generally when they are doing some difficult service it’s good to get the big picture to see what we are part of by which we will not be overwhelmed if I have to carry a package somewhere to get inconvenience if I know it’s a valuable medicinal package for somebody who is very important for me then my whole mood will change I will face the inconveniences much more resolutely and second was that he talked about the Mahavakya for outreach is why? because when we are trying to share Krishna’s message there will be disrespect from people and difficulty from situations and if we are to persist through that we need humility and tolerance that’s how we will stay connected with Krishna and Krishna will empower us to connect with others and then so with respect to regard that he is very appreciative of west they are summit of material progress rational judgement, good manners so when we are sharing bhakti with people we can’t just think of them as fallen souls and we are their saviour they have potentials focus on their potential not their problems optimism in outreach and respect for our audience is important especially if we are to attract thoughtful people yes there will be some things wrong which we have to fix them but there are things which are right and we want to channel them engage them and then he also says don’t be depressed because they are better than you so the idea is we are not in the game of material one ups match with others if they have something better than us what we have is something different we have spiritual wisdom so we talked about yukta vairagya and phalgo vairagya in that and the last part was that we are instruments we are not the operators of instruments so understanding that we are instruments actually helps us to see not that it is meant to trivialise or depersonalise it is meant to contextualise and harmonise that we are part of an orchestra and our part if we become instruments for Krishna that will enhance both our contribution and our consciousness thank you very much Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Kheej by Gaur Premanand